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Author: joelwitwer

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little,
when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the waters of life, 
having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, 
and in our efforts to build a new earth,
we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, 
where storms will show your mastery, 
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. 
We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes, 
and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.

– Francis Drake

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me. I come out of this subculture that believes in God. And Jesus. The whole deal. I came here to escape it. Because I was ashamed of it.”
“Well you’ve done a hell of a job. I’m very proud of you”
“Well it turns out, I’m not just ashamed of my strange church, of it’s political views, or all the hypocrites. I’m ashamed of Jesus.
“Is this gonna get weird?”
“Yeah, probably. But that’s the point. I’m ashamed of Jesus because I want you to like me. I want you think I’m smart or sophisticated or whatever. It’s like Jesus is the geek in the cafeteria, sitting by himself, and I’m the guy pretending he’s not my friend.”
“Miller, we’re both tired. You’re the Pope now, do what you want.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m talking to you! As a person. You and I both hate those people who think they can do what they want because God is on their side, right? Well I’m apologizing because I’m the same as they are. All that stuff in the Bible, about feeding the poor. I’ve never done any of that. God tells us to love everybody. I’ve hated people; my family, folks back home I don’t agree with, idiot pastors. I hated them because I thought they made me look like a fool. I’ve spent the school year trying to ditch God. But I can’t. It’s like he’s following me around. I’m confessing to you that I’m tired of being a hypocrite and a coward. I need you to forgive me. Do you forgive me?”
“I wouldn’t know what to forgive you for.”
“Do you forgive me for misrepresenting God? He isn’t like me. He isn’t afraid. And he isn’t a coward. And he isn’t a hypocrite. And he isn’t like that messed up priest that raped you as a kid. I should’ve told you that a long time ago. Will you forgive me?”

   ” …… yeah … i forgive you …”

– from the movie Blue Like Jazz, starting at 95m20s
based off the book of the same name by Donald Miller