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Happy Birthday Blog

Tommy Brown — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 02:50:15 +0000

Happy Birthday Blog! You are 1 year old today. Nobody notices you. I nearly forgot it was your birthday. I have considered blowing out the virtual candle of your virtual life several times. But here you are, on your birthday, full of commas and choppy sentences. But perhaps you are the embodiment of this year for me- people notice you less than you think. You have a few close friends who stop by to check on you from time to time. That is enough. You don’t care much anymore if you are noticed, and you wish to care even less. Take joy in this state, for in being noticed your life only gets more complicated. Happy Birthday unread blog. You are beautiful in your honesty. Your Creator notices you.

Crowded

Tommy Brown — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:30:25 +0000

Not sure just how to say what I feel after watching David Crowder sing “How He Loves Us” on YouTube. It was a studio session for a radio- just David and his guitar and goatee in full bloom (watch it HERE). Somewhere in the middle of it, it appears that the dude just gets lost in the song. It’s like watching Jordan score 75 points- effortless and you know that he’s playing a different game than everyone else. In the studio, people are watching David, recording David, photographing David, touching David’s hair, complimenting David, probably paying David to be there, kissing David’s ego… who knows. Somewhere between getting lost in the moment, and hearing the applause, I just wonder if that’s not what the true worshiper lives for, those pure moments. God thrusts people before crowds, onto stages, into “moments” sometimes for whatever reason He reserves for His own understanding, and yet we have to sort it out, figure out how to deal with it. I don’t know how to say it exactly, but the purest moments are often unseen, or occasionally seen, and yet are so fleeting that you wish you could string them out longer, hoping the song won’t end, the moment of clarity while speaking in front of a crowd won’t fade, the lack of distraction as the candlelight hits your wife’s face just right over dinner, etc. Those moments aren’t crowded, they’re just pure. It must be tough for guys like David to get those moments in public. I feel bad for talented guys like him in some ways. How difficult it must be. Seems like a nice guy though.

Permission to Speak Freely

Tommy Brown — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:55:35 +0000

Permission to Speak Freely is a real problem of a book. It’s a problem because it is inconveniently right when it comes to church-people’s tendency to be narrow minded and judgmental. And it’s a problem because we give in to those same people out of our own fear and insecurities. It’s also the most problematic because Anne’s journey out of that crap shows us that we too can make the leap- out of hiding and into the wide-open seas of freedom. Without throwing unnecessary bouquets at Anne’s literary feet, I’ll just say that this girl can flat out communicate, and has learned enough about doing so in a way that multiple audiences can hear it that I don’t know of any age group of people I could not recommend this to. I wonder if she learned how to shape her words carefully in church? Anyhow, it is a gripping page-turner, overly honest, and compelling. For all who have hidden with Adam, and blamed others for their inconvenient sin, this book will find a welcome audience. Well, it may not be welcomed, but that may be the point of the whole book. We would rather hide in our fearful closet of past sins and hurt at the hands of others we thought we could trust. I’m officially a fan.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fearless Book Review

Tommy Brown — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:01:02 +0000

I was a skeptic, I confess. I have never read a Max Lucado book, and thought that I never would. I have nothing against the author. I’m just the type that avoids books by authors that everyone else in America is reading, even if it seems to be a good book. I avoided The Purpose Driven Life as long as possible for that very reason. But one night I found myself in prayer, asking the Lord to help me deal with a couple of fears. As I was finishing one chapter in Mystically Wired by Ken Wilson, I turned the page to find the next chapter to be titled “Praying to Tame the Worry Dog.” Good timing? Sovereignty? You decide for yourself. Right after that, Booksneeze made available copies of Fearless by Max Lucado. As I read through the opening chapters, I discovered something I was afraid I would not find- depth and clarity, coupled with some really good writing. Perhaps this book should teach me that everything that is popular is not shallow theologically. Lucado unpacks the scriptures with the precision of a surgeon and the beauty of a poet. This book punches you in the gut, at your deepest level of fear, yet in a way that you want to ask for another deathblow to the self-preserving lifestyle we almost inherit as Americans, and which the Christ will certainly aim to destroy. This might well be a good weapon in the hands of God to do just that.

Gileah Taylor- New EP’s

Tommy Brown — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:31:24 +0000

I’ve been a fan for years, about twelve years now I guess. I enjoyed the whimsical ebb and flow of The Golden Planes, and gave way to the emotional roller coaster that Gileah and The Ghost Train took me on, from moments of surreal hope and belief, down into the belly of despair. And now, What Kind of Fool and A Crooked Line have caught me by surprise. How do I comment on these songs? I’d much rather tell you what I felt than what I thought of each track. Better still, I’ll tell you what I did. I opened the windows and turned up the iPod and grabbed a cool glass of water, broke out the Go Fish cards, gathered the family around the table, and enjoyed the melodic backdrop which somehow reminded me of Spring though it is the dead of Summer. As I settled down later to listen to the lyrics more closely, I found myself examining my marriage, my friendships, and my faith. How songs can at once be so pleasing to the ear and yet demanding of deeper analysis is interesting. There’s something to be said about a well placed line, for it makes the truth sweeter to the taste. It’s good.

?Questions

Tommy Brown — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:48:25 +0000

They came like an unexpected knock on the door during a mid-afternoon nap. These questions did not originate from my own little mystically wired brain.

“What are you trying to prove?”
“Who are you trying to beat?”
“Where are you going so fast?”

Like a counselor who has just placed her finger right on the sore spot, I felt the vulnerability of a man “found out” rush through my bones. The truth is, I have no clue.

I’m more like Eve than I care to admit. Some project motives onto Eve like rock salt on a frozen road. They paint her with the colors “conniving, manipulative, stupid” or whatever we see most in ourselves. Before one puts a color on a medium, even if it is forecasting motives onto another person, they have seen it first in their mind’s eye. But I’m not so sure that Eve was not simply just afraid of being out of the loop, being pushed to the side, being left in the dark of the real fun God was having and excluding her and Adam from. Isn’t that what the serpent did? He questioned God’s motives when He questioned God’s words, “Did God really say… because He knows you will become like Him…”

My quick little quest to prove something, to beat someone, or to get somewhere, all lump me in the batch of the pre-sin human condition when fear enters the mind. “I’m missing something HERE” runs its course like my dad navigates his boat through the river, turning and speeding through cuts and around corners with the precision of a surgeon’s knife. And so, in search of a better moment, I forego the simplicity of this moment.

It would never get any better than the pre-sin simplicity of Eden. Somehow, simplicity is not enough. Somehow, we are not enough. And most fatally, somehow others and God are not enough.

Mystically Wired Book Review

Tommy Brown — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:23:38 +0000

Mystically Wired has blown up my little brain when it comes to understanding how the brain is actually designed to pray. The book offers practical guidance on how to pray specific ways, and all of this praying is bent toward leading us into intimacy with God, not for the sake of more or better praying alone. There were numerous points where I wondered if I was reading the best revelation on prayer south of heaven, or flat our heresy. If you’ll recall, people struggled with the same concerns about Jesus. The more I read, and the more I practiced, I realized my concerns were unfounded, and I have in fact led a sheltered little prayer life experience, and that the things I thought weren’t “counted” as prayer actually are- you can see the faulty paradigm even therein, for anyone who wonders whether something counts probably hasn’t really uncovered much of what prayer really is. But alas, confession may be the first step toward repentance anyhow. This will be one of those books I revisit again and again, and may just be one of the books we find to be a “classic” years down the road. Perhaps most helpful was the author’s tips to pray and overcome worry. He recommends not focusing on the problem, or even the fact you center again and again in prayer on the problem, but rather meditating on higher things. Since the brain focuses on one thing at a time, the choice is mine. And, over time, I will cut new paths that the brain likes to follow in lieu of worry, once it likes the experience of calm over frantic fear. Who knew the brain was so good to think about. Perhaps it should think about itself more often.

Teach Me

Tommy Brown — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 11:14:19 +0000

Man, I am both challenged and encouraged. I read an interpretive paraphrase this week of Ecclesiastes that has just blown up my little brain. Then, the challenge came to me in the form of a rebuke surrounding my theology on tithing. At first I became angry, for the rebuke carried with it such negativity. But the brother and I have talked, and now have opened dialogue, for he is more well-trained in the history of the O.T. than I. I’m learning a great deal now, have discovered some error in my theology (not all of it), and we now enjoy lengthy exchanges via e-mail (not for all the world to see). I have a LOT to learn. Nevertheless, this brief little entry is a personal acknowledgement if only unto myself, that I deeply desire to be trained in discernment by constant practice of the good over evil, to move into what Hebrews calls maturity of the faith (which has to do with both knowledge of the word and practical application by the Spirit). Could it be that those who were not filled with the Spirit back in the O.T. more accurately knew God’s word, and now we who have the Teacher within us have grown cold in our zeal for the truth and exchanged it for experience apart from study? This my friends is a breeding ground for heresy, and at some point, I have been in error teaching more out of experience that the truth. But alas, knowledge apart from love, apart from revelation, just puffs up. This discernment that Hebrews calls out, even this maturity, can come to the young. And I will take the advice of Solomon and pursue wisdom as I fear God and keep His commands.

I think that all of this concerns me most because I love God. I really love Him, and I don’t want to lead anyone astray. I don’t want to be wrong about His word. Not for the sake of being right, but for the sake of God’s truth. It’s a weighty thing to be a teacher of God’s word, for a more strict judgment comes to them, and for this reason paul told young Timothy to watch his life and doctrine closely.

I just want to please you Jesus, and I want people to see you clearly, not the religion I bear for all sort of reasons. I really just want you please you, not for salvation, but because I love you and don’t want to lie about you, or what you’ve said, or where you came from. There are mysteries that are too great for me. For man, especially me as a Gentile poking into thousands of years of Israelite history into which I have been grafted, cannot possibly know it all. But I think I’ve sensed your character in the darkest night, with tears over your word, with the flicker of a candle and your Presence alone to guide me. I cannot make this journey alone, for many Pharisees have gone this path into study apart from following, for they were all around Jesus, full of the word, yet not following. If in fact, I am full of the Logos, then lead me, and work out that Logos in and through me, until I am mature, and fit for your word.

“In the company of Jesus there are no experts, only beginners and necessary followers because in the company of Jesus nobody knows where they are going”

- J. Upton.

The Principle

Tommy Brown — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:08:32 +0000

From the ESV side-bar notes on Chapter 18 of Leviticus, and specifically related to my former post “Made for You” with no intention to enter once again down into the depths of context such that the light of principle is lost…

“In reading the laws, it is important to see both their original context and their underlying and abiding principles.”

One gives instruction for the moment. The other sets the course for a lifetime.

Un-memorable Day

Tommy Brown — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:49:31 +0000

It’s Memorial Day, a day to remember the fallen men and women of our nation’s armed services. To take nothing away from their service (both of my grandfathers served, and I’m from a military community where I found military families to be some of the best people alive), I wonder why Christians don’t have a memorial day for those who have lost their lives on the kingdom’s battlefield, martyrs that is? Anyhow, today was less than memorable. My wife is sick- first nausea, then a major shoulder pain, then nausea again, and now a sore throat with fever. Ughhh. Relent already you foul fallen nature. She’s pulling through though. I finished another book today and skimmed two more that weren’t worth reading in total. We took communion together as a family- do it every night. The little one can’t stand the bread that comes with the communion kit. “This is horrible!” she says. I love the honesty. She gets it though. Her favorite part is passing it out to all the family. Doesn’t sound spiritual? You haven’t read Pauline theology on the Lord’s Table apparently. It was exactly this issue of not waiting on one another that got them in hot water with the old man. In some way, I think this is what he meant in that they were not discerning “the Lord’s body.” In attempts to romanticize everything on the old papyrus of Scriptures, we may gloss over the very real implications of just waiting on one another. It was an un-memorable day. That’s why I’m writing it down. I’ll never get it back again.