We’re Moving.

We ARE Moving!!!  And I’ll tell you more about that later.  But first let me tell you that I am moving over to a new blog address:  shannongreer.wordpress.com. I’ve taken enough time off, got a lot to say and thought it would be great to start with a new page.  SO. . . . if you’ve followed me here, or linked to my blog from yours, bounce on over to my new site, and link up there.   I’ll explain more about our move, and all that good stuff at my new blog.  So I’ll see you there.

The End.

The scene is a pretty memorable one, if you’ve seen Forrest Gump, of course.  Its the scene where a long bearded, rather odd man has been runnin, and runnin, and runnin and suddenly he stops . . . and turns around.  His narration says “I had run for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours.” He turns around and says, “I’m pretty tired. . . I think I’ll go home now.”  And as unpredictable as his start, Forrests’ 3 year, 2 month, 14 day and 16 hour jog comes to an abrupt halt.

I’ve been writing here on this blog for one year, six months, and 15 days.  With this post I will have made exactly 321 installments into the abyss of the blog realm, and pulled 440 comments from you the readers.  And though its a small number by most “bloggers” standards my blog has been “viewed”  a little over 27,000 times.

I absolutely love writing.  Its cathartic for me.  And this blog has been a small outlet for the swarms of thoughts fluttering around in my head.  I’ve posted everything from family videos, to deep spiritual thoughts, book reviews and gobs of other banter.  Everything I’ve posted, I’ve submitted to you the random reader with the hope that it would someday provoke you to think, brighten your day, or nudge you just a little closer to God.

Over the last few weeks, my posts have been a bit more sparse, and . . . . while it may seem a little abrubt . . . I felt like today was the day in which I would write my final post, on this blog at least.  So thanks for being part of this little journey.  Thanks for your comments and encouraging words to keep writing.  I’ll keep the site open so you can scroll through and see some of the stuff I’ve written.  And when the day rolls back around to open up a new chapter, I’ll let you know.

Thanks for reading.

The End

The Shack (2)

Well I got some pretty favorable comments about The Shack yeserday.  No real surprises there.  My opinions are certainly not earth shattering, but for the record here’s my take on this #1 NY Times Best Seller for 36 weeks running:

The Negative

I really only have one negative about this book, and it was actually stated in one of the comments from yesterday.  I think its a very tricky thing, and maybe even a dangerous thing to write or speak on behalf of God.  I would say a fair 75% of this book is written as a conversation between God and a human being.  Now many people who read it will understand that this book is fictional, and Young’s attempt to speak on behalf of God is to further convey His character which is clearly presented in Scripture, but might be missed by the average person.  I respect that.  Still, knowing that this book has made its way into the hands of millions of people who do not have a Scriptural basis, or perspective from which they can read this book, is concerning.  Many people who’ve never opened a Bible, have or will open this book, and may likely walk away from it with a perspective of God that is watered down.  I don’t want to venture into a deep discussion about the character of God as presented by the Shack.  Suffice it to say, I’m a little uneasy with the author’s attempt to speak on behalf of God in this book.

The Positive

I appreciate the picture that Young presents of God’s love for us as humans.  I must admit that the picture of a God who loves me unconditionally, who isn’t angered, frustrated, or put off by my failures but even uses my failures as part of His overall plan for my life, that picture comforts me.  Reading this book has influenced how I talk to God in times of prayer and meditation.  I notice I’m loosing a lot of the prayer phrases.  You probably know the ones I’m talking about, the ones you’ve heard used in prayer all your  life, and you use them, because they are good fillers, and they sound spiritual.  Instead I find myself wanting to simply talk to God like I would talk with you.  Still preserving reverence, but abandoning ritualistic cliches.   Young has artistically painted a picture of a God who truly desires relationship with us, a pure, real, un-fabricated, even raw at times, type of relationship with me.  And to Mr Young I say thank you.

So there you have, lets keep the conversation rolling:

Jo

Man. . . my little JoJo is turning three years old today. . . and I can’t believe it.  Of all of my three Josie is the one that most people don’t know much about.  She likes to play the shy one, the one whose a little harder to get to know.  She has her favorite people that’s for sure, and if you happen to be one of her favorites, you know it.  And if you’re not, then you know that too.  Josie has always had the strangest mix of people that at the moment she saw them, she would burst into tears.  I thought she was past all of that, maybe that it was just a two year old thing until Sunday when she saw a couple brothers that go to our church, and she cried buckets of tears.  She hates for people at restraunts to come sing “Happy Birthday” at our table, so you can imagine that won’t be happening tonight.  She’s addicted to Orange Juice, drinks it like its water.  When i come home from work, she meets me with wide open arms saying “Daddy I want to hold you.”

For her to be so scared of some people, she loves to be tossed up in the air like a floppy little bean bag.  I can do all kinds of tricks with her (safe one’s of course) and she’ll laugh and beg for me to do it again.  She’s a snuggler.  She can melt my heart with a simple “Daddy I love you.”  The other night our family was praying together, and she whispered loudly, “don’t forget to pray for my birthday.”  Later she crawled up in my lap as I was praying and tried to pry my eyes open.  When I opened them voluntarily, she laughed like a hyena.

I could go on telling you crazy little things about this crazy little kid.  She makes me smile just thinking about her.

Anyhow its the big number 3 for her today. So would you join me in wishing my little JoJo a Happy 3rd Birthday?

The Shack

Well I know I’m pretty late to the bandwagon of people who have read The Shack, by William Young.  And I have to be honest and tell you that it took me some time to read this “Best Seller.”  I know of people like my mom and several others that have read the book in one day.  Well not me.

Anyhow, I finished it last night and. . . I have good news and I have bad news about what I thought of the book.  So . . . I’ll tell you what I thought tomorrow.

Until then, I’d love to hear what you thought about the book.  I’m sure you’re one of the gazillion people who’ve read it.

SO. . .  tell me.

More to come tomorrow.

The Disease to Please

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to listen to Craig Groeschel speak at the C3 Conference in Dallas, about the Disease to Please.  I have to admit to you that its the only note sheet that I apparently kept of all the phenomenal speakers that spoke.  Don’t worry I still have notes saved somewhere on my computer.  But, this talk was particularly impacting for me.  Let me share some of the main points from his talk:

Becoming obsessed with what PEOPLE think about you is the quickest way to forget what GOD thinks about you.

Paul says in Galations 1:10 NLT – “Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser!  No I am trying to please God.  If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.”  (Ouch)

People who are people pleasers:

Take most criticism PERSONALLY

Feel an extraordinary fear of REJECTION

Find it hard to express their true FEELINGS

Have a hard time saying “NO”

“The Disease to Please is actually an ADDICTION“

People pleasing is a form of IDOLATRY

John 12:42-43 – . . . But because fo the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

People pleasing traps

Proverbs 29:25 – Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trust in the LORD is kept safe.

The word for trap in this verse literally means a noose for catching animals or a hook for the nose.  So the picture of a person who fears man is one who is led around by others with a hook in their nose.

That trap is a:

I will COMPROMISE for you trap
I will over-COMMIT for you trap
I will let you limit my SUCCESS trap.

The fear of GOD is the best antidote for the fear of PEOPLE

Psalm 34:9 NLT – Let the LORD’s people show him reverence, for those who honor him will have all they need.

1 Thessalonians 2:4,6 – We are not trying to please men but God, who test our hearts. . . We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

Some of the other “extra” points that he made were these:

The higher God takes you the more people will hate you.

The more He does through you the more people will come at you.

If you are concerned about what people think about you, then YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL!

When you have the approval of God you have all you need.

I cannot begin to tell you what an issue The Disease to Please has been for me in my life.  Now after 34 years, I’m finally learning that if God isn’t pleased with me then I’ve got bigger problems to worry about than worrying about what someone else thinks about me.  I’ve spent too many sleepless nights wondering what other people thought about me, wondering why someone said what they said to me, why they acted the way they did.  Sometimes living in absolute paranoia.  Its a debilitating disease.

But I’m letting God heal me.  I want to do what I can to live at peace with all people, as much as it depends upon me.  But at the point that I have to choose between pleasing God or pleasing others, I am compelled, I have to please Him.

I’m not there yet, getting there with His help.

Relate?

Facebook

I abso-feakin-lutely love the connectivity that has come through facebook.  It has been so cool to reconnect with friends from years and years ago.  Its cool to see photos of friends, their kids, some of the cool places they’ve been and some of the cool things they’ve done.  Facebook is really a pretty cool social networking tool.  But I gotta tell you that there are just some things that drive me crazy about Facebook.   This guy has done an excellent job highlighting some of my more favorite reasoons why “I hate facebook.”  Can you identify with him on any of these?

Einstein (the bird).

For the last two years, we’ve had a friend that comes to visit us around this time of year.  His name is Einstein.  We know Einstein has arrived when we start hearing a a non-rhythmic tapping on our garage window.  It actually sounds like he’s throwing rocks at our window, but actually he’s throwing his entire body against the window.

He starts up in the tree or sitting on the fence beside our garage and then appears to fly full force into the window.  He then lands on the electrical box beside the window and looks a

little bewildered, uncertain as to why he can’t make it through the window.

Then he flies back over to the fence as if he’s reconsidering his options, his approach, his speed or something, and in a minute or two, wham he tries it again.

Another Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I cannot tell you HOW MANY WAYS this little guy’s reminds me of myself my own life, and my feeble attempts to get things right.  I know this much, my head hurts from crashing into the window.

So . . . . can you relate to Einstein?

What are you saying?

For Jacob it was a limp.  For Moses it was his face that he had to cover with a veil.  For Peter, it was simply the way he spoke to crowds of people.  But in every one of these cases, it was obvious these people had experienced and encounter with God.

So the question I’m asking myself, is this “How can people tell that I’ve been with God?”  Is it obvious that I’m a Christ-follower?  Is there something different about the way I walk out my daily life, something different about my countenance, or something different in the way that I talk to people, that would cause them to say, “Wow, there is something different about that guy!   Dude’s been with Jesus!”

Whether we like it or not we’re all communicating something by the way we live, the smiles,  or lack thereof, on our faces, or by the words that come from our lips.

So . . . what are you saying with your life?

My Letter.

I decided last year that I wanted to start a new tradition this year.  From this year forward I hope to write a letter to each of my girls on their birthdays.  I want it to be something, that they will keep long after they’ve moved into their own life.  These letters may not mean much now, but I believe they will be something that will hold a great deal of meaning in years to come.  I see it as a way for me to speak my wisdom, and blessing over their lives.  My only regret is that I didn’t start writing them sooner.

I know its a personal letter from me to her, but I felt like it was a challenge that we all deserve to hear.  So if you’ll indulge me this one post, I’d like to dedicate this one to my little princess:

Dear Makenzie,

Well its finally here.  Your 8th birthday!  You’ve been counting down for the last 364 days to this day, and its finally here.  I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to this day so you could say that you’re another year older, but I have a sneaky feeling you like the fact that this day is all about you.  And you know what?  It is.  It’s all about you my little Princess.

I have to be honest and tell you that I haven’t been as excited about this day, for one little reason:  you’re growing up SO fast.  I can’t sit for very long thinking over the last 8 years, remembering all of the funny, sweet and loving things you’ve done with out tearing up.  I’m already sprinkling my keyboard with tears as I type this.  I wish I could slow you down, put more hours in a day, more days in a week, more months in a year so you wouldn’t grow as fast.  But that’s impossible.  And if I could it would be selfish. So, since this day isn’t about me and what I want, and its about you I want to share my birthday wish with you.

Makenzie, my wish for you today is that you never loose your love for life.  Whether dancing in a recital, learning to play a new note on your violin, or learning a new cheer, you know how to go at every life experience with wide eyed wonder.  You’re driven by your desire to simply have fun.  To enjoy life.

Sadly, you will encounter those who try to damper your love for life.  But I pray that you never stop laughing, jumping, dancing, cheering, shouting; having fun.  Never let anyone or anything stop you from twirling, singing, or skipping.  Guard those things, hold them dear to you, because they are indicative of a person who appreciates, no better yet, who loves life.  As you get older some people may try to tell you to “grow up” “stop being silly” “act your age.”  I’m afraid I may have even be guilty of being that way with you from time to time.  But you know what I’ve learned?  Those are the words of dead people.  They’ve lost their ability to be childlike, to  laugh, or dance, or skip.  And in a way, they’re dead.

But you my dear, you are alive, fully and completely. The twinkle in your eyes, the smile of your face, the bounce of your hair, they only accentuate the life that pulsates through your soul.  And I say to you live, live life to the fullest, and love every minute of it.

That’s my wish for you today, on your 8th birthday.  I love you Makenzie, very much and I hope you have a very very happy birthday.

All of my love,

Daddy