brian shivers

"Have you asked Jesus into your heart?" So goes the ubiquitous question at many Christian conferences, camps, and youth group meetings. The response to which gives measurable results of the "success" of such gatherings and ministry. As if giving assent with raised hand or an emotional walk down the aisle was the end goal toward which we are working and for which the Christ lived and died. The focus on a raised hand response has left us in the shallows of measurable results. We are called into deeper waters. Waters that seem to have an unfathomable depth.  Faith is more than a heart thing. It is more than putting a date on a calendar when Jesus came into my heart. Faith and discipleship must be about a transformation of not just our hearts, but our eyes, our hands, and our minds, as well.  Faith must lead to a transformation of the manner in which we see our world and the individuals we engage around us every day.  Faith must lead to a transformation of the manner in...

There seems to be nothing but fear all around us. From the unexplained things that go bump in the night and the imagined situations that clutter the day to the newest sound bite from the loudest voice pointing out the next and newest source of anxiety, life is full of fear.  That is the poisonous mixture found in the snake oil we have been sold? That is the pot of stew for which we have traded the promise? Despite what the hawkers say the snake oil leaves behind nothing more than a vile odor.  Despite how good the stew might taste going down it cannot satiate the hunger that inevitably returns. In a culture dominated by fear, perhaps it is time.  Time for a different story.  Time to choose "the more excellent way." Today, I choose love.  Love instead of hate.  Love instead of misrepresentation.  Love instead of othering.  Love instead of objectification.  Love instead of seeing the speck in your eye when I have a log in my own.  Love ins...