Archive for the “Storiez” category
The Upside-Down Kingdom of Releasing
by Chris Lorensson on 10 September 2011 with
My wife Ruth brought an interesting principle to my attention a few years ago. She was in the middle of co-leading our community, LoveBristol, and as a group we were keenly studying the various principles of The Upside-Down Kingdom (of God). You know— the way things just seem to work so differently.
This principle was the principle of releasing others. Standing on the shoulders of giants, if you will. It’s the concept that, from your own favour and accomplishments, you can exercise that favour by giving it to others. Giving them a leg up, so to speak, so they might get a bit further than if they hadn’t received a little help. For example, Ruth has been preaching & teaching at our church for years. She’s become quite well-known throughout the city and wider because of it. She’s built a reputation on it, and that reputation gets her a lot more speaking engagements. But often if Ruth gets a call asking her to speak, she’ll suggest someone else—perhaps someone who hasn’t had so much opportunity, and often they’ll go for it. Someone else gets to speak and share their what God has put on their heart, they build a reputation and the cycle continues. It’s an interesting way to do things when you consider that, without these types of opportunities—people giving you a bit of their favour—you might not be as far ahead. It’s an uncommon break in daily terms.
This was a concept that fascinated me.
The Student and the Collector
by Chris Lorensson on 20 April 2009 with
The Collector
The Collector embarks upon his journey with little preparation. At first, he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. He takes with him nothing but desire for beautiful things. He spends his years in the wilderness, in the city and on the road in search of the objects of his desire.
He learns what he knows during his journey, not before. He gets lonely, tired and bored sometimes, but he always meets new people on his journey. He gets immense joy when he finds something beautiful, and he learns along the way. His life is spent collecting things which become dear to him, and as his taste develops with each new thing, his desire increases and becomes more particular.
By the time he is old and grey, he seems very peculiar to others, but most people enjoy his company because he is full of joy at finding his precious things.
The Student
The Student determines his objective, then spends everything to learn as much as he can before beginning. He is well-planned and organised, his preparations are endless. But before he knows it, he is too old and weary with studying to embark upon his journey.
Everything he learns gets jumbled up in his head and he can no longer remember everything. When he finally departs on his way, his supplies weigh him down rather than serve him. He grows weary in managing them and the facts collected from so many years of study.
He forces himself onto the road, but his way is slow and hard, and because he’s in no shape to travel – being old and distracted by the weight on his back and his cloudy thoughts – he misses the very thing he wanted to find. He dies without ever finding his object of desire.