tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66299677835345393572012-02-16T04:32:48.793-06:00A universal resource. Free and freely available to every race, culture <br />and language group in every place and at all times.OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-36840953112491623792008-12-28T08:08:00.003-06:002008-12-28T08:18:34.179-06:00

Sarah Bainbridge has written some very good pieces on relational generosity on the Living Generously web site. Beginning with Love Me, and continuing with Love Life, Loving Well and Forgiveness, she conveys deep and relevant insights. Check them out.

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-27400230733754696452008-12-06T18:58:00.002-06:002008-12-06T19:03:22.773-06:00

If I writeI "love" you.what am I saying?It's not the same as sayingI love you. Is it?

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-13716954383703915302008-02-28T21:01:00.004-06:002008-07-13T07:05:27.236-05:00

Love’s hidden life is in the innermost being, unfathomable, and then in turn is in an unfathomable connectedness with all existence. Just as the quiet lake originates deep down in hidden springs no eye has seen, so also does a person’s love originate even more deeply in God’s love. If there were no gushing spring at the bottom, if God were not love, then there would be neither the little lake nor

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-196457284950347462008-01-14T18:52:00.001-06:002008-07-13T07:02:05.595-05:00

True Love as it intendeth the greatest gifts intendeth also the greatest benefits. It contenteth not itself in showing great things unless it can make them greatly useful. For Love greatly delighteth in seeing its object continually seated in the highest happiness. Unless therefore I could advance you higher by the uses of what I give, my Love could not be satisfied in giving you the whole world.

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-5238415144958966312007-09-08T15:35:00.000-05:002007-09-08T20:44:33.646-05:00

Addendum to True Statements About Love:Anyone can love anyone.(Don't ask me how I know. Just live with it a while and you will know.)

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-81976510940416995622007-07-09T07:46:00.001-05:002007-07-09T07:55:20.536-05:00

Some statements about love which I think are true:(Not necessarily in order of importance) Love is not a feeling, but love has feelings. A person who loves often feels the feelings of the person he or she loves, although they might not be recognizable as such. You cannot love if you reject the love of others. You cannot love yourself or others if you reject the love of others or yourself.

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-38772739462501808732007-07-02T06:11:00.000-05:002007-07-02T06:39:31.671-05:00

Dallas Willard quotes Thomas Aquinas in The Divine Conspiracy."Love is born of an earnest consideration of the object loved." And: "Love follows knowledge." Love is an emotional response aroused in the will by visions of the good.Now Willard goes on to relate the principle to the process of our learning to love God. We learn about the Person of God. And with that knowledge we get a vision of all

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-63566841263587047602007-06-19T23:19:00.000-05:002007-06-19T23:48:28.455-05:00

For the last couple weeks I've been walking around grieving, afflicted - afraid of losing the little bit that I think I have. Thrashing around, losing grip and sliding down the rope that I think I have to hang on to. Fighting for every inch of my ground of faith - seemingly gaining and losing the same patch of ground over and over again every day. I'm tired and weary, worn to a frazzle. Giving up

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-72919049664720754212007-05-13T07:59:00.000-05:002007-06-16T09:32:43.882-05:00

True Love as it intendeth the greatest gifts intendeth also the greatest benefits. It contenteth not itself in showing great things unless it can make them greatly useful. For Love greatly delighteth in seeing its object continually seated in the highest happiness. Unless therefore I could advance you higher by the uses of what I give, my Love could not be satisfied in giving you the whole world.

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-1909371616682731142007-03-31T14:35:00.000-05:002007-03-31T14:47:45.384-05:00

I'm cutting loose with a new site, dotLove.net. It's going to be eclectic, about love, faith, hope, the arts, media, culture, therapy, maybe health and wellbeing.I'm not one to wait till I've got a big bang to open a web site. This one has two pieces of content so far. One a little piece of mine about George Bailey, hero of "It's a Wonderful Life", "The Richest Man in Town".The other is from

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-77093704876226515402007-03-25T20:09:00.000-05:002007-03-28T16:54:38.968-05:00

[This is a republish of a piece I wrote a couple years ago on another web site.]Sunday morning between the first and second services I met my friend Randy in the usual place in front of the church. After talking some about his troubles and and some about mine, I "blessed" him with one of my cryptic comments. I said, "Randy, I know you believe other people don't love you very much, when all the

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-90304900607281829012007-03-12T22:15:00.000-05:002007-03-25T19:38:57.099-05:00

My friend Rob Frazier preached Sunday morning about Biblical covenants. Among other things he spent some time talking about intentional friendships. These are not arbitrary friendships, like choosing a name out of a hat, but they are existing friendship where friends purpose to grow their friendship intentionally. They make covenant or commitment, sometimes formally stated, sometimes unspoken.

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-59763054942680627622007-03-05T21:16:00.000-06:002007-03-05T23:19:54.580-06:00

Over the past week there's been much discussion on the so-called Jesus family tomb. Evidence was presented and evidence was refuted. It's very interesting and I'm very interested in it.But let's face it, I do not believe in Jesus because of empirical, scientific evidence. I believe in Him, in His death and resurrection, because I want to. If I didn't want to believe I simply wouldn't. Now, that's

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-23441708995637678792007-02-28T22:20:00.000-06:002007-02-28T23:02:47.858-06:00

Wayne Jacobsen wrote a little blurb about law and love and what he learned about them. About how love is supposed to be the code to live by but, if we don't love, then the written law will be the one we'll have to get by with. If you ask me, I'd rather have the love standard, both to act and to be acted upon me.Wayne Jacobsen is also the co-author of an online book I liked called So You Don't

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-81223895502167232922007-02-24T13:49:00.000-06:002007-02-24T15:40:21.279-06:00

What would surprise and delight you more than anything? For me it would be to learn I am loved. For to be loved gives me a solid place to stand. It affirms from the outside what my self-love affirms from the inside. It lets me feel life is worth living. But more often than not I do not feel loved.Most of the time we travel in an environment that seems without love. The lack of love we perceive

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-23527920404442844102007-02-22T19:42:00.000-06:002007-02-22T23:37:34.781-06:00

Here's a little story about love and faith:Eleven year old Jerry has arrived at summer camp. After lunch he looks across the compound and sees Soleil. Their eyes meet and he comes over to speak. He feels accepted as Soleil expresses an interest in him. After a few minutes the girls are called away and Jerry is left standing there with the boys. Jerry experiences a brand new feeling; it's the

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-61333526925721756702007-02-19T19:47:00.000-06:002007-02-25T00:02:25.996-06:00

Does love stop loving? No. But lovers stop loving because they stop believing.Sometimes I see snatches of the daytime court programs on the television and half the cases are former friends or lovers trying to get paid for what amounts to lost love. Typically they get down and display all the dirty laundry in front of the camera and the tv judge and it's obvious.It's either like this:"You kicked

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-1537131607374720302007-02-17T19:43:00.000-06:002007-02-17T21:36:25.146-06:00

When I was a youth I was taught that the highest and purest form of love—the kind that came from God was called agape and was to be considered to be in opposition to the low, the crude, the needy form of love, which was known as eros. I was taught this doctrine by way of inference and implication. I was to internalize this concept and make it a life-style.Now, mind you, this was not a monolithic

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-15248201100626132292007-02-15T10:42:00.000-06:002007-02-15T11:26:00.745-06:00

About seven years ago, maybe eight, I went to a coffeehouse to hear some songwriters. Mark Gershmel was there and he sang a song that touched me deeply. I must have been primed and ready to receive this song because it still stands out in my memory."so bring everything that your heart can bearlive your life like a holy prayerbefore your gaze comes to reston an empty chair...Love is everything."

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-45572787244123763302007-02-13T22:22:00.000-06:002007-02-13T22:40:00.448-06:00

Love is first, last and everywhere in between. Love is our business, our pleasure, our arts and sciences, our dream and reality. If we do not have enough love we usually look for more. If we think we have less love now than we did before we go seeking where we think we lost it.Sometimes we get bitter and disillusioned. But disillusionment is not really about love; it is about our illusions of

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-65767985104263847702007-02-12T17:54:00.000-06:002007-02-17T20:35:03.677-06:00

It's been said that you don't have to feel anything to show love. A corollary to that is you don't have to like someone to behave in a loving way toward them. I think the influence of that kind of teaching has done a lot of harm.Here's how it would play out at street level. The loving one would grit his teeth, steel his nerves and commit love upon his neighbor. He believes it is his duty to love

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-80225643285364344292007-02-11T15:32:00.000-06:002007-02-11T17:10:33.312-06:00

Sorry about the title—it's a little dramatic. There really isn't a dark side to love. Not in any way. Nor do I believe there is an opposite to love. More later on that.But there are dark things that keep us from love. To my mind the biggest one is judgment. That is, the very practice which Jesus said we must not do. I remember the old version best. "Judge not, that ye be not judged." I remember

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-80990016417121183832007-02-11T08:37:00.000-06:002007-02-11T09:20:14.907-06:00

Love says love your neighbor as yourself. Or, do unto others as you would like them to do to you.Because we are the same.How do I know what my neighbor wants from me? He or she is like me. And so I know. My neighbor's inner person is known to me, in a very real sense, because his or her inner person is like mine and I know (to some degree) what is inside me. So I adjust my behavior

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-46303508281743544932007-02-09T08:48:00.000-06:002007-02-09T19:48:13.282-06:00

I was clueless in the seventies. I thought all that love stuff in pop culture was really about love. After all Joni Mitchell was on the radio singing, "Come on people now smile on our brother..." That was about real love. So why not Crosby, Stills and their crew? Remember their harmonious voices singing:If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with.To me it was a little

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-9351512596626344172007-02-04T20:06:00.000-06:002007-02-04T22:02:05.143-06:00

I want to create something to promote and foster love between and among people.Why? Because I like love a lot and want others to enjoy it and its fruits as much as I do.I have personal relationships which are loving and I am very thankful for them. Honest, I don't find anything else in life as meaningful. Not possessions or money, not personal power. If I had (or could receive) the power to cause

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6629967783534539357.post-89581272516277429662007-02-03T10:35:00.000-06:002007-05-11T08:57:27.246-05:00

Love: the original operating system for all of humanity.Enables each and every person to interface effectively with every other person, regardless of race, color or creed.Provides a framework for the highest quality of life in this world and in any and all possible worlds.Always was, is now, and always will be infinitely adaptable to all cultures in every geographical and cosmological

OpenJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976666378189117198noreply@blogger.com0