Dialogo: Wandering and Connecting

Over the past week I have seen more of New England than I think I have in the past couple of years. A friend of mine came to visit and we headed off through the Green Mountains, the White Mountains, a Boston zoo, coastal Maine, and the many "trails" of touristy areas.




Having been born in North Dakota, a speed bump used to get me excited (it's a bit flat there...). But there is nothing like driving through some of the beautiful landscapes we are blessed with here.





Each day we checked the map to decide where we were going to head out and then jumped in the car and began the day's adventure. What fascinated me about all of this is a rather interesting, though not new perhaps, discovery: the unexpected places held the most fascinating opportunities. Whether we left the highway to travel out into a country road, or drove along one of those gray roads unnumbered and unnamed on our map, there were always more beautiful, more peaceful places to enjoy. It was always in those less expected places where conversations fell silent and we enjoyed the beauty all around us.

Throughout these days though, we spent time in conversation. My friend and I spoke about all kinds of topics and probably talked more in the past week than we have throughout all the years we have known one another. It was a chance to connect, to regroup, to share, to open and heal any old wound, and to catch up on where God had led and is leading us. Like the unexpected gray roads, the gray areas of our lives also turned out to be places where sharing and conversation were the most fascinating.





It is perhaps no small wonder that Robert Frost's "The Road Less Travelled" kept coming to my mind and along with it the thought that Jesus invites us all to take a similar path, one that runs counter to the expectations even we may have for ourselves and our lives.





I encourage you to meditate perhaps on where your journey has taken you these past few days, months, or years. When have you found yourself in one of life's gray areas? What discovery did you make? How did it enrich your life? (Feel free to share them here.)





May you find peace as you reflect on these questions and others that may also surface during this process.

Dialogo: How much water does it take?

While traveling a couple of weeks ago, I caught comedian Lewis Black's stand-up routine on The Comedy Channel. Black has a kind of matter-of-fact, agitated style that reveals microscopically the weird and crazy things people do, both individually and as a society. When I read Bill's devo this week, it reminded me of Black's observation about water.

Black reflected that when he was a kid, if you were thirsty you just went and got a glass of water. No one was telling you you needed to drink it, you just knew that you needed it. He went on to say that now we have people telling us we need to drink water and that these people are often selling water as well. Water that is bottled, in many cases, by soda companies--"This is the water that they won't even put in Coke, people!" Well, that made me laugh, but it also made me think a little bit.

Too often we are thirsty for something different in a landscape that wants us to quench are thirst with something not always good for us. We can mask our own desires and needs, or suppress our own insecurities for only a moment by staying constantly in motion, or by filling our lives and homes with stuff.

So, my question to ponder this week, is when did you realize you were thirsty for something more than the same old bottled up stuff available on any street corner? What helped you to see a deeper, more refreshing way to look at life?

If you are still seeking, join us one of these Mondays or Thursdays. Together we will explore the deeper refreshment available through the Spirit of God.

Dialogo: My most sacred space....

The past couple of weekends I've been sitting with a variety of people talking about how we listen to God and how we might all work to find time to do that. One of the most interesting questions that has been asked during this time, was "where is your most sacred place to really listen to God." The group is invited to share where that place was or where they last remember being in a space that allowed them the chance to hear God's voice.

For me, this question reminds me of the times I spent at Holden Village in Washington State. This retreat center is smack dab in the Cascade Mountain range and is miles from anything (it takes a 2-3 hour boat ride and a 30 minute bus ride up switchbacks just to get there). In the quiet of the day, just after breakfast, or later in the evening, I would go sit out on the deck of the dining hall area with a cup of coffee or tea, and just enjoy the simple beauty of the mountains. Sometimes deer would wander by adding to the peaceful natural way of the setting.

This sacred space is often more difficult to find in our often busy lives. More recently though, I have begun to find a new time and space to be with God, and it surprised me. Each day, I spend 30 minutes walking on our treadmill in the basement. It's a pretty uninspiring piece of paneling that I stare at, but there is something different about being in this space away from distractions that has begun to make it an almost holy time.

It made wonder, where are your sacred spaces? When did you last take time to enter in to a sacred place that was not necessarily one we would think of as sacred?

Dialogo: Online Prayer... Can one really connect?

Is praying online, or with a virtual community spiritually fulfilling?

Prayer and the Internet: A portfolio of resources about prayer and the virtual world is a blog resource has been put together by several friends for a project in their Prayer and Resistance class. There are articles, resources, websites, blogs, and more to be found here. I encourage you to check it out… click on the title to this post to link or:
http://internetprayerproject.blogspot.com/2008/04/let-us-pray.html

+Bill Petersen

Dialogo: How do you stop the "bleating"?

A couple of weeks ago when Bill and I were at Unos I shared with him about the kind of week it had been for me. Every area of my life it seemed like people were either running around in utter confusion or challenging my judgment, directions, and just about anything else that I did.

I recalled one of my favorite lines from Cheers when the ever amiable Norm enters the bar and is asked how his day had been. Norm says, "It's a dog eat dog world and I've got on milkbone underwear."

In the devo this week, there are some great points that focus on how we can sometimes get lost in the hustle and bleating noise around us leaving us a bit lost in the process.

As you reflect on this, how do you refocus your energy and direction? When you are feeling lost or alone, where do you turn for comfort?

Dialogo: Grace?

The running joke between my wife and I has to do with the idea of having a view of life that sees the proverbial cup half full, or half empty. Of course, there are many times in my life where I feel like saying, "Hey, where the heck is my cup?!"

Yet, if we pay attention to the world around us we discover the many amazing things that make our day, and our lives, just a little bit different. There are times when we catch glimpses of God's presence and these moments can be little glimmers of hope.

So, where have you seen a sign of God's grace this past week? In your life? Take a moment to reflect on that, and if you feel moved, feel free to share a little about that glimmer of hope.

Dialogo: "I believe in God, but I'm not religious."

We begin a second weekly blog posting with a chance for you to share your thoughts or comments around specific thoughts/phrases/or questions.

Our first "dialogo" (i.e., dialogue) is around this statement: I believe in God, but I'm not religious.

What does that mean for you? Or your friends?