I confess that I did not watch a single moment of the Masters this year \u2013 first time in a long time. I did, however, watch nearly all of a fairly meaningless NASCAR race at Texas. I confess that I am wondering if this says something about me as a person.<\/p>\n
I confess that I\u2019m still feeling sad that Brennan Manning is gone. More than that, though, I\u2019m feeling such profound gratitude for his life. He was the first writer and speaker I ever encountered who spoke about the grace of God as though he had actually experienced it. Brennan was able to break through my Southern Baptist defenses to speak to me about God\u2019s love for me as I am, not as I should be. I had been exposed to so many youth camp evangelists, scaring the crap out of kids until they were so convinced God would gleefully torture them if they didn\u2019t say a prescribed prayer. After years of that stuff I had become inured to the\u00a0simplicity of the gospel. But Brennan got through to me. Brennan didn\u2019t use my brokenness against me. Instead he talked about God\u2019s love for the ragamuffin. I think sometimes that Manning\u2019s Ragamuffin Gospel was the turning point in my spiritual life \u2013 that would have been the fall of 1994? Maybe a little sooner. God bless Brennan Manning.<\/p>\n
I confess that it seems like a strange coincidence that Brennan Manning has died during the same time that I\u2019m re-reading A Prayer for Owen Meany<\/em>. I think it\u2019s my 6th reading. It\u2019s a coincidence because I found Owen Meany and Brennan Manning at the same time, both through the influence of Rich Mullins, who is also dead. Brennan, Owen, and Rich are all dead, and yet their lives still bear such tremendous meaning to me. I think about them all the time and their memories are linked. It seems strange to me that my kids will never love Brennan or Rich like I did \u2013 at least that\u2019s my guess. I\u2019m happy that they might still love Owen Meany, though. I wish they could love all three, because it sometimes feels like these three guys saved me.<\/p>\n I confess that for the first time, my reading of\u00a0A Prayer for Owen Meany <\/em>comes in the form of an audiobook. The man reading it did such a great job with Owen\u2019s voice that it\u2019s been a really fresh encounter with the book for me. I\u2019ve read the paperback so many times, but this felt like a new experience. I confess that I am trying to figure out a time when I can listen to the end & have a good cry. I always cry during the last chapter.<\/p>\n I confess that we took our kids to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in town this weekend. I confess that it was pretty emotional for me to read and learn about this period in American history. I confess that my kids were fairly underwhelmed. They liked the baseball part, but the social issues were completely lost on them. It\u2019s interesting to see how quickly social issues change between generations. Our kids will grow up in a completely post-modern America. Issues such as sexuality, poverty, and racism will be very different for them than they were for me. I hope that they are equipped to deal with them faithfully. I confess that I constantly worry about being able to teach my kids to think of themselves as Christians first, not Americans first.<\/p>\n I confess that I am not getting enough sleep these days. I confess that my lack of sleep is not because I\u2019m staying up late. This feels like progress. My lack of sleep comes from getting up earlier. Which feeds my other issue: productivity addiction. \u2026 vicious circle.<\/p>\n Okay friends, I made my confession. Now it\u2019s time for you to make yours!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I confess that I did not watch a single moment of the Masters this year \u2013 first time in a long time. I did, however, watch nearly all of a fairly meaningless NASCAR race at Texas. I confess that I am wondering if this says something about me as a person. I confess that I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[513,233,539,4,18],"class_list":["post-1771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-prayer-for-owen-meany","tag-brennan-manning","tag-john-irving","tag-monday-morning-confessional","tag-rich-mullins"],"yoast_head":"\n