Wade Poe

If you've ever played along with one of those games where you have to do something without using an arm or attempt to communicate without using a certain word like "the" and instead have to rely on rethinking how you'd say something or do something without those things - that's what it's like to do rebuilding after deconstruction. Some of the "old" ways of doing or thinking are so different that it is hard to even borrow them to attempt to communicate something that is new, different, and growing. Doing so would vacate the new thing because it is so completely overshadowed by the old thing. You've heard me say it many times, "going to church" is one of those phrases or ideas that has lost connection for me when talking about a life of trust and dependence on God.  I know when people say it they usually meaning "I am going to worship services at a certain church building this Sunday."  But it ("going to church") has m...

Had a lot of different conversations with people lately about God's will.  People want answers!   What am I supposed to do with ______?  Why didn't God step in and  ______?  I need to make a decision about this by ______?  What kind of job should I wait for?  And other kinds of questions like that. And I've listened to/heard people share their thoughts on those questions and the quality of their answers are wide ranging.   Well, maybe God is just wanting you to have patience and learn something while you wait. You know, if it feels like the doors are all opening for you, that's probably God's doing. Have you prayed about it yet?  How much have you prayed?  What words are you using? Maybe this is something that God doesn't have an opinion about and it's good either way. No answer probably means you need steer clear of it and do something different. The list could go on of all kinds of responses. Everyone has an opinion just like everyone...

Church isn't big enough.  It really can't fit into the space we've made for it. I don't mean a church building, I mean our current, cultural idea of church as a collection  of people who meet a time or two each week to go over the basics and pay the bills.  That's not big enough. I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. These words from Paul, the apostle, in Ephesians are just one place in the New Testament that say there's something much larger going on than the ability your created social network has to encapsulate and manifest - much larger than your imagination. God wasn't just updating the synagogue or temple worship in Jesus, he was wrapping all that Old Law stuff up and moving on to a...

This past week, in three different places, I had conversations with people who reflected they or someone they know didn't feel "like they'd been to church" if they didn't feel like they'd had a little hand slapping or guilt handed to them or some variation of that experience. Another couple of people mentioned that even though they don't believe that God holds sin against us anymore and that we're fully accepted by God, etc - that just being around a certain kinds of groups of believers causes those feelings to surface powerfully because of what's sung, passing comments, etc. I gotta be honest and say I don't know what to do or think about that. It is true that, because of the momentum of life and religious traditions, we don't often think about examining what we say, pray, or sing or even allow to be taught as truth. We often just sit in buildings once or twice a week and passively interact and engage with the others present and, unless so...

I've got celestial mechanics to synchronize my stars *  Seasonal migrations, daily variations *  World of the unlikely and bizarre  I've got idols and icons, unspoken holy vows *  Thoughts to keep well hidden sacred and forbidden *  Free to browse among the holy cows That's why I believe I believe in what I see, I believe in what I hear I believe that what I'm feeling changes how the world appears _________ "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.   By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received   I passed on to you   as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins  according to the Scriptures..." "So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you no...

I remember a Wednesday  night pre-Bible class moment when we'd open "the church building" for anyone who wanted to bring their dinner and eat on the spot before class.  It was also a time  when people would come to get clothes from the clothes closet the church had to give away. On this particular  Wednesday night, a mom came in the front door looking for the clothes closet and had her three or four year old daughter with her.  I went over to greet them and ask if I could  help, told them about  where the closet was, etc.   The  young daughter smelled the food and saw the room of people. For the next minute or so, the mom struggled to pick up the girl who was squirming out of her  hands and yelling, "I want to go in there!  I want to eat here, mom!  Why can't we go in there  to eat!  Mom I want to go in there, please!  I want to eat here, mom!"  It was like watching her mom wrestle jello. She finally got he...

I remember the first football pass I ever caught on the run in a "pick up game". I was down the field, about 20 yards away from the passer.  I took off running, knowing I was one of two people who might have the ball thrown to them and was running hard to get in front of the defender, looking over my shoulder. At some point the passer called my name and I knew it was coming my way - I was far enough from the defender it was safe, I was closest to the goal line - it was gonna be me.  I looked over my shoulder and saw it coming, reached back a little and caught it right in front of my left shoulder and hauled it in. And then promptly smacked into the ground, tangled up in my own feet. But I still had the ball! Later in that game, I took a cleat to the inside of my left knee while trying to tackle a guy trying to catch the ball for the other side and that was the end of the game for me, watching a bruise grow over the length of the inside of my left leg (similar to the picture a...