Now that we have a nice DSLR camera I’ve been trying to remember to take it with me wherever I go so that I can capture those once in a lifetime moments. It’s something that my good friend Tom Lester turned me on to.
Anyway, I finally remembered to grab it as I ran out the door to celebrate my daughter Abbie’s birthday and, voila, an extremely rare Florida tornado formed over the St. Johns River. My inlaws were with me and I think they got a little worried when I started driving towards the twister instead of away from it. But, I knew we would never get that close to it. This pic is from about 10 miles away. You can check out the other pics on my flickr account.
OK, deciding to pick a winner may have been just about the dumbest decision I’ve ever made. Picking winners really is as hard as all the pageant hosts say and I wish I could find a way to weasel out of this, but I have the curse of keeping my word. Or, at least none of you would let me live it down. I guess the best way to put it is that all of you “get” the dubious honor of appearing in my blog, but only one will “receive” a Bible.
With that in mind, the judges (Jennifer and me) looked for the following attributes, in no particular order:
- is it supported in the Bible? (yes to all of them)
- is it thoughtful? (again, yes to all of them)
- does it have economy of words? (a little separation here)
- does it lead us to think about “get” and “receive” from a different perspective?
It’s this last criterion that led us to our winner. While all of the responses accurately, and wonderfully, captured the spirit of “get” and “receive” the winning entry kinda’ flipped it around and caused us to take a fresh “thought.” I think you’ll agree.
So, without further adieu, here are the replies in no particular order…except of course for the winner at the end.
“…is when you get, it is expected because of a hidden agenda that could include pride, selfishness and a human desire that includes want. When you receive it is unexpected, pure in thought, no strings attached, and wanting nothing. It was a good try anyway!?!?!? Perhaps honorable mention?” – John Zanders
“Turn your heart away from God and you get what you ask for….turn your heart toward God and you receive many blessings” – Monique Alby
“To be blessed with nutrition, nurturing, wholeness — that’s receiving. To glut, to play victim, to indulge unlimited wants — that’s getting.” – Shawn Presson
“get is an action – reaching for something . . . receive is passive – accepting something that is offered freely.” – Darren Mudge
“to get is to come into possession of something however the method, but to receive is to accept what is offered to you” – Deejah Fordham
“Get means you have to work or pay for something. Receive means it is usually given as a gift and you just have to accept it. If you are a “giver” it is harder to accept something than if you had to “get” it for yourself. God uses both. His blessings and gifts are for us to “receive,” however we have to work to “get” them… read the Bible, pray, listen, be doers, givers and receivers. After you receive something you usually have to learn how to use it in order to “get” the full affects of it, if not not, it usually goes to waste.” – Shannon Charles
“get requires effort on my part, receive requires just an open hand, heart, etc.” – Martin Brozovich
And the winner is…
“‘Get’ teaches me how to take. ‘Receive’ teaches me how to GIVE.” – Nikki Jatindranath
Congrats, Nikki! Look for your Bible in the mail soon.
By the way, since I’ve been known to make the same bad decisions over and over again, look for another chance to finish a sentence and win a Bible in a few days.
I’d like to welcome guest blogger today. This is Tyler Satcher. His blog today was originally an answer in my “Unfinished Sentences” series; “I see God as…” Tyler’s struggle to put into words the way he sees God may be the most intelligent thing ever said on this blog…
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“I appreciate wat ken said “so deep we cant comprehend in our humaness.” That alludes to what Im thinking right now, an image of looking at something thru a wrapping paper tube or something of the sort. All of our statements ab “i see God as…” are like that, limited by our minds and our existence in time. I felt it necessary to qualify my following statement in such a way b/c i could not help but feel that when i say what i see God as, its simply not enough. Its like trying to reduce the irreducible into a simple word, emotion or idea. Or like defining something with a creation of the very thing u are defiining. (I am not infering that God created love in the way we would think about creation. I will never make such an inference, especially since I do not think we could really understand God’s love until heaven) God is certainly love, but its more than that… he defines love you know? And obviously we don’t worship love itself.. it certainly reveals the inadequacy of our language.”
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Well said…or not said…oh, I don’t know. Thanks, Tyler.
These are the results for “I see God as…” There is one more from Tyler Satcher who will be our guest blogger on Monday.
Dan Rubel…love. Pure and simple.
Elaine Jones Brock…my wonderful heavenly Father whose arms are always open to me…!
Michael Young…the master musician.
Melissa Johnson…gentle, loving, Father 
Ken Chapman…love, so deep we cannot comprehend in our humaness.
Darren Mudge…friend, master, comforter, healer, Lord, life, faith, grace, hope, power, purity, mercy, love, breath, bread, water of life, my all in all.
@mamaonmission…FOR ME! (as opposed to against me)
Larry W. Johnson…that he lets me be part of it anyway…
Susan Bates…how everything fits together to make one beautiful masterpiece full of an array of color and sound created with each of us in mind.
Emma Lou Savage…the AMAZING variety of flowers, birds, fish, and animals … just for US!
Darren Mudge…seeing God in His creation.
Heather Bassett Kidney…an ultrasound of a baby.
Chris Paetz…the beauty of His creation in the mountains!!!
