Yesterday we stopped in Chicago to catch a Cubbie game at Wrigley field and take in some of the sites around the city. I love coming to Chicago. From the beautiful waterfront, well laid out and clean city streets, vast amount of parks, and endless activities it’s always fun, especially in the fall months. The day before we had been in St. Louis where it was 101 when we stepped outside at 10am so the brisk daytime high of 73 was a nice change of pace. We settled in to our seats around 1:30pm high above third base taking in the view of the rooftop deck seating on all the apartments surrounding the ballpark and the lush ivy hugging the brick along the outfield wall. By the end of the 4th inning I was frustrated enough with the 12 guys seated in front of me that I needed to get… [Read More]
Posts Tagged ‘heart’
Crushing love
September 4th, 2011 
Dana Fisher 
Posted in Radical Christianity, Social Justice 
Tags: clay, cross, heart, Jesus, kingdom, Lord, love, pray, praying 
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Doom! Doom and Gloom!
August 1st, 2011 Dana Fisher Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ~Matthew 6:34 When I was 10 or 11 we watched the “end times” videos in school. Those ones you laugh at now, based in the 1960′s or 70′s with bell bottoms, bad acting, and even worse graphics and make up. But as a little kid I was terrified! I remember coming home one day and just telling my mother they flat out scared the hell out of me. A lot of my salvation at an early age was based on this fear of the end. If you don’t confess now and act perfectly, hell is where you are headed mister! Those videos literally scared me straight. Straight into church, straight away from everything else. I had no desire to end up in some 170 degree hell of America… [Read More]
What Jesus may have said
June 29th, 2011 Dana Fisher I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. – John 13:17 There are many things I will take away from my time at the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina this past weekend of which I plan to write in depth on after a little(and much needed) digestion. One question raised in passing during one conversation was the wish that we had more, if not all, of what Jesus said. It is true that we have just a small portion of his 33 years of life wrapped up in the pages of our Bibles but I had never heard this sort of disappointment almost at the fact we did not have more. Mainly for my own benefit I wanted to hash that out in words. In order… [Read More]
Jubilee
June 18th, 2011 Dana Fisher Creation sees you and starts composing -Michael Gungor As I relaxed on the second floor porch letting the warm breeze rush across my face I watched dark thunderstorms roll over the rockies. Chris was out there with me casually smoking a cigarette, as we somehow began reminiscing about when we were younger. “Remember when we used to catch frogs?” he said after a few back and forth memories going through the years in chronological order. I hadn’t thought about it in so long as a rush of memories came flooding back into the plains of my mind. Bogs and woods, staying out past dark building forts in the most dangerous of trees. I’ll never figure out how one of us or our friends weren’t horribly hurt falling 30 feet out of some tree fort built with old scraps of wood we found behind houses. Not far from our childhood house… [Read More]
Posted in Justice, Politics Tags: America, change, creation, cross, God, heart, homelessness, life, lion, Michael Gungor, sin, war No Comments »Through a Child’s eyes
April 21st, 2011 Dana Fisher Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ~Matthew 18:3 I got a note from my sister several weeks ago, posted to facebook, that said my nephew had prayed and asked Jesus into his heart. He’s 3. My sister figured he wouldn’t remember but later that night while praying before bed he prayed “thank you Jesus for coming into my heart, I love you God”. Several weeks before, I was visiting my brother in law who is going through some deep struggles of his own. Old Dana would have written him off. Angry and bitter, determined to let someone else’s problems be their own, I would have pulled the knowledge card. I know better, I’d never let myself get there, you deal with it. But when it all happened, as each new detail was revealed, I tried to… [Read More]
Posted in Mercy, Radical Christianity Tags: believer, bible, brother, change, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Community, compassion, desire, God, grace, heart, heaven, Jesus, joy, kingdom, kingdom of God, life, love, Matthew, pray, prayed, praying, radical christian, radical christianity, revenge, struggle, war, weakness No Comments »Become a movement
March 25th, 2011 Dana Fisher If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. ~Philippians 2:1-4(The Message) Imagine losing everything. Imagine uprooting your entire family. Your house is gone. Your clothes. Your children’s toy and books, your photographs and memories crushed. Imagine your job is gone and the only option you have left is to leave your country. Imagine. What kind of panic would settle in your mind? What kind… [Read More]
Be the Gardener of my Soul
March 7th, 2011 Dana Fisher While at Bloom this Sunday night Pastor Andrew Arndt read this poem. I had never before heard it and thought it would be awesome to pass along as we enter lent and the spring season: Be the Gardener of my Soul Spirit of the Living God, be the Gardener of my soul. For so long I have been waiting silent, and still— experiencing a winter of the soul. But now, in the strong name of Jesus Christ, I dare to ask: Clear away the dead growth of the past, Break up the hard clouds of custom and routine, Stir in the rich compost of vision and challenge, Bury deep in my soul the implanted Word, Cultivate and water and tend my heart, Until new life buds and opens and flowers. Amen —Unknown Related Posts:Jesus CreedThis little light of mineFrozen FearWhat Jesus may have saidSacrifice for a King
Why I love Buddha
March 6th, 2011 Dana Fisher Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. -1 Peter 4:8 A few years ago, me and Dave would grab coffee in downtown Quincy after serving meals at the Crisis Center and just talk about controversial topics in Christianity: war, soldiers, guns, world religions, etc… Having grown up together, we could do this with civility even with opposing views because we loved each other regardless. Our differing views didn’t prevent either of us from going to heaven, we weren’t debating whether Jesus was just a man, but merely things with which many a Christian struggles to define. He had already known where I was coming from, both growing up in similar church surroundings(and sometimes the same one), and I wanted to understand better where he was coming from. The ideas he was throwing at me were strange, yet sounded and felt right in my… [Read More]
Jesus Creed
February 23rd, 2011 Dana Fisher This was originally authored by John Shorack and posted by a friend of mine, Tim Colegrove on his blog site Tanks to Tractors. I couldn’t help but repost again. Manifesto We confess that Jesus is Lord, the full revelation of the God of the Old Testament and that before Him every knee will bow. We confess that Jesus is Christ, Israel’s Messiah, and Savior of the world who conquered the power of evil on the cross. We agree with Jesus’ call to undivided allegiance to God: “No one can serve two masters…” (Matt 6:24), and “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…and your neighbor as yourself.” We also reaffirm that: “God so loved the world…” and has sent us with that love to society’s outcasts and our country’s enemies. Like Jesus, we must say ‘yes’ to the kingdom of God, and ‘no’ to all allegiances that compromise the furthering of… [Read More]
Posted in Non-Violent Resistance, Prayers Tags: America, Broken Stones, change, Christ, Christian, christians, church, cross, death, evil, forgiveness, God, heart, Holy, Holy Spirit, israel, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, kingdom, kingdom of God, life, Lord, love, messiah, old testament, peace, power, Repent, resurrection, revelation, satan, Savior, sin, sinner, Spirit, violence, war, witness No Comments »Wielding your Knife
November 10th, 2010 Dana Fisher Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ~Genesis 22:10 As I made my way through customs on U.S. soil I knew the attacks would be coming swiftly. No sooner do we come down off the mountain with Jesus then the wave of doubt and destruction and hardships come crashing against us like the ocean hitting the sea wall. Sure enough, I set my bags in the car, sat down in the passenger seat and it began. I would be headed to Denver soon, uprooting my entire life, leaving my friends, family, and church behind. Most of my possessions would be gone and I would be traveling with only what would fit in two cars. It was not an easy decision by any means and one with which I wrestled for a very long time(and even still struggle with even after the fact). It… [Read More]
