The Wrestler

As many of you know, I spent a few days last week moving into a new home - a smaller, simpler home.  Of course, moving means packing and packing means finding things you haven't seen in years.  I came across this old newspaper clipping from my high school years.  Yes, I was a wrestler.

I loved wrestling and hated it at the same time.  I loved it because it was one of the most physically demanding sports I've ever played.  I hated it for the same reason.  BTW - If someone tells you they are a wrestler, they are most likely in better shape than you think.   And, hey are probably consuming less than a third of the calories they really need and about half of the water.  It's a sport of discipline and endureance.

Although wrestling is a team sport, it hinges on the performance of individuals.  When you wrestle, you are alone on the mat.  There's no one around to help you and there can be no one to blame when you lose.  You are either prepared or you aren't.  You win because of you; you lose because of you.  It's you, your opponent, and six minutes.
Wrestling is a battle of strength and will.
Wrestling is about struggle.
Wrestling is about submission.


There was a pretty famous wrestling match recorded in Genesis Chapter 32.   God and Jacob wrestle for an entire night and God, realizing Jacob would not be overpowered, dislocates Jacob's hip.  Even still, Jacob keeps wrestling.  He keeps grappling and holding on until God finally, at daybreak, demands Jacob release Him.

"Not until you bless me," Jacob says.  So God blesses him and changes his name to "Israel ... because you have struggled with God and with men and not been overcome." Jacob later names the place, "Face of God" because he came face-to-face with God and God let him live.

Sometimes I feel like I've been in a life-long wrestling match with God.  I struggle with Him as I try to move, try to manipulate, try to bend God to my will.  And He lovingly does the same to me.  As we grapple, God in His Wisdom, keeps breaking me in strategic places, sometimes very painful places.  And in my exhaustion, I hold on to Him ... sometimes just so I can just catch my breath a little so that I can keep on wrestling!  And fight Him as I do, in His Mercy, God lets me live on this planet another day, even though He knows I will continue to struggle against Him.

I've grown weary from wresting with God and perhaps you have, too.  Maybe this is just a season of wrestling for you and that's ok.  But maybe,  it's just time to submit.  Either way, t's good to know that win, lose, or draw, God is ready to change your name and bless you.

Living Out Simplicity

I went to a very small high school in Michigan; our graduating class was under 100 students.  We didn't have a wide curriculum back then, pretty much the basics.  Although our academic choices were somewhat limited,  I was blessed to have some great teachers who cared about their profession, who cared about me, and who helped prepare me for life.  One of my favorite teachers was Norma Suess who introduced me to "Walden." Thoreau's theme of living simply resonated with me, even as a teenager.

A few months ago I wrote "It's Complicated" as the opening post for this blog, and began a journey to live my life more simply.  This started with some smaller moves, like thinning our my wardrobe and managing our food stores.   Chris and I will be taking a much bigger step together over the next few weeks by selling our home and downsizing our livings space to less than half of what we have currently.  

Our home has been a great blessing to us these past 6 years, meeting our needs by providing a young man with special needs the space he needs to move about, and place where middle-schoolers enjoyed hanging out.  (We've had lots of kids in our home over the years.)  We've even used our home for ministry, hosting GCC Arts Team and Administrative Council meetings and using it as a film location from time to time.  I liked this one particularly and fortunately, I didn't get a letter from my homeowners association:

Grill Guys | Up In My Grill from Granger Community Church on Vimeo.

Chris and I really enjoy the home we live in today and we will miss our neighbors, but we realize that we are both active people and that much of what we have goes unused.  We have a 4th bedroom that has a visiting family member only a few nights a year, a swimming pool that gets used about 7 days a summer, and a finished basement that sits dormant most of the time.   It's wasteful for us, consuming our time for upkeep and our financial resources, while giving us only a small return on our lifestyle (more space to roam about.)

Over the next few months, we'll be increasing our complexity (moving and renovating) so that we can get to a state of more simplicity.  We are a bit nervous about this, as it represents some big changes over the summer and because it will increase our physical proximity as a family.  But I am confident that we will be the better for it in the long-haul as we prepare for our son to someday move into a group home setting and our daughter to finish out high school and move on to college.

Chris and I appreciate your prayers as we move to the adventure ahead.

Armchair Christian

It's been almost a month since my last post.  Sorry about that.  It's just that I've really been trying to live out a little bit more of what I have been writing to you about.  You see it's occurred to me that it's pretty easy to go to church and sit there.  And that can be a good thing - a really good thing.

Be still and know that I am God.
 - Psalm 46:10

It's so much easier to hear God when you're sitting still.  He speaks ever so softly. But eventually, after all that stillness and all the listening and all that sitting, you should probably do something, right?  Unlike football, Christianity is not a game you can play from your armchair on Sundays.  This is a concept my friend and pastor, Rob Wegner has been saying to me for years.  Back in February, I posted  Why Not Now?  In it I wrote "If not now, when will I ... help someone else with their dream?"

It was about that time that my wife, Chris introduced me to Jan Pilarski, a woman who had a dream.  Like Chris and me, Jan has a 20-something-year-old son with autism.  Jan told me she was starting a company called Green Bridge Growers, an Aquaponics Farm with a social mission to employ people with Autism.  Jan said that people with Autism, even high-functioning people with Autism, have a 90% unemployment rate.

Well, Jan decided to do something about it and start Green Bridge Growers.  To help gain insight and capital, Jan entered the McCloskey Business Plan Competition at the University of Notre Dame to earn funding for her startup.  Because I have some experience in the food service distribution industry, Jan asked if I would join her, her son, and a team of Notre Dame ESTEEM Fellows from Ireland to help.  I'm glad I said yes because I learned more from them than I could have possibly contributed to the team.  I learned about other cultures, about creativity, and about vision.  Most of all, I learned about tenacity.  Jan has spent thousands of hours on this project and I was excited to learn that her efforts culminated in winning one of the top prizes in the competition - The $15,000 Klau Family Award for Social Impact.  Simply terrific.

It's been a long time since I sold food to restaurants and I thought that chapter in my life was closed and useless.  God must have thought differently about that.  Honestly, seeing Jan and her team win this award brought me the most joy I've had in a long, long time.  I wish that kind of joy on anyone.  And so I encourage you to sit still and listen to God for a while and to be receptive to His leading on how you can use your experiences, your knowledge, your skills to help someone else with their dream.

It's Sunday afternoon.  It's game time.  Get out of the chair and into the game - you'll love it.

Overcoming My Fear of the "E-Word"

I don't know about you, but I get a lot of people interested in surveying me.  I get emails and calls from all types of businesses and organizations asking me questions about the my satisfaction with my purchase or my experience with their company.  Surveys typically annoy the heck out of me but they can useful so I try to fill one out every so often.

I read an interesting article about surveys by Fred Reichheld, author of "The Ultimate Question." Fred contends that businesses and organizations should really care about the answer to only one survey question:

"How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?"  (0 - 10 where 10 = very likely)

How strongly someone is willing put their name and reputation on the line for you is a clear predictor of how quickly your organization will grow.  People leveraging their platforms and their networks to promote your business willingly can be significantly more potent for growth than the most creative and crafty marketing schemes.  Their willingness to recommend you is a true indicator of their loyalty. (Faithfulness?)

So, the survey question I've been playing with for myself is this:

"How likely am I to recommend Christ to a friend or colleague?"

My knee-jerk response is that I would answer, "10 - very likely" to that question, but when I look at the reality of my own track record, the numbers don't really line up with that.  Don't get me wrong, if someone walked up and asked me if I would recommend that they follow Christ and His Way I would answer, "Absolutely!" Unfortunately, no one has ever really just walked up and asked me that.

This is a big problem.  It's a problem for me, it's a problem for my church, it's a problem for those God has placed in my life who don't yet know Christ, and I'm pretty sure it's a really big problem for God.

Evangelism.

I fear it. I cringe even saying the word sometimes.  In fact, let's just call it the "E-Word" from now on.   Jesus says I need to do it, but I just don't do it often enough.  I've grow far too comfortable saying, "Evangelism is not my Spiritual Gift." And, after being in the presence of those who truly have the Evangelical Gift, I still  believe that.

However, whether I have the Gift of Evangelism or not, doesn't relieve me of my responsibility to engage in it.  And so, I'll be working on overcoming my fears and writing about my discoveries along the way.  I don't plan on buying any bullhorns or "The End is Near " signs (it's just not my style) but I'll be discovering and writing about ways I can become better at sharing the Good News with a world in desperate need of it.

The Creature Inside My Kenmore

It was a great Easter last weekend.  I was blessed that my mother and her husband, and my sister and her family were all able to come over for Easter dinner.  It was a double bonus because my mom cooked the food and brought it over this year.  Both the food and the company exceptional and we had a tremendous time.  As always, we ate and ate.  And then we ate some more.

Even still, we had an abundance of food (leftovers) that I packed into my refrigerator, filling it to capacity.  After 5 days of eating leftover ham shank morsels this week and having reached my limit of deviled eggs and fatback green beans, I decided to purge my refrigerator of its Easter feast remnants.

Upon doing so I discovered "The Creature." I'm not sure what it was, but it lived inside one of the tubs of Michigan Small Curd Cottage Cheese.  It was furry and blue-green.  "The Creature" had grown to full strength quietly and ominously on the back corner of the third shelf in my Kenmore.  Eclipsed by the mountain of other foods in front of it, I hadn't noticed it for weeks.  I had forgotten it was there.  I had even purchased a new tub of cottage cheese thinking I had none.

Sometimes when we live in an environment that's too full, we forget to notice what we already have.

You Got Five?

No one should have to feel alone.

It's true that in our hyper-connected, fast-paced world, I often seek "alone time" to decompress, relax, re-energize, and renew.  I think it's a healthy response to the pressure of living.  But it's very different than me feeling lonely or me perpetually being alone.

Genesis 1 & 2 the Bible tells us that God creates man in His Image and places him in the Garden of Eden. Later God says, "It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a suitable helper for him."

One of the first things God did with his newly-created man was reduce the potential of his loneliness.  Even in the time when man walked with Him in the Creation that He deemed "very good," God said that the man being alone was "not good."  Apparently, this issue was very important to God.

As His image-bearers, addressing the potential loneliness of others should be important to us.

This can be difficult.  I have mentioned that I have many congenial, low-density relationships and so I can sometimes fool myself into thinking I don't ever feel alone.  And yet, I can at certain times, feel lonely and unconnected.  I assume that if that can happen to me sometimes, it might be happening to others.

I've decided to do something about that.  I've decided to find five.

I'm going to find five people God has placed in the path of my life.  These are people I don't see every day or consider my "inner circle" but with whom I have some affinity or commonality.  I've committed to:

1) Pray for them regularly.
2) Reach out to them at least every few months and just ask them, "Hey, how's it going?"

It's possible that the person will not want or appreciate my presence in their life at all.  That's OK.

But it's also possible that they haven't had anyone ask them that question in a while.  It's possible something big is happening in their lives and that they just need someone talk to about it.  It's possible that they've not had a Christ-follower in their lives outside their pastor.  It's possible they just might be on the very edge.  It's possible they just need someone who's willing to listen to them.  It's possible they will speak wisdom and kindness into my life.  It's possible we might form a deep friendship.  So many possibilities.

"It's not good for the man to be alone."  It's possible for us to change that.

You love your five.  I'll love mine.  Let's see how that changes things.  Peace.

Moving My Asteroid

This a picture of the small asteroid that collided with the Earth's atmosphere last February over Russia.  It was a pretty small one, about 55 feet, but the explosion delivered 500 kilotons of energy, shattered glass in buildings, and injured over 1000 people.  There have been much larger asteroids that have collided with our planet and have done much more damage - leveling mountains, changing climates, and wiping out the dinosaurs.  I don't think we would ever want a large asteroid to collide with our planet.  That would be bad.

Fortunately, we live in time when very smart people are able to locate objects and estimate whether or not they could collide with the Earth. These scientists are devising ways to avoid the cataclysm the impact of a large, Near-Earth Object would create.

Having earned my degree in space geology and astrophysics from Hollywood,  I had always assumed that the best way to stop an asteroid from destroying our planet was to simply wait until it got close by and then launch Bruce Willis on a rocket to blow it up with a nuclear bomb.  But many scientists at NASA's Near Earth Object Program say that's probably not the best idea.  Blowing up a big asteroid would create many small asteroids to deal with (and we've just experienced the damage even a tiny, off-course asteroid can do.)

It turns out that one of the best ways to deal with a large, near-earth object heading for catastrophe is to simply nudge it over time from its current trajectory.

Because of their enormous mass, size and velocity, large objects can be unstable and quite often, they are fragile.  They must be gingerly, slowly, steadily nudged into a safe trajectory to avoid the damage that breaking them would do.  It can take years to do this.

There are many large asteroids and comets in my life and they are all on various trajectories - some good, some not so good.  These are my Near-Heart Objects.  Some of those objects are outside of me but within my sphere of influence are my family, my workplace, my neighborhood, my church, my government.  Some asteroids are within me and when they are off course, they send me onto destructive paths of behaviors and thoughts.

Out of His goodness and love for me, when I am off course, sometimes God breaks me into pieces.  He blows me out of the sky.  That big, off-track asteroid inside of me gets shattered and I crash to Earth.  Sometimes that's what required to get my soul back on the right trajectory.

I've found that much more often than not, God's Spirit chooses to simply nudge me slowly and gently over time.  He whispers to me softly and subtly and it moves me.  And before I know or even realize it, I am in a better place - solid, whole, and at full velocity.

There are many Near-Heart Objects in our lives, all moving through time and space on different trajectories.  I pray God's Spirit gives us the discernment to know which ones are off course and how to lovingly move them onto the path back toward Him.

Simply Human

Do you remember the first time you realized your parents were human?

I was 8 years old and Frank was one of my best friends. Frank loved cars and he owned about every Matchbox car ever made (hundreds of them) and he built elaborate racetracks which enveloped his entire living room in a web of orange plastic strips. I went over to house to play with him after school and we would race for hours until Frank's dad came home from work.

And while the racing was fun, the massive, 200-car Matchbox pileup which happened at the end of each day at the track, was even better. Frank loved that part the most, too. And he would bring out his toy tow truck and start picking up all the Matchbox wrecks, car by car, and deliver each one to his Hot Wheels garage for repair. Miraculously, no Matchbox drivers were ever killed.

The reason Frank liked this part of our playtime was because his dad drove a tow truck for a living.  Frank thought that this was the greatest vocation a man could have.  His dad's tow truck was awesome, all decked out in red and polished steel, wielding a massive wench, and it glowed with scores of orange lights.  It was a breathtaking sight, especially when Frank's dad came home at night. It looked like an alien spacecraft landing in his driveway.

Frank truly loved his dad and would often boast about how cool his dad’s tow truck was, or how smart his dad was, or how how strong his dad was. In short, Frank thought his dad was the greatest man on the planet.

This was a real problem for me, because I knew my dad was the greatest man on the planet. I believed my dad was virtually indestructible and that he was the strongest, toughest man in the world.  What Frank was saying about his father was absolute blasphemy!

And then, it began to dawn on me. I thought, "Frank’s dad prowls the highway searching for twisted wreckage while driving four tons of metal-moving power.  My dad, is a salesman for Hostess and drives a step van filled with Ding Dongs.  Franks dad goes to work wearing a utility belt.  My dad marches in the Apple Festival parade dressed as a 6'3'' Twinkie.  Could it be that my dad is not the strongest, toughest man on the planet ...?"

The Superman image of I had constructed of my father was beginning to collapse.  I started to panic as this stark new reality set in. So, I did the only thing I could.

I lied.

“Your dad may drive a wrecker, Frank, but my dad’s so strong, he broke out of jail with his bare hands!”

“His bare hands?” Frank asked.

“Yep!  His bare hands!  He bent the bars with his bare hands and broke out of prison. And  ... he beat up some police officers on the way out and he’s gonna come over to your house and beat up your dad, too!”

In less than a minute, I had transformed my dad from Twinkie the Kid into Billy the Kid.

Frank ran home terrified and crying. Strangely, I felt relieved by that.

As a child, I had this need for my father to be the greatest man on the planet. I needed him to be good, strong, and invincible; so much so, that when that notion was challenged, I would not accept it.  When we are youngest and most vulnerable, God provides His care for most of us through our parents.  So, it makes sense to me that we can see our parents as ultimately strong protectors and providers.  They, in a sense, become "God-like" to us.

There’s a verse in 1st Corinthians Chapter 13:

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”

For me, one of the childish ways I needed to give up was thinking my father had to be more than he humanly could be.

Looking back, I realize that my parents did many, many good things that molded me positively as I grew up. They loved me and I knew this.  But the truth is, along the way, they did a few things that were painful for me, too. They made some mistakes. They messed a few things up from time to time; just like I do sometimes in parenting my children.

But when I became a man ... I realized that my parents are human.

My parents are humans who try to make their way, doing the best they can in a broken and hurting world. They are humans who are in need of much forgiveness and much Grace.  Just like me.  Just like you. Just like all of us. The Good News is that our ultimately strong and perfect Father in Heaven offers unlimited Grace, love, and forgiveness to us freely.

And this wonderful reality allows me to love and forgive others freely while allowing God to be God and myself, my parents, and others to be human.

Riding the Gravitron

Do you remember the Gravitron?  You know, that  circular-shaped carnival ride where you get inside of it, stand up against a wall, and it starts spinning.  As the ride spins faster and faster you feel yourself being pressed harder and harder against the wall.  And then ... the floor drops from beneath you!  You scream in terror but ... you don't fall.  You remain just where you are, plastered against the wall, safe and sound, having fun.  Centrifugal and centripetal forces, acting together, keep you suspended until the floor rises at the end.  It's a very simple and exciting ride.

Unlike roller coasters and other thrill rides at the amusement park, the Gravitron requires no harnesses, straps, or bars to keep the people on it from being flung into space.  Natural forces alone keep people suspended, in place, on board, and having fun when the bottom drops out.

Organization are a lot like thrill rides.  I think a good question for leaders to ask themselves is this:

"Do I want my organization to be more like a roller-coaster or more like a Gravitron?"

Roller coaster organizations and their leaders can use many types of straps, bars, and harnesses to keep their people and their patrons in place:

• Rigid contracts and rules
• Fear tactics
• Heavy surveillance
• Reliance on compensation and incentives

Gravitron organizations require few, if any harnesses.  People are held in place by:

• Purpose
• Alignment
• Trust
• Transparency
• Generosity
• Culture
• Friendship
• Vision

I think that given the choice, most people would choose to be in a Gravitronic organization and be led by a Gravitronic leader.  I think Jesus was a Gravitronic leader.  People wanted to be around him and wanted to be part of his world-changing movement.  Yes, there were those who despised him, and some who even betrayed Him.  But most who really knew Him, would have died for Him. They stayed committed to His movement that Friday even when it seemed like the bottom had dropped out.

photo credit: Caselet via photopin cc

Creating Jobs for the Sadistic

It's in our nature to complicate our Faith.  We see an example of this right from the beginning, in Genesis Chapter 2 when God tells Adam:

"You are free to eat from any tree in the Garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of  good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die."

It's a pretty simple rule: "you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

In the very next Chapter, Satan is tempting Eve and asks her:

"Did God really say, 'you must not eat from any tree in the Garden'?"

Eve replies, "We may eat fruit from the trees of the Garden, but God did say, 'you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the Garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.'"

I think this was the first human complication of the Faith in the Bible.  Eve adds, "you must not touch it" on top of God's simple rule.  Now, don't get me wrong, it makes a lot of sense to not touch the fruit.  It's a great guardrail because it is fair to say that if you don't even touch the fruit, then you can't realistically eat the fruit.  It's wise not to touch the fruit.  I believe we need to have both personal and corporate guardrails as Followers who are broken and prone to sin. (Especially if we have proclivity to a certain sin.)

Where we can get in trouble is when we begin confusing guardrails with God's law, and we start transforming those guardrails into Laws.  That's where Satan saw his best chance of winning, and before you know it, he's using rules that have been over-complicated to instigate the Fall of Man.

Satan uses this single layer of complexity to gain a foothold  - only one layer of complexity.  Imagine if Satan had tempted Adam and Eve many years later (or had tempted their offspring many generations later,) they might have replied:

"We may eat fruit from any tree in the Garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, and you must not get within 50 feet of the tree, and you must build a wall around the tree, and while your at it ... don't even look at the wall."  Guardrails for guardrails for guardrails.

 I think when we over-complicate our Faith with too many rules:

• It can make God seem unreasonable. 
• It can make God seem unloving.
• It can distract our focus from God's Truth.
• It can divert our energy and our productivity.
• It can make it easier for us to judge other people.
• It can be an unneccessary "barrier to entry"into the Faith.
• It can distort our view of God's true Nature.
• It can dispose us to assume the worst in people.
• It can warp our view on how God truly values us.
• It can create cumbersome and unnecessary religious infrastructures and hierarchies.
• It can allow us to hide behind observable behaviors and cover the true condition of our hearts.

Complex legalism can lead to religious fanaticism which, as religious history has shown, can create plenty of jobs for the sadistic (Inquisitions, Crusades, Joan of Arc, 911.)

Jesus came to earth at a time when religious Legalists ruled God's people with iron fists.  It's no wonder He called the Sadducees and Pharisees, "You brood of vipers!" (Snakes) I find it interesting that when I say the word "legalist," I sound like a snake.

Legalisssst.

Legalism is a form of complexity that Jesus came to destroy.  It's foretold at the end of Genesis Chapter 3,  God says to the Serpent (Satan), "I will place enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers, and he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

I'm working hard to keep my Faith simple:  Love God, love others, and tell the world about it.

Peace.

The Theology of George Thorogood

I walked forty seven miles of barbed wire, I got a cobra snake for a neck tie

A brand new house on the roadside, and it's made out of rattlesnake hide

A got a chimney brand new chimney put up top, and its made out of human skulls

Come on baby take a walk with me and tell me who do you love?

Who do you love?

                                       - George Thorogood

I've asked this question of myself these days:  Who do I love?  Certainly my family and close friends. Outside of that, it turns out most of the people I love look a lot like me:  white, Christian, middle-class, Midwesterners.  I would further describe the people I love as "good people" and by most human measures, they are: good citizens who work hard, who vote and pay their taxes, who have a good family and good kids.  Many attend church.  I go to dinner with them and  have coffee with them and talk about the things good, Christian, tax-paying, white, family men talk about.  You know, those kinds of things. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  Who wouldn't want to be in the presence of good people?  I think that it's perfectly normal.  

The trouble with normal behavior is that followers of Christ are supposed to be peculiar.

When Jesus walked the Earth, he loved others like no other person had done before.  He latched on to the most marginalized people of his day:  tax collectors, thieves, prostitutes, adulterers, the demon-possessed, the ethnically hated, the physically unclean (lepers and the physically disfigured.)  Regardless of whether they attained this status by their own actions or by Providence, these people were all considered the lowest of the low.  

The people Jesus loved were more than unloved, they were often those the society in His time simply despised. 

Societies have despised various groups from time to time throughout history Blacks, Jews, homosexuals ... the list goes on and on and on.  Regardless of when Jesus would have entered into our History, I know He would have loved and would have shown compassion to them all.

Who are the despised today?  Child Abusers?  Drug dealers? Sex offenders? Terrorists? Frauds?   
Who do I love?  That's easy.

Perhaps the question I should ask myself is,"Who might I or my society despise today, and how can I find a way to show them the Love of  Christ?"

A Little Face Time

I love spending time with my iPhone.  I really do.  It might be the coolest thing ever created by man.  With it, I know where I am, where I'm going, and I can figure out how to get home from wherever that is.  I can check the weather in a distant city, manage my retirement fund, and simultaneously tune my guitar.  I am a lot smarter when I have my iPhone; I win Jeopardy! every time.  Sometime I just get lost in its coolness.  It's precious to me.  I call it "i-Precioussssss."  (Tolkien fans will get that one.)

iPhones have some neat features that help me stay connected with others:  email, talking, texting, and this cool app for video chatting called FaceTime.

The Bible tells of Moses having FaceTime conversations with God "as one who speaks to a friend."  Moses however, is not permitted to look directly into God's face.  God tells Moses that His Goodness and Glory are so great that if Moses were to look directly at Him he would die.  "No one man can look at God and live."

It appears that God delivers His "Concentrated Goodness" when he casts His Face upon you.  Here are two simple rules:

1) God's Face turned toward you = Good

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us."
      - Psalm 67: 1

2) God's Face turned away from you = Bad

"And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods."
     - Deuteronomy 31:18

Again ...

God's Face turned toward you = Good

"Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved."
     - Psalm 80:19

God's Face turned away from you = Bad

And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed.
     - Deuteronomy 31:17

As wondrous creatures, Divinely created in the image of God, we are called to reflect God's Goodness onto our broken world.  There is something innately good and holy about looking into the face of another person, one image-bearer of God into the face of another image-bearer of God.  But sometimes I spend a lot of time with my face turned downward, into my phone, or whatever thing that occupies my mind or consumes my attention.

With grateful appreciation that you might be reading this post from your mobile phone or tablet, I encourage you to make sure you are regularly looking up and around, casting your face upon another child of God who's life might benefit from your loving smile, your kind face, your encouraging nod, your hope-filled eyes.

Eye contactphoto credit: ejbSF via photopin cc

"You are Such a Downer"

"That guy is a real downer."

No one likes to be around people who are downers.  I mean, it's hard enough today without having someone around who points out the flaws in my plan, my business, or in me.  I need encouragement, advocacy, cheer leading, unbridled enthusiasm, energy.  And by the way, does it really matter whether or not I'm wearing any clothing? I need positive people who will get behind me, thick or thin. I have a dream and its not going to happen unless the people around me get on board and get in step.

I deserve that, right?  After all, those people work for me.

There were these guys in the Old Testament who held Kings and entire nations accountable called Prophets.  But I like to call them real downers.

• Nathan - called out King David, the most powerful man around, on his adulterous affair and for being a murderer - downer.
• John the Baptist - called out King Herod (an insanely paranoid megalomaniac) on his incestuous relationship with his brother's wife and niece - downer.
• Daniel - tells Nebuchadnezzar (a particularly nasty king) he will go insane for 7 years because of his pride - downer.

These downers lived a long time ago, but I think God places prophets in our lives today.  You know, the ones who might not always think "you're all that and bag of chips."  There the ones that aren't afraid to ask questions like:

"Are you serious?"

"What were you thinking?"

"You messed up; now how are you going to fix this?"

"Are you on dope?"

"Can we swim back to reality island?"

My tendency is to avoid being around downers at all cost; they're just not very fun and quite often, they just get in my way.  

"Attend my launch meeting?" Ugggh.  

"Meet for coffee?"  Please God, anything but that.

I just dread it.  

The Bible says that there are false prophets and that they should be killed. I recommend you do that (figuratively, of course.)  That means I need to distance myself from the false prophets and figure out who the real prophets are in my life.  Here are some of the qualities of the real prophets I've experienced:

1) They're pretty good people, they lead pretty good lives, they love God.

2) They care about me.

3) They care a lot about my "kingdom" (my family, my business, my church, etc.)

4) Speaking into my life gives them little to no direct personal gain (the best prophets are the ones that know they could lose their heads, but they speak up anyway.)

5) They don't really enjoy being my prophet.  (that is they don't derive pleasure from watching me squirm.)

Time with a prophet can be a real downer, but I still need them because I know I can't be everything God wants me to be without them.  And sometimes, I need to have the love and show the courage to be one for someone else.

Why I Love Tension

You can learn a lot from a bubble.

When I was a kid, blowing bubbles was one of my favorite things to do. My sister and I would buy the brightly-colored bottles of bubble fluid, unscrew the tops, and hurriedly dip our fingers into soapy liquid to find the plastic wand that waited inside. The wands had two circles on each end, a larger, smooth circle and a smaller, ridged circle.  The small circle was fun, because you could blow through it really hard and roughly one-million, small bubbles would come spraying out.   But I liked blowing through the larger circle so I could create big bubbles - the biggest bubbles I could.

There's beauty in watching a large, perfectly-formed bubble as it slowly expands and then gently tears away into effortless flight - water, soap, and air in harmonious tension floating hypnotically away. Light shimmers off these crystalline globes as they dance off into the distance with whatever breeze they court.  Simply magnificent.

How long the bubble "lived" depended on the pressure of the air both inside and outside of its elastic skin. Too much pressure on the inside and the bubble would expand beyond its capacity and explode. Too much pressure outside and the bubble would collapse upon itself, crushed by the weight of the air around it. Bubbles are created and take flight only when they exist in a perfect state of tension between opposing pressures.  Too much pressure from within or from the outside world and there's nothing left but a soapy globule on the ground.

In a state of balanced tension, people, businesses, and organizations can take flight and soar.

Properly countered tension can create all kinds of good things in our lives:  Tension can make us move.  Tension strengthens our muscles.  Tension allows us to build bridges.  Tension brings dramas to life.  Tension can add spice to a relationship.  Tension can call us to perform at levels we never dreamed we could.

I believe that because tension is a fundamental property of the Universe, it was created by God.

I think a simple life is not a "tension-free" life.  I do not seek a life free from tension.  Without it, the story of my life would be a pretty boring read.   But if I am to truly take flight, to have an expansive life, I must counteract the pressure of the outside world by allowing myself to be filled within.

Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

photo credit: Jeff Kubina via photopin cc

I Need to Get Pregnant

I have a lot to say, and my tendency is to say it.  Yep, I can dish out all the advice you can possibly eat, dominate the discussion, toss out a clever saying, factoid, or humorous quip.  I can readily pull out a bible story or something I read in the news.  I am a fast verbal processor, so I can produce voluminous prattle.  I'm loud, too.  God gave me a really loud voice so I can speak louder than you and make sure I am heard.

That's a big problem for you if you have something to say in my presence.

I've learned it's an even bigger problem for me.

I've been working on that a lot, but even still, I mess up.  I did that yesterday with a group of men I meet with semi-regularly to talk about the Faith and about life.  The guy who leads our group is one of the most Christ-like people I know.  He tossed a question to me and that was all the permission I needed to unleash my thoughts on the group.  Because they are really good and Godly men, they just sat there listening and let me go on and on ... and on.

I've been in sales all my life and I know better:  "He who talks the least, wins."

I carry an iPhone with me and it has a cool stopwatch application.  I think I'm going to start pressing it every time I start talking.  I know I'm going to be embarrassed by what I find.  I'm pretty sure I'm not the person at the table who talks the least.

I've learned over my years that there's a goldmine of Wisdom inside those God has placed in my life and I just need to listen to what He has to say to me through them.  Sometimes I need to be more active in mining that gold:

"What was it like when you ... ?"
"How do you go about .... ?"
"What are your thoughts on ... ?"
"Tell me more about ...?"

If my part of the conversation is mostly asking questions, the math should work out that I am the person who talks least.  Where I get in trouble is when I ask a question and then .... and then ... silence.

Silence in a conversation can be really uncomfortable.  It doesn't seem natural and so I tend to fill the void with my voice.

But a void in a conversation can be really good.

In sales they call it a "pregnant pause."  You ask the client a question, and you wait, and you wait, and you wait ... until they speak.  Because it can be so awkward, in my opinion, it's one of the hardest communication skills to master.  I need to become a master at being "pregnant."

"Be still and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10

I'm Deathly Obese

I'm deathly obese.  

Physically, I'm overweight- but that's not the type of obesity I'm talking about.  I've become obese in many other ways:  materially, relationally, spiritually and I'm learning that it's slowly and subtly taking away my life.  

Materially, God has given me many gifts: a family who loves me, more food than I've ever needed, a warm and safe home to every day of my life.  God gave me enough intelligence to take care of myself.  He placed people in my life who cared about me enough to push me to get an education.  Doing so helped me get good jobs throughout my career which allowed me to earn enough money to have a good life. I've been blessed with physical health.  Being born in America in the mid-60's placed me at an age where I was not asked nor required to fight in a foreign conflict, which shielded my time and my body for other pursuits.  

All this blessing has given me more time and energy than most to focus on myself, to acquire things for my comfort, and to seek work that fulfills my desires, and build a life that is probably more complicated than it should be.

I am blessed to have many relationships, but they are often not the right kind; it's kind of like the way we measure cholesterol. I can have a healthy overall cholesterol number but still live in danger because I have too much bad cholesterol (LDL - low density lipoprotein) and not enough good cholesterol (HDL - high density lipoprotein.)   I have far too many LDRs (low density relationships) meaning, we know each other - sort of, we smile, we wave, ask how the family is, we often say we're getting to get together for a lunch or coffee but somehow it doesn't seem to happen.  I have a lot of Low Density Relationships; it's those HDRs (High Density Relationships) I lack.  Those people who know me "deep unto deep" and who call me to be a better person.  The sad thing is that I have access to those who can pour into me and I into them, but I often find myself settling for too many LDRs.

I was raised in The Church.  My grandfather was an Elder.  My grandmother took me and my sister to Sunday school almost every week as children.  I spent summers attending Christian camp as a middle-schooler.  I was intercepted by Korean missionaries during my wandering college years.  I've been a part of a great local church for over 16 years and every week I have access to some of the best teachers and speakers in the world.  I've seen thousands of people come to Christ and be baptized.  I've seen in others and experienced personally, God's miracles.  

It seems I've been dining at a Spiritual all-you-can-eat buffet all my life.

Spiritually satiated, I sometimes forget that there are countless others who are hungry, who have not had the same access to the banquet I've enjoyed.  In my obesity, I sometimes lack righteous enthusiasm and energy to bring others to the table.

I'm fat and I need to shed a lot of weight.  I'm praying God will give me the courage to lose these extra pounds so that I can become fit enough to do the work He has in store for me and live the life He intended for me.

Why Not Now?

What am I waiting for?  If not now, when will I ...

....make a real difference at my workplace?

... call that friend I've been meaning to call?

... help someone else with their dream?

... give more generously?

... talk with my daughter on her terms?

... lose that extra 10?

... visit my sister and her family?

... remind my wife how beautiful she is?

... get on my knees and pray?

photo credit: John-Morgan via photopin cc

5000 Silkworms Gone From My Closet

Today I'm simplifying my wardrobe.  I've amassed a pretty huge collection of various clothing items, many of which I haven't worn for years but have kept "just in case." I will be bringing 31 neckties to Goodwill Industries of Michiana today.  I'll be donating the effort of over 5000 silkworms.

8 neckties will remain, "just in case."

I've Decided ... Oh, Wait ...

We like choices ... don't we?  I mean, isn't it great that every time I go to my favorite restaurant for breakfast I get so many choices:

• Coffee (mild or bold, with cream or without) or Tea (4 varieties with or without sugar, lemon, or cream.)
• Eggs - over-easy, over-hard, poached, or scrambled (with ketchup or hot sauce.)
• Toast or Pancake - White, wheat, whole grain or Challah (with jelly or without)
• Potatoes - hash browns or seasoned cubes.
• Bacon or Sausage (links or patties, chicken or vegetarian.)
• Orange juice, grapefruit juice, tomato juice, or water.

My quick math says there are well over a 1000 combinations available to me for my simple breakfast.

Choices can be fun and they help me get the tasty foods I desire.  But there are some interesting things I've learned about having too many choices.


Chip Heath, a professor of organizational behavior at the graduate school of business at Stanford university and co-author of Made to Stick. cited a study about choice and the sales of jelly in a grocery store. A table was set out offering 25 flavors of jelly for a week. Many people stopped by to visit the table and few sales were made. The next week, same store, same table, 6 flavors were on display. Fewer people stopped by, but sales of jelly were 10 times greater.

Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice: Why Too Many Options Lead to Dissatisfaction (check out his TED talk - 19 minutes) tells us that many choice options lead to consumer paralysis, mental confusion, and regret about possibly having made the wrong choice. The result? No choice at all or extremely heightened dissatisfaction with our choice.

In life and business, we often create unnecessary complexity for the sake of being able to offer or enjoy many choices. Ironically, these choices can promote customer (or our own) dissatisfaction. Perhaps the best choice we can make is to simplify.

Distilled

There are over 2.8 billion Christians on the planet and over 41,000 denominations.  Over the course of my life, I've been a part of a few of those.  My wife was raised and we were married in the Roman Catholic Church, I was reared in The First Church of Christ. I've also attended Korean, Apostolic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Non-Denominational Evangelical Churches.  I've been a part of the United Methodist Church for the past 16 years.  My experiences with all the denominations have been very positive - each showing me a new and beautiful facet or expression of the Christian Faith.

And while exposure to those expressions were very helpful to me, over the course of my Spiritual journey,  I sometimes found myself confused.  I had many Spiritual questions and the answers were often complicated by the tenets of a particular denomination. 

The people of Jesus' society had many rules and complex regulations about how people should live in order to be right with God.  I'm sure many of them were overwhelmed by the complexity of living out First-Century Judaism.  

The Bible tells the story of a religious leader, an expert in the Law, who queried Jesus:

Matthew 22: 36-40

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus distilled religious complexity in a way that only He could. 

Love God.
Love Others.

There are many other beautiful tenets, expressions, and nuances of the Christian Faith, but sometimes it's really helpful for me to just remember the basics. 

Love God.
Love Others.

Simple.

It's Complicated

I don't know about you, but my life has become very complicated.  

I'm not sure exactly how or when is became this way, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one who is responsible.  I've constructed a life that requires my constant attention, an elaborate network of people, businesses, systems, structures, processes, and devices - all designed to enable my complex lifestyle.

My network has become a net; not a safety net mind you, but more of a net that's used to tangle up animals.  

Exhibit A:  My Lawn

I own a fair-sized home with a larger lawn.  My lawn is not huge, but it is big enough that it requires a lawn tractor so I can mow it in a reasonable amount of time.  With the tractor, I can mow my lawn in about an hour, but it requires time in other ways.  I fill it with gasoline, change the oil and filter, sharpen the blades, lubricate the bearings, change the belts and spark plugs.  In the winter I remove the battery, change the oil, and add fuel stabilizer to protect it and, after I rearrange my entire garage, I can store it away until the next Spring.

The tractor is not all my lawn requires.  I also need a push mower to get smaller areas my tractor cannot reach.  The push mower requires all the same maintenance as the tractor.  And still, my push mower cannot accomplish the detail that my gas-powered string trimmer and edger provide.  I must care for them, too.

  

I have to keep my lawn looking great in order to maintain the value of my home and to fulfill the covenants in my subdivision.  To do that, I must water and fertilize my lawn.  So, I maintain the sprinkler system, carefully adjusting and replacing the heads and setting timers in the Spring.  In the Winter, I pay someone to blow out the lines so that the sprinkler system doesn't explode from freezing. I pay a nice guy named Bob to do that.

During the Summer months I pay a company to add fertilizer six times a year.  They always want me to buy grub killer.  I don't know why.

Because my lawn is well watered and fertilized, it grows fast.  And so I have to mow it 2 or 3 times per week in the Summer. This generates six, 55-gallon bags of grass clippings each week.  My neighborhood asks that all clippings be bagged and disposed of through a special curbside pick up service, for which I pay a premium.  I drag the heavy the bags out to the end of my driveway every Sunday evening.  If I forget, I miss a pickup and the grass clipping ferment, creating an ammonia stench that can be smelled for great distances.

Now, let me tell you about my pool ...   ; -)

I'm blessed to have been given so much to care for.  Really.  And honestly, there was a time when I loved taking care of my lawn.  But I think it's time for me to simplify some things.  I've had my run at complex living, but now it's starting to make me a little weird.  And who wants that?

Over the course of this blog, I'll be figuring out ways to make my life a little more simple.  I'll be figuring out ways to carve out white space so that I can think again, spend more time with family and friends, and most of all, find more time to spend with God.  I hope you'll join me on my adventure.  Feel free to comment and encourage along the way.  It's going to be simply amazing.

- Butch