In case you missed this:

“Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.

We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.

We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.

Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.

We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.

Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.

Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.

Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.

And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.

Let Him be our example.

Amen.”

Technorati Tags: Donald Miller, Democratic Nation Convention, Prayer, Social Justice

When I got the opportunity to read ‘Wild Goose Chase’ before it hit the shelves –  I jumped at the opportunity. I had just met the author, Mark Batterson, at ICRS in Orlando Florida and was excited about His new book, ‘Wild Goose Chase’. I had wanted to read his last book “In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day” for some time, but had not had the chance to pick up the book yet. I can’t wait to read it now.

Wild Goose Chase is such an amazing book. I read it with pen in hand because there were so many passages in the book that spoke loudly into my life and I wanted to go back and read them.

“Wild Goose chases often start out as a single-cell desires. Something unexplainable and inexpressible gets conceived in your spirit. Something makes you mad or sad or glad. You get Wild Goose Bumps”.

This book explores all those ‘what ifs’ and ‘could have been’ and ‘if only’ – tosses them out the window and says imagine your life in God’s wild and crazy kingdom. To dream and live God’s dreams and chase what God has put in us to love.

“When we put our faith in Christ, we allow the one who changed the molecular structure of water and turned it into wine to redefine what is and is not possible. And that changes everything because “I can do everything through (Christ) who gives me strength.”

This book came to me at the right time – I am not sure what it means yet but I am diving into a wild goose chase. I hope you join me. As Mark Batterson puts it “Satan wants to turn you into a reactionary. Jesus came to recondition your spiritual reflexes with His grace. And when you’ve been reconditioned by His grace, you will become a revolutionary for His cause.”

Mark Batterson

Author Bio:
Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of Washington, DC’s National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America’s most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC’ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Mark is the author of the best-selling In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a widely read blogger (www.markbatterson.com). He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and their three children.

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Buy A copy of  ‘Wild Goose Chase’ or win one from me. I have one copy to give away. Just leave me a comment and you are entered into the drawing.

Technorati Tags: Mark Batterson,  National Community Church,  Washington DC, Wild Goose Chase, Celtic, Christianity

Cindy Morgan photo shoot. Photos were shot on the set of Beautiful Bird music video. Photos used in website and album artwork.