Can You Blveiee It?

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulacity uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervery lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig, huh?

Life Lesson IX - Center

He was in constantly changing circumstances and he interacted with an incredible variety of people. Yet, through all of the situational transformations and individual variations, how did Jesus remain the same? What was the secret to his faithful constancy? Jesus was centered in his relationship with the Father. He did not allow his circumstances or his current company to define him. At his center – at his core – Jesus’ connection with his Heavenly Father was the essential element in his self-identity. The Father's love for him was (and remains today) the central element of his self-identity. There are lessons here for us and significant things to ponder. For example, two questions: “What do we use to define ourselves?” and “What difference would it make if our relationship with the God called Love was our center?”

Life Lesson IX – My life must be defined by the Father’s love for me.

Life Lesson VIII - Surrender Does Not Mean Defeat

At a certain point, when you have been struggling to breathe, you finally begin to let go and give up. It is as though the struggle is no longer worth the energy. Rest and peace invite you to lay down with them. In that moment there is peace – as though a great battle has ended. You have done all that you can do and there is nothing left to give. There, at the end of yourself, is the stillness and the serenity that you have struggled to find.

As long as we insist on living our lives on our own terms and in our own strength, the struggle will continue. Grasping at illusions and distractions will only cause greater disappointment. The more we get becomes the more we want. Planning this and controlling that grows quickly exhausting. To surrender to a greater and kinder power is not to be conquered. To bow before the One Who is Love cannot be seen as defeat.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” - Chief Joseph

“The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities...It is best to win without fighting.” - Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

Life Lesson VIII – Surrender does not mean defeat.

Life Lesson VII - There's No Need To Fear....

At the beginning of this adventure, when things got bad, I prayed for a hero. I wanted someone to step into my life, roll up their sleeves and fix things. Maybe this comes from my own Dad issues or from my own weakness, but I longed for a champion who would make everything alright. I wanted someone who would tell me what I should do, who would defend me and who would pick me up. At times I thought it would be a friend and at other times I thought it would be the Father. (Sometimes I thought it would be the lottery.) I have been astonished and greatly humbled by the number of friends who have contacted me to let me know of their prayers and concern for Kathy and me - but no one person has stepped in with a magic wand to make everything OK – not even God. There are still struggles. There are still challenges. And I still search for direction in the new business.

We often want a God who will step into our lives and take over. We want a God – or sometimes anyone – who will defend us from gossip and rumor, insure our financial security, heal our every medical challenge and give us a clear set of instructions for living. If we have the choice between freedom and security, more often than not, we will trade our freedom for protection. Sadly, many of us are willing to relinquish our freedom in exchange for knowing that someone is going to make everything better.

If we want a God who will fix our problems, then the God revealed in Jesus Christ is not the one for us. Jesus followed him and it led Jesus to the cross. The Father did not make everything “OK” for Jesus. But, what the Father will do is intimately engage in my struggles. The fact that he does not make everything better does not mean that he is disinterested or indifferent. What it does mean is that he is taking my suffering and my pain into himself and experiencing it with me. He does not need a grand display of power to prove his might, but instead he takes my sin, my doubt, my fear, my anger, my deceit, my pride and my selfishness into himself and redeems it.

No matter what I pray for, the Father grants me what I need. No matter what I ask him to do or who I ask him to be, he remains faithful in his love.

Life Lesson VII – The Father engages me at my core.

Life Lesson VI - This Ain't About You

I invest most of my time in me. And I am able to report that I am getting better at taking good care of myself. I make sure that I am clean. I make sure that I eat. I make sure that I do things that make me happy. Why, I am even successfully dieting and exercising to prolong my life! Beyond just the proper stewardship of my life, I find that what I want and what I need make up most of my priorities for the day. I am consumed with myself. Sadly, this isn’t who Jesus called me to be.

Often in churches, just before communion, the pastor will read from I Corinthians 12. In the course of the reading, along with the explanation for communion, the pastor will read the ominous warning about taking the Lord’s Supper in an “unworthy manner.” This causes the congregants to begin searching their hearts for any secret sins. However, what Paul is talking about is not just generic sin in the lives of believers. We are all sinners. Paul is talking about the specific sin of the Corinthians’ selfishness and their neglect of one another.

In verses 20-22 of I Corinthians 11 Paul writes:

“When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!”

The specific sin in the Corinthian church was their lack of concern about each other – they were focused only on themselves – not each other. They wanted to make sure that they had all that they wanted with no concern for their brothers and sisters. Can you imagine the transformation which would occur in churches today if the pastor said, "Before we take communion, if you are guilty of having neglected another member of our body or selfishly pursuing your own goals, I want to give you the opportunity to confess your sin and make amends.." Speaking for myself, it would be a few hours before I would be able to get to the communion table.

If I am to follow Jesus, I cannot base my life around myself. I cannot spend my days building my kingdom, investing in my causes and pursuing my interests. I must be willing to devote the same energy and intentionality to the concerns of my brothers and sisters as I am to my own challenges. This is the only way that the ideal to care for one another deeply and actively can ever be achieved. Paul writes that “…there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it (1 Corinthians 12:25-26 - NIV). This kind of unity can never take place as long as I am focused on myself.

Life Lesson VI – This isn’t about me.

Life Lesson V - "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me"

“My needs are simple.
My wants are extravagant.”
- Miss Piggy

There is a difference between what I need and what I want. Truth be told, my needs are few - I need relationships, food, clothing and shelter. Those are the minimum requirements. Reading them on the screen is sobering to me because they are so minimal and because I have always treated them as “givens.” Of course I have friends, I am obviously not starving, I have a closet full of clothes and I have always had a place to live. But this is not true with everyone. Many others in this world go without one or all of basics. Millions live without genuine friendship, millions are starving, millions are naked and millions are homeless. But that knowledge doesn’t always stand in the way of my quest for more.

So why do I crave all of the stuff? Augustine spoke of a “God-shaped void” which exists in each of us. More often than I would like, I find myself cramming everything other than the Father into that emptiness. Toys, money, power, prestige, success, image, pride, self-sufficiency, selfishness – all of it gets stuffed into the void…but it does not fill the space. So rather than step back and reassess my priorities, I redouble my efforts by dumping still more stuff into the hole. But, it still does not satisfy because it was never meant to be enough. Only the Father can provide what the Father has promised.

Our Lovely Lord was clear in his teaching about the Father’s provision for his children. In Luke 12:22-31 Jesus says,
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

My disappointment with the Father is not driven by his failure to meet his obligations. My disappointment with him is caused when he does not meet my expectations. He promises to give me what I need – not to give me what I want.

“There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontentment. And there is no greater disaster than greed. “- Lao-Tzu

My Fifth Life Lesson - The Father promises to provide for what I need - not to give me what I want.