Live Changes and Become the Model

Most of us would probably view ourselves as teachable and trainable; that we have not become set in our ways, practices, and ideas of interpreting and expressing our faith. That we remain open to the mid course correction opportunities that come our way.

In reality however, making a change is difficult. Remaining teachable throughout life is a challenge. It takes a lot of humility and courage. As we mature, we're supposed to know more right? Or at least have people thinking that about us.

Not everyone wants to take the leap into a mid course change that often feels like free fall from the cliff of status quo.

The simple, organic, and missional Christian walk is filled with opportunities for mid course corrections, and the free fall is real. It can be pretty unnerving and unsettling.

The good news is that God provides not only the parachute but knows exactly where to place our landing. On His target, if we trust Him to do so.

When I teach a motorcycle riding class, I do a "demo" before each lesson. We model for our students what we would like them to learn and then practice it for a while on the riding range. Many people come to our classes with previous riding experience and they have developed some techniques that at best are okay, but hinder them from riding more skillfully and effectively. At worst they are harmful and even dangerous for them. The value of having a demo for these riders is more than just instructional, as it is for the new riding students. For the more experienced riders it means they have to make a conscious, and often dramatic change in how they think, ride and maneuver the motorcycle. For some, they can't make the change and continue on doing as they have always done. For the new students however, no mid course corrections are needed. They have an advantage. They don't have to change, they just learn.

I don't see much of a difference in the paradigm shifting going on within the Body of Christ at this juncture. Doing things "as we have always done them" is being challenged, and the rules for what church is or isn't, are being explored. New "demos" are displayed before us, and we are all in a learning curve of change. Some can make the mid course corrections, and others cannot.

We are in a teachable moment in history. A time where change is in the wind.

The Kingdom is being discussed outside of seminary by folks without theology degrees and they are doing these discussions in their homes, work places, coffee shops, bars and all sorts of unorthodox settings. People are actually reading their own bibles for instruction rather than just listening to an hour of teaching once a week. Those who have not been "full time paid ministers" are finding out they too are called to serve the King in full time, 24/7 obedience and availability, and they are challenging the notion that there is sacred work and then there is secular work. The whole Army is being called into action, rather than the few, and the momentum forward is evident.

Not too unlike when Jesus Himself walked the earth. The ultimate teaching moment! Another time where change was in the wind.

He was after all; "just Joseph's son". Those He called to join Him in this radical change were fishermen, tax collectors, women and nobodies! He had church on mountains, in boats, at wells and in homes. He did such unorthodox things like spit in dirt and smear it in blind eyes, forgive a woman caught in adultery, share the Kingdom with prostitutes and tax collectors, healing on the Sabbath and breaking the sacred rules on a regular basis. It was like He carried a big banner that proclaimed; "I came to bring change and bring it more abundantly"!

Those who watched and learned from the "demos" of Jesus and made the midcourse corrections, prospered in Kingdom terms. Those who didn't, remained stagnant in their institution. White washed tombs, blind leading the blind.

Ivan Illich, was an Austrian philosopher critical of contemporary institutions like education, medicine and economic development. He spoke about something called counterproductivity; which is the concept that describes a phenomenon that when an institution reaches a critical point and forms a monopoly, without knowing it, they begin to impede their own performance.

This is what happened to Israel. They started out with the very Words of God, handwritten on stone tablets with His own Hand. And there was more! A great book written of the love and commitment of a God who desired relationship with those He created.

Remember the Tabernacle? The very Presence of God hanging out with His people! Wow, the first God in a Box! But that was His box of making...not the one we put Him into. There is a big difference. Jesus came to us again in a box of human form.

Pretty quickly in time, the words of love and fatherly instruction became institutionalized rules, formats, and all about performance. Systems, professionalism and elitism replaced intimacy, simplicity, dependency and the value of each life in Kingdom realities. Jesus saw Israel as sheep without a shepherd, harassed and downtrodden.

We have our own form of institutionalized counterproductivity today.

In the book of Matthew, 18:3-4, Jesus says; "Truly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven".

Children are teachable. They accept their dependency. They make the corrections needed when confronted with the instruction.

My motorcycle students that are new to riding, have the openness and humility to take the instruction and learn. Some of my more experienced riders also humble themselves and make the corrections in how they ride and maneuver the motorcycle.

What about us? Are we teachable, trainable and humble enough to make any mid course corrections that the Holy Spirit is leading us into? Can we become and stay as little children and experience all of the Kingdom as we live out this simple, organic and missional life? Can we jump into the unknown, trusting our free fall to the One who knows where to land us?

One of my favorite quotes from Ivan Illich is where he says; "We can only live changes; we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, every group, must become the model of that which we desire to create."

"O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever." Ps 131

Harold

Yesterday the earth lost a great light.

A light that burned brightly in the the love and incredible grace of Christ. A man who exemplified the character of Jesus in every aspect of his life.

Harold received his heavenly reception and the open arms of the Lord he loved and served all these years.

I'm sure it was a party! A reception of joy and honor for a man who spent his life in passionate love and service to The One; the Source of Harold's passion.

I'm sure "His Master said to him, 'well done good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master." Matthew 25:21

Now that is something to look forward to! Running into the welcoming arms of a Father well pleased and excited to hold and affirm you!

The short time I knew Harold was long enough to see the example of a man who exemplified so much of scripture. Harold loved Jesus. Harold loved people. He was a gentle man, familiar with suffering and patient endurance. His character was evident.

Harold leaves a legacy of the realities of what Jesus can do through someone willing to live their life as a servant because they love the Master more than anything else. He was faithful in every context of life. Husband, father, friend, pastor, teacher, counselor, evangelist, and so much more. Many lives have been impacted by this gentle man who saw ministering at Sam's club with his coworkers, as important as pastoring a church of fellow believers in his home country of Brazil.

He was salt, light and the fragrance of Christ wherever that was and in whatever circumstance. He was a witness of the realities of a life lived for Jesus and His Kingdom.

What will be our legacy?

Can we be affirmed as faithful servants, obediently listening and obeying the Lord? Will we be known as bearers of light and hope to those around us lost in darkness?

Do we leave in our daily running through life, a wake of the fragrance of Jesus? Is our saltiness bringing healing to wounds and the questions of life and suffering? Does our character speak of Christ before anyone even hears about Him? Is our love evident and our grace impacting?

I don't know about you, but my goal is to have a reception like Harold had yesterday when he met the Lord face to face in heaven. I want to know my life glorified and honored the One who gave it to me for a purpose.

"Aproveite a festa" Haroldo!

It was a blessing to know you on this side of heaven! Thank you for an example to follow and for being my friend. I will miss you.

Unpleasant Training

Sometimes I long to live in a cabin somewhere up in the mountains of Idaho, Wyoming or Montana. Somewhere beautiful, serene and isolated.

A place of quiet that penetrates your soul.

A place where gazing up at the immense and endless sky, puts life into healthy perspectives.

A place of simple living and restful existence.

Maybe I'm tired. Maybe it's a time in my life where all the forces of nature, age, the experiences of the daily life of urban struggle are all coming together as a crucible. Maybe it's attack and battle fatigue. Maybe character issues that are needing adjustment. Maybe some and all of the above!

I suspect, as always, that God has a plan in it all, even though I only see it in dark glasses these days.

In the end, it doesn't really matter how I got here, or for what great purpose I find myself struggling in these days. What does matter is my response to it.

I watch my new puppy happily bounce through each day, as if today, this moment, is the BEST day yet!

Each article on the floor is a new discovery, and every room is a hidden adventure waiting to be explored. Every person she greets is the most important in her focus and affection. Her excitement over their presence overflows. As cute as she is, she is also undisciplined and untrained. At only 8 weeks old she is a cute, bouncy little bundle of potential, and that potential will take some effort for it to emerge.

Training is the only way for that potential to be fulfilled. The only way for her to mature and learn obedience to our commands. She won't like some of it and will surely try our patience during the process I'm sure! It takes a lot of commitment and effort to patiently teach her. Rewarding the behaviors we want and discouraging those we don't. Dog training is not for the weak and passive. In the end however, we will have a great dog to enjoy!

In the Book of Hebrews, it says of Jesus that; " although He was a son, he learned obedience from the things which He suffered." The definition of suffer is: to undergo or be subjected to pain. To permit, subject or endure oneself to. It is a verb, which means that it is an ongoing action.

It's an amazing thing to think of Jesus, the perfect son of God, pleasing to Him in all his ways, needing to suffer to learn obedience. Just think on that a minute.

Was it in part, the Son learning to identify with all that is human? To forge the path ahead for our training in suffering and obedience? Was it only about the Cross and the cost of that act on our behalf? Somehow, I think it also had to do with ministry that used up his strength, patience and fortitude as he walked in his own humanness and with the realities of relating to the humans around him. Jesus did get tired! He "endured" much of his time on earth. Read about the many times he "went away by himself", or "sent the disciples across" without him. When he proclaimed; "how long do I need to be with you?", it sounded like someone a bit "people weary". He was familiar with rejection, alienation, persecution and all those types of suffering.

Regardless of the reasons why and when Jesus suffered that we can theologize forever over, the bottom line is that he did learn obedience through suffering.

Hebrews continues on to tell us that; " for those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives" and; " it is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons."

"Discipline is not pleasant at the time", but the Word again says, " yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness".

So, my response? (Well, if you want to send me an airline ticket and a cozy mountain cabin to hold up in for a few weeks, I'd love it! Just kind of kidding!)

At the deepest core of my heart, above all else, I want please the Father and Son. I want my life to honor their love and eternal commitment to me. Whatever it takes. What other choice is there for someone who has freely chosen to submit joyfully to the One who is everything good and right?

Although I'd love the cabin in the mountains, and the peace of those surroundings, I will subject myself to God. Begging for more Grace and strength to do what He says I need to do when I find myself in this training session. I will do what the Word says, which is to "strengthen feeble knees" (keep standing), and "hands" (stay involved) and "make level paths for my feet" (stay in Him, His Truth and Word).

In some ways, it may be easier to train my puppy than the Lord training me, but I will submit myself to the Ultimate Trainer and reach my full potential!

May you also.

Learning is Doing

On my last blog post I spoke on the real struggle of organic, simple and missional life. It's not an easy path for those who like knowing where they are going on a tangible daily basis. You just don't get all the information you'll need for this journey as a set up manual when you step into it.

For most people; figuring it out as we go, with the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit as our guide, can be disorienting and uncomfortable. Some of us don't like adventures all that much and want the map! We are used to being told what to do, believe and sign up for!

Like the children of Israel, after leaving years of captivity for the promise of a land of inheritance and fruitfulness we, instead of saying; "give us manna!", proclaim; "give us the manual!"

However, God has a land of inheritance for each of us that is unique, tailored and fruitful. It's imperative that we learn and discover it on our own with Him on that one of a kind journey.

We don't get the manual, instead, we learn by doing it with Him. The Teacher of all teachers.

When my kids were little, I had to make a conscious effort to help them learn to do things for themselves because I knew it was better for them, even if it was not better for me. I wanted my kids to love the learning process, so they'd continue to grow and learn all their lives and in every context. From a selfish and convenient perspective, it was easier, quicker and more efficient if I did things for them. They on their own, usually produced large messes as they figured out to feed themselves, dress, keep up their room, brush teeth, make cookies, do science projects, term papers, etc. I was okay with the messiness of learning because I knew the end resulted in truly acquired skills, learning and confidence. I could of done many things for them. I could of instructed them in every detail, closely monitoring and controlling the process. However, would they of really learned, or just learned to be good at following instructions and a controlling parent?

In the journey of learning a simple, organic and missional life, we want the manual of instruction to study and contemplate over first. We think we learn by gathering all the information we need first, and then do it.

We listen to various speakers, take some notes and contemplate what we learned. We fill our brains with information, examples, models, other people's testimonies and maybe try out some of what we've read or heard about. We wait until we have what we think we need and then try some of it out. Enevitably, we make a mess. We struggle. We hate the process because it has messes and failures. We look like complete wackos to those around us who are watching the whole experiment. We evaluate all the things that went wrong and re-evaluate the whole paradigm. We wonder if we ARE wacko! We want more information and instructions. Then, we'll be successful! NOT!

As humans we learn by certain ways. Auditory (hearing), Visual (seeing), and Kinesthetic (doing). We can learn by any of them, but one will dominate the others as our best learning style.

As a homeschooler, it was important for me to ascertain what learning style worked best with my three kids. Once I determined which one dominated the others, I tried to incorporate as much as I could of that learning style into their learning process.

As we age, we usually become more "balanced" in our learning styles. However, one learning style increases in it's effectiveness as we age, regardless of it's previous dominance or not. That is the Kinesthetic or the "doing" learning style.

As some of you know, Tom and I are instructors for motorcycle safety riding courses for the State of MN.

We go through a long and extremely intense training process to become licensed instructors.

One of the things we learn as instructors is the best way adult learners acquire skills and retain information.

Adults learn quickly and retain the most through using their gross motor skills first.

Then, once that is acquired, the learning moves to fine motor skills and into our thinking process.

In other words, actually using your body in the learning process comes before the thinking and understanding of that skill if you wish to really learn and incorporate it.

Whether your into motorcycles or not, ride along with me a bit as I use them as a good example of what I'm talking about.

Let's say your riding along and you want the motorcycle to lean to the left (as in a curve to the left). In order to do that you must press the left hand grip. Vise versa for the right. No one understands this until they actually get on the motorcycle going about 10 mph, press the hand grip in the direction they want to go and see the bike lean and go in that direction. It makes no sense in our brains until we actually do it and see the affect.

If I'm teaching someone how to find the friction zone (the area where releasing the clutch engages the power of the motorcycle's rear wheel and you begin to move forward), no amount of explanations help until the student actually gets on the motorcycle and feels the friction zone for themselves. Since they are using their hands in new ways, balancing a couple hundred pounds and feeling pretty nervous, they inevitably stall the bike a few times in the process! Who cares? They have felt and thereby learned just what a friction zone is. Now, they can continue to improve their skills until it is a smooth and thoughtless maneuver.

Of course, all our learning is individualistic. Some students learn quick and others need to spend a bit of time to master the process. However, by actually doing the skill first, as opposed to thinking and understanding it, the skill is acquired. Motorcycle riding becomes less stressful and more fun as skills grow and confidence blooms!

It is a similar process in learning the simple organic and missional lifestyle. You must experience it (and in my motorcycle analogy; kill the motor a few times) by doing before it really starts to take shape and make sense. It can look messy, and you may have a lot of starts and stops. (You may feel like a new student on a 250lb motorcycle, a complete klutz and one who will never be a track racing star, but your moving!) Your really living out your faith in new ways, and experiencing God in the ways of Job who said "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you".

Be encouraged by your learning process. Learn by stepping out and doing some of those ideas you have in your heart. Let the Holy Spirit show Himself faithful to His Words in 1 John 2:27; "As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as his anointing teaches you about all things; and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him."

We have another saying in the motorcycle community; ride your own ride. It means, let those around you ride their machines in the skill and abilities they have, and you ride within yours. We are not in any competition, any striving for the status of "best rider". Rather, we ride the ride the Author and Perfector of our faith has designed for each of us. Unique and exciting, full of the joyful ride of His ongoing faithfulness to us.

The Journey of Discovery

I have a lot of conversations with people who are struggling with the blind adventure of the simple, organic and missional church life.

I hear things like; " I don't really know what to do!", "I wish someone could show me how this works!", "I tried that/that, and it didn't work so what's wrong?", "What is this supposed to look like?", "Is there a manual or something I can follow?", "Can you give me a blueprint to work from so I know what I'm supposed to do?"

I empathize with these questions. These are real struggles from hearts that want to "do it right" and have been trained to follow models, leaders, organizations, and manuals so that what they do is "successful" and "correct". I resist the tendency, which is so easy for me, to tell them what to do. Instead, we start talking about what they are learning in the process, what their goals are for living this organic simple life in Christ, what the Scriptures say we should esteem, and that it is okay to try different things and even fail a few times in the process.

God is certainly capable to get us where we need to be, when we need to be there, with all that we need in the process. The bottom line is; He is faithful.

Have you ever heard that saying of on "a need to know basis" ? I think that fits well with His leading of us. He takes us one step at a time. He gives us what we need to know and understand when we need it to lead us forward in faith. He also lets us struggle.

Most of us don't want to hear that we learn best by what we struggle with and figure out on our own. We also don't like to hear that failure is a better teacher than our successes. In fact, I recently read a medical study that concluded that we actually grow more brain cells when we fail! How's that for "organically" rewarding our failures? What incredible Grace!

I believe, God is taking us each on our own wonderful, unique and unmapped "Journey's of Discovery". That is what the journey west, of the explorers Lewis and Clark's into the then unknown, was called.

For those of us who admit to being " a Trekkie", you'll be familiar with the saying; "of boldly going where no man has gone before". I like to use the Star Trek motto to illustrate what the journey in the lifestyle of simple, organic, missional church is like. No manuals, no maps to follow, no clear guidelines and directions (yet,... just give it a few more years and the experts will have the '5 steps to simple church success' available soon at your local bookstore....sorry, my cynicism again).

We do have some great folks out there who are sharing their own journeys of what they are learning and experiencing. Giving us some understanding of what this whole simple lifestyle is all about. Lewis and Clark types who, are on the "Journey of Discovery", just like the rest of us, but are a little further along on their expedition and keeping great journals.

Tom and I have been doing something different this summer. We have been taking short three or four day "mini" vacations on the motorcycle, but we've been doing it in a totally new way from how we have done it before.

In past years we have had a general plan to our vacations. Not completely, but we would have an idea of where we were going, where the scenic spots were, where the camping areas and the places available to us for lodging, eating, getting gas, etc would be. We would, once in a while, drive off the planned course and see what we could discover, but that was the exception. Most of the time we just followed the mapped course we'd laid out together in the kitchen over a couple of nights.

In these vacation expeditions we'd also have a definite goal and agenda of what we wanted to see, experience and accomplish. We don't have the name "driver" for nothing, and some days the only goal seemed to be how many miles we could push through in a day!

This summer however, has been different.

Instead of loading up the car and luggage carrier with all our necessities for camping, our suitcases full of "stuff" that we'd maybe use, coolers packed with food and drink, we packed small bags that fit into the limited spaces on the motorcycle. Usually not more than a change of clothes, our rain gear, a couple bottles of water, basic toiletries, a bible and extra jacket. We'd take along a map, but only for the sake of getting us back on track if we got disoriented and lost out on the back roads of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

We load up and take off in a matter of minutes (verses hours), heading out of the city, in the general direction we wanted to go. We would find some road unknown to us and take it, just to see where it would lead. Often times it would lead to some great and awesome place that we would never of found on our own. Sometimes we would find ourselves at a dead end, where we would have to turn around and go back a bit until we found another road and take that for a while. We found some incredible places and experiences that made us look forward to what new things we'd discover tomorrow! We felt alive and revived. Resulting in thankfulness for all that we saw God bless our journey with each day. A beautiful road, a person to encourage or pray for, finding new friends in towns we'd never of known, creating memories and special times of enjoying life together in the goodness of God. It was simple (unencumbered and portable), organic (let's see what unfolds naturally in the process) and missional (what other lives can we bring some aspect of the nature of Christ to today in our encounters).

When Lewis and Clark made their journey into the western wilderness some two hundred years ago, they went not knowing what they would encounter with each day and decision of direction. Sometimes, the river they travelled just took them along it's natural path and when that was no longer possible, they found their way through mountain passes and vast prairies with sometimes the help of those native to the area. They recorded information, observations and drew pictures of what they were discovering and wrote it in journals for those who would be following in the future. Even though this would be the beginning of the westward movement of settlement, each of the pioneers soon to head west on that journey still had to discover, on their own with just a few journal notes of information and helps, the path to where they would eventually settle.

Tom and I driving along this summer on the unknown back roads of MN and WI, not knowing where we would eventually end up that night was exciting, rewarding, adventurous, fun, a bit unnerving, tiring and stressful at times. All of the above and more! I wouldn't give up one moment of it.

The simple organic and missional church life gives us no GPS, maps and instructional directions. Instead, we have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in the direction we are to go. We get to learn how to follow Him in a dependent and intimate way. When He says; this is the way, we go that way. We learn to have ears that hear. We learn to discover, on our own with Him, the unique adventure that Jesus has planned for us to experience more of Him and what He has in store of us while we walk this side of heaven. To know Him, and walk daily in an intimacy that is fresh, alive, exciting and dependent. We have the ultimate "journal", the Word, that has all that we need pertaining to life and godliness. We have the journals of others on similar journey's that can encourage and aid us, but in the end, we find our own Journey of Discovery with the Author of it all!

In the vernacular of motorcycle trekking............."enjoy the ride"!

Droppings of Self Promotion

Online recently, I saw a post that said; "check out this article written about me".....and gave the link so you could read all about how important this person had become in their area. I know others who push their writing so they can get "best seller" status and increased marketing and notoriety. They may say it's so that more can be reached with their message, but come on!

Is God incapable of getting anointed messages out and impacting those He wants to? Look at the self published (or practically so) book called The Shack. Whatever your view about it, it was a book of impact that changed and gave people a new perspective on the love of God. Only after it had been read by millions through word of mouth referral, did a larger publisher pick it up and market it. To its author, it was like lighting a fire in a forest of dry tinder! He lit it and watched it explode! God did all the work of promotion.

Okay I admit it, I'm a bit critical of people who need to draw attention to themselves and tell everyone how important and influential they are becoming and drawing attention to everything they are doing. Being an introvert myself, it seems completely egotistical and self absorbed to promote oneself. Not to mention, unbiblical and unwise (look at Jannes and Jambres, Miriam and Absolom.)

Why not let other people herald your virtues, if you have any to herald, that is. Or even better, trust God Himself to spread your influence and fruitfulness in His own way?

I understand we all seem to have a need to feel relevant and valuable in the scheme of life. One of our "Basic Needs" according to the sociologist Abraham Maslow, is to feel our life has meaning. He calls it the need for esteem that is given by others around us. If this theory is a valid observation, and I have no reason to doubt it after seeing the reality of it over many years of life, than what is God's plan in addressing it? He made us, knows us, and He must have the spiritual "filler" for this need we have to be valued and esteemed.

The world fills this need by self promotion and noted elevated status. The filler is notoriety.

In the world being known is equated with success, achievement and validity. Big is better. Being known is "getting big". We have descriptions like; he's a big star, she's made it big, star status, popular, VIP (VERY important person), acclaimed speaker, major leader, and others like; Father of the City, Apostle to the Region, Prophet to the Nations, big ministry, a large pulpit, (oops,.....sorry for my sarcasm)........

The world revolves around these values, especially in the West, and we live in a culture of fixation with this type of success, VIP status, and fame.

However, those who live to honor Christ are exhorted to be different.

According to Jesus, we're supposed to be "in the world, but not of the world". We are supposed to look different, act different and impact differently. Not through VIP status, but through humility, obedience and the power of the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot.

Jesus, like the lowliest servant in a household, washed the smelly, dirty feet of fisherman, tax collectors and unknown nobodies. Nobodies, who through their obedience and power of the Holy Spirit would impact the world in less than 70 years.

Like John the Baptist, we are supposed to decrease that He may increase. Do we really see this in ourselves and each other? Are we seeing more of the nature and life of Jesus in us as a movement and as individuals or just a lukewarm version of the normal human experience?

Let's be real here, wouldn't we rather increase? Don't we enjoy the notice and praises of men?

In every movement of the Spirit of God, there is a wondrously fresh beginning. God surprises us and takes unknown, insignificant and often the least qualified people and releases a powerful effect through them. Those we would never consider as influencers, and Kingdom shakers are, in the Hand of God, useful albeit very human tools for His purposes.

Some Old Testament Biblical examples of this are Gideon, Sampson, David, and Deborah. Often unwilling, seemingly insignificant unlikely choices of influencers for the purposes of God. Some New Testament examples would be Timothy, Peter, the Samaritan woman, Matthew and Zaccheus. Weak, un-esteemed, corrupted, young, female, uncircumcised, abhorred, unknown, blue collar,....you get the idea.

There seems to be a theme with God and whom He chooses.

He likes our weakness, our insignificance, our obscure and often unlikely raw material. He values our knowing just how really incapable we are without Him. He loves to manifest the BIGness of a God who is the only one who deserves to be called a star and a VIP.

If we fill our need for significance with the accolades of those around us, we're on the way of Balaam who sold his gift for status, money and power. And the Pharisee's who prayed to be noticed, esteemed and admired, whom Jesus called white washed (and inferred empty) tombs.

I admit, I'm becoming a bit cynical, even downright disgusted with the self promotion going on. I know I have my sin issues, and would not want to give anyone the impression in writing this, that I don't struggle with the flesh as much as anyone. Even having this blog and wondering if anyone reads it, indicts me and is an internal conflict of my own. My flesh is ever before me and I too need the grace of God to decrease so that He may increase every day and every year in my life.

We have an opportunity and a choice, at this time in history and in this present move of God to use ordinary, simple and seemingly insignificant folks, to be people of impact for the Kingdom of God.

If we'd choose His notoriety over our own......

"Thus says the Lord, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where then is a house you could build for me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word". Is 66:1-2

May He look our way!

Droppings

I'm back to blogging.

I have a lot of stuff swimming around in my head leaving plenty of "droppings" that I need to dialog about. I'll admit to being someone who has strong opinions and ideas about certain things. In fact, I can get pretty downright dogmatic at times. Of course, opinions being such as they are, most of us think that our own are correct.

I am no different.

That said, however, I love to be challenged with some new angles of thought or different perspectives. I like my rough edges sanded off by those around me.

So, sand away in the next few weeks as I share some of my thoughts and perspectives with you. I'm looking forward to it!

Lamentations 3:40 "Let us examine our ways and test them"