Mystery

Early in my journey I wanted, no needed answers. I would read and study a wide variety of topics from numerous authors to find answers. It was a unquenchable thirst to be right, to have answers, and to be able to win any debate that might come my way.

Lately, I’ve grown more
comfortable with mystery.

For example, the Trinity is a huge
mystery. I’ve heard great speak-
ers try to explain it by comparing it
to an egg, to water, and a whole
variety of illustrations.

The kicker for me was when a prominent author and speaker compared it to a pretzel. What??? The Triune God reduced to a Auntie Ann’s pretzel at the mall.

A few years later, I was reading St. Augustine...and was surprised when one of the most influential theologians in A.D. history didn’t even attempt to explain it, but said it was so...it’s a mystery bigger than us...that’s it.

That moment in my journey was so freeing. I didn’t have to completely understand everything about who God is and why He does what he does. He is bigger than me (us). His thoughts are beyond ours.

The arrogance that I displayed in thinking that I could read the “part” of the story that he revealed and from that make an complete and accurate statement about who He is and what He is thinking.

I’M NOT SAYING that we cannot know anything and we are doomed to just bouncing around the waves of culture hoping to catch a glimpse of God through our experiences. I AM SAYING that God has clearly revealed SOME things, and not clearly revealed other things.

I have to accept mystery. When we reduce the gospel to a bridge and the Trinity to a pretzel, then you’ve reduced God down to something that I can understand...if I can understand it all...if it isn’t beyond me to grasp God’s greatness...then He is too small.

Again...I can know what God has plainly revealed. However, I personally think it great arrogance to even begin to fathom the entirety of God’s thinking and the vastness of who He is.

In our world, I (we) so desperately desire to reduce everything to something that we can control. It’s that part of us that wants to be a little god. However, the beauty of God and his pursuit of us (for me) is that he is mysterious. He is bigger than my intellect and all of the worlds intellect put together.

So much of our Christianity is defining who God is. Is He Calvinist? Is he Armenian? Is he coming back when our charts say he will? Or is he beyond us and we are just getting the glimpses of his revelation that he thinks we might be able to handle.

lovin the church

I'm in love with the church.  Sounds crazy I know...but I'm just in love.  Can't help it!!!

I know that its not always the prettiest, sometimes it can be flat out ugly...but I still love it.

The church in its plethora of expressions represents God's FBO (Forward Base of Operations) in the world today.  It is the church (you and I) that have been commissioned to bring light into the world and to season it with Jesus' redemptive message of grace.

You may have your preferred expression...but no single expression is more important to Christ than the other.  Pretty or Ugly (all in the eye of the beholder), Christ sees each the same...His followers living out His teachings to the best of their understanding. (hopefully mature enough to change along the way)

I would agree that there are many who lose sight of the mission and the church becomes all about them, but even the stubborn hard-headed ones are part of His church...He loves them all...I'm learning to love them too. As Rick Warren tweeted the other day..."I love them but I don't LIKE them" is hypocrisy,self-delusion & violates agape. Love covers all sins Prv.10:12" So...I love the church! It's not perfect, but it is the vehicle that to which God has entrusted His message of love, grace, and forgiveness.

I love the church...even the parts that used to frustrate me and drive me nuts...growing up I suppose. ;You never know...I may be the ugly one...after all.

Tolerance...

What do you tolerate?  Well...at first glance, the list may seem rather small, but look deeper.

How about the crack in the mirror?  Or...the 3 emails in your inbox that you don't want to deal with or feel to guilty to delete?  There is always that conversation you have been avoiding.   If you pulled out a pen and a legal pad and started listing all of the little and big things you tolerate...I think you would be surprised.

The truth is that all of those little things eat at you day after day after day.  They seem harmless...they are so little and their bites don't even hurt.  However, one day you wake up stressed out of your mind realizing that a chunk of your heart, soul, and life is missing.  The number one question I get asked is, "How did this happen?"

You kept tolerating things until your boat sunk!!  That simple...you allowed to many passengers on board.

So...what can you do?  It is really simple.  Grab that pen and paper and start writing.  Keep writing...and when you wake up tomorrow write some more. When you wake up the day after tomorrow...write some more.  You need to make an exhaustive list of all of the things, people, circumstances, etc that you are tolerating in your life.

Then once you recover from the shock of seeing all the junk you've been carrying around...take a deep breath.  Now, pull out the pen...yes...once again.  Right next to each item try to identify how long it would take you to solve and/or eliminate this tolerance.  My guess is that there are some that you can just scratch out and decide not to worry about anymore.  Others can be checked off this weekend.  In the next 90 days, you could probably downsize your tolerations to a manageable few items.

If you follow these steps...you will have opened a lot of emotional real estate in your life.  All of the items on your list will not be easy and there are a few that will stay listed forever.  But, if you can cut the items you tolerate in half...you will regain chunks of life you don't even realize that you've lost.

For more information...find a Life Coach to help you walk through the process...or email me...happy "no more tolerating."

Life is...

Just the other day, I celebrated the one-year anniversary of the scariest day of my life. It was the day that I came face to face with my own mortality. When the doctor said that he was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see my children grow up or my wife grow (gracefully) old…it scared me.

The days that followed were quiet yet filled with an endless parade of nurses and doctors practicing their medicine. As I lay in the hospital, I kept waiting on that moment of clarity, the voice from heaven, or maybe even a bright light. All I got was stillness and silence.

Even though no one showed up with a cheesy “Touched by an Angel” light hovering overhead…I did see an angel. My wife, who was confronted with the possibility of raising two young men without a father, was an angel. She tirelessly cared for me, questioned the doctors, and never once showed the fear that she felt inside.

Today…all of that is over a year behind me. This past year I’ve had moments of crystal clear clarity, I’ve heard from heaven, but thankfully no bright lights. What I’ve gained is clarity because…I took time to look. I heard from heaven because…wait for it…I listened.

This is what I’ve seen and learned:

Life is simple

Taking a Sabbath is not just essential…it is necessary. (a Sabbath is not the same thing as a day off, it is a refocusing of life and long date with the Father)

My family is priceless…but they are not mine.

Today is the only day I have to invest in my kids…

Living passionately for God is the only thing of real value.

Living passionately for God with my wife and kids is the only way to have ZERO regrets.

99% of the things I get cranked up about, frustrated with, or discouraged over…DON’T matter.

Life is simple!!!

Having the ideal dream job…is more hype than substance.

Friends are important…but they don’t always stick around...

Life Is Simple…it’s about passionately serving God in whatever my circumstance…doing all that I can to love and provide for my family (even working for min. wage)…taking deep breaths and enjoying the beauty around me…walking with God or enjoying a cup of coffee with Him.

Life is simple…

The rebirth of a blog

I've waited patiently for this day for a few months. The day when foreignculture would rise out of the ashes.

Today is that day...I have some things to say...and a journey to share!