tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296700622024-03-13T02:44:06.768-07:00The Problem with ReligionJonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-60575851522020624052012-10-16T11:50:00.005-07:002012-10-16T11:51:52.968-07:00Mission ChurchBig transition in life. Starting Mission Church. I'm blogging there for the time being. Not sure yet how I'm going to revamp theproblemwithreligion blog. Just wanted you to know where I was!
Peace, Jonathan
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-6068057715234046062012-09-13T11:48:00.000-07:002012-09-13T11:48:35.840-07:00Worship Part II: Worship Changes UsContinued from previous post... Worship is realizing the value of what you are carrying around.
To carry the thought further... additionally you can imagine my father would have made changes based on the realization that there was gold in the rocks. One doesn't find something extraordinary in something ordinary without a reaction. He would have reoriented his life andJonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-59125086414231592602012-09-10T07:55:00.000-07:002012-09-10T07:55:20.671-07:00Worship Part I: Realizing ValueI remember collecting rocks in the mountains as a boy. I had read somewhere that there might be gold in the rocks. My father didn't discourage me. He humored me (and certainly humored himself) by allowing me to bring a box of rocks back home so that I could boil them on my mothers stove to extract the molten gold! I was convinced I was carrying hidden treasure around in Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-9837353156592942752012-08-29T07:20:00.002-07:002012-08-29T07:20:56.981-07:00Discontentment is a BlessingThere is a fine line between marketing and greed. The poor begging for money is one thing. It's not what anyone would suggest is ideal but it's understandable. The rich begging to get richer is another thing. Who could tune into American media without noticing the advertisers attempt at stirring up discontentment? Who could tune into American media without noticing Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-21204564996933907132012-08-19T18:14:00.002-07:002012-08-19T18:17:16.051-07:00Nature
Saturday morning trail I took by the Blue River in Overland Park
Annie Dillard says, "Nature is like one of those line drawings of a tree that are puzzles for children: Can you find hidden in the leaves a duck, a house, a boy, a bucket, a zebra, and a boot?" I think she's saying... can you look hard enough to find a path... to find God?
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-72336214428690084152012-08-12T07:17:00.000-07:002012-08-12T07:17:03.699-07:0021st Century CaveWe've moved all of our stuff into a climate controlled storage unit (my parents basement) and we've moved the remainder of our belongings and ourselves into my Sister and Brother-in-law's extra rooms (their basement). Thankfully, the MidWest has basements otherwise this move wouldn't have been possible. We've moved here to start something. But in order to start something you Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-60173635841554349712012-08-07T06:36:00.000-07:002012-08-07T06:36:05.767-07:00SlowAnything worth doing is worth doing slow.
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-40917624113791278462012-07-29T22:38:00.000-07:002012-07-29T22:40:03.369-07:00A Kiss BlownMy 18-year-old makes her way through airport security,
waves, blows a kiss and then heads for her gate. How does one begin to process this? It’s a milestone, a rite of passage… it’s
happened to millions of parents and children but never to us. Soccer games, birthday parties, choir
concerts, church camps, vacations… all reduced to a wave and a kiss blown…
He who binds to Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-56769575380996893842012-07-26T15:49:00.000-07:002012-07-26T15:49:04.299-07:00Footprints vs MonumentsNice review of a good book I just read, Chasing Francis. (All because of a recommendation from my friend, Mark Cork.) At any rate, the review contained a Faulkner quote that I've never read before... powerful...
"A monument only says
at least I got this far while a
footprint says this is where I was when I
moved again."
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-18074582453786458952012-07-10T14:39:00.000-07:002012-07-10T14:39:59.418-07:00Continental Divides in Life
The Continental Divide is where the enormous blue sky
collides into ambitious white-capped peaks high in the Rocky Mountains. The view up above Estes Park, CO where my
family visits often is as intimidating as it is inspiring. It is, of course, the literal watershed
structure of our continent and the Western Hemisphere. There is a
line all the way from Alaska down through the Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-35531466992288214452012-07-09T16:56:00.005-07:002012-07-09T16:56:58.569-07:00Being Alone - Being in Community"Whoever cannot be alone should beware of community. Such
people will only do harm to themselves and to the community. Alone you stood
before God when God called you. Alone you had to obey God's voice. Alone you
had to take up your cross, struggle, and pray and alone you will die and give
an account to God. You cannot avoid yourself, for it is precisely God who has
singled you out. If you do not Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-79301633373699192182012-07-06T08:48:00.001-07:002012-07-06T08:48:11.650-07:00Short 4th
With my kids (and nephew) in San Diego on the 4th. Ha. Great night. The best 15 seconds of fireworks I've ever witnessed! It was amazing. However, I think they were supposed to go longer. We made memories. Sometimes life doesn't go as planned...
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-32705467930008439572012-06-29T10:37:00.001-07:002012-06-29T10:37:24.226-07:00Helpful Reading in 2012Top 5 most helpful books for me in 2012 (so far)...
5. Under the Unpredictable Plant
"The storm either exposes the futility of our work (as in Jonah) or confirms it (as in Paul). In either case, the storm forces the awareness that God constitutes our work, and it disabused us of any suggestion that in our work we can avoid or manipulate God."
4.Kings Cross
"When you forgive it's Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-22708432206873677672012-06-26T21:21:00.000-07:002012-06-26T21:23:10.109-07:00Spiritual Discipline ThoughtDiscipline is not the same as punishment. This begins to explain why I become
discouraged about pursuing spiritual disciplines* in my life… I look at it as
punishment. The young lover doesn’t stop
looking at other women because his fiancé has told him to do so (although she
has the right to ask him to do so!) He stops looking at other women because it
frees up his mind and heart.Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-23423909154919318052012-06-20T10:36:00.001-07:002012-06-20T10:36:24.192-07:00Where Are You Operating From?The Problem with Religion: Positional Authority
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-4211179550818650182012-06-17T10:21:00.000-07:002012-06-17T10:33:30.416-07:00The Strategical Parent
It's Father's Day, 2012. I'm spending the day with my wife and three children in Sedona, AZ. It's a beautiful place... both the geographical and relational place. It's difficult to put in words how much I love these kids. Love, of course, is a multi-faceted word (see 1Corinthians 13). It's not just something we feel. It's also a strategy. My dual love-strategy for parenting....
1-I'd doJonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-39467057873641774582012-06-12T10:29:00.000-07:002012-06-12T10:29:35.481-07:00How to Find GodI read this morning about Paul's conversion experience. I'm interested in how Eugene Peterson paraphrases Paul's observation of the event. He said, his entrance wasn't anything like he had planned. Acts 22:11 - And so we entered Damascus, but nothing like the entrance I had planned—I was blind as a bat and my companions had to lead me in by the hand. For those reading Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-74477385296445118592012-06-09T14:54:00.000-07:002012-06-09T14:54:07.729-07:00Leaders and ManagersListening to the Freakonomics podcast, The Power of the President, recently led me to think that more of us need to be aware of the different nuances of leadership. I really enjoy listening to the Freakonomics guys but I'm not sure they ever got going in the right direction on this one.
I say this respectfully but, getting yourself elected president doesn't mean you are a leader. &Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-17265884720146116272012-06-05T09:58:00.002-07:002012-06-05T09:58:59.751-07:00Changes in Leadership
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-18147174464792544412012-06-04T15:17:00.000-07:002012-06-04T20:52:29.310-07:00Finally... Fine Print that is Actually Good for You
Some of God's Terms and
Conditions
Participation: Voluntary (Luke 15:11-32)
Transaction: What constitutes a qualifying transaction is
determined by the sole discretion of God.
(1Samuel 2:6-9)
Rewards: Rewards are considered earned when they are posted
to the redemption system. (Romans 2:7)
Redemption System: Christ and His Sacrifice IS the
Redemption System. (1Corinthians 1:30)
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-42101180725092554632012-06-01T08:55:00.000-07:002012-06-01T08:55:13.635-07:00ImpactJesus loved everyone, fed the 5,000, sent the 70, trained 12 and mentored 3.
Seems like he was pretty intentional. What about me?
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-28929436022243211012012-05-29T00:10:00.001-07:002012-06-01T08:55:24.418-07:00Reality
©2012 jfoster
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-78816446926774164882012-05-26T01:00:00.000-07:002012-06-01T15:15:22.352-07:00No Safety from the Storm
Genesis
15:1 – God told Abram, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be
very great."
This is the first time God refers to himself as a shield.* Let's pause for a moment... God said, "I am your shield." I find this interesting... if God is speaking to you, audibly,
why would you be worried about needing a shield? If God is speaking to you, audibly, Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-20401434086007622572012-05-20T14:24:00.000-07:002012-06-01T08:55:33.333-07:00Looking for Trust
In the book, Strengths Based Leadership, the Gallop organization boiled down thousands of responses regarding what people desire from the most influential leaders in their lives. At the top of the list they found followers looking for leaders they respected because of their integrity. In a word, this translated into trust.
So how does a leader build trust? There Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29670062.post-72670794834135585072012-05-17T11:14:00.000-07:002012-06-01T08:55:56.611-07:00A Different Way of Doing Things
©2012 jfoster
Jonathan Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17365836656870110456noreply@blogger.com0