If you don't find yourself in a compelling story you'll be captured by a lesser one.

The Space Between.

March 28, 2012 by 3 Comments
walking_on_water

Recently I have found myself captured by a gospel passage that has come to life for me… again. It is the coming of Jesus to the disciples on the sea (Matthew 14:22-33). 

It is a truly incredible story—one that has spoken to me often through the years in a multitude of ways. But there has been one particular aspect of this story that has been a wonderful source of reflection for me lately. It involves that sacred space that Jesus invites Peter to step out into.

It is the space between…

between the boat and Jesus…

 

between letting go and being taken hold of…

 

 

between the old and familiar and the new and unknown…

 

 

between control and agenda and dependence and detachment.

 

 

It is a space that is both completely terrifying and unbelievably exciting. 

 

 

 

It is the space before your answer has come or your problem has been fixed. 

 

 

 

 

 

It is the space where you must trust the heart of God alone for your life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is the space of genuine transformation.

 

 

It is not a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more. – Henri J. M. Nouwen

 

 

I want more.

I’m stepping out into the space between.

 

What have you found in the space between?

Filed Under: Compelling, Writing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Even if just for a moment.

March 12, 2012 by 4 Comments

A good friend of mine was sitting on the couch in his living room. There were a few people over at his house for a little get-together. It wasn’t much of a party, just a few friends and family mingling, talking, and listening to music.

He sat there on his couch watching his little two and half year old son zig-zag through the guests with what seemed like an infinite amount of energy and spunk. 

There were a few people over in the corner talking and his son went over to check them out. The boy noticed one of them was holding a guitar. He stared at it, and then looked up at the man. He smiled and began strumming his own imaginary guitar. Those huddled in the corner laughed and told him to, “rock on!” 

The boy seemed satisfied as he turned and ran away. His father, watching the entire interaction from the couch, tried to get his son’s attention but the boy ran over to the opposite side of the room. 

There he found a few of the guests huddled around a table of refreshments. The boy raised up on his tip-toes while clutching the edge of the table. His eyes were on level with the plate of cookies perfectly within reach. His father looked on from a distance wondering if his son would reach up and grab one. Sure enough, his little arm stretched out and snatched one. 

The boy shoved the whole cookie in his mouth, wasting no time with bites. 

My friend sat silently watching his son but desperately wanted him to come sit on his lap. He wanted to hold him and ask him how the cookie tasted, but his son was distracted and didn’t notice his father. He quickly ran out of the living room and out of sight. 

It didn’t take long before he bolted back into the room. Now, however, he was holding his Superman action figure and flying him around the room making the flying noises that all little boys make when they are two years old.

My friend called out to his son but he didn’t hear him.

He called out again.

But his son wasn’t listening.

His son didn’t even know he was there, sitting and watching his every move.

My friend smiled at his son. A great joy welled up within him. If only he would come over here and let me hug him. If only he would slow down and let me hold him for just a second. If only. 

And it was at that very moment my friend realized he was no different from his little boy. He too had been distracted and preoccupied by others and interested in anything and everything but stopping to sit and be held by his Father. 

God had been watching him too.

Calling out to him.

Finding great joy in His son.

Watching his every move.

But desperately wanting him to come and sit with Him.

Even if just for a moment.

 

What are you distracted with today that is keeping you from spending time with God, or realizing that he is right there with you, watching you, and finding great joy in you?  

 

 

Filed Under: Family, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Trading it all in for $50 a month

February 15, 2012 by 10 Comments
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In 1961 a young, tired, weary-striken man stood in an unemployment line.

He had nothing to eat and nothing to bring home to his pregnant wife. He believed God was going to provide, but even more, he believed in those who committed to stand behind him financially as he and his wife settled as missionaries on the Texas-Mexico border. If only he know how far behind them they were going to stand. He hadn’t heard from any of them in weeks and their initial support had run out.

With no other options, Allen found himself standing in line waiting for a hand out.

Allen was able to work as a butcher. It was the work God had blessed him with prior to leaving for the mission field. And, it was his only marketable skill that allowed him to sign up for unemployment.

Fifty dollars a month—that’s what they offered him.

However, In order to receive the unemployment money he had to sign an agreement to take a job as a butcher if one became available. Allen trusted in God’s provision, but couldn’t figure out how He was going to provide food for him and his pregnant wife. By signing the agreement to take the next available job he would be disobeying what he felt God was calling him to do—to be a missionary. God had called him to minister to the poor and the hungry in Mexico as a missionary and he couldn’t do that working as a butcher.

If a job comes available, he thought, I just won’t accept it. But that would by lying.

Desperate, hungry, and with no hope he signed the agreement—for fifty dollars.

Allen set off from the unemployment office to the nearby grocery store to get what he and his wife needed. Standing in the aisle looking at orange juice a familiar voice entered his head, “You fool. You just traded all I could do for you away for fifty dollars a month.”

Did I really just trade it all in for a petty fifty dollars, he thought. Is my faith only worth fifty dollars?

Immediately he ran back to the unemployment office. The women working there thought he was crazy, and maybe he was, but if being crazy meant trusting in God he didn’t want to be sane.

He handed the money back.

Allen chose trusting God over taking the fifty dollars. He chose to fall back into the arms of the Father in desperation, but full of trust. Can the poor and hungry minister to the poor and hungry? They sure can.

Allen and his wife continued ministering to the poor and hungry on the Texas-Mexico border that very day and many more to come.

God provided for them that week through an anonymous supporter. Then, God provided for them every year thereafter for forty-nine straight years. Forty-nine years of ministry and it all started with surrender.

To this day, Allen still can’t believe he was going to trade it all away for fifty dollars a month.

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This is a true story of my friend, Allen, who is now 74 years old and lives here in northeast Ohio. His life is full of stories like this one. I hope by the time I’m 74 I have as much faith as this man had at the age of 23.

Allen would want me to tell you that above all else God wants to use simplified vesssels to write into the story of His kingdom. Being a simplified vessel starts with surrender and trust.

Are you living a story of surrender and trust?

Filed Under: Faith, Story-Formed, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Free eBook: Just a Little Bit More

January 31, 2012 by 15 Comments
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How much money is enough?

How much power is enough?

How much sex, happiness, peace, coffee, sleep, ______, is enough?

Have you ever asked yourself, “How much of God is enough?”

Most Christians are content not asking that question. What matters most to us is limiting God to a manageable, measurable amount so that we can remain in control of our lives. We treat God this way but relate to everything else in our lives like raving consumers. We want more money, more power, more free-time, more sleep, more sex, more M&M’s, more of everything, except God.

What if our consumer tendencies are a result of something good that went terribly wrong when sin and chaos entered the world?

What if God desperately wants us to realize we need more and more and more of Him?

I wrote a 25-page ebook that discusses our problem with consumerism and how it ironically might just be the answer to our problems with relating to God. And this ebook is available for FREE!

 

How to get the Free eBook:

In order to receive the free ebook, simply subscribe to the Compelling Parade Newsletter by entering your email into the field below and hitting enter. This will automatically subscribe you to free biweekly updates via the newsletter. (I always respect your privacy, and you can opt out at any time.) Once you confirm your email address, you’ll receive a private link to download the PDF of the free ebook. 


 

Connect

I’ve been working hard and excitement has been building up to this day. After you download and read the free eBook, Just a Little Bit More, I encourage you to share your thoughts, discuss the content, or leave feedback. 

If you like the eBook, or it impacted you in some way, I’d love to hear about it. Also, I want to encourage you to share it with others!

Thanks!

Filed Under: Books, Compelling, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

On Blogging, Writing, and Shipping

January 25, 2012 by 13 Comments
Photo by Kriss Szkurlatowski

Photo by Kriss Szkurlatowski

Blogging is like throwing a party and inviting all your friends, neighbors, strangers, and family over for a great time. It’s spontaneous and organic. Open up the doors, turn up the music, start the fellowship, and…let’s do it again tomorrow.

Writing is like locking yourself in a room with only your words to keep you company while you dream that one day you will open the doors to the rest of the world. It’s scary, lonely, requires massive amounts of patience, and…the door may never open.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately—stuck in my locked little room. The microwave mentality of our culture has created a lot of tension for me while I sit alone in my private, locked room. “Time to market” is a desirable quality for anyone who creates art, produces a product, or anyone who simply wants to launch an idea. 

“How fast can I get this done and delivered?”

This is what makes blogging attractive and fruitful. It is the perfect medium for efficiently and consistently shipping your product.

Writing is a completely different animal though and I must remind myself this at all times. Writing cares little for the one-click-action of publishing but thrives on the long-winded marathon process of polishing.

Over the past year I’ve been working on writing a book. I have about 40,000 words completed on my first draft. Who knows if anyone will ever read even one of those words? They may forever stay locked up in my little room. But, I’m okay with that.

In the past few months I’ve also been working on writing a short ebook to give away for free. After roughly 6,000 words, edits, re-edits, formatting, and polishing I am nearly ready to “ship” my product. There is no right way to release an ebook or self-publish anymore. I’m committed to failing as much as I am to succeeding.

By this time next week I will be ready to crack open the door to my little room—but just a little bit. I’m excited, and I hope you are too.

If you blog or if you write, what do you like most about it and what challenges have you experienced?

Share your blog link in the comments, or share a link to something you’ve written. I’d love for you to share it here.

Filed Under: Community, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

A Blog Sabbatical

January 2, 2012 by 24 Comments
Will_Return_sign

Update 1/2/12: My blog sabbatical is being extended through the end of January and the ebook will be available on February 1, 2012.

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Tomorrow, December 1st, I will begin my first ever blog sabbatical.

After 400 blog posts and two and half years I am taking the entire month of December and January off from blogging. I will stick around on twitter and reading/commenting on other blogs but I won’t be publishing any content here on the Compelling Parade.

The reason? I need time away to focus on family, rest, and most importantly on writing – not blogging.

A year ago I decided to write a book and, at first, had great passion in the project. Yet, over the past few months my drive and initiative in cranking out content has diminished greatly. Blogging doesn’t take up too much of my time but it steals away my passion and clarity for the book project. I only have so much bandwidth! I am about 70% complete with the content for the book and plan a major push toward the finish line this December. Those words may never make it to print, but I am committing 100% to this project.

Therefore, I will be back to blogging on February 1, 2012.

eBook

I wrote a short ebook that is a preface to the larger book project I’m writing. My goal is to have that formatted and ready to give away for free starting February 1st.

Here is an excerpt from the eBook:

Christians realized the world runs on consumerism and instead of combating it they adopted the same mentality in their churches. They started to design worship services to tug at people’s emotions and offer an entertainment value. Churches began treating its members and visitors as consumers instead of disciples. Sunday morning gatherings operated more like an experience at the drive-thru of a fast food joint rather than a house of prayer. When confronted with sharing the gospel with perpetual consumers and those who are on the cutting edge of society the strategies changed from worshipping in spirit and truth to entertaining with oohs and aahs. We traded in the power of God for the something far less compelling.

In reality, a secularized society wants nothing to do with a secular Church with secular theology and secularized Christians. When that happens, the Church becomes just another item on a consumers menu—but one today’s generation thinks should be on the senior citizen’s menu. It comes across as boring, lame, and old-fashioned. Christian leaders have attempted to present Christianity as something compelling but in the end it’s being presented no different from the rest of the world.

However, there is something radically different about the true Church and the true message of Christianity that the world is not seeing because it is being masked by secularized Christianity. And ironically, it is eerily similar to the idea of consumerism.

As you grow in intimacy with God and His perfect will for your life you might just find that your thirst for Him isn’t quenched, but amplified. Could it be true that the more intense and consistent time we spend with God doesn’t always result in contentment, but rather in a deeper thirst and desire for the things of God?

We should end up wanting more and more and more of God—sounds a lot like consumerism.

I hope that gives you a little insight into where I’ve been tracking for the past year and half. I’m really excited to see how this will turn out and the best part is that I’m giving it away for free!

Thank You

If you already subscribe to this blog I want to thank you for reading and being a part of the blog. I greatly appreciate your readership, friendship, encouragement, and critique. Please do NOT unsubscribe! I will be returning on January 2nd with a bang and you will be the first to know.

If you’re new here or don’t already subscribe to the Compelling Parade I urge you to do one or more of the following:

Thank you again and have a wonderful December, Christmas, and New Years.

See you soon!

-Ryan 

Have  you ever taken a sabbatical from something?

What is a project you’re working to finish, but can’t seem to have enough time?

Filed Under: Books, Compelling, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Handwritten Guest Post

November 21, 2011 by 4 Comments
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If you’ve never struggled with timidity, fear, or unbelief than this post is not for you. But if you have, than head over to Michael Perkin’s blog to see my handwritten post for today. 

I am guest posting today over at the The Handwritten blog. Click the link to make the jump! See you over there, thanks.

 

Filed Under: Guest Blogging, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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