tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286294582011-09-09T08:49:28.476-07:00As Pastor of TurninPoint Community, Pres. of start-up org. INNOVO Christian Communities, Father of 6, Husband and just a guy, this is Rod's place to communicate, opinionate, originate, even vacillate, about life and God from the regular-guy perspective; a place to observe and evaluate the steps in the great Dance between God and people; a place for those He’s caught and those He’s after, that make up His Beautiful Mess called The Body.Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.comBlogger371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-50707880322686013352009-06-15T15:43:00.000-07:002009-06-15T16:26:34.794-07:00

For most of us, life is a beautiful journey that goes largely unnoticed. This is about how I missed beauty because of a small sample of brokenness common to our planet. Somehow, we westerners tend to just miss it when beauty and blessing are right before us. See if you can find yourself in the story:For my wife, spring and summer are all about her flower garden. For me, gardening is all about my

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-18121297873226195242009-05-18T16:37:00.000-07:002009-05-19T09:53:19.781-07:00

As the one who sort of invented (or stole from an obscure source) the phrase ‘lifebites’ one might think I’ve learned how to deal with those biting circumstances? Nope, reality bites! I’m still learning and none too patient at it! Over time all of us are forced to face adversity, but adversity can’t force us to learn. It does, however, force us to choose. We are facing war, a world in turmoil,

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-29508424422522841422009-03-10T15:41:00.000-07:002009-03-11T11:26:19.151-07:00

I'm stoked about our new website coming soon, but more so what it contains. In it we have done our best to begin to explain our emerging culture at TurningPoint. Though this is newly stated, it has been under development from the time of our birth. It is based on the relational/ incarnational model we see in our Master Jesus who adopted 12 men to spend the remainder of His earthly life with, into

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-19558871553926370632009-02-23T15:51:00.000-08:002009-02-23T16:26:49.850-08:00

Last month, a friend of mine left an invitation on my Facebook page. He sent me and twenty-four others, a list of random things about himself. Then he asked us to do the same in return. Honestly, I don’t usually participate in stuff like this, but this intrigued me because even though I know this friend pretty well, there were several things on his list that I didn’t know. The cool thing was that

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-84398742478378847922009-01-13T15:42:00.001-08:002009-01-13T16:18:21.154-08:00

As I sit here looking out the window at yet another rotation of the earth around the sun, I realize that I’m mid-way through another week closer to the end of my life! Dark thoughts? Not at all. My oldest daughter just turned eighteen yesterday, and my third son will turn twenty-one at the end of the month. That’s exciting and monumental. But I’ve got to admit, watching my kids race through

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-51925049059185506462008-04-04T10:11:00.000-07:002008-04-04T11:19:19.594-07:00

I'm just rambling a bit this morning, sipping my coffee ... Like most sane people I want to live well, but I'm kinda slow. (I suck at the simple stuff!) Living life well can seem as futile as trying to get a better grip on the wind?! Once we get a grip, our grip slips! That’s why I’m starting to say, “Rod, hold your dreams lightly, hold your hopes tightly.” Sound upside down? I don’t think so.

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-61668725030896584652008-04-01T12:32:00.000-07:002008-04-01T13:41:18.921-07:00

This has been a busy season for me. I have a large family. I’m part of a group of tribes for which I feel responsible, and which require much of my organizational oversight. Honestly, this is a season of soul-jarring circumstance. I’m also easily distracted. I’ve needed to process badly, but had precious little time to reflect without feeling the pressure of running after the next screaming voice

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-78428771372266225412008-02-14T08:53:00.000-08:002008-02-14T09:21:15.327-08:00

Most journeys begin with little thought given to what we may learn along the way. Only recently, I’ve begun to learn by seeing backwards. Just like the windshield is filled with opportunities, so the rear view mirror is filled with lessons if we care to glance back. This will help us do life well.Jesus wants us to learn to do life well. “I have come to give you life and that more abundantly …” (

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-4524550655066783072008-01-07T08:10:00.000-08:002008-01-07T08:40:14.078-08:00

I am not in the habit of making New Year's Resolutions, thinking in my pride that any day of any year is a good day to resolve to change something. If I am honest, I must admit to possessing the fear that once resolved, such resolutions will only serve to be a dissapointment because of my largely undisciplined life. However, in thinking about how things really change in the human heart, such

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-84236959571360516732007-12-12T14:44:00.000-08:002007-12-13T08:07:21.153-08:00

I was up in the foothills two weeks ago, with my two youngest daughters getting a Christmas tree, when I learned once again that one can’t skirt the laws of physics just because of one's equipment. I never studied physics in high school or college, but I was always intrigued by what I assumed a course like that would entail. I could have explored basic physics but instead, chose something I could

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-37035808658726399682007-11-19T16:22:00.000-08:002007-12-12T15:24:33.791-08:00

This season always does and always should cause us to reminisce with warm thoughts of family gatherings, feasts and festivals; smells of cinnamon, and evergreen, tastes like turkey, cranberry, spiced rum and eggnog lattes at Starbucks, and the sounds of familiar Christmas songs playing as we shop at Nordstrom’s or Macy’s. That’s a long sentence. Here’s a shorter one: Thank you God! Yep, we have

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-29997411392421691282007-11-09T16:29:00.000-08:002007-11-09T17:09:27.430-08:00

“A small band of critical men was once asked to accomplish a great but secret mission …" Ya, I just like that phrase, so I’m going to repeat it a few times … a day). I like it because it reminds me that hero stuff is accomplished by small groups of people all the time, and I imagine that all of them wonder if their investment is really going to be worth it in the end. And they won’t know until

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-84260687257810609082007-11-05T08:19:00.000-08:002007-11-05T08:44:57.254-08:00

“A small band of critical men was once asked to accomplish a great but secret mission.” I just like how that sounds. Not quite like the first line in The Hobbit, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” It sounds more like the opening line in an anthology of secret missions from WWII. Maybe that’s why I like it so much? It hints of adventurous rescues and courage with disregard for

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-23265563404287691082007-11-01T08:59:00.000-07:002007-11-01T09:53:52.959-07:00

My friend James wrote a blog a couple weeks ago and as I woke up this morning I found myself thinking about the subject of worship all over again. As an Elder, musician and worship leader, he has the right to comment on this, and insight as well. In his blog he noted the seeming famine of worship songs being written that are singable in the worshiping community. (http://tpcworship.blogspot.com/

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-25166262704643319412007-10-24T08:42:00.000-07:002007-10-24T10:41:57.508-07:00

I miss my son. He’s in the Air Force stationed on the East coast … for now. He always wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, but fell prey to the disease of many young people. See if you recognize these symptoms: new minimum wage job every three months, way too much Xbox, waaaaay too much junk food, (!) way too much Abercrombie, too many girlfriends, and not enough discipline. The high

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-65758704353556596372007-10-19T09:22:00.000-07:002007-10-19T09:43:16.752-07:00

Transition sucks. I’m in it and I don’t like it ... that phase in the birth process right before the “push” where every part of the mother’s body is preparing to bring little Suzy into the world - but it’s not fun! I was there when Shelley gave birth to my kids and transition sucked for her! It wasn't fun for the kids either. Heads all pointy, (it hurts when a human head is being squeezed by one

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-43074486747167210942007-10-16T15:02:00.000-07:002007-10-17T10:40:57.742-07:00

I was sitting in my Starbucks this morning, (I know strange huh?). So in walks a homeless guy, presumably in his early 40’s, though they typically look older than they really are. He lumbers over next to one of those small round tables sets his bag down in the corner and begins fumbling with the stuff in his pocket. He smells the aroma of the coffee store as He looks for change. Out comes some

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-20002193374378756292007-03-08T11:20:00.000-08:002007-03-08T11:30:56.480-08:00

I ride a motorcycle. My friends ride motorcycles and my sons ride motorcycles - not those sissy, little putt-putt units designed to get 600 miles per gallon. We ride large, fast, pavement eating, all-day-long-large-displacement-move-your-tail-two-wheeled-monsters! OK, I just thought it would be cool just to write that and think of that guy with the LARGE (and fake!) voice that advertises

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-90196239781037148802007-03-01T12:51:00.001-08:002007-03-01T13:16:13.681-08:00

Snow! Now I ask myself, "How can the Farmer's Almanac be right considering Al Gore's theory of global warming? Hmmm…" Awe, but that's enough of politics. Most of humanity will admit that life is more a spiritual journey than a political one for sure. Our inner being simply can't be satisfied with externals. A challenge: compare Jesus, His life and teaching, with what we know of as present day

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-32667408068765045352007-02-07T10:43:00.001-08:002007-02-07T13:58:41.621-08:00

Speaking of religioneers … I tell you what: the phrase "lifebites" really ticks off the religioneers out there in the church and in Blogland!  So anyway, what kind of Church uses the phrase "LifeBites" in their advertising? We do. We believe in staring reality right in the face. Denial sucks too! It sucks the Truth out of a person! When we say life bites, religioneers get all pissed and close

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-9700078761856894092007-02-06T18:17:00.001-08:002007-03-08T11:31:41.349-08:00

I think the Church is filled with what I call religioneers. A religioneer is a controller. They substitute true spirituality for pious activity; one who thinks better of oneself because of what one does to please God. This kind of person supports rules that are not in the Bible seducing people into a sense of false guilt, getting them to confess 'sins' that are not even sin. A religioneer is the

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-42197912830495671842007-01-30T16:26:00.000-08:002007-01-30T16:36:44.185-08:00

To all who are angry, hurt, and confused about Jesus and His Church,I’m a pastor, a guy, a father, a husband, a friend, a person, an American…and a jerk. I have a confession to make: I don’t love people like Jesus did, and like I should as a follower of Jesus. I say I love Jesus, but I haven’t loved you. I’m so terribly ashamed. I don’t expect you to just be happy now, but I have to get this

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1168377400164153722007-01-09T13:16:00.000-08:002007-01-09T14:04:16.140-08:00

I have previously confessed that I am a 100% Jesus freak. I worship Him as LORD, and endeavor to follow Him as Master. I also believe that the Bible is authoritative as the Word of the LORD; and therefore, my basis for authority in life and work. (I know! I’m horribly out of touch and old fashioned!) BUT … this doesn’t mean that I believe or act like my Master calls me to act. I am inconsistent

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1165534192545736582006-12-07T15:29:00.000-08:002006-12-21T13:19:13.636-08:00

"A Communion service driven by the music of singer Bono and his U2 bandmates is catching on at Episcopal churches across the country" claims a recent article on this little movement. (follow link for entire article: http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2006-10-25-u2-churches_x.htm). Our church band has employed U2 music in our worship services for several years now, but leave it to the Episcopals

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1164837515017064102006-11-29T13:58:00.000-08:002006-12-03T14:31:13.963-08:00

The evangelical church has worked very hard on our political agenda. Instead of preaching Jesus, we tell everyone that they can only find Him, have Him and receive His love if they adopt our brand of cultural re-coding. Sometimes our "message" comes across politically, like a fundamentalist right-wing "religioneer." The end result will be Constantine-like: just "herd the poor heathen Geeks into

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1164837203300459962006-11-29T13:53:00.000-08:002006-12-03T09:42:34.200-08:00

Leadership is a precarious position. We should pray hard for men and women who have been given a huge field of influence. Whatever they say "can and will be used against them" in the world-wide court of law. There are many current examples, just check out the current blogosphere. Power tends to grant permission for un-cautious speech. And power unchecked in the Church often fosters a gospel that

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1164160394995236382006-11-21T17:53:00.000-08:002006-11-29T15:22:39.083-08:00

Often the people who have the hardest time repenting are those who’ve already repented! Christians sometimes act like because they’ve confessed Christ, they have no more repenting to do. That kind of “it’s all good, we’re gonna win” mentality is nothing but hypocrisy and it’s killing our witness of the real Jesus. For example: those who call themselves Christians and yet follow and push a moral

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1164160203728442432006-11-21T17:50:00.000-08:002006-11-29T15:22:21.306-08:00

 The Church seems full of what I call “religioneers.” Religioneers attempt to re-engineer Church to fit their agenda and promote their idea of how to operate in the mainstream. These attempts to make the church powerful and palatable are quite simply pitiful. Jesus was ticked off at those who were religious but void of the true message of God, not the people stranded outside of life with God who

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1163718352988425602006-11-16T15:05:00.000-08:002006-11-21T12:00:04.136-08:00

Why is repentance so hard for us humans? Pride. Admitting we are wrong presupposes that there is a Someone who is over us and above us, and is therefore able to define right and wrong; a Someone to whom we must give account. The fact that people will not or cannot repent may be due to a person’s refusal to give account to anyone. Repentance is first a change of mind towards God and a turning

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1161815195260612142006-10-25T15:26:00.001-07:002006-11-21T12:01:04.506-08:00

Of greatest importance is what God desires to do in our hearts today and how we respond to His urgings and convictions by the Spirit and through the Word. Eugene Peterson said, “the Bible is interested not so much in whether we believe in God (it is assumed most people do) but in our response to Him.” I’ve been urged by God through a series of events going back several months now, to look more

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1161815179818539392006-10-25T15:26:00.000-07:002006-10-25T15:27:40.406-07:00

As I wrote to my oldest son this week, on training assignment with the U.S. Air Force, I began thinking about the importance of the heart and encouraging him to guard that important "organ." Of course, I was not referring to the blood-pumping organ that feeds the body with blood so necessary, but the center of the person – the core of being for the human-being. I’ve already confessed to being a

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1158792302339886152006-09-20T15:45:00.000-07:002006-11-21T12:02:06.853-08:00

I’ve been thinking about our American definition of success all over again. Most modern connotations of success are idolatrous. We set ourselves before it, we primp for it, we pray for it and to it, we spiritualize why we don’t – or worse – why others don’t have it or don’t deserve it, not recognizing that we have set up a standard based upon no authority at all, and deemed “it” worthy of a

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1158184728544391702006-09-13T14:58:00.000-07:002006-09-13T15:01:33.153-07:00

I love idols! WHAT? "Rod likes idols?" No, not my spirit-man, but my fleshy-man loves idols! That part of me that's truly dead but likes to make me still think "he’s" in charge and is still attached to the things from which I was rescued -- lust, greed, pride, self, and all the other underside complements to these idols -- things that take the place of my God. My flesh loves idols, but I hate

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1156957391361802422006-08-30T10:02:00.000-07:002006-08-30T10:03:11.363-07:00

A BATTLE RAGES ON – THE BATTLE So what’s the deal? Well first, according to Scripture, our redemption is not yet complete. While on the planet, “the law of sin” is still at work “in my members” -- the outer-self (Rom. 7:23). “A battle rages, but we must realize that the warfare is between the real people we have become in Christ and the mortal remnants of the old people we were in Adam.” (

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1156957321573627142006-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:002006-08-30T10:02:01.586-07:00

WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHRIST-ONES GONE? THE BULL So where are all the Spiritual people? Can we ever attain to what we see in the Scripture and hear about others experiencing? It's like the Air Force's slogan to “Cross over into the Blue” -- that kind of wonderful mystery where the life of Christ really begins to form in those who profess to follow Him. And they, because of this transformation, begin

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1152748668743290822006-07-12T16:39:00.000-07:002006-07-19T09:26:15.980-07:00

TRUE SPIRITUALITY – THE BULLSEYEThere are more brands of spirituality afoot on our planet than Nike has basketball shoes. The word “spiritual” is now used for anything that feels good and/or gives one an ecstatic experience. From drugs to diving, by defining spirituality, humanity has again said, like the descendants of Noah who built the tower of Babel, “we can reach the heavens” and like

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28629458.post-1148516167195359312006-05-24T16:53:00.000-07:002006-05-24T17:16:07.206-07:00

I was a little boy before I grew up. I know that sounds absurd, but let me do this intro thing. Little boys are not perfect, just ignorant, full of energy with a bit of innocence added. Little boys can teach grown-ups a lot of stuff if grown-ups have the wisdom to look back before it’s too late. Looking back is a discipline that has to be guarded so that it doesn’t become a preoccupation, but it

Rod shockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08800689143710557094noreply@blogger.com0