Update

Okay, so I was gone for a while, and now I'm trying to get back. I just posted a couple of thoughts that come from a newsletter I send out. Hope you like them, or at least that they make you think. I'm trying to start a whole new website, so that's where I've been. As soon as it's ready, I'll make sure to let you know so you can check it out.

Understanding

My son came home a couple
days ago so excited,
“Daddy! Daddy! I was
picked to paint the shovel at
school!”
To be honest, I had no idea
what he meant, and the
harder I tried to understand
him, the more confused I got.
I couldn’t understand why
painting a shovel was important,
or why only one in his
class was chosen. Finally, I
got my answers.
I help in his classroom every day
for reading excercises, and the
teacher explained that every grade
had one student selected to paint
the “shovel”, and she pointed out
the window. That’s when I saw the
blade of an Altoona city snowplow.
The city is allowing the students
to paint the face of the plow
so that when they see the snow getting
plowed, they’ll have a connection
to helping the city! It suddenly
made sense.
Having the proper understanding
of the situation made me understand
why he was so excited. It
also helped me to realize why it
was such a big deal. Just hearing
different words and seeing a visual
totally changed my perspective.
It got me thinking about how we
don’t understand people of other
denominations or even different
faiths sometimes. Often we are doing
the exact same thing, but using
different words or ceremonies, and
yet we use those things to cause division.
So often we look for how
“they” are different from “us” but
how often do we look for what
makes us similar?
I think it’s time for us to start considering
that just because we don’t
understand something doesn’t make
it wrong. Why not take the time to
learn and understand what’s going
on behind the words. Let’s not assume
we know the what and why,
instead let’s try and understand the
story behind the words.
Take a look at Acts 17 with Paul
preaching on Mars Hill, using a pagan
culture’s ideas, statues, and poems
to reveal Christ. Maybe if we
looked for what makes us similar,
we would have a basis for relationship
in which we could exchange
ideas and help them see God in their
world. Wouldn’t that be interesting.
. .

The Love of a Family

As I have been struggling with this need for living in true community, I heard an interesting thought from my
coach, Heidi. She was telling a story about how different gifts can seem at odds with each other, even when both
are functioning as God desires. A person needed money to stay in an overpriced apartment, and was lamenting
that fact. The grace and mercy gifts wanted to love and offer support while the prophetic and administrative type
gifts wanted the person to face facts and get a cheaper apartment. This would seem to cause friction in the family.
The prophetic was seeing something that the others weren’t. . .maybe the person was lazy and didn’t want to
do the work to live according to their means. A plan was devised where the group offered to help pay rent if the
person did some work, and found a cheaper apartment. What a great deal! In the end, they didn’t want to do the
work of finding a new apartment, so they lost out on an even bigger show of support.
As we talked, we discussed how there is so much division and backbiting among people, even those who proclaim
to love Christ. Why can’t we understand that different parts of the body (family) are incredibly different
from us (even in annoying ways) yet they are family. We would not be able to experience the fullness of Christ
without them. Let me say that again, people who’s gifts rub us the wrong way are helping us experience the fullness
of Christ. This has two implications that I’d like to think about. First, do we distance ourselves from God
when we try and avoid certain people? Are we trying to live just with our own gifts and thinking we are enough
for us? I grew up with a brother and sister, and they both got on my nerves enough over the years, but I wouldn’t
be who I am without them. Do we honestly feel this way about the brothers and sisters we have in Christ.
The second point is this, as an American we are incredibly individualistic and we think we can do it alone. We
even teach personal prayer time and devotions. We ask how your relationship
is with Christ, as though that can be distinguished from how your relationships
are with your brothers and sisters, who are the body! I have nothing against
personal devotion times, I think they are necessary and provide a certain
amount of life. I just wonder if we have forgotten just how important the rest
of the family is to our own development. I will only experience Christ to the
fullest when I experience Him in community. I’m still processing this concept,
but even as I place such emphasis on it, I still have a nagging feeling that
I don’t understand the entire gravity of it. Do you?

Some thoughts on Experts

Ok, strange title, but go with me here. We’ve just finished an amazing (historic,
annoying, crazy) political season, and the fireworks will continue for some time.
What has really struck me lately, is how much we adore our “experts” in America.
We hang on their words, we trust what they say, we change our behavior
based on their advice. The funny thing is, the next expert completely contradicts
their advice and has compelling reasons why. Throw into the mix that most of
them are bought and paid for, but none of that matters because we love our experts.
The funny thing is that we make people experts unwittingly, I think. For instance,
our system of religion teaches us that a pastor should be the expert on
hearing from God. So, we go to them with our troubles and expect them to hear
God and give us the solution to the problem. I would say a deeper problem is that
sometimes we pastors believe we have the answers. I have caught myself relying
on the wisdom or advice that jumps to mind when talking to people. And, I’m
sure down somewhere in myself in places I don’t want to talk about, I really like
the fact that people want to know MY advice. But, this is not how it should be.
The scripture tells us that God speaks directly to our hearts, everyone, not just
the pastors. Instead of trying to help people from our own wisdom, we need to
immediately ask people what they are hearing from God about the situation, and
if they are obeying that voice. As part of the Journey, we want to teach people to
rely on God, not some system of religion or a solitary leader of that system. We
want them to know how to hear God’s voice and obey so that they can be an example
to their friends of how to hear God’s voice and obey.
My hope is that whenever I unwittingly or instinctually offer my own advice,
someone is there to ask if I am pointing people to God’s wisdom or pointing them
to a man who is just as imperfect as anyone.

Where Have I Been

Excerpt:
"And so when I consider the way I am treated by Christ, the degree of kindness with which He guides me, I know that as Napolean said, I would die for Him. And I would not die for Him because He threatens me; I would die for Him because He loves me, and because I am part of a a community of people who are committed to one another, to the world, and to the mission of Jesus."
-by Donald Miller in "Searching for God Knows What"

I urge you to check out the link of this book, it's not to sell it to you, it's a link to Donald Miller's site as he is talking about finishing the book. . .great insight. . .brilliant thinker.
It's interesting that I just read this because we just had a discussion sat. night about some of what's in the quote. Basically, it revolved around doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do as opposed to doing it because of a bad consequence. We discussed how the church has used power and manipulation to "scare people into heaven" and we also talked about if it's ever right to scare someone with a consequence to keep them from doing something (or making them do something).
Someone mentioned that if there was a consequence, then they would do the opposite just to prove a point, and then deal with the consequence be it jail or whatever. They only wanted to live their lives by deciding what is right, and then choosing to do right. But, how does a child know that it's not right to stick their hand into the flashing and pretty light we call fire? Don't we have the "scare" them sometimes to help them learn? No matter how nice and loving you are, telling a child their hand will burn and turn crispy just isn't going to be fun for them.
On the other hand, we are adults, and I do believe very much in doing what is right from a standpoint of love instead of just following rules. Rules are what Jesus railed against with the Pharisees, but it wasn't the actual rule that was bad. . .the rule originally was beautiful and meant to provide memory and significance. But the rules became the object instead of the memory and significance. How do we re-shift back to memory, focus on God not rules, love for others that compels us to serve them instead of pity for them, a move back to servant leadership as oppposed to the Me-focused world we live in?
I don't know, what do you all think? Can you live in one world, but live by another world's code? How do I reconcile so much of what it means to be a christian with the (American) world we live in? Guess I'll keep working on that one. . .

Thunderstorms

So, today my son and I are sitting in the dark, waiting for the power to come back on. This morning we've had a rash of thunderstorms rolling through dropping tons of rain. I didn't blog any about the horrible flooding in Iowa a couple weeks ago, just didn't feel like it, but this thunderstorm has me in a reflective mood.
The power of nature, which I would submit was put in motion by God, is amazing. Whether a flood that no man made barrier can contain or a strong wind or lightning strike that no tree could stand up to, it's just amazing the raw power of nature. It's also amazing just how arrogant we are in thinking we can protect ourselves from it. It's just absolutely amazing to me. I have no more thoughts, just that we really don't seem to know our limitations.
On the other hand, sometimes it's the best thing in the world when we are limited against our will. This morning, I would have done my normal routine and gone about the day without as much concern for my son or how he was feeling. Instead, we got out the flashlights, which he loves to play with all the time anyway, and played with those. Then, we played the board game Sorry! for a while. He came out of the gate strong and was whipping my butt, but I hung in there. In games of chance, it only takes a few good cards to be back in the race. He was literally getting close to winning and I still had 3 tokens in the "start" circle. Guess what. . .I won! I was exuberant, I laughed in his face, I mocked him till he cried. . .I really hope you don't believe that! What kind of father do you think I am? Well, yes, I beat him, but we had a great time. Just dad and son, hanging out. No tv or music going in the background, just us and the silence. It was great.
Maybe we all need a forced break from electricity, just sit and listen to the silence for a while. Then, after you've felt yourself calm down, maybe read a book. Better yet, just focus on your closest friends and family. You may just be amazed at what happens.

Living in the Now

Okay, so I know this will probably be a bit different than you would imagine from the title, but I wonder what Jesus would be doing if He were living right now. I ask this question because my sole purpose in life is to try and live the life He intended for me to live. I think when most people answer that question is comes back to having something to do with the organized church. Not so much for me.
I want to be more about living as I see Jesus lived, getting in the midst of the arguments of the day, helping those who need it, and certainly by living and loving those who are close to me. One of the main things that has been on my mind lately is about what Jesus taught and spoke about. It seems most of it wasn't about the "bible", or even the Torah that they had back then. It seems to me that He spent a lot of time tackling the big issues of the day like taxes, govornment oppression, how to treat others, and the religious system of the day.
I wonder what it would be like if we, as a Church (notice the capital C), decided to think about our govornment and our taxes and how our political system works in the context of what is best for the nation and even the world. I wonder if we quit paying people (lobbyists) to do our fighting for us, and instead cared enough to get involved oursleves, what would happen? I wonder what would change if we were as concerned about homelessness and hunger as we were with how to spend our stimulus checks on vacation?
I think it's great to spend time in the bible, reading and learning about what God intended for us. I think there are great minds that do this all the time, and I love to hear them speak and enlighten me as to the depth and richness of the bible. However, if that doesn't change me and my life, if it doesn't compel me to look deeper in the systems around me and question, then what good is it? If we decide to blindly support our govornment based on one scripture, but then don't question certain oppressive practices. . .are we really living like Jesus?
This is a lingering thought for me. . .so I'm sure I'll have more coming soon. . .

Phatkat ><>