The One Thing

May15   I first listened to this message a couple months ago...spoke to me deeply then...listened to it again this morning...Hope it speaks to you the way it spoke to me. -Shane   (click on the image to take you to the video)

when we hurt…again

May14 Maybe you are like me and you have a trait, characteristic, or a habit that works well in one place in your life...but somehow never seems to make it into another.  I have that issue.  Not all the time...but most of the time at church and when I am in a place to lead people I function with a certain grace...that is usually very patient, kind, thoughtful, and caring.  I give people the space they need to fail or succeed. That grace filled characteristic which often defines me when I lead is something that is often absent in other areas of my life.  For me the translation has never been made well into love/romantic/dating relationships.  Truthfully I have been terrible at this.  Not always but often my grace is short, my patience non existent, and I am unthoughtful. So why does the translation not happen from one place to the next?  I am not sure what it is for you but for me...it's fear.  Fear is an ugly, nasty beast that can devour our potential and crush hearts.  I have seen that happen at my own hand. Here's the real core of the issue...Fear isn't a primary emotion.  Its a response to something else.  Fear for me is the bi-product of something deeper...PAIN.  Trials are always pain filled...always.  That's just their nature.  But in the midst of the trial for me...the pain can be processed and can become a healthy tool that generates grace, kindness and affection in deeper ways than I could have ever imagined. Last year I shared something about fear...my fear of marriage.  And there was deep clarity in it...I will post it below.  Truth is that when we don't address the fear and live through it to see the pain...we repeat the same cycle.  Only He can heal the pain...and He can.  I am living proof and someday that story will be the most powerful story I can ever tell...but until them... My realization:: My pain from the past has created fear in the future and will destroy possibility in the present.  Fear is a cage that hearts, dreams and destiny die in...No Cages...No Fear...Just Faith. Taking risks crushes fear...time to take some risks. -Shane

emerging from the fog

May10 Life has a tendency to get messy and unclear.  That's where God always shows up.  for me the place of fog where nothing seems clear and the uncertainty rules our every move has always been the place that He shows up the most.  Last night I shared some of my trial right now and the pain involved in that for me right now...the severe pain that we all dread. I was telling my sister a few days ago that...even though I hate the place of trail and pain God has always met me there.  Always.  In my desperation, after I do the silly thing of doubting Him and running to people, and I consciously run to Him he always responds...and when He does He speaks and speaks loud. Silver lining...in the midst of the fog...clarity can come.  The downside, often clarity comes at the price of pain.  Lesson...don't run, don't hide...embrace the pain knowing clarity will come if we cling to Him.   -Shane

Don’t Run…Don’t Hide

May9 “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered” –(Joel 2:32).

Why do not I call on His name? Why do I run to this neighbor and that when God is so near and will hear my faintest call? Why do I sit down and devise schemes and invent plans? Why not at once roll myself and my burden upon the Lord?

–C. H. Spurgeon

If you are remotley like me...this is like big huge slap in the face.  Why?  Because if you are anyhting like me...you are like Spurgeon and don't run to God when life is hard...you or actually we...run to people to find comfort and answers. So now that the guilt trip is over...two questions remain:  Why don't I run to Him first?  And how do I change my habit of running to people first? We have a disease...a disease exclusively relegated to human beings.  Doubt.  Doubt that He is really as big, loving, personal, and grace filled as His Book, His story, His Son, and Spirit say He is.  Nature doesn't have it...because if it did there would be days that the sun wouldn't rise because it would doubt its ability to provide life for all of creation, but it doesn't is has a deep conviction and knowledge that God is going to throw her back up in the sky and keep her there...every...single...day. My thought...if He cares enough to throw the sun up every day.  Hold it in perfect position so we can spin around it in synchronized perfection.  Making each planet rotate on an axis and ours just the perfect distance from the sun to sustain life...why would He ever fail to pick up His kids when...their hearts are broken, their bodies are hurting, their families are unraveling, and death creeps in??? Why don't we run to Him?  We doubt He will actually show up and do something.  How do we change our habit of running to people?  Take a risk...run to Him first...cling to Him first...and then ironically He always has a way of bringing people around you in the moment you least expect Him to...to let you know...your doubt was silly and He is still God. Trials:  heartbreak, divorce, cancer, death, finances, depression, stress, school, and family are real...so lets talk about them. Don't Run...Don't Hide...it's time to talk about them. see ya tonight. -Shane  

The Chemistry of Trials

May7 Inevitably there are those moments in life that seek to destroy you.  Maybe not the physical you...but the soul, the breath, the fire that makes you who you are.  There are a thousand different scenarios that might be yours.  Maybe for you it divorce, death, cancer, a break up, or the one thing that triggers your deepest insecurities, depression, or maybe down right loneliness. I know in my life there is always an odd correlation between what God's is doing in my life and the experiences I am walking through and what He is doing at PURE.  So if you ever feel like He is talking directly to you at PURE your not alone. And in the interest of transparency I'm in that place too...where sadness can easily creep past a blessing of clarity to a catalyst for depression... So what do we do when life hurts?  It always does from time to time...its not a matter of if but a matter of when...so when life rages what do we do?  Sometimes there not quick answer...if you're in that place this is for you.  

Life is fairy tales and a dose of reality 
colliding with a fury 
there after they realize one is need of the other 
and the other is in need of the one 
there is peace that becomes the things dreams are born from 
- author unknown

-Shane live//PC