I really like it when things go just like I planned.
and I really do not like it when they don't.
I mean, I reeeeeaaaallly don't like it.
but, from all I can read... in history, in the Bible, even in novels... and from all I know from 47 years of living...
it is clear that we simply don't grow without challenges.... we just can't learn unless we encounter hardship... and we absolutely won't deepen our faith in the absence of conflict.
When James exhorts us to 'count it pure joy when we face all kinds of trials', what do we think that entails?
I guess I always sorta hope it doesn't apply to me, or that I am immune somehow to the immutable rules of natural growth and education...
The only thing I know is this: God has brought me and my family through some difficult times. and He will again....
and my faith will grow and I will be a stronger witness for His Glory.
but, dang, it is really hard for me to embrace the concept...
you?
blessings!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
facebookless
I deactivated my Facebook yesterday.
I have struggled with what exactly this thing called Facebook is.... and finally decided that, for me, it is an unhealthy timewaster. at least.... (at most it feels a little like voyeurism...) sorry to all you Facebookers... if it is not that for you, then cool! ...if you love your Facebook, God bless ya'!
The questions I had to ask myself surrounded the old cost/benefit analysis...
what does Facebook cost me and what does it give me?
yeah, I know it's 'free'... I mean what does it cost me in time and mental energy and, well, what does it do to me spiritually and emotionally?
and what does it benefit me?
"Oh, I can keep in touch with ALL my friends!!!"
really?
at least half my 'friends' on Facebook are people I barely know! My real life friends have my email and my cell phone number... they know where I live.
old-fashioned? maybe... but I don't think so... I am a gadget-technology freak!
OK, I'll stop preaching... every one has to do what they gotta do...
I know Facebook is not some evil communist godless plot! I understand that it, like many things on the 'net, are morally neutral...
I am just explaining that I am facebookless now....
nothing horrible happened... I wasn't abducted by kidnappers or aliens.... I didn't get my identity stolen.... and, please stop asking me why I 'de-friended' you! I didn't!
I just deactivated my Facebook account....
if, for you, it is not a timewaster.... if it is not a negative influence for you... go for it!
If you need to talk to me, call or text or email or, for crying out loud, stop by the house!!!
Blessings!
I have struggled with what exactly this thing called Facebook is.... and finally decided that, for me, it is an unhealthy timewaster. at least.... (at most it feels a little like voyeurism...) sorry to all you Facebookers... if it is not that for you, then cool! ...if you love your Facebook, God bless ya'!
The questions I had to ask myself surrounded the old cost/benefit analysis...
what does Facebook cost me and what does it give me?
yeah, I know it's 'free'... I mean what does it cost me in time and mental energy and, well, what does it do to me spiritually and emotionally?
and what does it benefit me?
"Oh, I can keep in touch with ALL my friends!!!"
really?
at least half my 'friends' on Facebook are people I barely know! My real life friends have my email and my cell phone number... they know where I live.
old-fashioned? maybe... but I don't think so... I am a gadget-technology freak!
OK, I'll stop preaching... every one has to do what they gotta do...
I know Facebook is not some evil communist godless plot! I understand that it, like many things on the 'net, are morally neutral...
I am just explaining that I am facebookless now....
nothing horrible happened... I wasn't abducted by kidnappers or aliens.... I didn't get my identity stolen.... and, please stop asking me why I 'de-friended' you! I didn't!
I just deactivated my Facebook account....
if, for you, it is not a timewaster.... if it is not a negative influence for you... go for it!
If you need to talk to me, call or text or email or, for crying out loud, stop by the house!!!
Blessings!
Monday, October 19, 2009
paralyzing fear
there are a lot of things fear will do for you.
God wired your body so that fear (or more specifically, immediate danger) triggers a response in your adrenal gland that we have come to call the 'fight or flight' hormone.
action is required, so your body is flooded with adrenaline to equip you to run away fast or vanquish the attacker.
But sometimes we neither fight nor flee. we freeze. I have read accounts of this phenomenon... in battle and in the wild... and in every case, the attacked becomes the victim. and usually dies.
within organizations, I have rarely seen fight or flight... I sometimes wish that were not the case...
instead, when we are afraid as a group, we become paralyzed. We do nothing.
too fearful to make a wrong move, we simply stand still.
and when churches are paralyzed by fear, they die.
I suppose I am not advocating that we be in a constant state of flux... and I don't guess I would want for us to always have adrenaline pumping through our collective veins...
but I am quite convinced that God does not wish for us to settle into rote and habit and routine, and I believe that He wants us to be unafraid... I am Biblically Certain that He did NOT give us a spirit of fear. (Rom 8:15)
God Bless us as we Claim His Promise and live up to His Expectation!
God wired your body so that fear (or more specifically, immediate danger) triggers a response in your adrenal gland that we have come to call the 'fight or flight' hormone.
action is required, so your body is flooded with adrenaline to equip you to run away fast or vanquish the attacker.
But sometimes we neither fight nor flee. we freeze. I have read accounts of this phenomenon... in battle and in the wild... and in every case, the attacked becomes the victim. and usually dies.
within organizations, I have rarely seen fight or flight... I sometimes wish that were not the case...
instead, when we are afraid as a group, we become paralyzed. We do nothing.
too fearful to make a wrong move, we simply stand still.
and when churches are paralyzed by fear, they die.
I suppose I am not advocating that we be in a constant state of flux... and I don't guess I would want for us to always have adrenaline pumping through our collective veins...
but I am quite convinced that God does not wish for us to settle into rote and habit and routine, and I believe that He wants us to be unafraid... I am Biblically Certain that He did NOT give us a spirit of fear. (Rom 8:15)
God Bless us as we Claim His Promise and live up to His Expectation!
Monday, October 12, 2009
the mission?
"Actions speak louder than words"....
ya know, cliches don't become cliches without some merit. and this cliche definitely has merit....
"don't do what I do, do what I say" is a close second cousin...
If you pay attention to how we (religious folks) act, you may come up with a different mission than the one we articulate with our words.
In the realm of walking the walk as well as talking the talk, we have failed miserably... and the saddest part of THAT is this: the mission is really really vitally important!
If you listen to the words of preachers and proselytes, you hear something like this (with regard to mission statement):
ya know, cliches don't become cliches without some merit. and this cliche definitely has merit....
"don't do what I do, do what I say" is a close second cousin...
If you pay attention to how we (religious folks) act, you may come up with a different mission than the one we articulate with our words.
In the realm of walking the walk as well as talking the talk, we have failed miserably... and the saddest part of THAT is this: the mission is really really vitally important!
If you listen to the words of preachers and proselytes, you hear something like this (with regard to mission statement):
- we are to be seed-spreaders
- 'to seek and save the lost'
- we must preach Jesus
- to help each other here on earth to get to heaven
- we need to Unify the body
- to speak where the Bible speaks and to be silent where it is silent
- to be about restoring the 1st century church
and on and on and on it goes.
If, however, you listen to the actions of religious leaders and their followers, you may get a different message.... I fear that our actions (which, yes, always speak louder than our words, no matter how loud we shout) may betray us. yep, the casual observer may infer something more like:
- we gotta keep score (saved and lost)
- we need to correct (usually through printed or online rags)
- we must be right and prove it
- we have to do our Sunday morning ritual correctly
what if we were at least honest about our mission? what if what others heard from us was exactly what they saw from us?
how would that smell?
My guess is it would smell a lot more real. I have a hunch it would be a lot more attractive - or at least less repulsive - to those we are trying to reach.
What if we actually spent more time preaching the unifying message of Jesus Christ than picketing and blogging and slamming other religious (or non-religious, for that matter) folks?
We fall so deeply in love with being right - and proving it at all costs by any manner - that we cannot possibly be heard about the really important things.
and we are irrelevant.
and nobody is listening.
because we are the know-it-all Pharisees.
remember them?
read the 4 gospel accounts of Jesus' dealing with these religious leaders (Matthew 23 is my personal favorite) ...and then honestly compare them to your religious group.
If we are not too scared to honestly compare us - religious people of today - to them (yeah, the group which He routinely blasted and challenged), I believe we (you, me) will earnestly repent and set about to try to act out our words...
because, let's face it: until your stated mission is supported by your overt actions, your mission is worthless.
God Bless us as we dwell in the center of His will, and truly live out His mission in our lives.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
fall has fell (or is it fallen?)
don't you just love this time of year! I do... really it may be my favorite... right up there with Spring and Summer and Winter...
leaves are turning and the air is less thick... the grass has slowed down its growing - finally! football is in full swing and basketball is just around the corner!
I am blessed indeed!
get out and enjoy the beautiful Ozarks in the fall!
God Bless!
leaves are turning and the air is less thick... the grass has slowed down its growing - finally! football is in full swing and basketball is just around the corner!
I am blessed indeed!
get out and enjoy the beautiful Ozarks in the fall!
God Bless!
Friday, October 2, 2009
penance?
Guilt is an interesting emotion.... it is at once a dirty feeling and a great motivator... but it usually misses the point.
We love to beat ourselves up because of our failures... society almost demands it! as if self-flagellation is the path to absolution...
Dusty Rush preached a sermon a few weeks ago about Old Temple vs New Temple theology, and in it he told the story of fictional character Rodrigo Mendoza (played by Robert De Niro) in 'the Mission', a movie about 18th century slave trade in South America...
Mendoza is a ruthless mercenary slave trader who wants to turn from his evil ways, and ultimately seeks redemption from a Jesuit priest after killing his beloved brother in a duel over a woman. For his penance, Mendoza drags the heavy weapons of his former trade in a sack on a journey to accompany the Jesuits to visit the tribe which Mendoza has terrorized during his former life.
Upon meeting the son of one of the men he kidnapped and delivered to a plantation owner, Mendoza expects the native Guarani Indian to kill him. Instead, he cuts the pack of weapons off of Mendoza, effectively freeing him of the heavy burden he has carried for so long and absolving him of his sin.
To some, this is a beautiful story... many Christians believe this is an accurate picture of God and man.
To me, this is a horrible, misguided, ugly tale of man's attempt to assuage the wrath of the Living God. The reason it is so horrible is that the sacrifice has already been made, the absolution has already been granted and
the PENANCE HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID!
the longer Christians hold on to some twisted man-made model of forgiveness and penance and penalty, the further we stray from the truth!
Hallelujah! Christ paid your debt!
Praise God! you are free!
act like it!
'til the whole world hears'
We love to beat ourselves up because of our failures... society almost demands it! as if self-flagellation is the path to absolution...
Dusty Rush preached a sermon a few weeks ago about Old Temple vs New Temple theology, and in it he told the story of fictional character Rodrigo Mendoza (played by Robert De Niro) in 'the Mission', a movie about 18th century slave trade in South America...
Mendoza is a ruthless mercenary slave trader who wants to turn from his evil ways, and ultimately seeks redemption from a Jesuit priest after killing his beloved brother in a duel over a woman. For his penance, Mendoza drags the heavy weapons of his former trade in a sack on a journey to accompany the Jesuits to visit the tribe which Mendoza has terrorized during his former life.
Upon meeting the son of one of the men he kidnapped and delivered to a plantation owner, Mendoza expects the native Guarani Indian to kill him. Instead, he cuts the pack of weapons off of Mendoza, effectively freeing him of the heavy burden he has carried for so long and absolving him of his sin.
To some, this is a beautiful story... many Christians believe this is an accurate picture of God and man.
To me, this is a horrible, misguided, ugly tale of man's attempt to assuage the wrath of the Living God. The reason it is so horrible is that the sacrifice has already been made, the absolution has already been granted and
the PENANCE HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID!
the longer Christians hold on to some twisted man-made model of forgiveness and penance and penalty, the further we stray from the truth!
Hallelujah! Christ paid your debt!
Praise God! you are free!
act like it!
'til the whole world hears'
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