Images from the Almighty...

33Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

too long

It has been too long! I never thought I would be one of those people who start a blog and then let it sit silent for months on end. Well, I am that guy now. It's like a website that hasn't been updated since the first week it was launched, seems almost completely useless. Well, if you have given up on waiting to hear from me I understand, but if not, here is a what is swimming around in my head this morning.

I am getting ready to go preach to maybe 70 people this morning a message of hope that has been less than "life changing," for most Christians I know. It's a message of belonging from Romans chapter 8. The big question being asked is, "what do we have in Christ?" What does God's sanctifying work in our lives leave us with?

belonging, adoption, inheritance, honor and glory...

I am struck, in particular, by the language Paul uses as he is introducing the concept of, "Children of God." He uses a phrase that stands out to me...

"Those who walk in the Spirit have not been give a spirit of fear, but a spirit of adoption."

I love that he sets fear and adoption as oppositional forces in this passage. We all need to belong, be part of something, be chosen, and feel connected. When a child is homeless, or has no family, they feel lost, insecure, and full of fear. It will likely impact the way that child views the entire world. But a child with a loving, family to belong to, live with, receive and give love to, the world is right.

As justified, sanctified believers, we have been given a spirit of adoption. We belong to God, He has chosen us to be part of His eternal family. That work He does is not just a formality, no God puts His money where His mouth is. The full inheritance of Christ goes right along with it! We don't just get a piece of the pie, we get the whole freaking pie. We get power, peace, hope, salvation, etc. etc. etc.

How many of us as Christians are setting aside this incredible gift for something so worthless as, "our own lives," we are living, most of us, a shell of the life that is offered to us in unhindered relationship with the father. We have, due to the ongoing sanctifying work of the holy spirit in our lives, the opportunity to live in perfect relationship with God once more. Yeah, perfect, just like Adam and Eve once enjoyed, we can get that back, we can be totally free from the one thing that blocks our connection from him, that being the sin of selfishness. When we surrender, releasing our lives to His power, setting our minds on the Spirit, and allowing him to purge our lives, conforming us into His image, we set ourselves on a path toward unhindered relationship on this earth.

This morning I take hope and refuge in that thought... won't you as well?

Easter Sunday

I recently heard a pastor make a plea to his congregation to, "Pray for those you have invited to our Easter service." A seemingly great challenge, and in fact, I am never going to be the guy who ever gets in the way of prayer in any context... it's too powerful. But it did get me thinking about how we approach prayer in our lives.

I am convinced that as human beings we are naturally prone to pray prayers that are centered around us and what we want. I guess the ultimate problem I have with this plea above, is that when it comes to eternal impact type things, shouldn't we allow God to dictate where the work is done? Shouldn't that plea have been reversed?

"Invite to our Easter service those you have been praying for."

While it may seem like simple semantics, I think the distinction is everything. You see the first plea is living in a self oriented human ability kind of world. Do your thing, and then, ask God to bless your efforts. When it comes to real life transformation, I can't help but believe that formula will more often then not leave us wondering why God did not do the things we asked Him for.

On the other hand, if I am living and active life of kingdom minded prayer for the people in my life, community, and natural sphere of influence, I allow the Holy Spirit to dictate where and when He decides to show up. You see it takes the responsibility to change someone off of me, and places it on the only shoulders capable of handling that kind of job... The Almighty God. Then, I get to sit back and watch what God will do, and how He will use me to do it.

In this context of inviting people to Easter services, how much more expectant will you be about the the morning if the people you invited are people you have been praying for the Holy Spirit to work in all year? So much more. Ultimately, if I am praying that way, I won't find the need to see, attendance at church as the indicator of the drawing of the Spirit. If God chooses to use our Sunday morning service great, but that is not the end all.

So, this Easter, instead of inviting first, I want to challenge you to pray... first... What if our Easter Sunday services were filled with people that we have been praying for all year long, connecting with, loving and blessing. Something tells me Easter Sunday in American churches might look a little different.

To be filled...

So, my wife and I are headed into a pretty interesting season of life. Case and point, I found myself spending most of the day last Friday filling out job applications for minimum wage type jobs that require no degree or unique skills to speak of. I am not trying to say there is something wrong with those jobs, or anything, just that it feels strange to be at this stage of my life to be doing something I last did my 2nd year of college.

We are headed toward a season of unknown... well, the one thing we do know, is that life is not going to be easy... practically speaking. Questions about the impact of drastic reduction of time, energy and money are swirling like a tornado in my head and heart, not knowing what the future holds. Is this fair? Is God abandoning us? How can God turn His back on a family that has given it all for His kingdom, for His purposes, and for His glory? Have we done something wrong?

I always get emotional when alone in my car, I guess it is where I am thinking most clearly, or have the least amount of distractions. On Thursday as I was driving home from Life Group, after an amazing time of encouragement, I found myself thinking and contemplating a new question. What is the point of earthly blessings? Why would God choose to give financial prosperity to one, and struggle to another? I realized that for the past 6 years I have been in a season of prosperity. Life has been good, relatively easy, at least practically, so what does this mean that life is changing?

Just then, the next song clicked onto the CD player, and it happened to be a worship song that I have led people in churches on multiple occasions. The last verse of the song goes like this...

This is my prayer in the harvest

where favor and providence flow

I know I'm filled to be emptied again

This seed I received I will sow.

Immediately I began thinking,

"For a devoted Kingdom Laborer of Christ, what is the point of earthly blessings."

According to this song, it is only to give it away. Hmmm... can that really be true? Is the only reason God fills us, so we can be emptied again? If that is true, then maybe I can begin to see this season of life as just simply a natural cycle of life with Christ. I have spent the last 6 years of my life being filled, taken care of, blessed, for what? So that I could pat myself on the back and continue on feeling great about how I have taken charge of my life? No, to be poured out again!

It struck me in that moment, that my life is ultimately a tool to be used by God. If He chooses to bless me with earthly blessings, I can see it as simply a sharpening of that tool. My life has more to offer others. I have more to give, not more to hold on to.

Then in the times of dessert, while I am being poured out, I have a greater opportunity to display the love, grace, sacrifice of Christ then ever. Is God still good? Did something change because life got hard? No, not at all. I was simply filled so that God could use me. After all, my greatest opportunities for life change, impact, and closeness with my God is not afforded to me in moments of prosperity, but in moment of trial.

So, I choose to be poured out, I choose to see my life as a tool, I embrace the breaking, using, and re-shaping God desires to do in my life in this next season...

Starbucks here I come!

Immersion: Part 2

My wife and I like to eat out... that's an understatement. We like to eat out so much that I think if we could, we would eat out for at least one meal every day, maybe more.

Yesterday for the first time in weeks, my wife and I were both home after taking the kids to school, with no where to be! A great feeling by the way. I was sitting on the couch enjoying my regular morning news updates, browsing Facebook and enjoying the quietness of the morning when I heard a deep long sigh, followed by a quiet, but just loud enough, "We're out of eggs... I wonder what I am going to eat for breakfast?"

10 minutes later we are sitting at a table at the Cracker Barrel located conveniently down the street from our house, drinking coffee and enjoying the sounds of discovery our 4 month old Maggie is making. The morning being a little too blissful, I should have seen what was coming next. As we sat talking and laughing, out of the corner of my eye I see one of the serving staff walking towards me and Maggie who is now sitting on my laugh flirting with the entire dining room. As she approached, she never made eye contact with me, but was locked into the gigantic baby eyes that seem to mesmerize middle aged female servers at early morning breakfast joints. Much to my dismay, she walked right up and started handling Maggie as she sat on my lap. She was touching, tickling, and talking in an annoying baby voice to Maggie while I sat there being ignored, and feeling as though my existence had now been minimized down to, "That blob that's holding a really cute baby." I smiled awkwardly trying not to let her see that on the inside I wanted to smack her and say, "Who do you think you are? Get off my daughter, I don't know you!"

I'm not sure which bothers me more, the feeling of being totally overlooked, or the spacial violation of having your infant child handled by a perfect stranger, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that what really bothers me, is that my feelings, and life were a complete after thought to this probably very nice and harmless waitress. What got me was the reality that she decided to interact with Maggie and I 100% on her own terms without a tiny thought to who we were, and what was best for us. What we wanted, and needed were not even so much as an after thought.

The second aspect of the value of immersion is called

Listening

“Listening is watching and sensitively responding to the unspoken and spoken needs of sojourners in ways that demonstrate sincere interest.

- Hugh Halter

As Christians we have become a lot like our waitress at the Cracker Barrel. We see people, we notice people, we interact with people, but it is always on our terms. Most of the time we look at people and make judgements about who they are, and how they are living based on surface stuff like, how they are dressed, what words are coming out of their mouths and what activities they are participating in. Most of the time this leads to a mostly apathetic approach to anyone who is remotely difficult or outside our bubble of interest. The best case scenario coming out of the church is an attitude that approaches the world as a project, which ultimately has the same impact of making people feel de-valued by the church, and by association... God.

The value of immersion has to take into consideration this incredible problem. People do not feel valued by the church, and the people who most closely associate with it simply because we have become like the waitress who is so totally consumed by self that she couldn't, or wouldn't, or didn't know how to approach us with unselfish, listening motives.

There may not be a more honoring and value-giving thing to do than to simply listen. To shut our mouths, and listen a persons heart, words, body language and passions. It says I care.. I care about what you care about. I want to know you, learn to love you, and see the world through your eyes. I want to be your advocate, I want to understand you, I want to be your friend.

this was Jesus style. He approached hurting and broken people with love, understanding, and a desire to show them honor. He listened as often as he spoke. He connected eyes, shared life, and in that vain offered a new approach to life, a freeing, god-seeking, peace-giving existence.

We have to start listening, and by listening I don't just mean, the decoding of information spoken by another persons mouth, I mean looking into people's souls, seeing hurt, acknowledging that often times the true feelings and heart of a person are never spoken in word form.

Listening takes time, energy, and intentionality. It's hard, time consuming and messy. We cannot be in position to listen and connect with people unless we are ready to hear their language and begin speaking it as well.

My 4 month old daughter makes very strange noises, and I have seen this value of listening on display with her. When she starts jabbering on, I have noticed that she is, through her built in desire for relationships, calling out to connect. She wants to connect with people, she is not just screaming because it sounds good, but she is, in her own way saying, hey! listen to me! I know this because I have made a point to listen to her, and respond appropriately. So I echo back her noises, and we go back and forth making completely senseless noises, but as we do, I sense our connection growing deeper. I listen to the subtle changes in her noises, and attempt to echo them back. It's almost as if she senses my desire to understand her. What a blast.

The interaction is dependent on 2 things, the listening and the appropriate response, If I listen and then start quoting Shakesphere to her, I will watch the connection begin to fail, She will ultimately lose interest, because I am no longer approaching her in her context, I am now relating in a selfish context.

This is at the heart of immersion. We start by getting into other people's context, then we choose to listen, and sensitively respond to the felt needs of the individual. Does God need us to do this? No, of course not, but these kind of relationships are such a power vehicle for extending the grace of God to our world. What a joy to begin relating to our world in this new way.

To be continued...