Blake's Blog : For-'mā-shәn

Blake: Purpose in pain

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:15:00 GMT

Life is not fair. It is not easy, and it is certainly not comfortable. OK. I could have found more encouraging words with which start today, but I wonder if maybe this is where we need to start. I am beginning to wonder if somehow many of us in American Christianity have bought into the idea that following Christ should somehow make life easier and more comfortable. I am beginning to wonder because in the past several months pain and suffering have come home to roost in my own life and I find myself a bit shocked and surprised.More...

Blake: Moving from community to redemptive community

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:02:00 GMT

Tomorrow morning fourteen of us board a plane headed for Lima, Peru where for twelve days we will be ministering for the gospel. I am jazzed about the whole thing for a couple of reasons. First, we are flying Delta and that means all the Biscoff cookies I can eat. There is just something about Belgian ginger-flavored shortbread that I can’t get enough of. I wonder how many a person really can eat in nine hours of total air time? Second, I am really excited because four of us are all from the same community group.More...

Blake: Working inside-out

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:30:00 GMT

This past Saturday, my family spent the day doing Halloween stuff. We dressed up and headed out for some candy at ZooBoo. We made some plans to do a little trick-or-treating with some friends. And, we carved some pumpkins. This was actually the first year we have carved pumpkins as a family, something previously restricted for those less certain and sure with a knife. I am talking about me, not my kids. With safety knives in hand and permission to use them, we dug in.More...

Blake: God is Father

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:45:00 GMT

I spent the majority of the day in the Emergency Room with our son, the consequence of an upper-respiratory virus gone bad. The diagnosis on Saturday was pneumonia in the lower right lobe. The x-ray today showed that in spite of a heavy antibiotic the pneumonia had spread, but I already knew that. All I had to do was look at our little guy’s labored breathing and I knew that we weren’t moving in the right direction. As I watched him lying lethargically there on the hospital gurney, I felt helpless. All the wrong thoughts floated through my mind like a bad dream, only I wasn’t asleep and the thoughts were stuck on replay. What if they can’t figure out what is wrong with him? What if it moves to the other lung? What if his oxygen saturation continues to drop? What if we become one of “those” parents? What if?More...

Blake: A path to wholeness

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:53:00 GMT

This week marks the start of Celebrate Recovery as a ministry for us at Browncroft. Chances are you have seen a postcard, a video, or a bulletin announcement about it. And, chances are you probably still have some questions about it. Questions like, what is it? Is it for me? What happens? Etc. I suppose I could just tick through the particulars and encourage you to come. I don’t think I want to do that. It is so boring. So predictable and left-brain. So unlike Celebrate Recovery. Celebrate Recovery isn’t about particulars. It is about healing, so let me tell you a story of healing. . .mine.More...

Blake: The role of community

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:22:00 GMT

I ran my first marathon yesterday. Let’s just say that it was the most excruciating and difficult single event I have ever done. Sixteen of the twenty six miles were all uphill. By mile eighteen, my legs were cramping so badly that I could barely walk much less run. By mile twenty I didn’t know if I should cry, scream, lay down and die, or do it all at the same time. By mile twenty two all I could say was “Dear God!” At mile twenty four I kept asking why I was doing this to myself. In the end, I finished. I ran across the finish line with both my kids running the last two-tenths with me. As I sit this morning reflecting on yesterday, I realize that I never could have finished if I hadn’t had help along the way.More...

Blake: The tension of grace

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:02:00 GMT

I have been thinking a good bit about life-change lately. Specifically, I have been thinking about the role of grace and the tension it creates in life. I was always taught that salvation was by grace (Eph. 2.1-10). That meant that God was responsible for saving me. All I had to do was ask and it happened. I couldn’t do anything at all to earn salvation. In fact, I wasn’t supposed to do anything at all. That would be “working for my salvation.” That was contrary to grace so I just sat around waiting on God’s great gift of salvation. Now, I believe that the life of Christ and Scripture teach that salvation is a gift from God. It is by grace. The rub comes in how responding to this gift actually plays out in life as we experience it.More...

Blake: Training and the life of Christ

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:51:00 GMT

A week from Sunday I am headed to the Adirondacks to run my first marathon. To say that I am jazzed is a bit of an understatement. Running a marathon has been a dream of mine for the past fifteen years. So, the obvious question. Why now, after fifteen years are you just now running one? The issue isn’t that I haven’t tried. The reality is that I have tried and failed.More...

Blake: Preparing the soil

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:32:00 GMT

This summer was so hot. I would go outside and ask myself, “Isn’t New York supposed to be cool in the summertime?” My poor air conditioner faced numerous days where it never cut off and still couldn’t keep up with the heat. The thing that got the worst of it this summer was my yard. It was a sultry day in July when the mercury hit 103 degrees that my lawn finally waved the white flag. I think I actually heard it sigh as it gave up the ghost, turning a crispy brown. However, my lawn wasn’t the only one. Everybody’s lawn in my neighborhood was a loving brown, the color of fried chicken that has spent too much time in the fryer.More...

Blake: A loving God

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:47:00 GMT

Last week I wrote about coming to a point in our lives that we experience a loving relationship with God. As I have chewed on that thought myself, I have wondered. Do I really believe that God loves me? Better yet, do I believe that God is love? I am not talking about what I say I believe, but what I really believe, that which is demonstrated in my actions. For me, it is an important question. If I am to be loved by God and love Him in return then He needs to be loving in His character. So is He?More...