by James Webb
The thing about reading the Psalms is that occasionally, at just the right time, there will be a sliver of poetry that speaks directly to your heart. Here are some crumbs from the table that have fed my soul in the past, and continue to do so, along with commentary on what they mean to me.
On my desk sits a copy of Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete and Unabridged I’ll have you know). It’s not there for the reason you might think it is. Read more
Every now and then I’m going to find myself short of inspiration and time, and still needing a weekly blog post. In these moments of emergency, I’m going to mine my previous blog for something suitable (you remember my previous blog – the one I wrote while in Australia? I mentioned it a few weeks back). Anyway, this is one of those times. Here’s some decade old musings on purpose and happiness. I was quite the deep thinker in those days…
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Sometimes the Holy Spirit says, “James is distracted and hasn’t got his guard up – let’s plant a bomb in his head.”
I was just on my way to the school to collect the children, and my phone pinged. It was a message from someone who works with me, Read more
I have been wondering about my writing recently.
Today I was walking around the local library, and I caught myself thinking, “Does the world really need another book?”
Dear Sister/Brother,
There is something that I want to say to you.
When I decided to follow Jesus as an awkward teenager (really, is there any other kind of teenager?) I had only one redeeming quality. It wasn’t that I was quite clever, or reasonably likeable, or that I had a glistening ball of potential creativity resting in me. Read more
The disciple sat down, cross-legged and attentive, at his master’s feet.
“Teach me,” he said.
“Let me tell you a story,” said the master.
“There was once a man who had two sons. The eldest son was clever and handsome, while the youngest son lacked all of his brother’s gifts. However, being clever and handsome does not necessarily make you a nice person. The older brother teased his younger brother mercilessly, mocking him for his lack of intellect and good looks. The younger brother didn’t always understand his older brother’s jokes, but he knew when he was being made fun of, and he tired of this quite quickly.”
“One day the younger brother decided that he’d had enough, and that he was going to take his belongings and leave home. ‘I’m going to just walk and see where my feet take me,’ he said, and off he went.”
“So, on the first day, he just walked in a straight line. But something strange began to happen. He was amazed to see that, as he passed, the animals of the forest were leaving their woodland homes to follow him.”
“On the second day, he kept walking, and the trees of the forest began to uproot and join the animals following him.”
“On the third day, he kept walking. As night fell, he noticed that the moon and the stars in the sky were also following him. Why was this?”
“I don’t know,” the disciple said.
The master smiled.
“These days, you don’t need charisma or intellect. You don’t even need to know where you’re going. These days, if you just look like you’re walking with purpose, the whole world will follow you.”
I think that, for many years now, I’ve really only had one message. I think about the lectures I’ve given, sermons I’ve preached and stories I’ve told in the recent past and – to me – they’re mostly variations on a single theme. My life consists of repeated attempts to find different ways of saying the same thing over and over again. It makes sense to me; I’m definitely more of a “Do one thing really well rather than lots of things badly” personality type. It’s also something I can imagine God saying to me: “James, I’m giving you one message to proclaim. Just the one, but it’s an important one. I don’t think you’re quite up to handling several things at once. Be as creative as you want in sharing that message, but try to stay on focus, OK?”
I’m sure that there are plenty of people who are expected to multitask, but it also seems totally consistent with God’s love of community that He would share the work out among His children rather than overload one or two and let the rest spend the day at the beach. Billy Graham is, I think, an example of someone who had just one job, and good things happened when he made that his priority. Pay careful attention to that desire to have a finger in every pie, because maybe it was never your pie in the first place. It’s just rude to stick fingers in pies that don’t belong to you.
So, what’s the one thing that God has given you to do or say? It certainly helps to know what it is, and you could do a lot worse than doubling down on it.
And the one message I’ve been repeating for the past decade or so? Well, I’m not going to just come right out and tell you what it is here, am I? Where’s the fun in that?
