I am so excited about this whole thing! Just wanted to encourage you leaders that I am so pleased with your hard work and this wonderful idea! And thanks, Mark, for the fantastic letter to really put it into perspective.

By Elisabeth Crosby Daley on Tue, September 27, 2011 - 4:37

Beautifully put, Karen! It is lovely to be doing this together with you and your community, and I look forward to the virtual connection this blog will offer us.

By Elizabeth de Smaele on Tue, October 04, 2011 - 4:33

I'm usually fairly subdued about sharing my thoughts unless someone asks me directly. But I want to try to work around that and get onboard with this "great movement". So... initial response to the first scripture (Psalm 103:8-18) when I read it the other day was a feeling something akin to despair. I read the words "slow to anger" and all I hear is that He is going to get angry at some point. Then when I read the words "He will not always accuse" I just hear "Yeah, but He 'will' accuse." I guess it evoked a feeling that I will never measure up or something like that. (Maybe I was just in a bad space, I don't know) The phrase "as a father has compassion on his children" didn't necessarily help as a comparative, as you don't see a lot of that in society these days. However, the fourteenth verse gives me my second wind, restores my soul, when God tells me He knows how I am formed, He REMEMBERS that I am dust." That is honestly what I cling to because that is exactly how I feel most days- weak and about to be blown away by the next breeze. If He can remember that about me , then I will try to do my part and remember all the other things He says about Himself and through my mistakes and failures and not measuring up most days -that is where I will put my trust- in a love that is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

By Shannon Holman on Thu, October 06, 2011 - 11:54

I was really struggling with the meaning of the word "ought", from 1 John 4:11. Every translation I looked up seemed to use it, so I went to merrian-webster.com and I found that it can mean at the very least, "advisability" or "natural expectation" and at the most, "obligation" or even "logical consequence"! Also, the origin of "ought" is from a word meaning "to own". So I must love, I must own it and make it a part of me. If God loved me (which he did and does), I must own it, it is the logical consequence for me to love ("the other" as the book states). Thank you to the leadership for challenging us over these next weeks because I truly believe this is a challenge from God Himself.

By Tim Millar on Sat, October 08, 2011 - 10:35

I really appreciate what you wrote Shannon in your blog entry. I think you are not alone in what you expressed. There have been times I've not felt that God particularly likes me - oh, I know he loves me but I'm not sure he likes me. Its that sense of feeling one never measures up. I suspect there are others who struggle FEELING that God's justice triumphs over his mercy - that idea that he will get angry at some point or that he will eventually accuse. He might want to love but his justice or holiness overrides. I was just talking with a friend about this (before I read your blog entry Shannon) and it really got me thinking. He said, he sees a lot of people feeling that God, when it gets right down to it, is kind of angry with us. We "KNOW" that he loves us but we "FEEL" he is actually angry or frustrated. Last summer I was thinking a lot about this. I read a book in which the main character (a Christian priest who did some amazing things in his life) seemed to live with this dread of God - that he never measured up and that he needed to atone for his failures (which he couldn't - they never left him). It got me thinking how much he needed to experience God's grace. Yes fine, he made mistakes and had failures but he never experienced that God was okay with that - he still REALLY liked him. That prompted me to realize how much I needed to really experience God's grace as well. In the months that followed I felt I began to experience it! I'm curious anyone's thoughts on all this. Not sure if we are meant to dialogue back and forth/comment on other peoples' blog entries ... I trust it is okay and that this is not preachy.

By Kevin Jolly on Sat, October 08, 2011 - 2:44

I found the second devotion on Hosea 11:1-11 very challenging, when I completed it a few days ago. I hear the longing and pain in Hosea's voice, which I look at from a personal perspective, as God's voice to me. I have cause God pain, pain that I am unable to take back, no matter how much I want to or try to. But the amazing part is I am expected to cause God pain because I am a broken human and will never be "perfect" or "measure up" to God's great love. In v 4 I hear a proud father, describing some of the things he has taught his son. This reminds me of the relationship that we each have with our earthly parents - they teach and guide us as children and we rebel because we cannot (don't want to) admit that they know what they're talking about, because we may feel that it causes us pain - yet they still love us. For all you parents out there you were right (we eventually come to realize this!). I believe that our Father acts just like this with us - He keeps guiding and trying to teach us (never leaving us), regardless of how many times we get it wrong. His love for us is so expansive that nothing can take it away - nothing is bigger! In v 8 I again, hear that our Lord is in this for the long haul - that He accepts us as broken as we are, He doesn't expect us to be "perfect", just that we try to honor Him and love each other in the process. I pray, Father, that You will continue to show the Grace community (and me) this undeserved love and that You will use the CULTIVATE initiative to help us learn to love one another and grow deeper in our faith. We can than show the wider community Your love, as imperfect as our human attempts may be. Help us to keep it "real" Father.

By Laura Isenor on Sat, October 08, 2011 - 3:10

I have a picture on my mantle of David in my arms with his head snuggled close to my cheek. Holding my young children like that was exactly what I thought about when when I read in Hosea 11:1-11 "I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks". What an image. It's something I sometimes still feel like doing, being the young child held in my parent's arms. The action of being held like that says so much. It says: relax; sink right into me; I'm in no hurry; no, you don't need to do anything; you are mine; it's ok just be here; let it go; I love you. Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy and I can't stop myself from running around to accomplish things that are way down on God's priority list. He really wants me to spend time just leaning against his cheek and listening to what he has to say to me. Practically speaking, I can't be leaning up close to God's cheek while I'm running around like a crazy woman. I find myself really challenged to say no to the things that clog up my whole life (and thoughts) and to give God more space so he can love me and speak truth to me.

By Carolyn Jolly on Sat, October 08, 2011 - 4:45

Carolyn, your words made my thoughts fly to a poem I'd just read by my favourite blogger, Lisa Borden. http://letsputthekettleon.blogspot.com/2011/10/close-poem.html

By Elizabeth de Smaele on Thu, October 13, 2011 - 11:01