First Snow

  So, we have our first snow now, and it was so peaceful.  It happened just after Thanksgiving, and it was so beautiful.  You know, that kind of perfect snow that clings to all the trees and creates Norman Rockwell type pictures.  Of course, the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped, but for a moment the entire world was a picture of the Creator's artistic side.  

  Lately, I'm just a little more conscious of the beauty all around.  I think it helps me to know that I am loved, and maybe that sometimes things are beautiful just to make us (me) smile.

Live Like Jesus

  So, what does it mean to be a Christian?  I guess in the end, it's as simple as living like Jesus.  The hard part comes in trying to figure out what that means.  I think a lot of christianity would teach that it means following a set of rules and looking like a "good" person.  I think it's easier.  All you have to do is live like Jesus.

  I'm not suggesting that you can ever BE Jesus, just that we should quit trying to make it so hard.  Just live like Him.  He fed people who were hungry, you may not feed 5,000 but I bet you could invite a neighbor over for supper.  He healed the sick and hurting.  You may not walk around performing miraculous healings, but I bet you could listen to a hurting friend or pray for someone with cancer.  He turned water into wine for a party, maybe you could just invite a friend to share a beer and talk.

  I'm sure some may think this is oversimplified, but I think we could probably do without a great deal of the theology and doctrine if we just learned to live our lives by loving our God and loving our neighbor.  Period.  Sounds so simple. . .why is it so hard?

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. . .