I feel the need to express what the main reasons are that I write this blog.
First, allow me to voice what I believe can be some understandably wrong ideas about what I am trying to do or why I am writing it.
I do not want to give people the impression that I am not struggling with my own issues. There are many things that I discuss on this blog specifically because writing about them helps me to think more carefully and clearly about stuff that I am struggling with. When I state what I am in the process of learning from Scriptures or life in general, it is not intended to give an impression of great scholarly study (have you read my blog), but it is to show that even a truck driver can access deep and powerful truths within the Bible and by the help of the Holy Spirit throughout every day life. Therefore, if I, the truck driver, can access these insights, anyone can. Or...more specifically, you can.
Also, understand this, I struggle with sin. I have shared some personal info about this, and I have been working through how to share a bit more of my personal story, but I just want to make it clear that another conclusion that should not be reached because of my uber willingness to focus almost exclusively on spiritual and Scriptural topics is that I am therefore implying that I do not struggle with sin. This entire post makes me uncomfortable because of the degree to which the word "I" has been used. It is not my intention to craft this blog as a voice for only my insights but I also want to spotlight others including the thoughts of any who frequent the blog. I have, however, felt a push to give my thoughts some context. That context will be a few posts that are forthcoming regarding the good, bad, ugly, and beautiful about my life up until this point. In these posts, I will spend some time exploring my past, important people in my life, and my present. I bring this up now to say that if you are under the impression that I am seeking to point to myself as someone who is "holier than thou" and a faker, you are free to hold to that opinion but please know that I know who I am, and a crucial part of who I am is who I was. God is unbelievably gracious in dealing with my failings now, but what really blows me away is how gracious He is at not bringing up my past nose dives. That being said, one of the biggest things that sobers me up when I am feeling a bit "holier than whomever" is a short remembrance of who I am when I am not even trying to follow Christ. I promise you it ain't pretty. Just know that I know how profoundly screwed up I was, and I also know that I am still struggling with sin. Just because I don't make this blog into a full on national enquirer expose on "Dennis--What Crap did he do and What Crap is he doing even now!", doesn't mean I am not aware of that. This is not Jerry Springer; I ain't Catholic, and you are not my priest.
OK, enough of that.
Why am I writing this?
1. It helps me to sort through my thoughts more carefully and clearly when I sit down and actually write about it. Writing about it officially puts it "out there" for all to see and therefore, writing about it is a way to push my self to think more carefully and express my thoughts more concisely. This helps me when I am later talking about some things because I already have my mental ducks in a row....at least, on a few things. :)
2. I want to give some of these posts as a gift to my kids. It will be sort of like a snap shot of how I saw the world at the time when I was writing the given post, and by the time they are old enough to care, it will be a snap shot from quite some time ago. (I did my first blog post two months before Ella was born.) I am hoping it will give them something concrete to consider as they themselves are sorting through some of these same issues.
3. I want those closest to me to have a way to know my thoughts. Myndall is the primary person in this category, but I/we have also been blessed with an incredibly large number of family that we are close to and an amazing array of friends who I cannot and would not want to imagine living life without. However, life is insanity and slow, meaningful chats over a cup of coffee happens far too infrequently for any of us(including Myndall and I). Therefore, this is a way to have a more continuous meaningful conversation in spite of the insanity. I will still probably be drinking coffee. You may imbibe the beverage of your choice. :)
That's pretty much it.
Smooches and sunshine
Showing posts with label Unique and Original. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unique and Original. Show all posts
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Unique Voices--Abby Johnson
Abby Johnson was a Planned Parenthood director who is now pro-life. For obvious reasons, she is a unique voice in this ongoing battle regarding abortion. She worked with Planned Parenthood for eight years and became a clinic director. She became increasingly disturbed by what she witnessed. Increasingly, she saw abortion was a product that Planned Parenthood was selling. As unrest grew within her, she continued in the employ of Planned Parenthood.
On September 26, 2009, Abby was asked to assist with an ultrasound- guided abortion. She watched in horror as a 13 week baby fought and lost its life at the hand of an abortionist. It was at that moment the full realization of WHAT abortion was and what she had dedicated her life to washed over Abby and a dramatic transformation began.
Abby contacted a local pro-life group. She swore that she would begin to advocate for life in the womb and expose abortion for what it truly is. However…Planned Parenthood didn’t take her exodus sitting down. They are fully aware that workers who leave are their greatest threat. They immediately took action to silence her with a gag order and took Abby to court. Thankfully, it was quickly thrown out of court, and the media was, and continues to be, intensely interested in Abby’s story as well as her continued efforts to advocate for the unborn and to help clinic workers escape the abortion industry. She has written a book titled Unplanned. She travels around the world sharing her story and educating the public on pro-life issues. She has also founded an organization that is aimed at reaching out to abortion clinic staff who still work in the industry called And Then There Were None. It seeks to help them leave the industry and find healing.
The above is a paraphrase of her bio on her facebook account. I have been following her for quite some time. Although there are a few things I disagree with her about (pretty much like every other human being on the planet), I have great appreciation for how I believe God is using her. I hope you will seek out her voice and give it a listen.
More voices to come…….
On September 26, 2009, Abby was asked to assist with an ultrasound- guided abortion. She watched in horror as a 13 week baby fought and lost its life at the hand of an abortionist. It was at that moment the full realization of WHAT abortion was and what she had dedicated her life to washed over Abby and a dramatic transformation began.
Abby contacted a local pro-life group. She swore that she would begin to advocate for life in the womb and expose abortion for what it truly is. However…Planned Parenthood didn’t take her exodus sitting down. They are fully aware that workers who leave are their greatest threat. They immediately took action to silence her with a gag order and took Abby to court. Thankfully, it was quickly thrown out of court, and the media was, and continues to be, intensely interested in Abby’s story as well as her continued efforts to advocate for the unborn and to help clinic workers escape the abortion industry. She has written a book titled Unplanned. She travels around the world sharing her story and educating the public on pro-life issues. She has also founded an organization that is aimed at reaching out to abortion clinic staff who still work in the industry called And Then There Were None. It seeks to help them leave the industry and find healing.
The above is a paraphrase of her bio on her facebook account. I have been following her for quite some time. Although there are a few things I disagree with her about (pretty much like every other human being on the planet), I have great appreciation for how I believe God is using her. I hope you will seek out her voice and give it a listen.
More voices to come…….
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Cheap Backpacks
In May of 1948, David Ben Gurion recited his brief declaration that Israel was now a nation again. This was not greeted with a welcoming party of celebration but by gun fire and a brief but decisive war that would create many of the dynamics in the region that continue to play out to this day. I recently read an amazingly detailed account of the period leading from November of 1947 to August of 1948 when these amazing developments began unfolding with an increasing velocity. The book is called O Jerusalem, and for anyone who is interested in this topic, I highly, highly recommend this book for a fascinating mixture of intriguing back stories to specific situations that developed and of many of the major political players involved in the process. I recommend the audio version unabridged. It is long, but available at many libraries and will allow you to absorb the story better in my opinion.
One story chronicled in the book is a situation that developed near the end of the first few weeks after the above mentioned announcement of a new Jewish state. Jerusalem had been under siege, and, in spite of its leaders' best efforts to set aside enough food to ration out a sufficient amount to its citizens while under siege, the supplies were swiftly approaching zero. Even after cutting the rationed amount on two different occasions, there was simply no way to forestall the inevitable starvation. A desperate cry went out to Ben Gurion for emergency aid within days, or they would have to give up the city completely or starve. This would most likely have been a death blow to the nation of Israel.
The Jewish fighters had sought to retake the road to Jerusalem many times, but they had failed. While out on a scouting mission, three men in an off road jeep saw a vehicle coming. After initially hiding and planning to wait out the Arab jeep, the men jumped and ran to it. It was a vehicle from Jerusalem. They suddenly realized that they had driven part of the way from Tel Aviv and the other vehicle had covered the other half of the distance. This sparked an idea of a new road, but the terrain was extremely rough. The off road jeep had barely covered the distance, but supply trucks without that off road capacity would never cover that same terrain as it was. A sad excuse for the closest thing they had to a road construction crew was brought in to make a passable road as quickly as possible. Over a few days, they made amazing progress, but finally, the crew came to a mountainous area that made up the final three middle miles to connect the two "roads". There was simply no way the construction gang could build the road through these mountains in the time frame needed to avert starvation.
Earlier in the book, the narrator tells of a few men who went to the U.S. and Europe in the months prior to the outbreak of war on a shopping spree of sorts. They were seeking arms, planes, equipment, and anything that they believed could be of use in the conflict to come. While sorting through an assortment of arms, one of these men came across hundreds of cheap backpacks that he decided at the last minute to buy and find a use for at the price of twenty cents per pack. This proved to be a fateful decision on his part. The Jewish leadership did the math and drafted businessmen and merchants from Tel Aviv for a "special mission". They loaded up each pack with food and supplies and drove the packs and these men out to the farthest point they had been able to get the road to and then the men unloaded out of the trucks. They each slung on one of the cheap backpacks filled with food, and walked the few miles over the mountains to where the other trucks from Jerusalem were waiting. A few days after this the road was finished, the arabs made what they would always recognize as their chief strategic mistake. They accepted a temporary ceasefire. This allowed the Jews to get arms and a mountain of food into Jerusalem for future sieges. The hike of the cheap backpacks barely allowed Jerusalem to avoid starvation by the few days needed to survive until the ceasefire. If they had not had this breakthrough, they would have surrendered.
This is just one of the amazing stories represented in the book, O Jerusalem. I hope you will check it out and enjoy it as much as I did.
One story chronicled in the book is a situation that developed near the end of the first few weeks after the above mentioned announcement of a new Jewish state. Jerusalem had been under siege, and, in spite of its leaders' best efforts to set aside enough food to ration out a sufficient amount to its citizens while under siege, the supplies were swiftly approaching zero. Even after cutting the rationed amount on two different occasions, there was simply no way to forestall the inevitable starvation. A desperate cry went out to Ben Gurion for emergency aid within days, or they would have to give up the city completely or starve. This would most likely have been a death blow to the nation of Israel.
The Jewish fighters had sought to retake the road to Jerusalem many times, but they had failed. While out on a scouting mission, three men in an off road jeep saw a vehicle coming. After initially hiding and planning to wait out the Arab jeep, the men jumped and ran to it. It was a vehicle from Jerusalem. They suddenly realized that they had driven part of the way from Tel Aviv and the other vehicle had covered the other half of the distance. This sparked an idea of a new road, but the terrain was extremely rough. The off road jeep had barely covered the distance, but supply trucks without that off road capacity would never cover that same terrain as it was. A sad excuse for the closest thing they had to a road construction crew was brought in to make a passable road as quickly as possible. Over a few days, they made amazing progress, but finally, the crew came to a mountainous area that made up the final three middle miles to connect the two "roads". There was simply no way the construction gang could build the road through these mountains in the time frame needed to avert starvation.
Earlier in the book, the narrator tells of a few men who went to the U.S. and Europe in the months prior to the outbreak of war on a shopping spree of sorts. They were seeking arms, planes, equipment, and anything that they believed could be of use in the conflict to come. While sorting through an assortment of arms, one of these men came across hundreds of cheap backpacks that he decided at the last minute to buy and find a use for at the price of twenty cents per pack. This proved to be a fateful decision on his part. The Jewish leadership did the math and drafted businessmen and merchants from Tel Aviv for a "special mission". They loaded up each pack with food and supplies and drove the packs and these men out to the farthest point they had been able to get the road to and then the men unloaded out of the trucks. They each slung on one of the cheap backpacks filled with food, and walked the few miles over the mountains to where the other trucks from Jerusalem were waiting. A few days after this the road was finished, the arabs made what they would always recognize as their chief strategic mistake. They accepted a temporary ceasefire. This allowed the Jews to get arms and a mountain of food into Jerusalem for future sieges. The hike of the cheap backpacks barely allowed Jerusalem to avoid starvation by the few days needed to survive until the ceasefire. If they had not had this breakthrough, they would have surrendered.
This is just one of the amazing stories represented in the book, O Jerusalem. I hope you will check it out and enjoy it as much as I did.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
ASSURANCE
Wanted to address an issue I believe many Christians struggle with secretly. This is the issue of an assurance of salvation. How does one obtain assurance of salvation? Does not having an internal assurance mean I am not born again?
This post is going to be short and sweet, but I felt the need to post it because I know there have been times I have struggled with these questions, and I know from many personal conversations with close friends who are believers that they have struggled with it also. This is actually my first point to any who relate with this issue.
1. You are NOT alone.
I do not believe that simply wrestling with these insecurities means that one is not born again. However, let me share what has over time become my primary means of dealing with this issue, and, therefore, the number one piece of advice I will give to most I encounter who struggle with insecurities about their faith.
2. No one but God can establish this assurance.
What I mean by this in practical terms is simply that many are either in a position of being unwilling to question even the possibility that they are not born again, or they constantly question whether they are truly born again BECAUSE OF TEACHINGS OF MEN. We all need and CAN be helped by teachers and elders in the faith, but if you are overconfident in your faith because you’ve bought into wrong doctrine about this, the answer is not to simply place your trust in what can be an equally damaging wrong doctrine that causes many to be constantly insecure about their faith. The answer is to WRESTLE with God about this. How do you do this? We have a greater access to the scriptures than any generation prior to us. We have the freedom to cry out to God in prayer daily. These two exercises can NEVER be replaced by the “official” teachings of any XYZ denomination or teacher. “Work out you own salvation with fear and trembling.” I know this seems overly simplified, but I want to be clear that this process, though simple and straightforward, is most assuredly NOT the easy path. However, know that when you receive an assurance from God, your spiritual walk will take on a whole new momentum and intensity. This is a HUGE issue. Don’t ever settle for having anything less than His assurance through His Word and His Spirit!
This post is going to be short and sweet, but I felt the need to post it because I know there have been times I have struggled with these questions, and I know from many personal conversations with close friends who are believers that they have struggled with it also. This is actually my first point to any who relate with this issue.
1. You are NOT alone.
I do not believe that simply wrestling with these insecurities means that one is not born again. However, let me share what has over time become my primary means of dealing with this issue, and, therefore, the number one piece of advice I will give to most I encounter who struggle with insecurities about their faith.
2. No one but God can establish this assurance.
What I mean by this in practical terms is simply that many are either in a position of being unwilling to question even the possibility that they are not born again, or they constantly question whether they are truly born again BECAUSE OF TEACHINGS OF MEN. We all need and CAN be helped by teachers and elders in the faith, but if you are overconfident in your faith because you’ve bought into wrong doctrine about this, the answer is not to simply place your trust in what can be an equally damaging wrong doctrine that causes many to be constantly insecure about their faith. The answer is to WRESTLE with God about this. How do you do this? We have a greater access to the scriptures than any generation prior to us. We have the freedom to cry out to God in prayer daily. These two exercises can NEVER be replaced by the “official” teachings of any XYZ denomination or teacher. “Work out you own salvation with fear and trembling.” I know this seems overly simplified, but I want to be clear that this process, though simple and straightforward, is most assuredly NOT the easy path. However, know that when you receive an assurance from God, your spiritual walk will take on a whole new momentum and intensity. This is a HUGE issue. Don’t ever settle for having anything less than His assurance through His Word and His Spirit!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The colors of language
This is a very strange post for me to choose to make my reentry into the blogging world, but it is something I've been thinking of recently.....just goes to show you, you never know what's going on up here in my noggin.
OK...short and sweet. Have you ever interacted with a small child as they learned their colors? They learn the rainbow plus maybe a few more, and everything MUST fall into one of those categories. As we grow a little older we learn about pink, violet, teal, gray, beige, and we begin becoming aware of the growing number of possibilities for categories to place colors. Finally, we are sitting at some decorator's desk or at our local home improvement store, and we are confronted with an insane array of colors that include bizarre names like charred sage and robins egg. Most of us are annoyed at this level of color choice and have begun writing our congressman for some rainbow only legislation to be passed immediately.
My wife loves color. She's the arteest of the fam. She can capture whatever that quality is about some scenes that make them riveting and translate it onto a canvas. This is what I strive to do with writing. Language is like color, and words are like the growing spectrum of individual colors. I hope to capture something riveting and translate it into something unique that makes it my own expression of that something. Many times it is spiritual, social, political, or somewhat random, and sometimes it is a very obscure, personal rambling thought about something like color and language. I write because I enjoy it. It helps me process both the world around me and my own internal world. It is primarily a relaxing, organizing process that I occasionally place into a "bottle" on this blog and chunk it out to sea to see if anyone else can relate.
OK...short and sweet. Have you ever interacted with a small child as they learned their colors? They learn the rainbow plus maybe a few more, and everything MUST fall into one of those categories. As we grow a little older we learn about pink, violet, teal, gray, beige, and we begin becoming aware of the growing number of possibilities for categories to place colors. Finally, we are sitting at some decorator's desk or at our local home improvement store, and we are confronted with an insane array of colors that include bizarre names like charred sage and robins egg. Most of us are annoyed at this level of color choice and have begun writing our congressman for some rainbow only legislation to be passed immediately.
My wife loves color. She's the arteest of the fam. She can capture whatever that quality is about some scenes that make them riveting and translate it onto a canvas. This is what I strive to do with writing. Language is like color, and words are like the growing spectrum of individual colors. I hope to capture something riveting and translate it into something unique that makes it my own expression of that something. Many times it is spiritual, social, political, or somewhat random, and sometimes it is a very obscure, personal rambling thought about something like color and language. I write because I enjoy it. It helps me process both the world around me and my own internal world. It is primarily a relaxing, organizing process that I occasionally place into a "bottle" on this blog and chunk it out to sea to see if anyone else can relate.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Being Strong
The notion of being strong is deeply ingrained in all of us. However, what it means to most people and what it means to a Christian are two very different things, and I, as many folks, haven't given that a lot of thought. We are told as Christians not to be worldly, but what does that mean. Unfortunately, most Christians think it refers primarily to not "drink, smoke, or chew and not to hang with those who do" or something along those lines. It seems to me that at least part of what "being worldly" refers to is thinking as if we are still primarily led and influenced by philosophies held by those who are unbelievers.
Being strong in the typical sense refers to diggin' down real deep and being a person who doesn't buckle under pressure. Also, we are to be stoic and unmoved in the face of adversity. We are to rise to the moment. Be all we can be. And so on and so forth.
I don't mean to belittle these notions. I think most who genuinely strive to live up to them (including myself sometimes) do so with the best of intentions. But whether the reason for our thinking in this way is simply driven by ego or some deeper sense of duty to those we care about deeply, there remains a problem. WE are NOT strong. Period.
I have faced a lot of stress and challenges in the last several years as I've taken on the responsibilities of husband and father, and I have many close friends that have faced much more intense challenges and tragedy than I have. I don't mean to make it sound as if I've learned to walk in this truth of being strong, but I see it more clearly now than ever in the past. I hope that will be a first step to walking in it.
The truth is this. "Being" strong, just as "being" anything for a Christian is found in the person of Christ and enabled by the Holy Spirit. The outer signs of being strong for a Christian may look similar to some of the things I described above, but the key to whatever, if any, strength that we possess is in direct proportion that we have recognized and acknowledged our own complete poverty of strength and whether we have chosen to seek to avail ourselves of His limitless strength(and righteousness and patience and mercifulness and self-control and humility and gratefulness and...well...you get the idea). May we all simply make the one choice that is ours to make. Placing our trust in the one and only Strong one among us.
Being strong in the typical sense refers to diggin' down real deep and being a person who doesn't buckle under pressure. Also, we are to be stoic and unmoved in the face of adversity. We are to rise to the moment. Be all we can be. And so on and so forth.
I don't mean to belittle these notions. I think most who genuinely strive to live up to them (including myself sometimes) do so with the best of intentions. But whether the reason for our thinking in this way is simply driven by ego or some deeper sense of duty to those we care about deeply, there remains a problem. WE are NOT strong. Period.
I have faced a lot of stress and challenges in the last several years as I've taken on the responsibilities of husband and father, and I have many close friends that have faced much more intense challenges and tragedy than I have. I don't mean to make it sound as if I've learned to walk in this truth of being strong, but I see it more clearly now than ever in the past. I hope that will be a first step to walking in it.
The truth is this. "Being" strong, just as "being" anything for a Christian is found in the person of Christ and enabled by the Holy Spirit. The outer signs of being strong for a Christian may look similar to some of the things I described above, but the key to whatever, if any, strength that we possess is in direct proportion that we have recognized and acknowledged our own complete poverty of strength and whether we have chosen to seek to avail ourselves of His limitless strength(and righteousness and patience and mercifulness and self-control and humility and gratefulness and...well...you get the idea). May we all simply make the one choice that is ours to make. Placing our trust in the one and only Strong one among us.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Eat, Pray, Love
I have a close friend who read this book earlier this year, and I snagged the audio book on CD to listen to it in my truck so we could discuss amongst ourselves. The following are the main thoughts I took away from the book.
First, it was an interesting read. Elizabeth Gilbert(the author) takes us on a ride from four months in Italy to four months in India to four months in Indonesia. I personally was the most interested during the parts that showed "the view" from inside an ashram(not sure about the spelling on that) in India. This is sort of like a retreat/temporary monastery type dealio for those seekin a lil enlightenment Hindu style. I also was fascinated with the social structure of Indonesia (specifically Bali--the only Hindu island of the otherwise Muslim Indonesia). The Italy part just primarily made me hungry for pasta and a good cup of coffee. This interesting journey is set within the context of Ms. Gilbert's personal spiritual journey at a very painful point in her life.
I'm not a book critic though, and the thing that drew me to this book was the underlying conclusions that I knew would inevitably be there to be found.
CHAPTERS 3, 57, and whatever the next to last chapter was.....
First, I'll address what I identified as the core message of the book. In chapter 3, Liz shares the catalyst that sort of gets the ball rolling on her spiritual journey. She prays. She is a snotty, crying, sobbing mess on her bathroom floor in the middle of the night while her then husband was sleeping. She knew that she was miserable for many different reasons, and she cried out for help. She holds a conviction that she hears a calm, strong, loving voice(a version of her own voice but much more at peace and authoritative) that responds with very simple instructions to return to bed to sleep. Simple instructions but the experience was a VERY powerful one for her.
This is crucial for two primary reasons. 1.It launches this very committedly non-spiritual person into a new direction and thus the story ensues. 2. It also serves as THE point of reference at the end of the year long journey for the author to make her point(in the next to last chapter). She refers to an old Hindu proverb that claims there are two forces at work that turn an acorn into an oak tree. One is all the physical realities that come from the fact that everything that makes the oak is in the acorn seed and will come out if it gets into good soil, AND the "future" oak that doesn't yet exist that wants to reach its full potential and thus pulls the acorn and its innards along the process. She wonders if the voice she heard in the bathroom was perhaps this new balanced and more fully at peace and stronger version of herself pulling herself forward into the fullness of her potential. That feeling you have right now is called a Hindu headache, grasshopper. :)
Agree, disagree, think amongst yourselfs(in case you haven't figured this one out I disagree). However, the most thought provoking part of the book for me came smack in the middle in chapter 57. It comes just after a very important moment for our leading lady in her guru's ashram in India.
SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Elizabeth has a very powerful spiritual experience(a couple of spiritual experiences actually), and this is the watershed moment for her. Everything flows forward out of these hours and days. During this chapter, Ms. Gilbert makes some fairly dogmatic statements about the nature of faith as she sees it. "faith is not rational.....if faith were rational it wouldn't be by definition, faith. Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch...."
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Mormon a few years ago on a plane to Dallas(it will be a meaningful tangent, just hang with me a minute). He was explaining to me his religious convictions, and I was listening because I was genuinely interested in the inner workings of the whole Mormon thing, but finally, I began to challenge him about specifics within his faith in what I hope was a very measured and respectful way. The conversation remained very friendly and cordial all the way through with only a few more tense moments, but he eventually always retreated back to what the Mormons call the "burning in the bosom." This connotes a meaningful spiritual experience that seems to signify a real spiritual happening, and for him, this trumps anything I can toss at him in the way of reason or objective problems that exist with his religious beliefs and his religion as a whole. The only thing I knew to tell him was this. I was raised in Pentecostal churches, and I know a thing or two about spiritual experiences. The short version of what I mean by that is that I realized that some of the spiritual experiences I was witnessing or even some I had myself were almost certainly not God at work. This realization caused me to have to seriously reevaluate some things, but I believe the realization was a profound gift from God.
Being a follower of Christ is a belief system that is filled with external checks. The Bible constantly sets itself up to be tested historically, ethically, experientially, scientifically, etc. It is a faith that is firmly rooted in our story and in our existence. It is not some abstract thing that cannot be appreciated outside some spiritual state of mind. Religions that seek to coerce its followers into chunking reason for faith are trying to convince that faith is not faith unless you do that.....unless you bet your eternal destiny on a spiritual experience or a series of spiritual experiences, but God begs to be empirically verified constantly. I can back this up if anyone is interested, but my point is that faith means just what it means when you claim to have faith in your spouse or your father or the pilot of the airplane you are flying in. Faith in God means the same or at least similar things as these examples. Badee.....badee......dats all folks.
First, it was an interesting read. Elizabeth Gilbert(the author) takes us on a ride from four months in Italy to four months in India to four months in Indonesia. I personally was the most interested during the parts that showed "the view" from inside an ashram(not sure about the spelling on that) in India. This is sort of like a retreat/temporary monastery type dealio for those seekin a lil enlightenment Hindu style. I also was fascinated with the social structure of Indonesia (specifically Bali--the only Hindu island of the otherwise Muslim Indonesia). The Italy part just primarily made me hungry for pasta and a good cup of coffee. This interesting journey is set within the context of Ms. Gilbert's personal spiritual journey at a very painful point in her life.
I'm not a book critic though, and the thing that drew me to this book was the underlying conclusions that I knew would inevitably be there to be found.
CHAPTERS 3, 57, and whatever the next to last chapter was.....
First, I'll address what I identified as the core message of the book. In chapter 3, Liz shares the catalyst that sort of gets the ball rolling on her spiritual journey. She prays. She is a snotty, crying, sobbing mess on her bathroom floor in the middle of the night while her then husband was sleeping. She knew that she was miserable for many different reasons, and she cried out for help. She holds a conviction that she hears a calm, strong, loving voice(a version of her own voice but much more at peace and authoritative) that responds with very simple instructions to return to bed to sleep. Simple instructions but the experience was a VERY powerful one for her.
This is crucial for two primary reasons. 1.It launches this very committedly non-spiritual person into a new direction and thus the story ensues. 2. It also serves as THE point of reference at the end of the year long journey for the author to make her point(in the next to last chapter). She refers to an old Hindu proverb that claims there are two forces at work that turn an acorn into an oak tree. One is all the physical realities that come from the fact that everything that makes the oak is in the acorn seed and will come out if it gets into good soil, AND the "future" oak that doesn't yet exist that wants to reach its full potential and thus pulls the acorn and its innards along the process. She wonders if the voice she heard in the bathroom was perhaps this new balanced and more fully at peace and stronger version of herself pulling herself forward into the fullness of her potential. That feeling you have right now is called a Hindu headache, grasshopper. :)
Agree, disagree, think amongst yourselfs(in case you haven't figured this one out I disagree). However, the most thought provoking part of the book for me came smack in the middle in chapter 57. It comes just after a very important moment for our leading lady in her guru's ashram in India.
SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES
Elizabeth has a very powerful spiritual experience(a couple of spiritual experiences actually), and this is the watershed moment for her. Everything flows forward out of these hours and days. During this chapter, Ms. Gilbert makes some fairly dogmatic statements about the nature of faith as she sees it. "faith is not rational.....if faith were rational it wouldn't be by definition, faith. Faith is belief in what you cannot see or prove or touch...."
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Mormon a few years ago on a plane to Dallas(it will be a meaningful tangent, just hang with me a minute). He was explaining to me his religious convictions, and I was listening because I was genuinely interested in the inner workings of the whole Mormon thing, but finally, I began to challenge him about specifics within his faith in what I hope was a very measured and respectful way. The conversation remained very friendly and cordial all the way through with only a few more tense moments, but he eventually always retreated back to what the Mormons call the "burning in the bosom." This connotes a meaningful spiritual experience that seems to signify a real spiritual happening, and for him, this trumps anything I can toss at him in the way of reason or objective problems that exist with his religious beliefs and his religion as a whole. The only thing I knew to tell him was this. I was raised in Pentecostal churches, and I know a thing or two about spiritual experiences. The short version of what I mean by that is that I realized that some of the spiritual experiences I was witnessing or even some I had myself were almost certainly not God at work. This realization caused me to have to seriously reevaluate some things, but I believe the realization was a profound gift from God.
Being a follower of Christ is a belief system that is filled with external checks. The Bible constantly sets itself up to be tested historically, ethically, experientially, scientifically, etc. It is a faith that is firmly rooted in our story and in our existence. It is not some abstract thing that cannot be appreciated outside some spiritual state of mind. Religions that seek to coerce its followers into chunking reason for faith are trying to convince that faith is not faith unless you do that.....unless you bet your eternal destiny on a spiritual experience or a series of spiritual experiences, but God begs to be empirically verified constantly. I can back this up if anyone is interested, but my point is that faith means just what it means when you claim to have faith in your spouse or your father or the pilot of the airplane you are flying in. Faith in God means the same or at least similar things as these examples. Badee.....badee......dats all folks.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Taking things to heart
This expression has become a cliche, but for whatever reason it sticks in my head like that milli vanilli song "Girl you know it's true......oooo......oooooo......oooo....I love you." But I digress. What is interesting about the expression "taking it to heart" is that most often when used by most, it is misused. When someone generally says this, they usually mean they allowed themselves to be emotionally impacted by "it". Here's the dealio. Being impacted emotionally is not the equivalent of taking something to heart. Allowing your actions to be changed and yielding yourself to the truth of or the impact of "it" by changing your beliefs and therefore actions/behaviors is taking it to heart.
Taking it to heart is kind of like ingesting something and having it flow through your blood stream to become a part of who you are. This has obvious application to our walk with Christ cuz if any of you are like me perhaps you've been impacted emotionally many, many times by Christ, his life, the gospel, etc., but given this definition of taking "it" to heart, how much of Him have I really taken to heart. I am humbled many times at the answer, and I pray that he continues to patiently make His grace available to me to grow in the percentage of times that I can answer yes to this question instead of hanging my head in shame and frustration.
Taking it to heart is kind of like ingesting something and having it flow through your blood stream to become a part of who you are. This has obvious application to our walk with Christ cuz if any of you are like me perhaps you've been impacted emotionally many, many times by Christ, his life, the gospel, etc., but given this definition of taking "it" to heart, how much of Him have I really taken to heart. I am humbled many times at the answer, and I pray that he continues to patiently make His grace available to me to grow in the percentage of times that I can answer yes to this question instead of hanging my head in shame and frustration.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Clarity
So, you walk into the eye doctor's office and sit on the little stool. He pulls down the big white robotic looking arm of vision with the binocular looking peep holes and puts it up against your face. "Tell me which is clearer 1 or 2," he says. You choose two. Then he flips a lever and flips between two other pieces of glass within the magical binoculars of the doc, "3 or 4?" You pick three. This goes on and on until the doctor gets you as close to clarity this side of lasik surgery.
Why did I walk you through that painfully boring reminder of what it's like at the eye doc's? Because it is an analogy of the point I'm going to make about life and our perceptions about life stuff.
Sometimes our perceptions are screwed up, and we need to have the magical arm of context flashed before our eyes to help us realize how much we either have not seen or have not seen clearly. I have a few quick examples of tools that I believe can help us see things more clearly.
1.Expose yourself to different cultures.
No, I don't want you to embrace your inner native and go running around the house in a loin cloth with a spear or force yourself to eat things that belong on a science fiction movie. I am also not claiming that other cultures have some deep insight that you just don't get until you've delved into their culture. I am, however, talking about compare/contrast and the value of it. An example of what I would suggest is an exercise a friend of mine used to do. Whenever going on a long road trip through a large metropolitan area, surf the radio. Force yourself to leave it in at least 5 or 6 places on the radio dial for ten minutes each that you would normally never listen to.
Again, I am not suggesting that you will be enlightened by the content of what you hear, but that you will be able to compare and contrast what you hear with what you already experience on a daily basis.
2.Get historical
I am not suggesting that you have to love history or become obsessed with it, but G. K. Chesterton used a phrase "democracy of the dead". The idea is that when we in the current generation don't delve at all into what those who went before us thought, wrote, argued about, believed, etc., we are guilty of a great arrogance and snobbery. The ideas that are celebrated and widely accepted without question in our generation were many times pointedly criticized by previous generations. How do you know you are not simply being swept up by the current of the trend of our generation. We can often look back and see the wrong headed excesses and sins of previous generations, but hearing what they did and said can make us more likely to see our own before we are unable to do anything about repenting from them.
3.Read and Listen
Too often, in our age of mass media we get our information from people who don't actually know anything about the subject they are talking about(ahem....journalists....ahem) from people who haven't thought deeply about the subject they are speaking about(ahem....actors.....ahem). However, if we make it a point to occasionally tune into actual experts and thoughtful people within the various fields of interest, we will be more likely to be building our house on the intellectual rock, so to speak. I know it is easier for me to tune out with a bag of mental mush on the boob tube (and lord knows I still do my share of that from time to time), but we've got to develop habits about what we put into our mental mouths no less than what we put into our physical ones. Technology, although certainly a chief villain in making it easier for us to suck up the bad stuff, is also at the forefront of making the good stuff easier to access, but we still have to be pro active about it.
Why did I walk you through that painfully boring reminder of what it's like at the eye doc's? Because it is an analogy of the point I'm going to make about life and our perceptions about life stuff.
Sometimes our perceptions are screwed up, and we need to have the magical arm of context flashed before our eyes to help us realize how much we either have not seen or have not seen clearly. I have a few quick examples of tools that I believe can help us see things more clearly.
1.Expose yourself to different cultures.
No, I don't want you to embrace your inner native and go running around the house in a loin cloth with a spear or force yourself to eat things that belong on a science fiction movie. I am also not claiming that other cultures have some deep insight that you just don't get until you've delved into their culture. I am, however, talking about compare/contrast and the value of it. An example of what I would suggest is an exercise a friend of mine used to do. Whenever going on a long road trip through a large metropolitan area, surf the radio. Force yourself to leave it in at least 5 or 6 places on the radio dial for ten minutes each that you would normally never listen to.
Again, I am not suggesting that you will be enlightened by the content of what you hear, but that you will be able to compare and contrast what you hear with what you already experience on a daily basis.
2.Get historical
I am not suggesting that you have to love history or become obsessed with it, but G. K. Chesterton used a phrase "democracy of the dead". The idea is that when we in the current generation don't delve at all into what those who went before us thought, wrote, argued about, believed, etc., we are guilty of a great arrogance and snobbery. The ideas that are celebrated and widely accepted without question in our generation were many times pointedly criticized by previous generations. How do you know you are not simply being swept up by the current of the trend of our generation. We can often look back and see the wrong headed excesses and sins of previous generations, but hearing what they did and said can make us more likely to see our own before we are unable to do anything about repenting from them.
3.Read and Listen
Too often, in our age of mass media we get our information from people who don't actually know anything about the subject they are talking about(ahem....journalists....ahem) from people who haven't thought deeply about the subject they are speaking about(ahem....actors.....ahem). However, if we make it a point to occasionally tune into actual experts and thoughtful people within the various fields of interest, we will be more likely to be building our house on the intellectual rock, so to speak. I know it is easier for me to tune out with a bag of mental mush on the boob tube (and lord knows I still do my share of that from time to time), but we've got to develop habits about what we put into our mental mouths no less than what we put into our physical ones. Technology, although certainly a chief villain in making it easier for us to suck up the bad stuff, is also at the forefront of making the good stuff easier to access, but we still have to be pro active about it.
Hope this wasn't too preachy. Just trying to share some thoughts that I thought have practical merit.
Smooches and sunshine to all. :)
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Cares of this world
I was recently thinking about that parable where Jesus talks about the seed, the sower, and the four different types of soil. I had some thoughts about one very specific part of this parable that I think might be worth writing about.
Myndall and I are in the midst of lots of stressful, big stuff right now, and I know of at least 8 or 9 close friends of ours who are facing some very serious, scary times in their lives that make our concerns look relatively small. It is in this context that these thoughts have emerged.
First, this parable appears in three of the four gospel accounts(Matthew, Mark, and Luke). This leads me to believe that this parable has a special significance, and Jesus even says, "Do you not understand this parable? How then shall you understand all parables?" This is a pretty powerful red flag that this is a pretty biggie to understand.
I'm just going to focus on one very specific point in the third kind of soil. The one that had thorns that choked out the life of the plant and made it unfruitful. In Mark 4:19 it states, "but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." I think I've often interpreted this part in the past to be referring to people who just couldn't give up their pursuit of "worldly" things like the never ending quest for the bigger and better house, car, computer, tv, etc. or a hunger for power or something along those lines. I now am beginning to understand that this parable has a much more important point to make than simply chastising these problems.
When he says the worries or cares of this world, this applies to what all people deal with especially upon entering adulthood. However, it is clear to me that this does not mean to say that the cares or worries themselves cause the "soil" to be unfruitful. If this were the case we would think, "yep, it's too bad about old so and so. They would have been a great man/woman of God if they had not been sidetracked by all those terrible circumstances that played out in their lives. That stuff really derailed them from serving God."
I think that most of us inherently know this line of thinking is flawed because outside influences can't be what determines our "fruitfulness" according to our most basic understandings of the gospel. Therefore, what this passage is getting at is actually who we trust when the cares come and who we pursue when the cares leave us alone for a while. "...but the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." The great thing about our God is that he is teaching us(be it ever so slowly because I for one am a slow learner) that we work in the complete reverse of the world and its people in so many ways. Perhaps one of the most fascinating ways is that when we are in a place in our lives where a sudden storm seems to come in and overwhelm us, this is actually the place where we can find the greatest times of rest in Him because we are supposed to (slow learner) know that we are ultimately trusting in HIS ability not ours. Or another way of putting as my two year old daughter is fond of singing, "With Jesus in the boat, you can smile at the storm, smile at the storm, smile at the storm." :) I pray for my friends and believe they do the same for me. I pray that I would learn this lesson of dependence so I could be a better example of it to everyone. I pray that we would all pursue Christ with our whole hearts during and especially after the storm passes so that the "desires for other things" would exit out instead of entering in.
A possibly encouraging thought is that this third type of soil did receive the word and had roots and did not wither and die early on because of tribulation. It seems to me that each type of soil is progressively closer to the desired type of soil which is "good" soil that is deep and rich and free of thorns that strangle the life out of it. I hope that by the grace of God and the work of His Holy Spirit in our lives we are just around the corner from entering into a place of fruitfulness for those we encounter's benefit and for His glory.
Myndall and I are in the midst of lots of stressful, big stuff right now, and I know of at least 8 or 9 close friends of ours who are facing some very serious, scary times in their lives that make our concerns look relatively small. It is in this context that these thoughts have emerged.
First, this parable appears in three of the four gospel accounts(Matthew, Mark, and Luke). This leads me to believe that this parable has a special significance, and Jesus even says, "Do you not understand this parable? How then shall you understand all parables?" This is a pretty powerful red flag that this is a pretty biggie to understand.
I'm just going to focus on one very specific point in the third kind of soil. The one that had thorns that choked out the life of the plant and made it unfruitful. In Mark 4:19 it states, "but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." I think I've often interpreted this part in the past to be referring to people who just couldn't give up their pursuit of "worldly" things like the never ending quest for the bigger and better house, car, computer, tv, etc. or a hunger for power or something along those lines. I now am beginning to understand that this parable has a much more important point to make than simply chastising these problems.
When he says the worries or cares of this world, this applies to what all people deal with especially upon entering adulthood. However, it is clear to me that this does not mean to say that the cares or worries themselves cause the "soil" to be unfruitful. If this were the case we would think, "yep, it's too bad about old so and so. They would have been a great man/woman of God if they had not been sidetracked by all those terrible circumstances that played out in their lives. That stuff really derailed them from serving God."
I think that most of us inherently know this line of thinking is flawed because outside influences can't be what determines our "fruitfulness" according to our most basic understandings of the gospel. Therefore, what this passage is getting at is actually who we trust when the cares come and who we pursue when the cares leave us alone for a while. "...but the worries of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." The great thing about our God is that he is teaching us(be it ever so slowly because I for one am a slow learner) that we work in the complete reverse of the world and its people in so many ways. Perhaps one of the most fascinating ways is that when we are in a place in our lives where a sudden storm seems to come in and overwhelm us, this is actually the place where we can find the greatest times of rest in Him because we are supposed to (slow learner) know that we are ultimately trusting in HIS ability not ours. Or another way of putting as my two year old daughter is fond of singing, "With Jesus in the boat, you can smile at the storm, smile at the storm, smile at the storm." :) I pray for my friends and believe they do the same for me. I pray that I would learn this lesson of dependence so I could be a better example of it to everyone. I pray that we would all pursue Christ with our whole hearts during and especially after the storm passes so that the "desires for other things" would exit out instead of entering in.
A possibly encouraging thought is that this third type of soil did receive the word and had roots and did not wither and die early on because of tribulation. It seems to me that each type of soil is progressively closer to the desired type of soil which is "good" soil that is deep and rich and free of thorns that strangle the life out of it. I hope that by the grace of God and the work of His Holy Spirit in our lives we are just around the corner from entering into a place of fruitfulness for those we encounter's benefit and for His glory.
Monday, September 01, 2008
THE ONLY THING
The only thing I see are the clouds
The only thing I hear are the doubts
The only thing I feel is the pain
The only thing I taste is bitterness
The only thing I see is a ray of light
The only thing I hear is a small, tender voice
The only thing I feel is comfort
The only thing I taste is forgiveness
The only thing I know is the Word
The only thing to accept is the Truth
The only thing we deserve is judgment
The only thing we need is Him
The only thing He died for was you
The only thing keeping you from Him, the same
The only thing I hear are the doubts
The only thing I feel is the pain
The only thing I taste is bitterness
The only thing I see is a ray of light
The only thing I hear is a small, tender voice
The only thing I feel is comfort
The only thing I taste is forgiveness
The only thing I know is the Word
The only thing to accept is the Truth
The only thing we deserve is judgment
The only thing we need is Him
The only thing He died for was you
The only thing keeping you from Him, the same
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Just choice or no choice?
Certainly there are things in our lives that deserve to be placed into one of the two above categories. Things that are simply a choice we make in the course of our lives, or things that we have no choice about at all. An example of the first would be perhaps the color of the first paint we choose to paint on the walls of our first abode, and the second could perhaps be the country we were born in that determined in large part how many fun filled choices we would be given the opportunity to make in our lives.
However, I believe we are far, far too quick to place many things into one of these two categories. One example of this is homosexuality or sexual identity or identity in any sense. There are often two schools of thought that drift in and out of how we choose to deal with questions of how choice interacts with identity. You are what you do, or you do what you are.
No one believes that a person's gender or race is determined by choice, and these factors greatly affect what a person's identity is. However, a person's identity is not solely based on genetically predetermined factors. Who a person is, is also determined by their beliefs and attitudes. It is true that we all have environmental factors thrust upon us that we have no control over, but is it not also true that we can control what we choose to believe about what those experiential influences mean to us? Can we not affect the direction our lives take by what our beliefs and attitudes are in regard to any genetic predispositions or environmental influences? Therefore, a person's choices can and do affect what their options are in the future to some extent. I know that there are some who would say that sexual identity is as engrained as race or gender. It is important to understand that this is a belief no less than my belief that homosexuality is immoral and is not a predetermined path. We both choose which belief to espouse and this will impact our identity in the future. Beliefs chosen are often like snowballs on the tops of snow covered mountains. If you allow them to roll far enough down the hill, they will create an avalanche that only a miracle can stop the momentum of. This is why it is wise to give serious consideration to what we choose to fully invest ourselves in. The beliefs that we choose to fully invest our lives around are more accurately called convictions and will sway our identities more than mere casually held beliefs to be sure. I say that those who "believe" that sexual identity is as engrained as race or gender is only a belief because that is true. Even in the secular world, this is an established fact. In spite of media reports that muddy the waters(the 1993 story about the 'gay gene' is one of my personal faves) and activist political groups that would try to make it sound like the civil rights movement part deux, the FACT is that this belief about gayness not having any meaningful choice attached to it at all is exactly that, a belief. My point here is not to defend the equally silly notion that someone perhaps wakes up one day and decides to be homosexual, but simply to show that identity is one of the things in our lives that may appear at first glance to be either simply a choice or from another perspective seem that there is no choice to made because "that's just who we are." The truth lies somewhere in between. Although there are a complex mix of genetic, environmental, and experiential influences that contribute to our identities, sexual or otherwise, there will always also be a meaningful role for choice as well that is woven into our lives. I believe my ultimate conviction is that God is ultimately the only one who truly and completely knows both what our identity is here and now and what identity He will give us if we yield to Him.
However, I believe we are far, far too quick to place many things into one of these two categories. One example of this is homosexuality or sexual identity or identity in any sense. There are often two schools of thought that drift in and out of how we choose to deal with questions of how choice interacts with identity. You are what you do, or you do what you are.
No one believes that a person's gender or race is determined by choice, and these factors greatly affect what a person's identity is. However, a person's identity is not solely based on genetically predetermined factors. Who a person is, is also determined by their beliefs and attitudes. It is true that we all have environmental factors thrust upon us that we have no control over, but is it not also true that we can control what we choose to believe about what those experiential influences mean to us? Can we not affect the direction our lives take by what our beliefs and attitudes are in regard to any genetic predispositions or environmental influences? Therefore, a person's choices can and do affect what their options are in the future to some extent. I know that there are some who would say that sexual identity is as engrained as race or gender. It is important to understand that this is a belief no less than my belief that homosexuality is immoral and is not a predetermined path. We both choose which belief to espouse and this will impact our identity in the future. Beliefs chosen are often like snowballs on the tops of snow covered mountains. If you allow them to roll far enough down the hill, they will create an avalanche that only a miracle can stop the momentum of. This is why it is wise to give serious consideration to what we choose to fully invest ourselves in. The beliefs that we choose to fully invest our lives around are more accurately called convictions and will sway our identities more than mere casually held beliefs to be sure. I say that those who "believe" that sexual identity is as engrained as race or gender is only a belief because that is true. Even in the secular world, this is an established fact. In spite of media reports that muddy the waters(the 1993 story about the 'gay gene' is one of my personal faves) and activist political groups that would try to make it sound like the civil rights movement part deux, the FACT is that this belief about gayness not having any meaningful choice attached to it at all is exactly that, a belief. My point here is not to defend the equally silly notion that someone perhaps wakes up one day and decides to be homosexual, but simply to show that identity is one of the things in our lives that may appear at first glance to be either simply a choice or from another perspective seem that there is no choice to made because "that's just who we are." The truth lies somewhere in between. Although there are a complex mix of genetic, environmental, and experiential influences that contribute to our identities, sexual or otherwise, there will always also be a meaningful role for choice as well that is woven into our lives. I believe my ultimate conviction is that God is ultimately the only one who truly and completely knows both what our identity is here and now and what identity He will give us if we yield to Him.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Our righteousness and our rest
This is just a little free flow thought that I've been churning in my mind. It is very unpolished so be forewarned. Basically, it is in regards to Christ's righteousness, and three basic aspects of how it is integrated into our lives.
Three points
1. Doing-- Christ is our example. He is the one we look to as the ultimate person to pattern our lives after. The letters to the churches in the first generation of believers are full of exhortation to "put on" Christ and make every effort. This is the first aspect of how we integrate His righteousness into our lives. We consciously and consistently DO!
2. Becoming-- Christ is alive in us. We are to die to ourselves, and as we surrender ourselves more fully and become truly consumed with Christ, He does not just become what our lives are primarily about. He becomes life. As this truly begins to transpire, we are transformed internally and are BECOMING different not only during times that we consciously try to live in a Christ like way, but when we are not consciously thinking about it, the people who know us best should begin to see us change.
3. Being--Christ is our redeemer. In the midst of all this effort and the expectation, there is a blessed reprieve. The amazing truth is that Christ is not only our example and our transformer. Most of all, He is our redeemer. We become alive in Him because of His work on the cross. The sabbath was a type and shadow of Him and the work he did on the cross. He is our rest. This provides a great relief from the merciless crushing affect of effort and expectation. If we do not ultimately trust in His work and power to save, we are taking the first two aspects and turning them into a teaching that will "shipwreck" our faith. Our righteousness rests in His BEING. Our faith must rest in Him, and we must rest in Him.
Or ya know.... something like that.
Three points
1. Doing-- Christ is our example. He is the one we look to as the ultimate person to pattern our lives after. The letters to the churches in the first generation of believers are full of exhortation to "put on" Christ and make every effort. This is the first aspect of how we integrate His righteousness into our lives. We consciously and consistently DO!
2. Becoming-- Christ is alive in us. We are to die to ourselves, and as we surrender ourselves more fully and become truly consumed with Christ, He does not just become what our lives are primarily about. He becomes life. As this truly begins to transpire, we are transformed internally and are BECOMING different not only during times that we consciously try to live in a Christ like way, but when we are not consciously thinking about it, the people who know us best should begin to see us change.
3. Being--Christ is our redeemer. In the midst of all this effort and the expectation, there is a blessed reprieve. The amazing truth is that Christ is not only our example and our transformer. Most of all, He is our redeemer. We become alive in Him because of His work on the cross. The sabbath was a type and shadow of Him and the work he did on the cross. He is our rest. This provides a great relief from the merciless crushing affect of effort and expectation. If we do not ultimately trust in His work and power to save, we are taking the first two aspects and turning them into a teaching that will "shipwreck" our faith. Our righteousness rests in His BEING. Our faith must rest in Him, and we must rest in Him.
Or ya know.... something like that.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
IDENTITY
Who are you? Who, who, who, who? This is the famous line in a song by the band with the same name, The Who.
According to Eastern religions, “you” are an illusion because the self is simply one of the last great illusions to overcome before you become enlightened enough to realize that you are really a part of some huge interconnected, divine blob that includes everyone else also. (I don’t think they use the term blob in their official version of this teaching.)
However, we are given a very different understanding of identity in the Bible. We are not one with God or nature or with each other. God was the one who gave Adam his name. He also renamed Abram to Abraham, and He changed Jacob’s name to Israel. God does not only assign us individual names, but he knows us from our mother’s womb. He knows every detail about our environment we are born into, our genetic make up down to the last strand of DNA, our thoughts, emotions, desires, beliefs, attitudes, our favorite flavor of ice cream, and our favorite song. In short, God knows us better than we could ever know ourselves and certainly better than anyone else could know us.
Why then do we seem so willing to surrender our identity to those around us throughout our lives? We are willing to believe we are who they say we are. Depending on who “they” are, this common practice can be truly devastating to a person’s life. Even if “they” are loving and clear headed believers who love God and you, we are not to surrender this power to truly define who we are to “them.”
Here is another tricky one that you may have never thought of before. You are also unqualified to be the ultimate determiner of who you truly are. I know you are more familiar with your environment, genetics, thoughts, emotions, desires, beliefs, attitudes, ice cream picks, and songs than anyone else(except God, of course). However, as profound as these things all are, even they do not ultimately define you. No, even your genetic make up DOES NOT define you. What does then? You ask. Ahhh….. I suspect you see where I’m going with this. Yep, God is the only true source of your identity. He gave you an identity, and He alone can fundamentally transform you into a different identity in mid stream like when he turned Jacob into Israel. Ultimately, we are guilty of doing the same thing that “they” do when trying to define our identity, we limit what it could be instead of pursuing God and discovering what He says it WILL BE. This is not to remove our role and responsibility in forming our identity, but we will never truly know the full purpose that God has for our identity until we release control of defining ourselves and allow Him to shape us.
According to Eastern religions, “you” are an illusion because the self is simply one of the last great illusions to overcome before you become enlightened enough to realize that you are really a part of some huge interconnected, divine blob that includes everyone else also. (I don’t think they use the term blob in their official version of this teaching.)
However, we are given a very different understanding of identity in the Bible. We are not one with God or nature or with each other. God was the one who gave Adam his name. He also renamed Abram to Abraham, and He changed Jacob’s name to Israel. God does not only assign us individual names, but he knows us from our mother’s womb. He knows every detail about our environment we are born into, our genetic make up down to the last strand of DNA, our thoughts, emotions, desires, beliefs, attitudes, our favorite flavor of ice cream, and our favorite song. In short, God knows us better than we could ever know ourselves and certainly better than anyone else could know us.
Why then do we seem so willing to surrender our identity to those around us throughout our lives? We are willing to believe we are who they say we are. Depending on who “they” are, this common practice can be truly devastating to a person’s life. Even if “they” are loving and clear headed believers who love God and you, we are not to surrender this power to truly define who we are to “them.”
Here is another tricky one that you may have never thought of before. You are also unqualified to be the ultimate determiner of who you truly are. I know you are more familiar with your environment, genetics, thoughts, emotions, desires, beliefs, attitudes, ice cream picks, and songs than anyone else(except God, of course). However, as profound as these things all are, even they do not ultimately define you. No, even your genetic make up DOES NOT define you. What does then? You ask. Ahhh….. I suspect you see where I’m going with this. Yep, God is the only true source of your identity. He gave you an identity, and He alone can fundamentally transform you into a different identity in mid stream like when he turned Jacob into Israel. Ultimately, we are guilty of doing the same thing that “they” do when trying to define our identity, we limit what it could be instead of pursuing God and discovering what He says it WILL BE. This is not to remove our role and responsibility in forming our identity, but we will never truly know the full purpose that God has for our identity until we release control of defining ourselves and allow Him to shape us.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
PRAYER
I haven't done a true thoughtful post in awhile. Hopefully, this will qualify as one. Prayer is a mysterious thing to say the least. It is clear we are told to pray to the Father, and I suppose I just have a few thoughts about that from things I've considered over the past couple of years.
WHY?
I guess the short answer could legitimately be, "I don't know." However, there are some reasons that come to mind. First, it teaches us to live a life that is aware of our dependence on God. If we don't pray, it seems easier to fall into that silly illusion that I am responsible for the blessings I see around me. This reminds me of a quote from C.S. Lewis in his book Problem of Pain, "A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." This is the kind of insanity and fundamental disconnectedness that we can fall into if we do not take the time to pray. Another reason I have seen in my own life is that praying for people helps me to remember their needs and care about them as three dimensional individuals more instead of the cardboard cutout relationship of saying hi/bye to our more casual relationships with people. Our prayer brings their reality as hurting people to the forefront of our minds, and this can help us to learn to deal with people more mercifully and lovingly. Finally, it could be that we simply cause the hand of Almighty God to move when He otherwise would not have.
A FEW THINGS THAT HAVE HELPED ME
1. A prayer list
-I was resistant to this for the longest time, but I cannot tell you how many little ways this has helped me to grow.....well, I could but then you would not have the joy of discovering that for yourself :) Just start making a list of people and stuff that you would like to pray for on a consistent basis and allow God to bring new things to your mind that you can add to the list. Then develop a faithful practice of praying for all on the list. It feels a little forced at first, but I promise that over time AS YOU GROW FAITHFUL IN DOING IT, God will open your eyes to positive fruits from it that you never would have thought of.
2. Start/End the day with praise and prayer
As early as you can begin thinking of it, develop a habit of "bookending" your day with saying a word of thanks, praise, and request to God. You will be surprised how this can set the tone for your entire day.
3. Develop a time of day for meditating/listening.
Begin by picking a time that you should be able to have a certain amount of uninterrupted and mentally alert time and then pray that God will open your eyes to the Scriptures. This can obviously go hand in hand with some time spent reading your Bible, but doesn't have to be back to back. I know God can show us things through people, nature, situations, etc. also, but I specifically point to the Scriptures here because I think we all need to gain a new passion for meditating on them and Lord knows He can open our eyes to Himself through them. One word about this practice that I have noticed over the years. Disciplining yourself to be a meditator/listener(a disciplined desirer to hear from God) has rewards that can be missed if you limit it to "hearing from God" only in the time frame that you have devoted to meditate. Many times I have spent time thinking about some specific scripture and haven't gotten anything out of it, but then later that day or week, I will see something remarkably clearly out of nowhere when I'm not focused in on Him or the Bible. I have noticed that when I am disciplined to meditate, I have these moments far more often than when I lapse into not disciplining myself to meditate on Him and His word.
Finally, a verse that I have incorporated into a prayer. Job 36:10, "You open their ears to discipline." I ask my Father to bring reminders to my mind to do these practices....not feelings to do them or give me the desire to do them, but simply reminders and then, by His grace, I develop the disciplines that will lead me deeper into abandoning myself to Him fully.
WHY?
I guess the short answer could legitimately be, "I don't know." However, there are some reasons that come to mind. First, it teaches us to live a life that is aware of our dependence on God. If we don't pray, it seems easier to fall into that silly illusion that I am responsible for the blessings I see around me. This reminds me of a quote from C.S. Lewis in his book Problem of Pain, "A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." This is the kind of insanity and fundamental disconnectedness that we can fall into if we do not take the time to pray. Another reason I have seen in my own life is that praying for people helps me to remember their needs and care about them as three dimensional individuals more instead of the cardboard cutout relationship of saying hi/bye to our more casual relationships with people. Our prayer brings their reality as hurting people to the forefront of our minds, and this can help us to learn to deal with people more mercifully and lovingly. Finally, it could be that we simply cause the hand of Almighty God to move when He otherwise would not have.
A FEW THINGS THAT HAVE HELPED ME
1. A prayer list
-I was resistant to this for the longest time, but I cannot tell you how many little ways this has helped me to grow.....well, I could but then you would not have the joy of discovering that for yourself :) Just start making a list of people and stuff that you would like to pray for on a consistent basis and allow God to bring new things to your mind that you can add to the list. Then develop a faithful practice of praying for all on the list. It feels a little forced at first, but I promise that over time AS YOU GROW FAITHFUL IN DOING IT, God will open your eyes to positive fruits from it that you never would have thought of.
2. Start/End the day with praise and prayer
As early as you can begin thinking of it, develop a habit of "bookending" your day with saying a word of thanks, praise, and request to God. You will be surprised how this can set the tone for your entire day.
3. Develop a time of day for meditating/listening.
Begin by picking a time that you should be able to have a certain amount of uninterrupted and mentally alert time and then pray that God will open your eyes to the Scriptures. This can obviously go hand in hand with some time spent reading your Bible, but doesn't have to be back to back. I know God can show us things through people, nature, situations, etc. also, but I specifically point to the Scriptures here because I think we all need to gain a new passion for meditating on them and Lord knows He can open our eyes to Himself through them. One word about this practice that I have noticed over the years. Disciplining yourself to be a meditator/listener(a disciplined desirer to hear from God) has rewards that can be missed if you limit it to "hearing from God" only in the time frame that you have devoted to meditate. Many times I have spent time thinking about some specific scripture and haven't gotten anything out of it, but then later that day or week, I will see something remarkably clearly out of nowhere when I'm not focused in on Him or the Bible. I have noticed that when I am disciplined to meditate, I have these moments far more often than when I lapse into not disciplining myself to meditate on Him and His word.
Finally, a verse that I have incorporated into a prayer. Job 36:10, "You open their ears to discipline." I ask my Father to bring reminders to my mind to do these practices....not feelings to do them or give me the desire to do them, but simply reminders and then, by His grace, I develop the disciplines that will lead me deeper into abandoning myself to Him fully.
Friday, July 20, 2007
CONTACT
Several years ago, there was a movie released called Contact. The story basically went along following a young astronomer who believed deeply in extraterrestrial intelligence. She is present when a signal is beamed to the Earth. At first, they cannot decipher the signal until she realizes that the signal is actually a complex mathematical code that provides a schematic for building a machine to contact this “higher intelligence.” One memorable scene is when she(played by Jodie Foster) explains that math is the ultimate universal language. It transcends all language barriers between alien races, so to speak.
It was a neat movie except for the extremely pervasive slam on belief in God and any and all organized religion.
The reason I’m talking about this movie is because, ironically, I see a parallel between the universal language in this ultimate atheistic fantasy and my own experience in my Christian walk. Here’s is the question, “What is the real universal language?” Will we all speak English in heaven? Will we have little ear pieces that translate for each of us? Will we speak Hebrew? I don’t know, and I’m okay with waiting and finding the answer to this particular mystery. I heard one intriguing theory that music itself will somehow be the universal language. Deep….. a little too deep for me, but a really cool thought nevertheless.
Actually, what the movie and this “universal language” that it made me think of has more to do with the here and now. A couple of examples to illustrate where I’m going with this may be in order. My friends in Ghana who have endangered themselves and deal with a seemingly never ending barrage of stressful experiences for themselves and their children is one example. Another example is the Flemings family in the interior of Mexico who have spent more than thirty years of their lives evangelizing, training converts to Christ, and running an orphanage. There is also the Walkers who arrange for American churches to fund and send people down to Honduras to build churches for communities who otherwise would not be able to do this for themselves. All these examples are a testimony to the language that is, if not universal, certainly global….love. The people of Ghana, Mexico, and Honduras don’t need translation to understand the motivations of these people. It is as easy to read as the rising sun or a storm cloud announcing rain. Love speaks and IS heard!
It was a neat movie except for the extremely pervasive slam on belief in God and any and all organized religion.
The reason I’m talking about this movie is because, ironically, I see a parallel between the universal language in this ultimate atheistic fantasy and my own experience in my Christian walk. Here’s is the question, “What is the real universal language?” Will we all speak English in heaven? Will we have little ear pieces that translate for each of us? Will we speak Hebrew? I don’t know, and I’m okay with waiting and finding the answer to this particular mystery. I heard one intriguing theory that music itself will somehow be the universal language. Deep….. a little too deep for me, but a really cool thought nevertheless.
Actually, what the movie and this “universal language” that it made me think of has more to do with the here and now. A couple of examples to illustrate where I’m going with this may be in order. My friends in Ghana who have endangered themselves and deal with a seemingly never ending barrage of stressful experiences for themselves and their children is one example. Another example is the Flemings family in the interior of Mexico who have spent more than thirty years of their lives evangelizing, training converts to Christ, and running an orphanage. There is also the Walkers who arrange for American churches to fund and send people down to Honduras to build churches for communities who otherwise would not be able to do this for themselves. All these examples are a testimony to the language that is, if not universal, certainly global….love. The people of Ghana, Mexico, and Honduras don’t need translation to understand the motivations of these people. It is as easy to read as the rising sun or a storm cloud announcing rain. Love speaks and IS heard!
Monday, June 18, 2007
The Merciful Judgment of God
I know these words seem like they contradict one another--mercy and judgment, but let me show you why I do not believe that they ultimately do. We know our God is a God who loves mercy, but mercy is always tied in with judgment. In Micah 6:8, it says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Later in Micah 7:18b it says, "You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy." Once again we see God's mercy in light of His anger, and His anger is ALWAYS just. I'll start with what may be slightly controversial example to make my points.
1. Hurricane Katrina
Before you click off and say, "that's it, Dennis has gone too far this time," let me start by saying, this is not an argument that I have some revelation that God judged New Orleans. You do not need to believe that to get the point I'm going to make out of this so just bear with me. I personally am not in the least upset at someone who suggests that Katrina may have been a judgment of God. Who could argue that New Orleans is known worldwide by many, many people as "sin city"? Not only Christians, but people who probably don't even know what the term sin means associate this city with its yearly flesh fest. However, my point is this. Let's say you just pretend to believe that this was the judgment of God if you don't. Consider how that judgment could have been carried out as opposed to how it was carried out. Hundreds of thousands of people could have been killed, but 99.99% of the population had evacuated the city before the hurricane even hit, and the guestimations about how many were dead after the fact proved to be gross overestimations. This was a merciful judgment of God. He accomplished ruining the city with minimal human loss of life in comparison to how it could have played out. An example of how another natural disaster(judgment) could have played out is my second example of a merciful judgment.
2. The tsunami
DUDE! You have lost it! Meriful Judgment? Okie doke, here we go. Why do I consider this a merciful judgment when it seems in contrast to Katrina to have been the ultimate judgment. I haven't kept up with the death tolls most recent corrections, but I know at one point they were estimating that it was well over 200,000 people. I suppose I should start by making sure I'm not misunderstood. In referring to these actions as judgments, I am in NO WAY stating that we don't have a responsibility to reach out to these people in any way possible to help them financially, physically, with our time and energy, and of course, with our prayers. An interesting report came out around the same time that the tsunami hit that was a yearly report about the worst countries for Christian martyrdom, and the three top offenders on the list matched perfectly with the three top death tolls from the tsunami. I know this sounds vindictive, but let me explain where I'm going with this. When a civilization is so far gone that they have essentially rejected the many cries from God to repent and only continue further down their path, the only way for Him to salvage ANY of the people is to judge the overall society in a way that shouts, "I am the One, True God." This at least provides a way of escape for those who have not completely hardened their hearts within this society. Essentially, this is an extreme option that God may reserve for salvaging as many as possible from eternal damnation.
3. Hell
Yes, I will even refer to hell as a merciful judgment because as with the preceding judgments, I consider the alternative. What is the alternative to ultimate judgment? It is God winking at sin. The alternative would be to corrupt the God of the universe. Without Him being who He is, we would not even know what justice is. Neither would we know what mercy is. He is the source of these and all things that are truly good, beautiful, and true. If He chose to corrupt Himself, this would be a terrible thing not only for Himself, but for all of His creation as well.
Again to be clear, I am not claiming to have revelation knowledge about any of these issues, but I am simply reasoning from the revelation we have been given from the Scriptures. Also, please let me reiterate that Christ came not to the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, and it is in this spirit we as Christians should be interacting with all those around us regardless of who they are or what their circumstances are.
1. Hurricane Katrina
Before you click off and say, "that's it, Dennis has gone too far this time," let me start by saying, this is not an argument that I have some revelation that God judged New Orleans. You do not need to believe that to get the point I'm going to make out of this so just bear with me. I personally am not in the least upset at someone who suggests that Katrina may have been a judgment of God. Who could argue that New Orleans is known worldwide by many, many people as "sin city"? Not only Christians, but people who probably don't even know what the term sin means associate this city with its yearly flesh fest. However, my point is this. Let's say you just pretend to believe that this was the judgment of God if you don't. Consider how that judgment could have been carried out as opposed to how it was carried out. Hundreds of thousands of people could have been killed, but 99.99% of the population had evacuated the city before the hurricane even hit, and the guestimations about how many were dead after the fact proved to be gross overestimations. This was a merciful judgment of God. He accomplished ruining the city with minimal human loss of life in comparison to how it could have played out. An example of how another natural disaster(judgment) could have played out is my second example of a merciful judgment.
2. The tsunami
DUDE! You have lost it! Meriful Judgment? Okie doke, here we go. Why do I consider this a merciful judgment when it seems in contrast to Katrina to have been the ultimate judgment. I haven't kept up with the death tolls most recent corrections, but I know at one point they were estimating that it was well over 200,000 people. I suppose I should start by making sure I'm not misunderstood. In referring to these actions as judgments, I am in NO WAY stating that we don't have a responsibility to reach out to these people in any way possible to help them financially, physically, with our time and energy, and of course, with our prayers. An interesting report came out around the same time that the tsunami hit that was a yearly report about the worst countries for Christian martyrdom, and the three top offenders on the list matched perfectly with the three top death tolls from the tsunami. I know this sounds vindictive, but let me explain where I'm going with this. When a civilization is so far gone that they have essentially rejected the many cries from God to repent and only continue further down their path, the only way for Him to salvage ANY of the people is to judge the overall society in a way that shouts, "I am the One, True God." This at least provides a way of escape for those who have not completely hardened their hearts within this society. Essentially, this is an extreme option that God may reserve for salvaging as many as possible from eternal damnation.
3. Hell
Yes, I will even refer to hell as a merciful judgment because as with the preceding judgments, I consider the alternative. What is the alternative to ultimate judgment? It is God winking at sin. The alternative would be to corrupt the God of the universe. Without Him being who He is, we would not even know what justice is. Neither would we know what mercy is. He is the source of these and all things that are truly good, beautiful, and true. If He chose to corrupt Himself, this would be a terrible thing not only for Himself, but for all of His creation as well.
Again to be clear, I am not claiming to have revelation knowledge about any of these issues, but I am simply reasoning from the revelation we have been given from the Scriptures. Also, please let me reiterate that Christ came not to the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, and it is in this spirit we as Christians should be interacting with all those around us regardless of who they are or what their circumstances are.
Friday, June 08, 2007
The Gravity of God
Repentance is a u-turn and obedience is maintaining the new course heading. This is simple enough to see, but it is impossible to live out on our own. This is why we MUST appreciate and rest in the gravity of God. What I am referring to is His supernatural pull on our lives because we are redeemed when we reach out to him in faith and repentance and make our initial u-turn. We are no longer trying to do it on our own. This is the dawning of our salvation. I use the analogy of gravity because it is like we were caught within the gravitational pull of a dark star that was sucking our lives into a black hole, but a black hole is just a burned out version of the original just like anything evil and perverted. God longs for us to be back within His gravitational pull, and He has taken the necessary steps to make that a reality for anyone who will choose Him. Perhaps you are like me and have turned back after your initial u-turn to the dark star because of the sickly hold it has on our fallen nature. This is addressed also. Simply turn back again to the Father in humility, and He will begin pulling you back with His pull again.
Paul puts it this way in Romans 6, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness?"
Remember this perhaps most of all---the best way to secure God's gravitational pull on our lives is for us to get closer to Him because gravity gets stronger the closer you get.
Or again as Paul puts it, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
John 17:3-"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
Paul puts it this way in Romans 6, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness?"
Remember this perhaps most of all---the best way to secure God's gravitational pull on our lives is for us to get closer to Him because gravity gets stronger the closer you get.
Or again as Paul puts it, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
John 17:3-"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Images and Ideas
Radio has been around less than 100 years, television for less than 50, cable for less than 30, and the internet for less than 20 years. The world we live in is being radically influenced by this new deluge of mass communication. We most certainly DO NOT appreciate the degree that these mediums will affect the very nature of our perceptions. Just one small example of this is the difference between how an idea impacts someone's mind and how images impact our minds.
Ideas drip into our consciousness one word, one sentence, and one paragraph at at time. We have the opportunity to weigh the concepts being presented to us, and if we choose to exercise discernment, we can simply pick and choose between ideas we believe to be true, good, and right and those we believe to be bad, wrong, and false.
When dealing with images, however, impact is probably a very accurate descriptive. Sounds can cause a physiological response. Audio and visual images simultaneously presented can especially provoke powerful chemical responses in our brains and bodies. Now more than ever we have the ability to present thousands of ideas, but it seems to me we are too busy drowning in a sea of millions of images. The more this is meditated on, the scarier it becomes to me.
In our culture images are more about amusement(no thought) than about musing(thought). This is because we've stumbled upon a lethal combination of a reckless pursuit of pleasure through ourselves by way of the infinite number of escapist fictional realities that are provided by our saturation of electronic media. Meanwhile, the cultures without this blessing/epidemic of media saturation face reality head on and deal with it because they are not given any other option than to do so. Anyone care to prophecy where this is leading us?
Ideas drip into our consciousness one word, one sentence, and one paragraph at at time. We have the opportunity to weigh the concepts being presented to us, and if we choose to exercise discernment, we can simply pick and choose between ideas we believe to be true, good, and right and those we believe to be bad, wrong, and false.
When dealing with images, however, impact is probably a very accurate descriptive. Sounds can cause a physiological response. Audio and visual images simultaneously presented can especially provoke powerful chemical responses in our brains and bodies. Now more than ever we have the ability to present thousands of ideas, but it seems to me we are too busy drowning in a sea of millions of images. The more this is meditated on, the scarier it becomes to me.
In our culture images are more about amusement(no thought) than about musing(thought). This is because we've stumbled upon a lethal combination of a reckless pursuit of pleasure through ourselves by way of the infinite number of escapist fictional realities that are provided by our saturation of electronic media. Meanwhile, the cultures without this blessing/epidemic of media saturation face reality head on and deal with it because they are not given any other option than to do so. Anyone care to prophecy where this is leading us?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Heroes
The more I think about some of the people I have considered heroes in my childhood, the more I am sometimes embarrassed. Movies are a perfect example. James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Luke Skywalker were great because they were bold, daring, smart, and, of course, SMOOTH. I still enjoy these movies, but I have begun to understand the more down to earth and REAL heroes that are in daily life. These range from cops who never once draw their gun to parents who sacrifice for their kids to politicians who actually ARE public servants.
I think I have often made the same mistakes in regards to heroes within Christian leadership. Those who are the most REAL are often NOT the most high profile. My dad was asked once when he was pursuing his minister's license why he was pursuing it. "What can you do with it that you cannot do without it?" I think I understand the spirit of this question. Essentially it is why do we do things we do for Christ. One of the poisonsous attitudes Jesus warned about inside the hearts of the Pharisees is that they loved the praise of men more than praise from God. May the Lord open my eyes to any wrong motivations that be within me and may He lead me to friends, mentors, and heroes who are truly consumed with serving Christ.
I think I have often made the same mistakes in regards to heroes within Christian leadership. Those who are the most REAL are often NOT the most high profile. My dad was asked once when he was pursuing his minister's license why he was pursuing it. "What can you do with it that you cannot do without it?" I think I understand the spirit of this question. Essentially it is why do we do things we do for Christ. One of the poisonsous attitudes Jesus warned about inside the hearts of the Pharisees is that they loved the praise of men more than praise from God. May the Lord open my eyes to any wrong motivations that be within me and may He lead me to friends, mentors, and heroes who are truly consumed with serving Christ.
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