Moving On

Immigration has been in the news a lot over the past few years.  It seems to be one of those issues that politicians are going to argue about but not actually do anything about.  Some want to send immigrants back to where they came from.  Some want to let those here stay, but keep out the rest and some want to let them all in.  And within that description there are a thousand subtleties that make one person's position a little different from the rest.

We are a land of immigrants.  Most of our ancestors came here from somewhere.  And we all have one thing in common.  When we got here, the children of the last immigrants were none too happy to see us.

As the debate goes on (and on, and on, and on, and on) I find myself thinking more and more about the people who immigrate.  People who look to the distance, see an opportunity and decide to go for it.  It must be quite the mental process to come to that decision.  We all grow up thinking that our experiences are the norm.  To move on to a new land, you have to get to an utter state of dissatisfaction where you realize that they way that you are living isn't working for you.  You need to be so uncomfortable with where you are that you are ready to jump into the great unknown.

Of course the epitome of this satisfaction comes with refugees.  For a refugee, it is not a well thought out plan of immigration.  It is the sense that I must escape.  I will only take the small amount that I can carry and I will go.  We see pictures of people crammed on rafts.  These people who climb onto overcrowded boats and head across the water are not stupid.  They are desperate.  They know how dangerous climbing on the boat is, and they still see it as there best option.

As Christians, God calls us to be refugees from this world.  Jesus preached that to be a follower we need to be at a place where we hate the things of this world.  We need to be desperate to move on, to see that there is a better way and to take a leap of faith.  And to be an immigrant to the Kingdom of God is not really enough.  Many immigrants come with the idea that someday they will return home when things get better.  A refugee says "I'm done here" and moves on.  We cannot be part of the Kingdom of God and still keep our dual citizenship with the things of this world.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We need to make the journey.  We need to leave as refugees. 

 In the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor there is a poem inscribed on a tablet,  The poem is called The New Colossus.  Part of the poem says, 

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free, the wretched refuse of your teaming shore.  Send these the homeless tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."  

This is an attitude that we as Americans struggle with in welcoming the needy from foreign lands, but it perfectly describes God's welcoming attitude towards us as we come to Him as refugees from this world.

Winning the Argument

I hate to admit it, but sometimes I get sucked into political arguments.  It would be nice to call them discussions or debates, but let's be honest.  They are arguments.  I have opinions on a wide range of topics and when someone is expressing the opposite view.....well, I have a hard time not expressing mine.

But one thing occurred to me recently.  It is possible that I have never, ever, ever, won an argument.  

Of course that depends on your definition of winning.  If what you want is to say certain things. If what you want is to make others in the room uncomfortable.  If what you want is to have another person wait there while you talk at them.  If these are your goals, then sure, you can claim victory,  But, if your goal is to change their opinion to yours?  Forget it.  It isn't going to happen.  

Think about this.  The only reason that you got into this argument is that they felt strongly enough about it to express their opinion.  They are as certain of their opinion as you are about yours or I am about mine.  Someone who is one the fence, won's stick around for the argument.  They will smile and walk away,

I think that winning an argument is just about impossible.  In order to have a chance at convincing the other side, they have to be open to considering their position on the matter.  Most of the time they aren't even listening to what you say, they are preparing their next argument.

As Christians this is important to remember.  We are called to make disciples of all nations, but we will never, ever, ever argue a non-believer into believing.  Ever.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

You cannot argue a non-believer into believing.  Ever.  If we want others to see the love of Jesus Christ, we need to let that love flow through us.  We need to live a life caring for others in such a way that others may see it and say, "I want what they've got." 

And here is the real trick.  Loving people is not a sales pitch.  We don't show mercy, grace and love to people to convince them to restore their relationship with God.  We don't do it to seal the deal.  As Christians we need to love our neighbors because GOD LOVES US, and if the Holy Spirit is flowing through us, we can do no different.

It's Not You. It's Me.

Fantasy Football.  If you haven't heard of fantasy football, you aren't paying attention.  Fantasy football has become huge in recent years.  There was a time when it was a niche hobby that a few fans played, but now it is every where.  If you don't know about fantasy football, Google defines it like this:

a competition in which participants select imaginary teams from among the players in a league and score points according to the actual performance of their players.

One thing about fantasy football (full disclosure - I too have a fantasy football team)  is that individual player statistics are much more important than who wins or loses.  If you were on an actual team, the philosophy is that we win or lose as a team.  Not so much in fantasy football.  If I am watching the Lions, I am happy when they score.  I am more happy if one of the players on my fantasy team was carrying the ball.

We love to herald individual accomplishments and not just in fantasy football.  Social media allow us to constantly list our events.  Others feel left out if they aren't doing the same.  So we have the highlights of everyone's lives right in front of us.  

When politicians speak they often like to point to the accomplishments of individuals.  They find that people relate better when a face is put to an accomplishment.  So in stead of saying that schools are improving, they point to a certain school and say how they are improving.  At the State of the Union Address, we know the people sitting around the first lady will be highlighted in the speech and asked to stand and be recognized.

The point is this.  All of this individual recognition can lead to a sense of pride.  It can lead to an opinion that the individual is more important than what is going on around them.  Professional athletes always say that they would rather have the win, than put up individual numbers.  Still, it's hard to believe that the fame and notoriety doesn't affect them.  In the same way, we all need to be cautious that when we are recognized individually, we remember the role that others had in our success,

Pride is the sense that our accomplishments are the result of our own abilities and talents, and not from circumstances that we are in.  And a little pride is a good thing.  We see that our efforts can make a difference how things turn out.  But too much pride can be toxic.

As Christians walk the walk and grow closer to God, we see more each day that it is not our own individual efforts that matter, but rather it is God working through us that makes a difference.  Or in other words, what we can accomplish on our own is insignificant to that which we can do when working in the will of God.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We live in a world where accomplishments generate notoriety.  We must remember that we do very little on our own and that true success comes when our efforts are aligned with the will of God.

Change We Can Believe In

The self help industry is alive and well in America.  There are many groups and companies who each suggest the perfect remedy for what ever ails you.  It may be organic or vegan or low-carb or gluten free.  There are gyms with personal trainers.  There are 12 steps and 10,000 steps.  Most of these plans all have a central set of rules that if followed, success is certain.  I read once that most of these plans do actually work, if we stick with them.

And that's the real trick isn't it?  How do we find the formula for a change after failing so many times?

This time it will be different.  That is the motto of anyone anywhere that is trying to make a change in their life.  I have tried in the past and failed in the past, but THIS TIME will not be like the last time.  No, this time it will be different.

Let's face it, change is hard.  Our old ways are comfortable to us.  If change were easy we would have done it a long time ago.  So we need to go against the biggest obstacle to change, ourselves.  Each time we try to change, we can become our own worst enemy.

So real, authentic, life altering change requires something more.  It's not enough to do it on our own.  Real change requires real power.  And that is where God comes in.  Changing lives is God's business.  Unlike self help programs that offer a program of rules, God offers a relationship.  And a relationship with God is the vehicle through which real change happens.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

So there you have it.  Real change is just a relationship away.  Now there is change to believe in.

Yeah, But....

Attitude means a lot.  If you play a sport, whether that sport is football, volleyball, wrestling, basketball or cross country; if you play a sport, you are going to get you share of bumps and bruises and injuries.  Recently I was talking with a group of students about their sports injuries and we noticed how much differently they feel after a win than after a loss.  After a loss, the joints are a little more sore and the bruises are a little more deep.  After a win?  We are saying, "Oh that?  That's nothing."

And just like a good attitude can lift us through the bumps and bruises and hard times, a bad attitude can sour even the most blessed times.  There was a man I once knew who was sour over the news that high wife was expecting a baby.  It was their first child and he was upset.  Now he had gone to college, had a good job with benefits. and life was going along pretty swell.  But he had a plan.  They were going to have a certain amount of money in the bank and own a house and do this and that and THEN it would be time to have kids.  This was happening out of order and it was disrupting his perfect plan.  He couldn't see all of the blessings that he did have.

The point is this.  There are always reason to be happy or sad.  There are always reasons to step up and do or to hang back and sit out.  We can find justification for either course of action.  And this is particularly true in our walk with God.

There are as many reasons to lead a Godly life as there are ways to stray from the path.  It is only a question of our attitude and how is it that we want to be.  We can choose to love our neighbor even when they are not lovable, or we can be angry at them over their inconsideration.   We can find joy in the midst of our trials or we can let the events happening around us define our days.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

No excuses.  Go and do likewise.  

No Excuses.  There are many premade excuses that we could use.  But ultimately we are blessed.  We need to let our appreciation for those blessings shine through us.  That is what joy is all about.

Badges

Merit badges.  When I was in scouts there were over 100 badges that could have been earned, if you were so inclined.  And some scouts were.  I had friends that were really into earning badges and accumulated seventy or more.  The would fill up the sash both front and back.

To become an Eagle scout you have to earn 21 badges.  There are 16 badges that are required plus five electives.  (I earned 23, thank you very much.) In actuality you really only need a small percentage of what is available.  But some scouts were really into the badges and kept on going.

Badges?  We don't need no stink'n badges.  

OK.  I got that out of my system.  There are a lot of awards and badges that are handed out these days,  Some like the scouts have a set of requirements that must be completed.  Others are given out just for showing up.  It is really common in children's competitions for every child to get some type of an award, no matter what the level of success.

But this type of need to recognize isn't restricted to children's activities.  As an adult it is not uncommon to be given certificates at the end of training seminars for the distinct accomplishment of staying awake through almost all of it.  I remember after one day long workshop being given a certificate IN A  FRAME.  No kidding.  Did someone there really think that we were going to want to display it?  There is a lot more to our experiences than the badges that we earn.

As a Christian, life isn't about badges. The walk with Christ isn't about checking off certain things on our to do list.  We can't meet requirements 1 through 8 then be done with the process.  It is about changing everything.  To follow Christ is to change our entire perspective, to see the world from a new point of view, to consider things in a new way, to totally transform our heart.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We are incapable of loving the world around us in the way that God loves.  He loves unconditionally and perfectly.  We are just not wired in a way that makes that possible.  But if we accept the grace of God and allow ourselves to be redeemed through Jesus Christ, then our hearts can be transformed and the love of God can flow through us.

It is not a badge to be earned, but rather a gift to be received.

No, Seriously, How Long?

As many of you know, I am a teacher, and like all teachers, I have certain canned "Teacher Speeches".  These are the little talks that we have ready to go.  Life lessons to share when the right teachable moments comes along.

Question - Can I have extra credit?

Answer - You really aren't asking for extra credit.  That would mean that you had done everything and now you want more.  What you asking for is something to take the place of the work that you previously did not do.  So what you are asking for isn't extra credit, but ALTERNATIVE CREDIT.  See the difference?

Question - How much of this will be on the test?

Answer - All of it.  Everything.  Everything we talked about on in class, everything in the book, everything that you should have known before you got here and everything that I meant to go over, but didn't quite get to.  If you know everything, then you will be fine.

Question - How long does the paper need to be?

Answer - Write all that you have to say on the topic.  Then stop.

All of these questions are basically versions of the same question.  What is the minimum that I can do to skate by?  Recently I read a post from blogger and English teacher Peter Greene.  His answer to the how long question was great.  It may change my teacher speech on that topic.   It goes something like - You are asking what is the bare minimum that you can get away with.  You want to know how much can you limit yourself and still make it.  But here is what I want, I want to know how awesome you can be.  Show me that and it will be long enough.

So often we ask the same question of God.  What is the least that I can do to get by?  How much of my life can I hold back.  How much can I keep my heart in this world?  How little can I follow You and still receive the blessings and grace that come from being a Christian.  What is the bare minimum required?

The answer is that we aren't to be limited by minimums standards.  God wants all of us and we need to give him all that we can.

This clip from Pastor Chris is a little longer than normal, but it is well worth the watch.

The question is not how little can I do, but rather how awesome can I be.  What is my best effort?  How much can the fruits of the spirit; (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  patience and self control, ) define me and my life?   God does not want our minimum effort, He wants all of us.  

There is no alternative credit.

Following Links

This morning I got on my laptop and began the routine by going through my email.  One thing led to another.  There was an article that linked to a blog that linked to a youtube video.  I found myself listening to a commencement speech by author David Foster Wallace.  I thought that it was interesting on several levels.  The first of which is that much of what he discussed I was planning on writing about this morning anyway.  But he also had a lot to say about being self centered and looking beyond ourselves.

In his speech, Wallace says that we all have a default setting that confirms that we are in fact the center of the universe and that getting beyond that point takes deliberate effort. 

 It is very easy to fall into a trap where everything that we see comes through the lens of how does it effect me.  And we can become quite indignant that others have not considered how their actions affect me.  They seem to behave as if they are the center of the universe, but we all know that it is me.

The reality is that when we approach life in this way.  When we look at the world as though it is all about me, we will come to the point where our talents and abilities do not measure up to the needs at hand.  Not even close.  At those times we see how painfully short our own efforts will leave us.

But the grace of God is sufficient.  When we embrace that idea; when we realize that there is a correct path for our lives and that surrendering ourselves to the will of God will lead us on that path; then we can see the world through a different lens.  God has a plan for each of us and by submitting to the will of God we can be part of a greater purpose.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We follow the links.  We accept the grace of God that came through Jesus Christ.  We allow that grace to change us in ways that we could never change ourselves.  We see the world through the Love that God has for us all,  And we allow the grace of God to work through us.  Not a bad path at all.

Credit for the Sunrise

A few years back there was a scandal involving a popular historian's new book.  It seems that when writing the book there were sections that she didn't actually write herself.  She took some passage directly from her assistant's research notes and placed them into the book.  The thing is that the assistant had also taken the passages from someone else's work.  When the book came out, there was quite a dust up.

From time to time we hear about a politician who gets in trouble for copying another's speech.  Now most of those speech's sound alike to me, so I'm not sure how you tell, but they can.

The whole thing reminds me of taking a young child fishing.  You get the poles and bait.  Pack them up with a snack and go to the lake.  Once there you bait the hook, cast the line and some time later, while the child is playing with the worms, you reel in a fish.  They come over to lift it out of the water and say, "Look what I caught".   The child is happy and it's all fun, but it does bring up a point.

How often does one person take credit for the work of another?  Whether in school or the workplace there is always someone taking credit for something that they had little or nothing to do with.  The expression is "It's like a rooster taking credit for the sunrise." Or it's like a weather broadcaster on TV who seems quite proud of the day he is predicting.  Just like the rooster, he didn't bring the sunshine.

As Christians we can crow pretty loudly from time to time.  We know right and wrong and try to walk the walk.  So much so that we can believe that our goodness actually counts for something.  You see for all of our efforts we are nothing without the grace of God.  We can do our best, but our best falls painfully short.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Pastor Chris spoke of Mother Theresa who spent her life helping the poor in the streets of Calcutta.  I once read a quote from her where she described he soul as being black as coal.  She knew that her efforts did not buy her grace.  They were a response to the grace of God.  And if her actions can't buy her grace, how insignificant are our own efforts?

Rainey Bethea

Have you ever heard the story of Rainey Bethea.  He lived in Kentucky in the 1930s.  He was arrested and sent to prison on at least two occasions before being arrested for breaking into an elderly woman's home, robbing and murdering her.  He was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death.  At this time in Kentucky, executions were done by public hanging.  The event turned into quite a circus.  Thousands of people came from all over the state to see it.  The executioner showed up drunk and at the last second changed his mind about pulling the lever.  The reports of how or who pulled the lever differ depending on the account, but on August 14, 1936 Rainey Berhea died by hanging.

The newspaper accounts of the day vary in details.  The sheriff was a woman and that was unusual. Some papers embellished her reaction to the hanging.  One even reported that she fainted.  Other papers embellished the crowd's reaction and some said that the crowd stormed the gallows to take souvenirs.  Most agree that neither the storming of the gallows, nor the sheriff's fainting ever happened.

The execution of Rainey Bethea was the last public execution in the United States.  The crowds and the media circus had become too hard to manage.  Over the last 75 years all executions have been done in private.  That however does not solve the problem of managing crowds or the media circus.  It seems that every time there is an execution crowds line up outside the prison gates.  Some are protesting the death penalty.  Others are whooping and hollering and generally celebrating the spectacle.  And of course the media is there to cover it all in round the clock detail.

Now here's the thing about this story.  Think of all of the people listed.  All of them.  There is Rainey Bethea.  He was a murderer and a thief.  There is the elderly woman that he killed.  There is the sheriff, the drunk executioner, the reporters making news where it is not.  There are the thousands of people who showed up to watch the executions.  There are the people who are executed today and the people who show up to protest and celebrate and the news people who cover and sensationalize it all. And and and.  

Here is the thing about this story.  Jesus came for all of them.  Jesus came to seek the lost and that includes everyone in this story.

All

of

Them

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Jesus came to save the lost.  All of the lost.  That includes murderers as well as you or I.  We all need redemption and Jesus came for us all.  No more or less for one or another.  All of us.

Juggling Torches

Have you ever juggled flaming torches while riding a unicycle?  Me neither.  I think that it would be a spectacular disaster if I tried.  Luckily, it really hasn't come up.  But as we go through our days there are any number of jobs that come up and for each we are either well suited, poorly suited or somewhere in between.

Now the odds of being called on to juggle on a unicycle are fairly remote, but there are every day tasks that can be equally as daunting.  I think of things like planning a meal for the church.  The food seems to all get there some how.  There is enough for everyone and it all looks and tastes wonderful.  If I think what I would do if I had to pull of such a meal, it's not pretty.  I suppose that you could make the food yourself or call a caterer, but both options involve spending a fair amount of money.  So it seems that you need to contact a host of volunteers to each donate a dish.  You need to figure out who will bring what, who can be counted on to follow through and how much you need.

No matter how I look at this task, cooking large quantities of food or organizing a team of volunteers, I don't think that I would be very good at this.  Luckily there are people who are good at it.  And some of those people look at what I do, teaching high school, editing videos, writing a blog... as being way outside of their own comfort zones.

The point is that we were never meant to go it alone.  The kingdom of God is best served when we all contribute our own skills and talents where they are needed.  But it's more than that.  As fellow believers we need to encourage the best in each other.  We need to quick to compliment and encourage so that we can help each other become the best version of ourselves that is possible,  

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Five more.  We can help each other in places where they are week and in turn they will help us in the same way.  That is what true Christian community is all about.

More Than a Club

There is an organization in our community called "The Dummy Club".  As I understand it, years ago there were some men gathered around talking about the problems in the community.  Someone suggested that they do more than complain.  The response was, "What can a bunch of dummies like us ever do?" Well most people would have left it at that, but these men decided to find out.  Since then the Dummies have been a significant organization who have done a lot of good for the community.

And the Dummies are not the only club that is out there doing good.  In our community there are Lions, Moose, Eagles, Shriners, Oddfellows, American Legion and VFW.  I am sure that I am forgetting some, and that they too do great things.  These organizations are an important part of any community.

Did you notice on the list of important community organizations that I didn't list any churches?  That is because a church is not a club.

A church is something different.

There is a difference between a church and a club.  Admittedly there are some similarities.  A church has a building where people gather.  You are likely to get to know people and will probably become friends.  Both are likely to do things to help their community.  But churches are different.

The purpose of a church is to worship the one all mighty God.  In that function we gather together.  In that function we serve those less fortunate than ourselves.  The difference between a church and a club is that fellowship and service are means to an end, not an end in and of themselves.  A church exists to spread God's message of hope and love to a world that absolutely needs to hear it.  If they happen to have great music and a dynamic pastor, that is a bonus, not a requirement.

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

A church is not a club.  It's not here for us.  We're here for it.  The purpose of a church is not to fill our needs and provide for us a social life.  The purpose of a church is to bring glory to God.  That happens to be out purpose too.

Self Reliance

Poon Lim was a Chinese sailor who was working on the British merchant ship SS Benlomb when it was sunk by a German Uboat of the coast of South Africa in 1942.  He manages to find an 8'x8' raft and a few floating supplies.  By catching fish and seagulls he managed to live alone on that little raft for 133 days.  His story of survival includes at one point killing a shark with a water jug. He was eventually found by fisherman on the other side of the Atlantic, near the coast of Brazil.  His story remains one of the great tales of survival and self reliance in the history of sea travel.

Self reliance is a trait that we very much admire in our society.  We appreciate tales of the person who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, who succeeded against all odds, who persevered and pulled off a single-handed accomplishment.  And why not?

Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay on self reliance said,

"There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till."

We all have to make our way in this world.  We cannot sit back and wait for others to meet, our needs.  No, we need to be responsible for ourselves.

Of course there is other side of self reliance.  Like most things that are good, it can become unhealthy when taken to the extreme.  We are not meant to simply go it alone, but rather to be part of something bigger.  We can become so self reliant that we find contempt for those who are less able, or we think that counting on others is a sign of weakness.  But this couldn't be further from the truth.  While we want to be able to take care of ourselves, we need to understand that we are better when we also rely on others.

In the book of Genesis it says, "It is not good for the man to be alone." We are better when our strengths and talents are used with others.  The total becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We are better together.  Even Emerson went on to say that self reliance is about finding the purpose that God has for us in our  relationships with others.

"Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events."

It is odd how in God opposites can be true.  We find victory through surrender.  We gain eternal life by dying to ourselves, And we are most self reliant when we are working with others.

Wrong Tile in the Guest Bathroom

Have you ever seen one of those shows about people buying a house?  They are inevitably looking at massive houses on an extraordinary budget,  They go through the house finding small things that they dislike and talk about them like they are big things.  They declare kitchens outdated, beadrooms too small and bathrooms that are the wrong color.  We always joke about how all of it, and I mean all of it, is nicer than our house.  And we think that we've got it pretty good.

Now I suppose that when you are preparing to spend top dollar on a house, it should be what you want.  But when this is just how life goes, when the attitude that if something isn't perfect than everything is unacceptable rules the day, then priorities need to be readdressed.

In Greek mythology, there was a hunter named Narcissus who was thought himself to be so good looking that he fell in love with his own reflection.  The story goes that he saw his reflection in a pond and could not look away.  Eventually he drowned.  This idea that someone can be so obsessed with our own image that it leads to destruction we call today narcissism.  One look around at our age of selfies and we see that the spirit of Narcissus is alive and well.

The danger in all of this is that our obsession with image and materialism and the right named products and the most modern gadgets and the biggest brightest house means that we miss out on seeing what is really important.  If we let success in life be defined by advertisers and social media, we will end up with a very shallow version of life's potential.

In the book The Purpose Driven Life Pastor Rick Warren begins with the phrase, "It's not about you." And that sums up what I am saying here.  There is a bigger purpose to our walk on this Earth than ourselves and our stuff.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

It's not about you and it's not about me.  And it certainly isn't about the color of tile in the enormous guest bathroom.  God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to Earth to be the embodiment of all that is good and right and holy.  It is only by surrendering ourselves and looking away from our own self image that we can  real fulfillment in this world and beyond.

Of Course

I once saw a politician being interviewed on a talk show.  One of the cast of thousands that line up every four years.  The interviewer asked them what their favorite book was.  Their response was, "Well, of course the Bible..." and then went on to include other books.  I was left with the distinct feeling that he felt that "The Bible" was the answer he was required to give in this situation, but he would rather talk about something else.

Of Course.  Google defines the phrase as being used to introduce an idea that should be obvious or expected.  Of course.  Now if you are a politician, certain things are expected of you.  Giving an unexpected answer that is not received well gets you on the news and allows your opponents to make hay with it.  So we get the cookie cutter answers to questions.   Of course.

So often we get the of course answer to our questions and conversations.  Not just from politicians running for office, but from friends, neighbors and relatives that just don't want to quarrel.  I think that this happens for two reasons.  1. Arguments can become heated and no one wants to create a scene, 2. The odds that we will actually change someone's mind about an issue is about zero.  I think that the level of discourse in our society would improve if we could say to each other, "I tend to disagree with you on this issue, but I respect you so I would like to hear why you feel that way."  But of course, I could be wrong.

I think the greatest danger is when we give ourselves the expected, "Of Course" type of answer.  Of course my family is more important that my job.  Of course buying things won't fill a hole in my life.  Of course i need to pray over decisions in my life.  Of course I need to be sensitive to the whispers of the Holy Spirit.  Of course God's will for me is better than any thing that I could come up with on our own.  Of course.

There are certain Christian principles that can be accepted to a point that we never check to see if our lives actually look like this principle that we think is obvious or expected.  Does our life look like we are following the guidance of the Holy Spirit?  Do we make decisions through prayerful consideration?  Do we really act like we trust God's will over our own.  We would all like to say "Of Course" but can we really?

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We need to be honest with ourselves.  We need to check our expected answers and decide if we are really living the kind of life that we think should be the obvious way to live.   

Following the Lead

One winter my wife and I took dance lessons.  For several weeks we went to the instructor and learned the steps.  Mostly we learned the foxtrot, waltz and tango.  The tango was fun but very complicated and over the years we have pretty much forgotten it.  But the fundamentals of the foxtrot and waltz have stuck with us and can be used to dance to most songs.  When we first were starting, the instructor explained that the couple works as a team.  The man leads and the woman allows herself to be led.  He went on to say the for most women, being led takes some getting used to.

Most of us would rather lead than be led.  We want to set the conditions and decide what is going to happen next.  Some people don't really want to lead or decide, but what they do want is the right of refusal.  They don't want to lead, more back seat drive and offer helpful suggestions.  This is the person who doesn't want to choose where to go for dinner, but is not very happy about your choice of getting pizza.

When we resist being led, there is a real lack of trust in the leader.  A woman is nervous being led around the dance floor, because she is afraid that her partner will run her into something.  

But for a Christian, being led by God should be different.  On the one level we know that God's will for our life is way better than anything that we could come up with on out own, but still we are afraid that God is going to pick out pizza when we want home cooking.  But that's it.  We need to trust that God's will is better than our own.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

The Lord's prayer is our model.  It is given to us by Jesus as a way to show us the way to pray to God the Father.  May we really believe that God's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Getting to Carnegie Hall

There is an old joke that goes like this.

A musician is walking down the street in New York and is stopped by a tourist who asks, "Can you tell me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?  The musician looks back at the tourist and says, "Practice."

The saying goes that practice makes perfect.  I can't say that I really believe that, but I can say that practice makes BETTER. Even a small amount of practice can really help.  At events like weddings and high school graduation, there is a rehearsal the day before to work out some of the bumps.

Whether playing the piano or shooting free-throws, we understand that practice helps us keep and maintain our skills.  Some professions such as law and medicine are called "practices" with the idea that the experience refines and improves skills.  And while "just like ridding a bike" means that we can come back to it without practicing, professional bike racers get better by practicing all of the time.  The odd thing is that we usually associate practice with physical skills and not relational, emotional or spiritual ones.

For whatever reason, we tend to see internal traits involving relationships and emotions as being fixed parts of our personality and not skills to be improved upon.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  When I was getting married a friend gave me some advice,  He said that a lot of things would be pulling at our attention but for the first year of marriage we should be really selfish with each other, meaning spend time together.  Marriage, like so many other things, improves with practice.

And so it follows that our relationship with God improves with practice as well.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control.  These just don't happen but with a lot of practice and a healthy infusion of the Holy Spirit, we can get better at making them part of our life.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Practice will not just get someone to Carnegie Hall but will help improve in many ways.  And as we progress on our journey with God, each step we take helps prepare us for the ones to come.

Did You Notice?

There was once a group of people who decided to "adopt a family" at Christmas time.  They pooled their money, did some shopping and wrapping and had collected quite a pile of presents.  So the day came to deliver.  And so they went.  All of them.  They were pretty proud of themselves after all. They had been working on this for a while and had been imagining how appreciative this poor family would be.  They wanted to see the look on their faces.

The receivers that night had quite a crowd on their porch.  Their reaction was one off shock and appreciation, sure.  But there was also some embarrassment mixed in to boot.  The whole situation turned pretty awkward.  Now there is no way to know what everyone's motivation was that night, but is curious that everyone felt a need to go.  At some level they wanted a little recognition for their troubles.

 

Motivation is a funny thing.  When helping someone in need, in some ways it doesn't matter at all. In other ways, it is the only thing that does matter.  It doesn't matter because, for those in need, if they get help it really doesn't matter the motive.  But for the one helping, it matters.  A Lot.  It matters because the answer to the motivation explains what you expect to get out of it.  

If your expectation for helping those in need is to be appreciated by the recipient or those around you, you may be a bit disappointed.  On the TV show Seinfeld one of the characters was putting money into a tip jar, but was discouraged that no one saw them.  They tried to do it again in a more obvious way so that they could get credit for what they gave, and the story went on from there.  Is it about the giving or the recognition?

A Christians we are called to meet the needs of others, not for a reward or a sense of recognition,but to meet the needs of others as God commands.  The Bible teaches that when we get Man's appreciation, then we have received our reward.  In Full.

As Christians we meet the needs of others because they are God's children too and God is glorified when His children help each other.  That's it.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes.  We all sin and fall short.  If we forgive and help each other, then, God is in a position to help us.

A Brief Presentation

There are people who want to take you n a free vacation.  They will fly you to a lovely community in Florida.  They will put you up in a lovely condominium, spring for golf, even provide your meals.  And it's all free.  The only thing that they want from you is that during your stay, you will listed to a brief presentation on the benefits of buying,  They sell shares in the resort and they want you to buy one.  It is a simple trade, you get a vacation and they get the chance to give you the pitch.

Different people have different opinions on these type of deals.  I know people who go to these all of the time.  They are up front saying that they have no intention of buying, listen to the pitch and go about there business.  Other people find the presentation so uncomfortable, they say that the vacation just isn't worth it.  

Most people who give something, want something.  The saying goes that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Anyone who gives you something for free, usually has strings attached to it.  Many companies give away free stuff with their company logo.  What they want is the advertising.  You put their logo out where you go.  You tend to have a more favorable opinion of them and are more likely to buy from them later.  Advertising drives a lot of things in our world.  We will give you something, but there is a string, we want a bit of your attention.  It is the same deal as the vacation salesman, just on a smaller scale.

And don't get me wrong, I like the free stuff.  We have things with logos all over the place.  Our insurance company seems to have nice give-aways and I don't mind their logo being on it one bit.  But the object isn't a present, it's advertisement.  And there is a difference.

As Christians we are called to love without strings.  We are called to serve and meet people's needs without strings.  When we see people in need, whether it is a homeless person sleeping in a doorway or someone who is thirsty at a parade, we need to see them as people in need not as future parishioners.  Not as future customers.  

And it is a tough distinction to make.    As Christians, we believe that everyone would be better off living the life that Christ envisioned for us.  We want them to have the relationship that we have.  SO there is a line between helping with a motive and just helping,

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

Jesus didn't attach strings, he just loved people.  We are called to have that same attitude when serving others.  We are called to see a need and to fill it.  Through the service we express God's love for us.  That's it.  It's not a sales pitch, it's just a n act of love.  It's pretty simple really.

Prepping

Have you seen the TV show "Doomsday Preppers" ?  It is on the National Geographic channel and it features people making preparations to survive various improbable collapses of our society.  There is considerable debate as to whether the show is staged or real.  People ask, why go to such extremes to build a secret bunker, then show it to everyone on television?  And don't those contractors know where your secret bunker is?  The basic premise of each show that I have seen is 1. The end is coming. 2. We have this large stockpile.  3. We have the means to protect it. 

I have only watched the show a couple of times, so maybe there is more variation to it than that.  It would have been nice to see someone say, "If a disaster strikes, I can help a lot of my neighbors for a few days or even a week until help arrives." Now there is something worth prepping for.

Of course we could all have that same attitude, every day.  I was in Chicago this past week on a vacation.  As we were going from place to place, I was struck by the number of homeless that we saw.  Now I am told that some of them are not homeless, but con-artists trying to make a buck.  And I am sure that they concentrate in tourist areas where they are more likely to get money.  I think that most of them were people genuinely in need of help.  While we gave a some money to a few people, the enormity of the need was overwhelming.  I have to say that as we went down the street I felt a bit like the preppers.  What I have will provide for me.

It is hard to know what the "Christian" attitude should be towards the poor.  The Bible tells us about caring for the least of these, but it also says that we will always have the poor among us and that those who will not work should not eat.  I think that there is a big difference between can not work and will not work.  Some people because of their physical or mental issues simply can't hold down a job.  We want to treat poverty as a personal flaw in character of the impoverished.  We want to say, if I was in that situation, I would be different.  And maybe you or I would be different.  Maybe.  But then again, if you or I had the same personal history or the same mental afflictions, maybe we wouldn't be doing half so well.  Maybe.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

As Christians, I believe that we are called to seek out the needs in others and do what we can to help.  We need to look for needs in our family and church and community and world, and do what we can, when we can to make things a little bit better,  At one point this week I was giving a couple of dollars to one of the homeless on Michigan Avenue.  I can't say why I gave some to him and not others, but as I gave I thought, "I can't solve his problems or the greater poverty problem.  Not even close.  All I can do is make his life a little easier today." 

If we all do what we can do, maybe the world will be a little better.  Maybe.

Paper Companies

Remember Enron?  Enron was an energy company in the 1990's.  They were making bundles of money.  They employed 20,000 people and had a stock price that seemed to go up without limit.  But it was all a fake.  Well not everything.  They did employ all of those people and they did buy and sell energy and other resources, the fiction was in the profit.  Enron had created multiple other companies to hold the debt and liabilities for them.  These other companies didn't really exist.  They didn't have offices or employ people or have a company softball team, they existed only on paper.  Their purpose was to hide the bad stuff from investors and make Enron look more profitable than it really was.  These types of schemes always come to an end, and so did this one, taking the rest of the company out with it.

I think that many people set up "Paper Companies" in their own lives.  There is the public persona, the way we look to our friends, family and community; but then there is the other stuff.  The other stuff is not found on the public ledger sheet.  The other stuff is our personal liabilities that we want to shelter away and keep off the books so that our public value is not decreased.

A few weeks ago, we had part of a tree come down during a storm.  On the surface this tree looked like a healthy oak.  It turns out that the inside was hollow, with no support.  It was only a matter of time before it came crashing down.  Life is like that.

I think each of us has our own paper companies.  We have our personal issues that we would rather not share with the world.  I think that on a personal level, it isn't that important that it all be out in public.  But there does need to be a total, honest complete accounting between you, your paper companies and God.

God wants every part of us.  In the short term, it is easier to hide away the bad stuff.  But God wants our whole life and all that we do to be an act of worship to him.  It is only by bringing our whole life forward, the good and the bad, that we can move into a true relationship.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

The paper companies of Enron set them up for the inevitable fall.  Our issues that we try to hide from ourselves and God set us up too.  But unlike investors or government regulators, God already knows about our paper companies and false earnings reports.  God is ready to wipe away the debt as soon as our accounting is done.  

We Have Always Done It That Way

They say that the seven most expensive words in business are, "We have always done it that way."  We really are creatures of habit.  We can get into a way of thinking where what we are doing long outlives the why we are doing it.  These "costs" might be literal money or it may cost us the opportunity of having a greater impact.

There is this old joke where a new wife is cooking a roast.  She takes a knife and cuts off each end before putting it in the pan.  Her husband asks why she does this and is told, that it lets the juices flow better and her mother has always done it like that.  

Some time later they are at her mother's home.  She is cooking a roast and has cut the ends off.  The young husband asked his mother-in-law why.  She told him that it allows the heat into the center of the roast better and besides, her mother always did it that way.

More time passes and they are at Grandma's house.  She is cooking a roast.  Sure enough, she has the ends cut off.  The young husband sees this and asks her why.  She says "The roast that the butcher sells is a little too big for my pan. I have to cut the ends off so that it will fit." 

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian psychiatrist that famously explored stimulus and response.  He would ring a bell when he fed his dog.  After a while he could make the dog salivate while ringing the bell even if there was no food present.  

But we do the same thing.  As the leaves fall from the trees we get out the decorations because that is what we do.  We have always done __________ is a terrible reason to do it.  There needs to be a reason.  And that goes for change too.  Changing for no reason is no better than continuing on for no reason.  In some groups, changing is the tradition that they do, because they have always done that.

As Christians, our focus is on building relationships with God.  In each thing that we do, we need to ask ourselves if it helps do this.  Certain activities are traditions that are time honored and proven to help bring people closer.  These are true gems and need to be protected.  Other things were effective at one time, but haven't been in some time.  These need to be left behind so that more productive ministries can take their place.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

We need to be deliberate in what we do.  We can spend out lives going through the same motions that we always have or we can examine each event and see if it still serves its intended purpose effectively.

Not in My Wheelhouse

Like most people, there are some things that I am good at and others not so much.  I seem to have a knack for math and seeing patterns and numbers.  As a result some topics in science and some computer applications come pretty quickly.  Other areas, I have a passable set of skills.  I think that I can write tolerably (after all you are reading this blog) and my while my home improvement skills may not be up to code, at least the roof is not falling down. Then there are other areas from where I am better to keep my distance.  I could give some examples, but I have a repair to finish.

Self reliance can be a wonderful thing.  We all have abilities that we can draw on and use to provide for ourselves and solve our problems.  However there are some things that are beyond what we can do.  The expression "in my wheelhouse" is used in baseball to refer to a pitch that a hitter likes to see.  The expression comes from the wheelhouse of a ship.  It refers to those things that are under your control.  Some things are there and others are beyond the controls at hand.

This is true in our walk with God.  We are given many gifts and talents and we are called to use these for the Glory of God.  And while working in God's name can demonstrate His love, the real work; the true transformation is never accomplished by our works, but through the His redeeming power.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

There is a tough balance between trying to do it all under our own power and leading people to a place where Christ can do the heavy lifting.  There are many ministries that we can pull off.  There is much that we can do to relieve the suffering of others and express the love of God.  But, the loving grace needed to transform a life is outside our wheelhouse and inside that of Jesus Christ.