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Good News Builds Community

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #evangelism, #exclusivity, #goodnewsbuildscommunity, #wendellberry, community on November 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

This week, at different times and in separate contexts, three words keep surfacing:

community

different people sharing life together

exclusivity

omitting or excluding

evangelism

reaching out to others with the good news of Jesus

On first glance, they might not go together, but, after a conversation on this dark and monsoon-rainy night, I began to see a thread connecting them all.

We humans seek community with others. We are constantly seeking open gates into cozy and accepting spaces full of others. We need each other. We long, with everything in us, to know that we are not alone.

But, fear enters the picture. We build walls around our communities. We lock the gates, and post a guard. Our desire to not be alone, can cause us to protect the community we have found or achieved, resulting in exclusivity.

Any community can easily become exclusive, and these exclusive communities can be found on our streets, in our schools, our workplaces and our churches. Turning our cherished communities into gangs or cliques.

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Community is the desired, the goal.

Exclusivity is the result of fear.

But, there is a third word,

evangelism.

Evangelism is the reaching out to others with the good news of Jesus.

In a sense, it is the heart and foundation of community, being offered to us all. It is the anecdote for the fear that leads us to exclusivity, and exclusivity is the reason Christ came. He came not just for the Jew, but the Gentile as well … a new, inclusive community.

Evangelism is the reason for human community. We strive to share the good news of Jesus, because he is the one that can not only eliminate fear, but he fills the void with the communion (community) of saints.

Protect our community from exclusivity … share the good news.

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Love in the Mess

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #, #cometojesus, #encourageoneanother, #loveinthemess on October 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »

A while back a teen shared with me some words that, obviously, hurt to her core.

She shared with me that someone said to her, “you don’t appear to want to be here. Did your parents make you come here? Are you even a Christian?”

Now, I don’t know if she is an active follower of Christ, nor do I know if her presence was by her choice, or that of her parents. I do know that her actions are not what I am responsible for, but my responses to her, are how I speak of Christ to her.

I mulled over her words for a bit, then pulled her aside, and got more direct with her than I usually would … for I felt I needed to do some restorative action in her life.

I told her I was sorry for what had been said to her. I also assured her that God loves her, as she is, not as she should be. Just as he loves the person who said those things to her, just as he loves me. Then I told her what we all need to be reminded of,

that she, that we, are good enough for God. We cannot do anything, but it is he who loves us, who makes us enough …

She smiled, through tear-filled eyes, and said thanks.

I told her that if she ever hears that message again, making her feel like she is not good enough for Christ, to remember my words to her. That there is no amount of mess in her life that God cannot love us through.

And I found a quiet corner, and I sobbed. For I felt as though I had just tried to save a life.

People all around us are dying.

They are the walking wounded, stumbling thorough life. They have been fed the message that they cannot dip their toes into the sandals of their Creator, until they have been purified of every flaw and sin.

They need the great physician, but they have been told that he won’t see them until they say and do the right things … until they are healthy.

Not long ago, fellow Christ followers, if was you and I who were staggering to Christ for treatment. Let us be open doors to the injured, the struggling, the bleeding.

“Jesus said to them,
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 2:17

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Worth a Millenial

Posted in GOD, life, WONDER, tagged #1timothy4:12, #feelingold, #learningfromtheyoung, #millenials, #worthamillennial on October 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Somewhere between the late 1970s and the year 2000 a distinct generation was born, and they have come to be known as Millenials.

The fact that the ‘experts’ cannot define specific dates, is one indicator that, perhaps like Autism, there is a spectrum of ‘symptoms’ and ‘indicators’ for this group of individuals (a generation is usually viewed as being a fifteen to twenty year time span).

Whatever the case, I am surrounded by them.

My three children, co-workers and those who I work alongside in our church youth program all belong to this demographic.

Millennial have been, largely, raised by helicopter parents, and are known to be more confident about the future, than the past. They are highly educated, and underemployed. They are amazing team players, who value versatility and flexibility in their places of work. They greatly desire wealth, but do not live for their jobs, and they are expected to make more job changes than any other generation. They are socially liberals. They desire to be the change in our world, but don’t expect them to go about it through traditional means, or institutions.

About a year or so ago I came to a realization about myself, I did not understand the minds or motivations of this generation, and my lack of understanding was making me feel old … really old!

Whenever I come to such a realization, God floods my life with whatever (whoever) is frustrating me, and he forces me to look and listen.

So, I obeyed his prompts, and started listening …

Listening to my Millennial kids.

Listening to my Millennial co-workers.

Listening to the Millennials who also work with youth at our church.

And here is what I have been learning:

listening is much harder than speaking! (and I think I have been speaking far too much … after all, we have ONE mouth and TWO ears … use them according to provision)
Millennials are hard workers … they are more willing to invest in a wide range of relationships, and more deeply (than Gen X’ers like me, who tend to categorize relationships).
Millennials still believe they can make a difference! I had started to realize that, whenever people would be introducing a way to help others, I would start my mental list of why it wouldn’t work. I need more of a do than a don’t approach to being change in my world.
Millennials have a more balanced view of work. They want to use their gifts and passions, but they don’t just want to use them in their workplaces. They see life goals as bigger than a job, they do not see their identity as closely tied to their professions. Hum … maybe growing up with stressed out parents is sending the pendulum swinging from the fast-paced world.
Millennials won’t just do things because that is the way it’s always been done. They want rational for what they do, what they believe. If oldies like myself can’t rationalize what we do, what we believe, in a meaningful way, we might lose the ears of this important generation, in a time in history when change is in the air.
Millennials know how to work together. They have grown up with the (despised and contrived) group projects instigated by my and previous generations, who had no idea what healthy, beneficial, meaningful group work should be. They have, fortunately, taken the general concept of team working, and made it into something that works … not because it’s multiple people, but because it is a group of individuals who come together with a common purpose, rather than the purpose be to work together.

I love the idealism of my kids.

I adore my co-workers who teach me from their fresh approach, rather than the way it has always been done.

This weekend, as youth leaders met, we took time to pray for each other leader, individually. It was terribly uncomfortable, humbling and honouring, to be prayed for sincerely, by my fellow, Millennial, leaders.

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young,
but set an example for the believers
in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12

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Thanks in the Everyday

Posted in GOD, Nature/Creation, WONDER, tagged #givethanks, #justgivethanks, #thanksineverything, Thanksgiving on October 13, 2016| 1 Comment »

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Sometimes thankfulness is big, and loud and proud. It might be accompanied by cards, flowers and public proclamation. It might make our chests expand with pride, and our cheeks redden with humble acceptance.

Then, there are the other times when it’s barely a whisper, said under an autumn sky, with only the company of leaves blowing from the trees and across the grass.

The later was my experience of giving thanks this past Thanksgiving Monday.

At almost 3:00 in the afternoon, I was still wearing my pyjamas, but the scent of the turkey in my oven was beginning to waft out and into the house. The table was set for seven. Vegetables were ready to be cooked, appys were ready to be heated and the house was cleaned.

All that was left to do was … plant the bulbs that had been sitting in a container on my counter for about two months (who does this in the midst of preparing a turkey dinner?).

So outside I went (in my pjs), sat down on the steps, and proceeded to plant the bulbs in an awaiting planter.

Then I looked up.

And the cloudless, indigo sky took my breath away.

And the sun was shining on my face.

And the leaves were floating through the air.

And the wind lightly caressed my face.

And,

I gave thanks.

No announcements, no microphone, no eloquent words, or poetic reference,

I. just. gave. thanks.

From, not just the bottom, but the entirety of my heart.

The beauty of the Creator, reflected in the beauty of his creation.

The blessing of my senses, intended to draw my focus back to him.

The simplest, most mundane and undervalued of life, took the breath of life from my lungs momentarily, only to refill them with the freshest, most life-giving, soul-feeding inhalation.

just. give. thanks.

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

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Crap or Get off the Can!

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #craporgetoffthecan, #lemonysnicket, #matthew25:14-30, #parableofthetalents, #riskybusiness, Waiting on September 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I feel as though I spend much of my life waiting … in a line at the grocery store, for someone to come to the dinner table, for a student who processes thoughts slowly, for pay day, for hubby to be ready to leave for vacation, for the weekend or summer break.

Waiting drives me nuts!

We all wait for many things. It is a commonality which we share.

A friend recently told me to “crap or get off the can” (or something similar) in regards to something that I have been waiting for, but keeps passing me by … while I just wait. You see, my problem is that, though I am an aggressive and passionate trouble-shooter, I am also frequently passive when it comes to the desires of my own heart, submitting myself to the ‘safety’ of waiting, rather than taking the risk to pursue the dreams God has placed in my heart.

When my friend spoke pointedly to me, she challenged me that maybe waiting was not what I was called to do, but to jump, trusting that God has my back.

I was secretly frustrated with her challenge, after all, she doesn’t know all of the circumstances and challenges in my life. There was so much fear in jumping! It was so easy for her to say, not so easy for me to do.

Then I read the following verse, from Ecclesiastes 11:4, and it seemed to hold my eyes on it’s message:

“Those who wait for perfect weather will never plant seeds;
those who look at every cloud will never harvest crops.“

The story/parable that Jesus told of the man who left his property with his servants, is an example of what God wants us to do with what he has entrusted to us (Matthew 25:14-30). One of the servants was afraid, so he hid what was given to him. When the man returned, he was livid that this servant had not invested what was given to him to care for.

To leap is to risk failure, but to do nothing with the resources God has given us, is an even greater risk.

What are you waiting for?

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I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Posted in GOD, life, WONDER, tagged #icantgetnosatisfaction, #longingsofourheart, #philippians 4"6-7, #psalm107:9, #satisfaction, Anxiety, Loneliness on September 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I ate them all!

“I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no
Satisfaction”

It started as a normal Sunday, but by nightfall I had eaten far too much.

Thankfully it had been many weeks, even months, since I had last experienced a day when I went searching for satisfaction through my pantry.

I wasn’t hungry for food, I was simply experiencing dissatisfaction in one part of my existence, and thought that perhaps I could find it through the edibles in my kitchen.

By the time I crawled into bed (with antacids strategically placed on my bed table) I was feeling the crash after a sugar high, my tummy was uncomfortable and my satisfaction … still unsatisfied.

My head hit the pillow with guilt and self disappointment flooding my mind. As I drifted off into my food coma, I pondered why I accepted food as a replacement for what I was really desiring satisfaction from?

I expect we all seek out satisfaction in things or people as replacements for what we truly desire or need. Sometime we turn to exercise, or work, or shopping, or gaming, or reading, or drinking, or drug use, or, or, or …

The list of things we go to for satisfaction is great, individual, and all share the same commonality … they do not satiate our hunger, for we hunger for something greater.

What we often desire is peace, relationship, recreational time, to be heard, solutions to our struggles, health, love.

What we often do is seek replacements to satisfy the voids in our lives, and our hearts. In doing this, we feed our loneliness, our anxiety, our heartache rather than placing it in the hands of one who gives true and full satisfaction.

“For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”
Psalm 107:9

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7

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The Hardest Part of Love is …

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #fatherabraham, #genesis17, #godspromises, #the hardestpartoflove on September 13, 2016| 1 Comment »

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I remember dreaming and anticipating those rare middle school dances …

Girls on one side of the room, guys on the other.

MUCH too much make-up.

Not enough deodorant worn by many.

Too much cologne worn by many more.

Couples dancing with barely any part of their bodies touching, or so close there was no room for the Holy Spirit, let alone Jesus (a little Christian dating humour … not humour that my kids would find funny, but humour that is funny in my imagination).

And I remember the song, by Straight Lines, (the hardest part of love is) “Letting Go”.

Recently, I was reminded of it when at a Christian Conference Centre, listening to Charles Price speak on the story of Abraham and Isaac. This is my personal favourite story from the Bible, and one that I have written about in a 3-part blog series:
https://itsawonderfilledlife.net/2015/03/24/gods-test-abraham-father-of-isaac/

Years before Abraham took his son on a hike up the mountain to make a sacrifice that Abraham didn’t want to make, God had made a promise to Abraham that he would one day be the father of many nations (Genesis 17).

Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice the son who was the premier star in his sky? And why would Abraham actually follow through with God’s instructions?

God had promised that Abraham would be the father of multitudes, but Abraham had to let go of his human understanding of how that would happen, in order to trust that God would keep his promise, and that Isaac would not simply be a falling star.

Remember, Abraham had learned this lesson, the hard way. When God had taken his good ‘ol time in fulfilling his promise, Sarah and Abe took matters into their own hands and utilized Haggar to begin Abraham’s nation. This had not turned out so well, for anyone involved. And this is often what happens when we attempt to fulfill a God-sized promise with human-sized perspective.

When we believe that God has made a promise to us, we begin to dream of how that promise might be fulfilled. But, we need to let go of our dream, releasing it back to the one who has hung the stars in the sky. For it is through him that our dreams are born, and it is through him that our dreams come true.

The hardest part of love is letting go … but what we get back, in return, could fill the night sky with the brightest lights.

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A Smoother Ride

Posted in FAMILY, GOD, life, WONDER, tagged #asmootherride, #dearyoungerme, #ifiknewthen, #mercyme, #whenwewereyoung, Choices, Mistakes on July 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Working away in my garage, humming to a song on the radio, I heard the words “Dear Younger Me, if I could tell you everything that I have learned so far …”

We all know what it is to ponder where our life would be if only we had known when we were young, what we know now.

That reflective introspective moment quickly pivoted my thoughts away from me, when I heard the line “a smoother ride” and was instantly in a truck, just the day before.

I had been accompanying my daughter to our mechanic, who was to look over the truck that she wished to purchase. The entire ride, wait for the mechanics diagnosis, and drive to return the truck back to it’s seller, I wanted to place my hands on her shoulders, force her to make eye contact with me, and tell her (sternly)

DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY! Go purchase a nice, safe, compact car.

But, I couldn’t, I can’t.

You see, my parents, whose failings I could fill a lined piece of paper (and, as parents, we could all fill an entire notebook with our own failings), did one thing I have grown to respect beyond their failings … they let me chose.

Though not church-goers, they fully supported my personal faith with Christ, even attending and celebrating my baptism as a teen.

They welcomed me home with open arms when I quit university (something I now regret).

Then, two months later, despite still owing student loan money, I decided to take a trip to Mexico with a friend (I am pretty certain that they probably almost severed their tongues from biting them) yet they never said a negative word.

They also said not one discouraging word when, at nineteen, I declared that I was getting married. (not sure I could withhold from voicing my discouraging words, if I were in their shoes).

they let me chose …

Over and over, they let me make my own decisions. I have had no one to blame when I blew it, other than myself. I have been the self-scholar of my life’s choices, learning from each one.

It’s not that they never gave me advice, but that that is all they did … gave advice, then loved me with an unconditional love, whether I chose their advice, or choose my own way.

God is the original model of what it is to parent this way. He has given us his advice, knowing exactly what the consequences of our choices will be, then he lets us choose, while loving us, unconditionally.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39

Though I would love to be able to write a letter of what to do, and what not to, or to throw up a stop sign whenever my younger self is about to make a life-altering decision that I may not like the consequences of down the road …

I am who I am today because of all my choices,

good, bad, and even the yet to be determined.

And so, though I want more than anything a smoother ride for my daughter than I might have had, I also know that she needs to make the choice as to what her ride will be …

even if it is a truck.

“the choices that you’ll make
cause they’re the choices that made ma
and even though I love this crazy life
sometimes I wish it was a smoother ride,
dear younger me …

every mountain, every valley
through each heart ache you will see
every moment brings you closer
to who you were meant to be.”

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Perspective

Posted in GOD, Nature/Creation, WONDER, tagged #allcreationpraises, #hesgotit, #psalm 50:12, Perspective on June 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Walking is an activity that goes beyond movement or exercise.

We walk for many reasons. We might walk for the exercise, or to be in the fresh air, or to reach a destination, or to clear our heads, or to spend time with a friend (fur friends included).

Recently I left the house later in the evening, knowing that the long-stretching daylight would brighten my path … and, I hoped, my mood.

I walked, alongside the WonderDog, who seemed to know that my mood would not be compassionate to his frequent pulling. As I walked, I groaned.

Like tectonic plates under the Earth’s surface, a domino-like catastrophic event seemed to be rocking my world, and I wanted to respond in volcanic fashion. I was holding nothing back, and God was getting an earful of the really real me. I honestly do not even recall anything that I said, heard or smelled, until I reached a beautiful vista of the valley below my neighbourhood. It was then that my heart began to hear the still small voice, through the lyrics of an old hymn.

“This is my Father’s World” started reverberating in my thoughts out of nowhere.

I have had this sort of interruption often enough to know to listen to the message.

“This is my Father’s world …”

Not mine, His.

” … and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres …”

And I listened … to the birds, the insects.

” … I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought …”

What an amazing world we have in which to live.

” … the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker’s praise …”

All of creation shouting out praises to the Creator.

” … this is my Father’s world:
he shines in all that’s fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me everywhere …”

Yes he does, for he interrupted my groaning with reminders that his creation is made to praise him.

” … this is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad! “

God, our father and the maker of heaven and Earth, is in control.

I looked out over the valley below, looked at the colours of the setting sun painted across the sky, smelled the scent of flowers on a nearby bush, heard the crickets, the birds, the panting of the WonderDog at my side. All of creation singing their praises to the Creator.

That night I was reminded that he is in control, and that we still need, and are able to praise him, though no Earthly solutions are within our view.

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Happily Haunted Future, Graduate

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged #graduating, #growingup, #happilyhauntedfuturegraduate, #romans8, Graduation on June 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I recently read a line that said,

“Congratulations, high school graduate … on completing the easiest phase of life.”

I laughed heartily in agreement.

Sometimes, as full fledged adults we forget that the level of ‘difficult’ in life has little to do with what we are going through, and more to do with how we feel, how we cope, whether we succeed or fail.

High school graduation is something worth celebrating.

And it is the season for celebrating just that.

I’ve been thinking about some of those who are graduating this season, and thinking about what I want to share with each of them … but, there are so many of them! So, I have decided to narrow my thoughts to what I would would want to wish for all of them.

Last year, while working in a grade 12 Bible class, the teacher shared something that I believe to be both simple and profound.

“I am saved

I am being saved

I will be saved”

To the high school graduate, moving from the more dependent phase of life, into the more independent phase, I believe you need to have the haunting knowledge that you are loved by the creator of your DNA … (the basis of life). I believe you need to know that that creator has not only created you, not only loves you, but that same creator was, and is, and will never stop redeeming you from all that would keep you from your creator.

Romans 8:38-39 gives us assurance of the power of our creator, God:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is that assurance that allows parents the ability (albeit not always eagerly) to let you go off into your life’s adventures (but don’t forget to come back and share your experiences with ol’ mom and dad). It is that assurance that allows new graduates to know that they do not go off into their futures alone.

So, congratulations, high school graduate!

Know that I will be praying for your future to be haunted … by the knowledge of the pursuit of your creator.

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