Author: Roger Edwards

A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations…

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry If I heard this right on Youtube, Harry didn’t mean this as a compliment. But limitations are a compliment. They are a grace. If you want to be human, you have to know your limitations – but even more – you have to embrace them. You have to learn to love them. Your limitations are a gift from God. They make you what you are made to be. Let me explain –  if you were physically boundless – how could you be held by a… Continue reading A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations…

Homesickness

  “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” – Augustine If I am made for God, then I am vastly deep. Perhaps bottomless. On the outside, I am finite: enclosed by skin, limited in reach. But on the inside, I am infinite: eternity set upon my heart. I feel the ache sometimes. But it makes me uneasy; I try to ignore it. I concentrate on the outside. I work to extend my reach; stretch my dollars, speed up my… Continue reading Homesickness

Equipping the Community

    The Barnabas Center believes that God uses struggle to lead people back to Him. Therefore, our goal has always been to join people in struggle in order to discover how God might use it for good. Yes, we hope to relieve pain – the searing grief, the shame of a failure or the wound of betrayal. Yes, we want people to experience healing and reconciliation. But we have always wanted more. We want struggle to bring us back to a fundamental truth about ourselves: that we are dependent… Continue reading Equipping the Community

How to Be Loved

  My 2014 goal is ‘Be Loved’. This year, I want to live under, in and through God’s love. I want to accept it, as a gift. I want to rest on its abundance. I don’t want to live another year pretending like I don’t need love. I know what that’s like. It has all the desperate stress of living a lie, since, of course, it is a lie. You say, “I’m fine,” even when you’re not. You hide joy, even when you feel it. Not too high; not too… Continue reading How to Be Loved

Be Loved

  “If God is love….what does that make me?” I’ve made my list of 2014 goals. Most of them are measurable. Like: Work out at least 3 times a week. Or before my counseling day begins – I will take 5 minutes (I use a timer) and be quiet, I will breathe in the grace of that moment. Those are good goals according to what the ‘goal experts’ recommend. They are specific (work out, create a practice prior to counseling) and they are measurable (3 times a week, 5 minutes).… Continue reading Be Loved

Prepare For Christmas – The Shepherds

The third angelic visitation occurred to shepherds who were minding their own business, which is to say that they were minding sheep. They weren’t preparing for Christmas; they were preparing for bed. At this odd point (in the middle of the night) and at this odd place (in the middle of a field) the “angel of the Lord appeared to them.” I might add that the angel appeared “to these odd characters,” for it seems odd that shepherds would be included. Shepherds, as you might imagine, were a crusty, mangy sort, often… Continue reading Prepare For Christmas – The Shepherds

Prepare for Christmas – Mary

“…God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee to virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph…” The first thing you notice about how Mary approached Christmas is that she wasn’t (approaching Christmas). It came to her. “God sent the angel…” and initiates the encounter. The heavenly message drastically upended the course of Mary’s expectation. She had no plans to be “Mary, mother of God”. She was going to be “Mrs. Joseph, wife of carpenter”. She was going to raise a family in a little (well-built) home in… Continue reading Prepare for Christmas – Mary

Prepare For Christmas – Zechariah

The first ‘fear not’ visitation was the Archangel Gabriel’s visit to the priest Zechariah announcing that his prayer – his decades-long prayer for a child had been heard. The news, designed to bring ‘joy and delight’ to Zechariah, first produced fright. So what’s up with that? Why the scare? Do you have to be off-balance – in order to receive good news? I can relate to Gabriel’s mission. As a boy, if I knew my older sister was going into our unfinished basement, say to get something from the freezer, I would… Continue reading Prepare For Christmas – Zechariah

Prepare For Christmas

  Three angelic visits occasion the birth of Christ. Three times, heaven touches down upon the earth. Three times, the earth tilts awkwardly under the weight of glory. Three times, the witnesses are thrown off-balance. And that is how you prepare for Christmas. You begin the journey to Christmas – not by getting your bearings – but by losing them.  The three visits are as dreadful as they are fascinating. First, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah while he was burning incense in the temple to tell him of the coming birth of John… Continue reading Prepare For Christmas

Adam’s First Feeling

“…every instant of conscious life is an unimaginable prodigy.” GK Chesterton   If you watched me closely, you might conclude that I don’t like surprises – even pleasant ones. If complimented, I stiffen my facial muscles to conceal my pleasure. If life is good, I comment upon it more like an observer than a participant. “Yes – nice weather.” “I had a good weekend.” I manage conversations with practiced protocols – predictions of your part and repetitions of my part – lest the interchange open me up. Yes, if you… Continue reading Adam’s First Feeling