A transformed life provides shelter from the winds and refuge from the storms

From The Beautiful Fight by Gary Thomas. He talks about how much the world needs people transformed by God. He quotes Isaiah 32:2, “Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.” Then, he writes,

“A holy man or woman is a spiritual force, a “God oasis,” in a world that needs spiritually strong people. When the winds of turmoil hit, such people become shelters; their faith provides a covering for all. By their words and actions, by the ways they listen and use their eyes to love instead of lust, to honor instead of hate, to build up instead of tear down, holy women and men are like streams of water in the desert, affirming what God values most. When the heat of temptation threatens to tear this world apart, godly men and women become like the shadow of a great rock. These God oases carry Christ to the hurting, to the ignorant, to those in need. They will be sought out–and they will have something to say.” 48

What are they promoting on college campuses?

In a very challenging article in City Journal Heather Mac Donald, shows how “bogus statistics, feminist victimology, and university-approved sex toys.” has led to what she calls the The Campus Rape Myth. She suggests that the campus rape movement ” . . . is political, not empirical.”

But, the problem is not just an attempt to find data to promote their theory (at the expense of the facts), there is also the active promotion of a culture of promiscuity on college campuses. She writes, “The campus rape industry may decry ubiquitous male predation, but a campus sex industry puts bureaucratic clout behind the message that students should have recreational sex at every opportunity.”

Worth reading but not if you are easily offended. I found this from a link on Michelle Malkins website.

Transformed eyes

Since I struggle with lust as much as any other man, I expected that Gary Thomas would mention Job 31:1 (I made a covenant with my eyes not look lustfully at a girl.”) in his chapter on “Eyes That See.” However, what I was not prepared for was his point that it is having transformed eyesight does not mean an avoidance of evil, it means looking on all people the way God sees them. God wants to start with our eyes and end up with compassion in our hearts. Thomas writes,

“It’s not enough to see someone and refrain from hating him. It’s not sufficient to abstain from lust, prejudice, or disdain. . . The gospel of transformation calls me to progress from not lusting to having eyes that honor, respect, and generate compassion. God wants to transform my eyes from being selfish possessors and consumers to being his servants of selfless love.” 62-63

Thomas writes about the covenant of the eyes in Job 31:1

“Make a covenant with God, offering your eyes to be his servants, to notice the discouraged, to have compassion on the poor and hungry, to see what God wants you to see through his eyes. What you once saw as beautiful you may now see as hideous; what you once loathed may now be awe-inspiringly gorgeous.” 69

I guess the problem with my eyes is worse than I thought it was and yet there is also more hope than I thought possible.

Seeing hope from the kingdom parables

Good friend of mine, Dave Mullens, over at Fuzzy Thinking wrote about finding hope in the parables of Jesus about the Kingdom and it resonated with me. He has some good thoughts on his blog after being away for awhile.

“I find hope when I read that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It is so small…the smallest of all seeds, yet, from that seed a mighty shrub grows. One where the birds can find protection from the storms. One that is stronger and bigger than any other. When I read that, I have hope.

I have hope when I read of the farmer going out and sowing seed. He sleeps, he awakes, he sleeps again and that seed sprouts and grows. He doesn’t even know how it is happening, but it is. Then, at the right time, the harvest comes. When I read that, I have hope.

I have hope when I read about the man who found a treasure in a field and hid the treasure. He went back home and sold everything he had! Everything! He then we back and purchased that field and he was overjoyed. He gave up everything he had so he might embrace the one thing that could bring him joy. That brings me hope.

Jesus says God’s kingdom is like plants that grow, even though we don’t know why, and the smallest seed becoming the largest shrub, and a man giving up everything he has to embrace the One Thing that brings joy. I’m realizing that the kingdom of God isn’t about me. It is about God and what God is doing in this world. I can’t orchestrate it. I can’t control it. I can’t even really understand it or at times even see it happening. It’s okay when small things happen. It’s okay when I don’t understand where I’m being called. It’s okay that I am being asked to give up all that I have, so I might embrace the kingdom God invites me too. It’s okay, because God’s kingdom brings hope.”

The joy of the God-empowered life

The second major section of Gary Thomas’ The Beautiful Fight is called New Spirit, New Bodies and in it he discusses the transformation that God does in our eyes, mouth, ears, minds, hands and feet and hearts.  I have now read “Eyes that See” and “Mouths that Speak.”  If the “words” of email fit under the category of “mouths that speak,” it has not been a good week for me.  And I read this chapter last week!  Plus, my wife led a Bible study on 1 Thes 5:11 ff on how we are to encourage one another which is a passage that Thomas uses to show “particular uses of the tongue.”

What happened?  It is ugly pride raising up its ugly head once again.  I have been frustrated in my inability to stay on top of all that I am supposed to be doing.  A couple of times this week, I noticed that I was angry and irritable–for no apparent reason.  Well, late one day (already a danger signal), I responded to yet another email hoax someone sent me with a harsh, sharp and pride filled email that was sent publicly to all the members of the email group. Basically, I was saying, “how could you be so ignorant? Don’t waste my time.”  I later apologized but the damage was done.  Why do I keep reverting to this type of behavior?

Thomas writes, “Life changes when we live it in cooperation with God instead of just working for God.” 83  The level of frustration I have been experiencing in my position shows me that I have been doing more of the “working for God” rather than in “cooperation with God.”  Thomas writes these powerful words, “Here’s the joy of the God-empowered life: we can cease expending energy trying to be impressive and instead rest in being used.” 85 Although it is not easy to admit that I have not been living a God-empowered life, the fruits are evident.  God-empowered lives are not prideful lives because they know it is not about them and that very little of what they offer to people comes from them.

Listen to Thomas again, “It will help you more than you could know to realize how small (though necessary) a part of the process you really are–when indeed you are relying on God.” 84 I think what he is saying is that I still need to prepare, to pray, to listen, to do whatever but compared to what God does in any given situation my part is infinitesimal. Thomas says,

“Here’s the delightful spiritual irony: true biblical humility breeds confidence.  Many people consider humility a sign of insecurity, but when we accept the Bible’s reality that God is already acting, already moving, and already directing the affairs of his world, we can rest in his capability, confident that he has made allowances for our own weaknesses, sin, limitations, and lack of gifting.”  85

This helps me to understand the cooperation involved in the God-empowered life and I think will lead to a lot less frustration and much more joy.  I still regret that email I sent but I am grateful how God is using my failure to lead to what I hope is a greater level of transformation. To be continued . . .

Accountability questions

I posted a page today on personal accountability questions from David Mays and here are the ones that David Mays uses himself. Guess this means I need to find an accountability partner/group now.

David Mays’ accountability group:

Since we last met,

· Have you had a consistent time of Bible reading and prayer?

· Have you viewed pornography in any form?

· Have you touched or looked at a woman inappropriately?

· Have you taken two full evenings off work?

· Is there anyone to whom you have been disrespectful?

· How has your countenance been?

· Did you invest the proper quality/quantity of time in your most important relationships?

· Did your life reflect verbal integrity?

· Have you been knowingly disobedient to the Lord in any way?

· Have you lied to me just now?

Woe, woe, woe . . .”The Dumbing down of America”

Just read “The Dumbing Of America: Call Me a Snob, but Really, We’re a Nation of Dunces” by Susan Jacoby in the Sunday, February 17, 2008; Page B01 of the Washington Times. May need to register to read the full text article.

“Americans are in serious intellectual trouble — in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.”

“Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones); a disjunction between Americans’ rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.”

“First and foremost among the vectors of the new anti-intellectualism is video. The decline of book, newspaper and magazine reading is by now an old story. The drop-off is most pronounced among the young, but it continues to accelerate and afflict Americans of all ages and education levels.”

“The shrinking public attention span fostered by video is closely tied to the second important anti-intellectual force in American culture: the erosion of general knowledge. “

“That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge. . . it’s the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism — a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse.”

I wonder what someone surveying evangelicals would discover today? I remember reading David Wells’  scathing No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology a few years ago (1993)in which he talked about the problem of anti-intellectualism among evangelicals.

Importance of loving one another

These words from Paul struck me this morning–it is like I had never seen them before–reading in a different translation helps. 1 Thes 4:9-10

⁹ But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another. ¹⁰ Indeed, you already show your love . . . Even so, we urge you to love them even more.

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Ash Wednesday and Lent

Ruth Barton of the Transforming Center writes about the practice of celebrating lent,  “I have learned that as we give ourselves to these (sometimes) strange rhythms they guide us into a way of seeing and being in our lives that we might not otherwise choose or even know how to choose. “  She writes further:

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Church’s observance of the Lenten season. It is the doorway into a space in time that calls us to stop whatever we are doing, no matter how important it might be, and enter more intentionally into the disciplines of prayer, self-examination and repentance.  Left to ourselves, we probably would not choose to devote a whole season to such rigorous and demanding disciplines, but God knows we need it.

 

Entering In
     The season begins as we receive the symbolic gesture of the imposition of ashes on our foreheads and acknowledge our human finiteness and mortality. No matter who we think we are, the traditions of Ash Wednesday remind us that “you are dust and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)  This is not meant to be morbid, it is just meant to limit our grandiosity and help us to stay in touch with the real human condition that we all share.
Ash Wednesday also initiates a season of acknowledging our sinfulness. In a very intentional way, we invite God to search us and know us and (eventually) to lead us into resurrection life.  The ashes marking our foreheads carry the same meaning contained in the Old Testament practice of …    

Click here for her entire article 

Because Jesus reigns now, we have hope.

Gary Thomas talks about the crucial importance of the ascension in the third chapter of The Beautiful Fight. Spent this morning reflecting on his powerful words, so heavy on me that I can hardly type.

“Celebrating Christmas gives us faith . . . Celebrating Easter gives us assurance . . . Celebrating the ascension gives us hope and points us toward transformation; it affirms that we can become more and more like Jesus is right now.” 36
“Without the ascension, we might look around and forget that Christ is the ruling Lord of this fallen, broken world.” 36

“We serve the ascended and reigning Christ. The world may mock our King. We may disdain his rule by our own sinful rebellion–but the fact is, he reigns. And we can participate in the spread of his kingdom, in the Beautiful Fight, not simply by imitating how he lived on earth but by surrendering to his dynamic, life-transforming presence within us, by letting him change the way we see, think, feel, hear, speak, and serve. It’s the life of Christ in us, continuing his work, exercising his reign, manifesting his presence.” 37

“Without, Christ, we have no power to change. . . Christ isn’t buried in history; he is risen and ascended. ” He reigns, acts, speaks, guides, and is building his church. The ascension can help to keep us from smothering the supernatural and the mysterious elements of our faith, recapturing the dynamic reality of Christ manifesting himself through us.”

“Sadly, like the biblical Esau (see Genesis 25:29-34), we sometimes feel pridefully tempted to sell this amazing birthright of Christ’s presence for our own presence. We focus on our work, our influence and our ministry. One of the biggest threats to incarnational living is pride. Instead of manifesting Christ’s presence, we want to showcase our own presence; instead of dispensing Christ’s truth, we want to spotlight our own opinions; instead of adopting Christ’s agenda, we want to accomplish our own five-or ten-year plans; instead of building Christ’s kingdom, we want to spread our own ‘ministry’.” 38

“Because Jesus reigns now, we have hope. Even though my eyes are weak and greedy and judgmental and lustful, there stands Christ, with eyes filled with burning purity, holy passion, and self-less love. Even though I sometimes speak with a hurtful tongue or blurt our unkind comments, there is Christ, with his healing tongue in perfect control. And here is where it gets really good. Jesus is not simply watching me, asking me to imitate him; on the contrary, he has released, is releasing and will release his Holy Spirit to help me see and talk just as he does. He will live through me. 43

“Let us discard the pride, the preening, the bloated arrogance of our opinions. Let us shun the small lives of desperate people who try to make themselves large through frenetic activity and modern gimmicks. Let us quiet our hearts long enough to experience the restful, amazingly powerful, and compellingly pure passion of Jesus, and changing what we see, tuning us in to what must really be heard, and helping us to feel what God himself feels. This is real human experience, exalted by divine impact, it is our birthright through the ascension–a sacred truth we need to hold dear. ” 44

A 5 minute operation

Following is a link from abortion doctor Garson Romalis about an address he gave on Jan. 25 of this year.  Probably not all of you will want to read this.  He continues to practice despite experiencing two attempts on his life.

‘I can take a woman, in the biggest trouble she has ever experienced in her life, and by performing a five-minute operation, in comfort and dignity, I can give her back her life’

A Compelling Life

Picked up The Beautiful Fight by Gary Thomas and he suggest that “one of the best ways to engage our culture is to do the hard work necessary to cooperate fully with God to develop a compelling life. He writes

“What defines a compelling life? Someone who is available to God and regularly experiences God’s fellowship, presence, and empowerment. There are no substitutes, no shortcuts. We are not not compelling; on the contrary, we are sinful, often poor imitations of our Lord. But when God lives through us, shines through us, and overcomes our worst inclinations with his merciful transformation–that’s compelling. People become interested not so much in us but in what’s so different about us. The non-Christian notices the changes as we become more and more like Christ–if indeed we are experiencing more and more of Christ.” 27

Good bosses

Our OMF U.S. director, Dr. Neil Thompson in his Feb 2008 newsletter gave some descriptions of a good boss.

Good bosses are good examples; they trust their people and build trust. They affirm, delegate, know their people and build synergy. They are accountable and require accountability. They see the big picture and are strategic thinkers who can articulate their mission, vision and values and inspire others to them. How else would you describe good bosses? Have you seen any lately??

 

Waiting patiently for God

Started to read Psalm 27, my Psalm for the week.   There is a tension in this Psalm that bothers me–the Psalmist proclaiming the protection and refuge we find when in Yahweh despite attacks from our enemy and evil. Yet, there is the reality of evil that must be faced.  I spent some time meditating on verse 14 which I think will provide the answer to this dilemna.  You might try putting this to a simple melody for your meditation–it helps.  Psalm 27:14 in New Living

Wait patiently for Him

Be brave and courageous

Yes, Wait patiently for Him 

Pain and hope within the church

Read these words from Carlo Carretto this morning and they sound familiar, I have heard them many times–there is deep pain and yet hope in the church–the living organism, not the functional, monolithic structure.

How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you!

How you have made me suffer and yet how much I owe you!

I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence.

You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand sanctity.

I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, adn I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful.  How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face, and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms.

No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, although not completely.

And where should I go?

From The God Who Comes by Carlo Caretto

Control and poverty

Just read Richard Rohr’s meditation for today. He has been looking at the temptations of Christ. He writes, “After the need to be successful and the need to think well of the self, the third human addiction is the need for control or power. Simply put, the third temptation is the need to be in control, to be aligned with power and money.”

“The three temptations that Jesus faces, in a certain sense, all become one: the addictive system, the great lie, the untouchable mythology, “the sin of the world” (John 1:29) that must be unmasked and dethroned. And I know nothing strong enough to break the mythology—not ideology, not liberalism, not conservatism—except the upside-down gospel of Jesus. You must refound your life on a new foundation, the foundation of your experienced union with God.”

Just came out of a theological forum on “The Church and Poverty in Asia,” sponsored by Asian Theological Seminary and power and control were discussed as well. One forum I attended was given by two of my former students, “A front-line view on the effects of principalities and powers among street-level peripheral communities.” Beth and Edna identified 4 principalities and powers that they had personally encountered and provided corresponding stories.  Very challenging!

1. Spirits of abuse and misuse of authority

2. Spirit of exploitation and using economic benefits to deprive the poor of choice

3. spirit of control and domination

4. spirit of fear arising from violence, death and silence

Their conclusions:

1. Admit and name my fear regarding the poor

2. Leave my comfort zone–listen to their stories first before judging

3. Love the poor in the city (Prov 14:31)

4. Intentionally and continually engage with the poor (people will know God because of our presence with them)

5. Engage in constant reflection on our own outreach with the poor and the oppressive practices they face

6. Develop a spiritual disciplines and habits that will help us face battles in the streets.

When I asked them what disciplines would be useful, they replied, “the discipline of laughter and celebration” since you can’t take yourself too seriously and work among the poor.

Thank you ladies!!

Leadership and the inner life of a leader

This sounds like a book that I need to get–it certainly is where I am trying to invest my future.

Here is an interview with Kevin Harney about his new book, Leadership from the Inside Out.  Got this from the leadership network.

What prompted you to write this book? love leadership books, but I saw a glaring gap in one particular area of leadership development: the inner life of a leader.

I began writing this book after being profoundly struck by the reality that scores of gifted and well-trained leaders were crashing. Men and women who have read the books, been to the conferences, and learned the skills are dropping out of ministry not because of a lack of ability, but because of a problem on the inside.

This book not only helps leaders look on the inside, it gives honest commentary on the challenges that face all those who seek to offer leadership in the church.

What are some top challenges facing church leaders today? Too many leaders walk this journey alone. This was never God’s plan. When we walk in community with people who love us, God and the church, we create a place of safety on the journey. One of the reasons many leaders have fallen and can’t seem to get up is that they have not invited others on the journey with them.

The other key piece missing in leadership today is a passionate and tenacious dedication to growing our inner life. As we do this, our outer leadership becomes a reflection of a deep connection with God. It flows naturally from who we are in Christ.

Doing ministry alone, and becoming so busy that we don’t take time to nurture and examine our soul can cost us . . .

Click here if you want to read the whole article

Faith in Dean Koontz books and other fiction I have read lately

I have not been blogging too much lately but it has not been because I have not been reading or writing or thinking.  Most of my reading was for my own development or for a class.  But, I have also squeezed in some time for some fun stuff–my fiction.  At Christmas, I was given the new David Baldacci book ,  Stone Cold.  It is another camel club book and a  decent  read altho not  as good as his last one.  

When I arrived in the U.S. someone gave me a couple of Christian mystery books by Bob Larsen–they were quite dark and I am not sure why I finished them–they were a mystery about satanic ritual abuse and I would not recommend them to anyone–about 15 years old I seem to remember.  Then, over this past weekend I read a novel about the fall of Khartoum in the Sudan during the height of British control in Egypt.  Very interesting to get some historical perspective about that time period but there was a lot of sexy material that did not need to be there.  Then, why did you keep reading, you ask???

I also read my other Christmas book the newest Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas book, Brother Odd

I see that Koontz has a new Odd Thomas book coming out in May of 2008.   My wife sent me a link to an interview that National Review did with Koontz about his new book, The Darkest Evening of the Year.   Over the last two years, I may have read 10 of his books, my newest “favorite.” I like the way he depicts good and evil and I enjoyed hearing him talk about the importance of faith in his books.  As he said in the interview, I write about faith because “I think it is better to look at life as spiritual than as meaningless.  .  . I am not a horror writer but a suspense writer.  He said some of his favorite books were: One door away from heaven; Watchers (first one I read which I thought was excellent too) and Life expectancy and of course his new book.   On the website, they have the folowing quote from Koontz (taken from the interview, “the older I’ve gotten the more I’ve realized that life has purpose and meaning and deep mystery. … The older I get the more wondrous I find life to be. … I couldn’t write about life if it didn’t have that spiritual element in it. … I’m not proselytizing; I’m just saying, this is the way to look at life.”

Universe website

Got this link from a apologetics list to which I subscribe.  There is interesting variety of information on the website and it may take a few minutes to figure out what is going on.  It will certainly make you think.  As David Mendez said, “it could almost be used to teach about us and the universe.”  It works well with sound but that is not necessary.  Be sure to clink on the various objects and explore

God’s character and man’s frailty

As I was looking over Psalm 9 again this morning, two things stood out to me–God’s character and man’s frailty.  The Lord’s justice is highlighted in this Psalm–verses 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20.  And yet his mercy shines at the same time–4, 8,  9, 10,  12, 13,  and 18,  In verse 12, the New Living says, “For he who avenges murder cares for the helpless.  He does not ignore those who  cry to him for help.”  Wow, avenging murder and yet caring for the helpless at the same time.

I also noticed in verse 19-20 the gaping contrast between the nations and God.  The nations think they can defy God and yet God will cause them to tremble in fear and will remind them that they are merely human and He is God.  The verses became quite personal when I imagined that the dialogue was between Christian leaders and God!  What a relief it is to let God be God!