chris-shelton.com

For months now (almost a year), there has been a new consistency that has emerged in my longings and petitions before the Father; One, that He would be gracious to remind me of His faithfulness today, and rather than me finding myself spinning my wheels trying to be a ‘faithful follower’ or ’servant,’ that I would be so captured by the reality of His faithfulness that my life would simply be a response to that knowledge today. Two – that the Father would ‘hold me steady’ through the turbulence of a season in my life that can only be described as one of obedience, waiting and development.

I look forward to expounding more openly in the coming days on some of the learnings, struggles and
realities of some of the things the Father has been revealing in me, healing in me and accomplishing through me as I continue my walk with Him.

Let the blogging resume…

Over the past week or two, I’ve been doing a lot of walking around our neighborhood and have noticed a few lawns that are really close to prime form already.  But what’s funny is how many lawns look ‘pristine’ from a distance, but once you get up on them, how imperfect they really are.  Here’s my encouragement when I start taking notice of lawns this time of year: There’s still a whole lot of warm days ahead and a good lawn is going take a little extra time and effort.  So don’t find yourself too envious of the guy with the Horticulture degree down the street, and keep in mind that those guys really are few and far between.  And PLEASE…don’t allow yourself to go wandering into neighborhoods this time of year where every person on the street is paying someone to keep their lawn nice a plush for them; there are more of those than you might think.  We’re working for a mid-spring boom here…

Click Here and go to “March 28th” to read the rest…

After two weeks of keeping us on the edge of our seats, we finally got to meet our newest addition last night. Elisha Grant Shelton made his grand entrance into the world at 8pm EST on Sunday, March 22nd (shortly after Sunday’s NCAA Basketball action) weighing 8lb. 1oz. and measuring 22 inches long. Molly did an amazing job yesterday, and both are doing great today!

Read more at Shelton4.org…

Despite a dismal and receeding economy, some things are actually growing – one of which is our family.  Baby Shelton #2 is now due at any time.  Therefore, Shelton3.com has become Shelton4.org.  Follow the latest happenings, subscribe for updates, put in your 2-cents on the baby-poll there…

For too many reasons to explain right now, I’ve been absent from blogging the last few months.  I’ve been wondering, “has anyone even noticed?”  I mean, with so much stuff being written every day and seemingly less and less time available to just casually “browse the web,” who would notice, much less even care, if another blog just sort of fell by the wayside?

Here’s why I’m going to resume blogging; not to find validation from the words and thoughts of others; not to market myself in a world that seems to fall further into a narcissism-of-words and infatuation with self; not to set myself against others by pointing out their faults so as to attempt to make myself look better.  I’m going to resume blogging because God is still speaking, through me, through you, through the world around us.  And I forget all too easily.  There’s a purpose in writing things down, in capturing thoughts, in making marks.  We’re a forgetful people in a busy world that is constantly distracting us from the One True Voice that can give life.

I look forward to jumping back in…

“Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit.” _Galatians 5:16 (msg)

Last night I wrapped up a 4-night speaking tour that I thoroughly enjoyed and that almost thoroughly exhausted me. I love having the opportunity to speak to new audiences about ideas and thoughts I’ve been wrestling with for a while, and being able to serve Christ in such a way is nothing less than a privilege.

I’ve also been enjoying a period of time off from teaching each Sunday at Awaken, having my friend Ken Chester leading us through a 6-week journey through the Chronicles of Jesus. This has given me time to recharge my creative batteries a bit and to focus on some of the details and check the pulse of our vision at Awaken. I have to say that I continue to grow in my admiration for people who are able to keep the creativity flowing on a regular basis, who have guarded themselves well against the crash-and-burn that comes with a sudden loss of creative energy by learning how to pace themselves day to day. I’m still learning.

As I take some time to refuel on this little creative hiatus, I came across a question a few weeks ago in some of my readings that I thought to be quite interesting. It was a creative exercise where I was asked to list 3 “champions” of my creative-self and 3 “enemies.” What I was able to see was how the ‘champions’ I listed all shared a common theme…people who believed in me, who recognized a raw talent and spoke to an area I desperately needed and desired to hear their affirmation (and by the way, I cheated…I couldn’t limit it to 3).

The ‘enemies’ of my creativity were identified as individuals or organizations who have wanted me to ’stay inside the lines,’ to color neatly, predictably, just like others around me. Now, I guess my mom can bear witness to this little fact better than anyone…the fact that I’ve never been able to color inside the lines very well. I still can’t do it well today. Maybe it’s from my figgedy hands that always like to tap on something. Maybe it’s my lack of patience with creating certain things. Maybe it’s what I inherited from my dad who has the handwriting of a doctor. I don’t know. Nonetheless, I don’t color within the lines well and never have.

It’s interesting to see how this has become such a definitive of my journey so far and how it continues to be. I remember my public speaking professor in college telling me several times that I didn’t have a good voice for speaking, that I was boring…all topped off with a “C” for the class. Could it be that I just wasn’t that interested in what I was speaking about? Could it be that there’s a better communicator in all of us than we realize…it’s just that we don’t get to talk about the things we enjoy often enough? Maybe…

When it has come to the ‘champions’ of my creativity, they’ve all been people who’ve seen the value in how I color and the potential of what my coloring could become. People who believed in me, who continue to do so.

Besides, I’m convinced that it’s not those who color inside the lines who necessarily make the greatest marks on the things around them.

Living freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit today…

…never to resurface. A reflection on forgiveness from the worship team at Awaken…