A Word on Presumption

A Word on Presumption

Vernon was a 22-year-old, born-again Christian when he fell in love with a pastor’s daughter. While praying for divine guidance, he supposedly found his Bible open at Isaiah 34 and noted that verse 16 promised, “none shall be without (their) mate, for the mouth of the Lord has commanded…” Convinced it was a direct message from God, he approached the pastor about his daughter. The pastor expelled him from the church. His daughter was only 15, and some say Vernon got her pregnant.

Vernon’s own mother was 15 and unmarried when he was born. He never knew his father. He lived under his mother’s violent alcoholic boyfriend. Later she dumped Vernon on his grandmother. At age 8, he was allegedly gang-raped by older boys. In school, kids nicknamed him “Mister Retardo,” because he had dyslexia. He dropped out of high school to avoid persecution. It’s not hard to understand how Vernon’s start in life left him vulnerable as a man.

Eventually he changed his name. His new name meant “Cyrus the Great,” in Persian. He came to believe he was God’s own prophet and usurped a Christian religious community with his message. Surprisingly, he taught a lot from the Bible. He also took many wives…Continue reading

Building Vocabulary With God

Building Vocabulary With God

Some might explain these kinds of things away. Not me.

With shining eyes, He looked down the teeter-totter at me and said, “Let’s play!”

If you’ve read my book, Closer Than Your Skin, or my recent blog post, “Closing The Case On God’s Heart,” you might remember those two words. It was the first thing Jesus said to me in a familiar scene from my childhood: I envisioned Jesus sitting on the other end of a teeter-totter with me. I was a young girl holding a heavy globe on my lap, and He was teaching me to roll the earth back to Him.

The conversation on that teeter-totter completely altered my worldview.

That simple playground vision happened during a prayer time at Elijah House in the late 1990s. I’d gone there to do some intentional forgiveness work. While I forgave many people in my life, the big surprise was the tight-fisted unforgiveness I held against God…Continue reading

The Thrash Effect

The Thrash Effect

I was traveling home from Cleveland and noticed an article about Ashton Kutcher in the in-flight magazine. Though this popular movie star has had the dubious distinction of being the most followed man on Twitter, the interview wasn’t the usual fare of celebrity worship.

Kutcher stated his aim in life is to generate what he calls “thrash,” or creating movement in a disruptive kind of way. He describes thrash saying it’s like a wake made by a boat, but moving toward some kind of goal. It’s not thrash for the sake of thrash. “Occasionally, you have to be forced outside your comfort zone, right?” he says. “You just gotta have thrash.” Of course his show, Punk’d, is an example of thrash, but came with mixed reviews when his elaborate pranks brought some to tears. Still Kutcher maintains, “If everyone is happy, you’re not doing anything.” I finished the article, but continued thinking about thrash.

Creating movement in a disruptive kind of way.

A few days after my return, Duncan and I went to watch our son’s varsity basketball game. It was senior night, and our team hoped for a win after a losing season. One senior played his best game but fouled out in the fourth quarter. We’d seen a lot of bad ref calls, and that kid was clearly frustrated as he headed to the bench. Tears lined his cheeks.

Then, the coach of the opposing team made an unexpected move…Continue reading