tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63369342009-02-20T23:56:51.407-05:00Musings of a Wayfarer; Signposts Along the WayCarsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1111108243769124082005-03-17T20:06:00.000-05:002005-03-17T20:10:43.780-05:00

It is hard to change, but the time has come. I needed to find a new site to do some things that I could do here. Blogspot has been wonderful; however, it doesn't like Macs and I'm a mac guy since Tim Sturgeon and Ron Kirchgessner got ahold of me in 1989!At any rate I am moving to a new site-- http://www.carsonreed.squarespace.com (see. . . . I can't even create a decent link!Please drop by

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1111017280949094882005-03-16T18:53:00.000-05:002005-03-16T18:54:40.953-05:00

"We’re at the start of a Great Awakening—a time of spiritual upheaval and religious revival.... What’s different about this awakening is that there’s very little agreement on who or what God is, what constitutes worship, and what this ritualistic outpouring means for the future direction of our civilization." –Faith Popcorn, author.My next door neighbors are ex-Presbyterians who now are looking

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1110891835535275842005-03-15T07:52:00.000-05:002005-03-15T08:03:55.536-05:00

Actually, this came to me via Aaron Zee. . . .170,000 people will die of AIDS in Zambia this year, according to the Birmingham News. But there is hope that that awful figure will take a different turn in coming years. As a part of Bush's 15 billion dollar initiative drugs and personnel are setting up clinics, training local health workers, and slowly changing people's attitudes about treatment.

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1110766525880298972005-03-13T20:42:00.000-05:002005-03-13T21:15:25.883-05:00

Brian Nichols is now in custody. The destruction and loss of human life remains. The senseless violence will not find an adequate answer. Already in the middle of a trial for rape, he now will have numerous additional charges to address. The "why" question raises its head and the answer, depending on your point of view, may or may not ever have a satisfactory ring. From a theological

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1110685532075101132005-03-12T22:43:00.001-05:002005-03-12T22:45:32.076-05:00

"When I look back on the worries in my life I remember the story of the old man who said on his death bed that he had had a lot of trouble in life, most of which never happened." --Winston Churchill

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1110685460696639622005-03-12T22:43:00.000-05:002005-03-12T22:44:20.696-05:00

"When I look back on the worries in my life I remember the story of the old man who said on his death bed that he had had a lot of trouble in life, most of which never happened." --Winston Churchill

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1110485555628989622005-03-10T15:04:00.000-05:002005-03-10T15:12:35.630-05:00

What am I learning about you?How are you working in the world?How are you working on me?Do I see too much of the world's ways and too little of yours?How do I embrace my failure and still wear your clothes of grace?Do you ever give up, especially when we seem more interested in our stock portfolio than in the 20,000 people who died today because of the lack of food or basic medicine?How often

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1110373761501018352005-03-09T07:50:00.000-05:002005-03-09T08:09:21.503-05:00

I finally took the opportunity to watch the recent movie, Luther. I was impressed. Sitting with my children around we kept stopping the movie and talking about so many of incredible points in Luther's life and in the sweeping sets of ideas that were flowing in the period of time.I was reminded, as the movie rolled, about the high cost of change. People, values, cultural attributes are all up

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1110228041077986052005-03-07T15:19:00.000-05:002005-03-07T15:40:41.080-05:00

Mark Galli recently interviewed Eugene Peterson for Chrsitianity Today (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/003/26.42.html) on spirituality. As usual Peterson's simple wisdom shines.Question: "Many people assume that spirituality is about bcoming emotionally intimate with God."Peterson: "That's a naive view of spirituality What we're talking about is the Christian life. It's following Jesus.

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1109797589693347042005-03-02T15:45:00.000-05:002005-03-02T16:06:29.700-05:00

Tom Long's recent book, Testimony, (thanks to Richard Wright) is really a continuation on this theme. Long's thesis is that the idea of witness is really a whole way of living in the world--our speech, our worship, our conduct, our work. The idea is not new with Long. He sounds this note in his earlier work, The Witness of Preaching.Telling, and living, truthfully is foundational. As Long

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1109713308665675932005-03-01T16:02:00.000-05:002005-03-01T16:41:48.666-05:00

Keith Brenton raises important and probing questions in his comments yesterday. In a word, my response is "witness."Contemporary Christians are not the first people to be faced with the puzzlement of living out Christian faith in a pluralistic world. The earliest Christians lived in a world of great diversity and in an environment where Christianity was only one of many expressions of religion

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1109627864030357742005-02-28T16:28:00.000-05:002005-02-28T16:57:44.033-05:00

Karen Olson writes in an opening essay in the current issue of Utne:"When I was 20 I was engagd to marry a soon-to-be-ordained Lutheran minister. While he was preparing to devote his life to being a spiritual leader in one church, I was in college and just beginning to sutdy world religions, large and small. Learning about different traditions leads some people deeper into their own faith. Others

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1109559211730239062005-02-27T21:49:00.000-05:002005-02-28T09:06:25.250-05:00

Sundays are busy and full; today has been no exception. Yet the fullness of the day finds special meaning in so many ways. Some of the highlights include: watching NL elders gather around a woman, annoint her with oil and pray for her; witnessing members of our youth group make commitments at the True Love Waits banquet; seeing a search committee wrestle with hard choices; worshipping while 5th

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1109302911093436412005-02-24T22:12:00.000-05:002005-02-24T22:41:51.096-05:00

Working on Sunday's sermon in a hotel room in Nashville is a little out of the ordinary for me. But a Bible and Barth's commentary on Philippians is a good combination; certainly better than reaching for the remote.Sunday's text has that wonderful charge against some folk that worship their animal appetites (their god is their belly). I guess that means appetites--today it may well mean a well

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1109121180575337932005-02-22T19:57:00.000-05:002005-02-22T20:13:00.576-05:00

Last night the Reeds played host to several friends and who had common links to missions and to textual criticism. Carroll Osburn was in town, who, many years ago did some translation and mission support work with Ralph and Susie McCluggage. Aaron and Sharon Zee joined us and much of the conversation was focused on the incredible needs that exist in Africa. Bad water, economic downturns,

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1109083661893858222005-02-22T09:47:00.000-05:002005-02-22T09:47:41.893-05:00

Monday morning in North Carolina. We listened to the patter of rain on the metal roof of a cottage all night and awoke to the gray mist of the mountains. Our host, Connie Grubermann, was in the big house preparing what by all accounts was a gourmet breakfast. If your ever in or near Franklin, North Carolina, spend the night at Oak Hill Country Inn. We had a delightful time.Yesterday brought

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1108849053644582022005-02-19T16:36:00.000-05:002005-02-19T16:37:33.646-05:00

Crowds gather and the watch on the ramp is on. Standing in the frigid weather and huddled in tight clumps church youth groups from Florida to Michigan wait. Their destination: the interior of the Gatlinburg Convention Center and another session of Winterfest.Music (Newsboys last night) and comedy (Bean and Bailey), worship and teaching (Jeff Walling) all combine to draw and inspire, challenge

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1108755864246336452005-02-18T14:43:00.000-05:002005-02-18T14:44:24.246-05:00

Okay, so it’s not the most sophisticated of museums; in fact, I’m not really sure it really qualifies as a museum by any academic standard. But when people go to places like Gatlinburg, a tourist trap by almost any definition one usually takes in one or two such traps, so. . . .Two-headed calves, men who drive nails up their nose, a woman who swallows swords, strange things from far away places,

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1108604442034563392005-02-16T20:38:00.000-05:002005-02-16T20:40:42.036-05:00

"What reason have they for saying that we cannot rise from the dead? What is more difficult, to be born or to rise again; that what has never been should be, or that what has been should be again? Is it more difficult to come into existence than to return to it?" --Blaise Pascal

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1108503845786015262005-02-15T16:21:00.000-05:002005-02-15T16:44:05.790-05:00

After living 20 years in Indianapolis, one of the things I really miss is my friends. Friends at church, friends in ministry, and friends in the community that become a part of your life. Haunting downtown restaurants (Working Man's Friend Bar, the Ram, or Milano), nine holes at the Clermont Country Club ( I bet you couldn't hit an 18 wheeler on I-74 if your life depended on it; I'll bet you a

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1108407274369562572005-02-14T13:43:00.000-05:002005-02-14T13:54:34.373-05:00

A group of believers gathered last night in the chapel for prayer. And it was a remarkable time indeed! Not that what we prayed for something new or different. In fact, much of our prayer was for dozens of requests for sick bodies, aged parents, young children, broken marriages, mission work in Honduras, care for the poor and stability in Iraq and Israel. Nor was it remarkable for prayer to

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1107918507521153872005-02-08T22:07:00.000-05:002005-02-08T22:08:27.520-05:00

Is there really a difference between Sunday and every other day of the week? We sometimes act like there is. Sunday is comprised of hymns and scripture, worship and visiting with other Christians. Then on Monday, we head back to work and life takes on its usual sort of flavor. Six days a week we take on the real tasks of living; Sunday comes and we go through the rituals of our faith. Sunday

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1107784604906909592005-02-07T08:44:00.000-05:002005-02-07T08:56:44.906-05:00

Letting go of the best of my resume in order to embrace Christ. I'm still thinking about Philippians 3.2-10 this morning. "I want to know Christ." To know Christ. How can we ever fully know him? And yet, that is not what Paul is claiming. Would it not be better to understand that Paul's desire is to be in a living, growing relationship with Christ? The relationship is characterized by an

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1107441056725277202005-02-03T09:18:00.000-05:002005-02-03T09:30:56.726-05:00

I'm working and preaching out of Philippians these days and I'm loving the rich resources that are available. Yesterday I was reading in Karl Barth's classic exposition of the letter. There are so many little gems of insight from this theological heavyweight. For example, on 3.8-9, Barth is commenting on Paul's phrase I consider my "history" as dung or rubbish in order to gain Christ and be

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6336934.post-1107388059737247002005-02-02T16:30:00.000-05:002005-02-02T18:47:39.736-05:00

Another amazing testimony to the power of the gospel resides in a nursing home in Tucker, GA. His wife dead, his only daughter dead, and his body failing after three strokes, Lester still lives with hope. Even with his recent round at the hospital that included a pacemaker, he chooses hope over despair. Though deaf he hears the melody of God's grace. Lester knows pain and suffering; he also

Carsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09319523661037904561noreply@blogger.com