I confess that it is insanely cold outside, -8 degrees at my house last night, and yet still I love winter. When I start to think it\u2019s too cold, I just imagine how cranky I would be if it was 110 degrees outside today (the summer equivalent to our current cold snap). Then I remember how much I love winter, and I find myself thankful for the cold. At least with the snow and the cold there\u2019s a bit of excitement and even joy involved (especially when the kids learned school was cancelled for today).<\/p>\n
I confess that even while I\u2019m enjoying the winter, I have been worrying about those who are a part of our Redemption Church family who are living off the grid. I hope you guys are safe today, and at least relatively warm. I confess that I\u2019m grateful for those who took people in, or made sure they had a hotel room for a couple of days.<\/p>\n
I confess that there is something deeply spiritual and important about learning how to hold the hand of people who are so broken that they will probably never get fixed this side of forever. It reminds me of how utterly broken I am, and how I\u2019ll probably never get totally fixed this side of forever, either. It also does something very important in our own character as disciples. We need the poor much more than we realize. We need to know their names and hear their stories and care about them, even if they are perishing under the weight of their own lives. This is an important part of our discipleship, the chief impact of which will not be upon their<\/em> lives, but upon ours<\/em>.<\/p>\n I confess that I went to turn the water on in our church kitchen just now and nothing came out. I\u2019m assuming this means that pipes are frozen somewhere, and that this is not an issue that is free or cheap to fix. I confess that I\u2019m thinking that putting an \u201cout of order\u201d sign on the faucet is not a long term solution\u2026 no?<\/p>\n I confess that I\u2019m drawing to the end of Doris Kearns Goodwin\u2019s new book,\u00a0Bully Pulpit<\/em>. What a good read this has been. I\u2019ve been thinking about how many similarities there are between the world of 100 years ago, and today\u2019s world, especially in regard to income inequality and the power of corporations. I confess that as I\u2019m reading this book, I\u2019ve wondered what happened to the good progressive republicans like Teddy Roosevelt. I don\u2019t see any today. This can\u2019t be good.<\/p>\n I confess that I\u2019m getting itchy to go on a trip. I think that the earliest I\u2019ll get to go exploring will be a family trip to Sunlight Mountain for spring break. I\u2019m already getting excited about it.<\/p>\n I confess that my friend Chaim is reading Jayber Crow<\/em> right now. He joins the small ranks of friends who have jumped into the Port William membership, which is small\u2026 really small. Mostly I\u2019m talking about Kate, Chaim, Savage & me. That\u2019s not enough. I\u2019m wondering if there might be a few I\u2019ve missed? I think that I might be ready to say that Jayber Crow<\/em> has officially moved into a tie with Owen Meany<\/em> for fictional people that I wish were actually real. The problem is that with Jayber, of course, you\u2019d have to bring that whole town to life\u2026 which is, after all, part of Wendell Berry\u2019s point.<\/p>\n Okay friends, that\u2019s my confession for this Monday. Time for you to make yours:<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I confess that it is insanely cold outside, -8 degrees at my house last night, and yet still I love winter. When I start to think it\u2019s too cold, I just imagine how cranky I would be if it was 110 degrees outside today (the summer equivalent to our current cold snap). Then I remember […]<\/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":[513,856,781,855,4,232],"class_list":["post-2618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-prayer-for-owen-meany","tag-bully-pulpit","tag-doris-kearns-goodwin","tag-jayber-crow","tag-monday-morning-confessional","tag-wendell-berry"],"yoast_head":"\n