JESUS LOVES DESIGN

I LOVE POLITICS! (Thx @dmathanas) (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:30:16 -0500

I LOVE POLITICS! (Thx @dmathanas) (Taken with instagram)

Support letters. (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:28:53 -0500

Support letters. (Taken with instagram)

Who knew these things were so much fun?! (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:07:29 -0500

Who knew these things were so much fun?! (Taken with instagram)

Bernhoft - “C’mon Talk” Here’s your...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:46:39 -0500

Bernhoft - “C’mon Talk”

Here’s your inspiration for the day.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment...."

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:16:39 -0500

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

- 1 John 4:18

Two of the scariest things as a speaker… (Taken with...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:03:06 -0500

Two of the scariest things as a speaker… (Taken with instagram)

I love sending out first-time guest letters....

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:32:43 -0500

I love sending out first-time guest letters. #mytonguetasteslikeenvelopeglue (Taken with Instagram at Harbor Of Hope Christian Church)

…and sometimes a copier machine goes a bit off-kilter. ...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:26:04 -0500

…and sometimes a copier machine goes a bit off-kilter. (Taken with Instagram at Harbor Of Hope Christian Church)

Excuses

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:20:02 -0500

Here’s a post I wrote today for @harborofhope’s Garden to City blog.

gardentocity:

Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” (read more)

Our excuses are so quick to flare up. We’ve all got a laundry-list of reasons why we’re the wrong person for the job.

Listing our disqualifying characteristics is easy…

I’m too old.

No one will listen to me.

I’m not smart enough.

I’m too young.

My best days are behind me.

Abraham and Sarah were too old. Jesus had no formal education. Peter and John were “unschooled, ordinary men.” (Acts 4:13) Mary was just a teenager. Moses had a speech-impediment. Paul had been imprisoned, shipwrecked, and was going blind at the end of his life.

Excuses.

Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv, one of the largest Christian churches in America, has a saying that I love…

“If you’re not dead yet, you’re not done yet!”

Don’t disqualify yourself for something God is calling you to.

If you’ve got a list of reasons why you shouldn’t be a pivotal part of what God is doing today, join the club! We are all flawed. We’re all broken. We’re all unqualified.

And yet, because of Christ, we’re the ones changing the world.

"WE will always fail us. HE will never fail us."

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:25:07 -0500

“WE will always fail us. HE will never fail us.”

Taken with instagram

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:06:01 -0500

Taken with instagram

Days away from the office are good for the soul, bad for the...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:53:33 -0500

Days away from the office are good for the soul, bad for the fingers… (Taken with instagram)

Watching “Selling Jesus” on Netflix. (Taken with...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:34:04 -0500

Watching “Selling Jesus” on Netflix. (Taken with instagram)

Adding some new songs to the set for this Friday’s show at...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:15:30 -0500

Adding some new songs to the set for this Friday’s show at @mycafeverde. (Taken with instagram)

Anyone else have a drawer like this? #Applejunkiesunite (Taken...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:47:54 -0500

Anyone else have a drawer like this? #Applejunkiesunite (Taken with instagram)

My wife @elysejg leaves me a scavenger hunt of notes around our...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:45:13 -0500

My wife @elysejg leaves me a scavenger hunt of notes around our apartment. I love her. (Taken with instagram)

Washington (CNN) – Ed Dobson is not afraid of dying. It’s the...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:17:23 -0500

Washington (CNN) – Ed Dobson is not afraid of dying. It’s the getting there that really scares him.

A former pastor, onetime Christian Right operative and an icon among religious leaders, Dobson has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. When he was diagnosed, doctors gave him 3 to 5 years to live.

That was 11 years ago.

“I am a tad happy to be talking to you right now,” joked Dobson, whose voice has deteriorated since his preaching days, in a phone interview. Speaking with him feels like being exposed to a brief moment of clarity. He speaks slowly, but with an understated confidence and authority.

As pastor at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a position he held for 18 years, Dobson would regularly preach to 5,000 people or more on Sundays. Back then, Dobson said he looked at himself as a man filled with lessons, proverbs and, most of all, answers.

CNN’s Belief Blog – all the faith angles to the day’s top stories

After retirement six years ago, the massive crowds went away.

“I went from 100 miles an hour to zero miles an hour overnight,” Dobson said. “That was a shock to my system.”

Dobson says the answers vanished with the crowds.

“I know that sounds a bit lame,” he said. “I know that that I should have all the answers, but the truth is, the more I live, the fewer answers I have.”

And yet the people Dobson comes in contact with – those who call him dad, husband and friend, or those who have read one of his 12 books and watched his short films, don’t agree with that assessment. To them, the last six years of Dobson’s life have led to a remarkable ability to put life into context. To them, Dobson is a man filled with lessons.

From 5,000 to 1

In the 1980s, Dobson rose to prominence as an executive at the Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell’s evangelical political organization, which had influence with the Ronald Reagan White House. Dobson’s rise continued when he accepted the pastorate at Calvary Church in 1987. He cut a national profile, with Moody Bible Institute naming him “Pastor of the Year” in 1993.

After being diagnosed with ALS, Dobson suddenly felt unsure of himself. At times, he said, he didn’t want to get out of bed. After years of intense Bible study, Dobson said this is not how he thought he would react to news of his own mortality.

“I thought that if I knew I was going to die, I would really read the Bible and if I really was going to die, I would really pray,” Dobson said. “I found the opposite to be true. I could barely read the Bible and I had great difficulty praying. You get so overwhelmed with your circumstances, you lose perspective.”

Eventually, Dobson regained perspective. But feelings of listlessness led him to take his preaching to a more personal level. He now meets with congregants one-on-one. Sitting with them in their homes or offices, Dobson provides whatever help he can. “Most of the people I meet with have ALS and basically I listen,” he said.

“When I meet with someone and look into their eyes, it is like I am looking into their soul,” Dobson said. “We are both broken, we are both on the journey and we are both fellow pilgrims.”

Going from 5,000 congregants to one at a time was a big change for Dobson, forcing him to reevaluate his job as a pastor. “I am trying to learn that one-on-one is just as important as speaking to thousands,” he said. “I reemphasize – I am trying to learn that.”

During his one-on-one meetings, Dobson says he remembers Adam and Eve being charged by God to work the Garden of Eden. For years Dobson’s garden was Calvary Church – the baptisms, weddings, the Sunday preaching.

“Whether it is preaching to 5000 or meeting one on one, I am trying to take care of the garden,” he said.

The wind knocked out

One way Dobson strove to tend the garden is by writing a book about dealing with serious illness. In 2007, he wrote “Prayers and Promises When Facing a Life-Threatening Illness.”

Dobson’s son Daniel read the book while deployed in Iraq. After returning home, Daniel made it his mission to turn the book’s stories into videos.

He pitched the idea to Steve Carr, the executive director of a faith-focused production company called Flannel. “When I met Ed, when he came to our office, something really spoke to me,” Carr said. “Not too long before that, I had been diagnosed with Leukemia.”

“I thought that this guy, he has been where I am right now and he has somehow mastered it,” Carr said.

So far, Flannel has released five Dobson films, available through the company’s website. There are plans for two more. Though the films range in topic, from loss and forgiveness to healing and growth, all are centered on lessons Dobson learned through his battle with ALS. The videos tow the line between a dark look at a dying man’s life and an uplifting glimpse at someone who exudes clarity.

“My Garden,” the most recent title in the series, centers on Ed’s struggle to deal with ending his preaching career.

Dobson talks about the films as if they are his swan song, his last words of encouragement to a group of supporters he has inspired for decades.

“My desire is that people who have had the air knocked out of them, whether divorce or losing a loved one or illness, that they will get a sense of hope by watching the films,” he said.

Surviving (with help)

The series’ first short film opens with Dobson explaining what it was like to be told he had ALS. After lying in bed, Dobson gets in the shower, brushes his teeth and starts the day. Even he would admit, however, it is not that easy.

Dobson has lost much of the function in his hands and is seen struggling to brush his teeth, his frail body using two hands on the small brush. Though he is able to do a lot, including drive, Dobson wouldn’t be able to make it on his own, a fact he is keenly aware of when about when describing his wife, Lorna.

“She is my right hand, my left hand, my left foot, my right foot, my heart and my brain,” Dobson said. “Without her, it would be impossible to go on.”

Standing in the kitchen in one video, Lorna helps puts Ed’s belt and gloves on. The two don’t speak on camera, but their love is obvious.

“Our love has grown each year of marriage,” Lorna said. “I didn’t want to just wither in the sorrow of how our life was changing. It took a while to get used to what our life was going to be like but I realized that I needed to be more available to him.”

Dobson says he is also more available to her.

“I am no longer a preacher,” said Dobson. “Today, I would say I am a Jesus follower. Period.”

Lorna said she continues to learn from her husband. Throughout their life together, she said she learned by being in church with him, by raising three kids together and by loving one another.

The last 11 years, however, their love has changed. Dobson’s illness has taught her to focus on the important things, she said, primarily their kids and five grandkids.

After tending the garden for decades, Dobson is now being tended himself, largely by Lorna. “ALS forced me into a situation where I grew in understanding of what it means to obey Jesus,” Dobson said in the latest film.

“It took me quite a while to find an alternative purpose,” he said. “But the good news is out there – there is a purpose for everyone.”

Seek

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:03:59 -0500

The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside…

Do you seek God?
Or do you wait for Him to come to you?

Do you fill your time with meaninglessness?
Or do you invest your hours in the eternal?

Are you more concerned with how man views you?
Or do you worry over God’s heart for you?

The word “seek” implies effort. It implies that we are actively pursuing… Turning over rocks, and looking under the rugs. Investing time, pouring out energy.

All to see His face.

Lately, I’ve been very lazy in my seeking. I’ve been living as though I expect Him to come to me. I’ve been acting as though I’ve got a direct line, no need for wooing or romance.

But I don’t. And I can’t. Because then my relationship with Him will wither, and crinkle, and rot. And I can’t bear the thought of that.

I have the day free today. I think I’ll spend it with God.

-John

City sunset. (Taken with Instagram at Downtown Lowell)

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:54:34 -0500

City sunset. (Taken with Instagram at Downtown Lowell)

Dear world, my friend is bad-ass. That is all. Love, John. ...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:41:06 -0500

Dear world, my friend is bad-ass. That is all. Love, John. (Taken with instagram)