One Plus One

There’s lots of talk about the need for community, family, connection, comrades, etc. For all our talking, it seems we do very little to make our need a reality. It is not that we don’t want these things, in fact, we not only want them, we desire them more deeply than just about anything. So why the difficulty? Why the hesitance? Why aren’t we better at making community and connectedness happen?

There are probably lots of reasons, but it seems the biggest reason is we desire these things from everyone, but really aren’t willing to be those things for anyone.

Call it a sign of the times or a meltdown of the American culture, or just sheer selfishness, but whatever you call it, it all adds up to utter loneliness for most of us in our overcrowded world. Sure, we want community, but no one really seems interested in living communally. We want people there for us when we are hurting, lonely, feeling down or depressed, but if someone else feels that way, we think they are needy or demanding or just plain too difficult. Life is funny.

We live in a throw away world where everyone wants permanency and consistency, but are unwilling to stay, to persevere, or to endure to make those things happen. We live in a world where parents have traded expedience of care for genuine parenting; family meal time for microwave meals on the go; sitting on the porch enjoying the evening with myspace, instant messaging, and texting.

It is no wonder there is a growing number of “hook up” sites on the net. Nearly every major internet portal has a “personals” section which allows folks to shop for friends or more, just as they would for groceries at the grocery store. Why bother with meeting and getting to know people in your real world when you can pick and choose whomever you want and have them be just the way you want them. We create pods of homogeneous people with similar interest, similar hurts, similar likes and dislikes. Funny that in our age of diversity we humans seem to be so intent on homogeneity.

What we each really need is not a village to raise us, but a person to walk with us. We need someone who will be willing to risk, to invest, to love, to encourage, to support, to rebuke and to point out where we need to grow. The Bible talks about it as it is “not good for man to alone.” God knew from the beginning that we were not created for isolation, but for community. Granted, I do think that the ultimate companion is that of a spouse, but I think when God states that “it is not good that man should be alone,” it also meant that man and woman need others in their lives to walk with them on this journey called life.

Just one person can make all the difference. We need just one person to face the challenges of life with another; just one person to join us on the journey because we know that “two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work (Eccl. 4:9).”

We don't need a new Iphone, a new web site, a new anything really. We need an old reality: we need each other. No man or woman is an island. We were created by a triune God who exists in one deity, but in community with Himself and we too have need of such genuine, authentic, enduring, community.

So the next time you find yourself utterly lonely, feeling down, or in need of someone to gently speak words of encouragement into your life, ask yourself if you are being those things for someone else… and when you do, you’ll realize that if you are having to ask that question, chances are you aren’t.

Church?

Church, a building or a people? That is a question that is asked countless times across the ages. These incredible structures we build to honor a God who is really beyond our understanding and above our ability to comprehend, yet we try.

Isn't it like man to try to make the inexplicable ordinary and comprehendable? Why is it that mystery so draws us yet demands an answer?

At the heart of almost every city we find these incredible structures called churches. In most places it seems as though the city was built around the church yet, when you look at society, you wonder if the church has had much of an influence at all. Has the church become mere monuments to men or man's meager attempts to somehow reach the heavenlies? Better yet, is it man's desire to show the Heavenlies that he too is capable of the seemingly impossible? Who really knows the answers to such questions except the Almighty Himself.

What we do know is that the one to whom the buildings were erected seems woefully missing in our adoration. It seems there are more who come to give homage to the architecture and the craftsmanship than to the One who gave the architects their gifts or the craftsman their skills. How is it we have wandered so far from our need for faith? Do we still not see a rose and wonder how such beauty, delicacy and fragrance can be wrapped up in such a magnificent display? Do we not see a baby born and marvel at the mystery of life? Is it that in our intellectual quest for knowledge and understanding we have so understood that we are bereft of the mysteries in our own world?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but what I do know is these churches built for God, are too often filled with onlookers and not followers; too often consumed with profit and woefully remiss of the prophetic; too often filled with questions of history instead of repentance of hearts so that history not repeat herself.

These churches, once the lighthouses of Truth and morality have too often become museums of antiquities that seem irrelevant to our world and our culture. No longer do many of them point the way to salvation, but instead, merely serve as markers of faith lost and landmarks of mystery forsaken.

The church needs a revival, but not in architecture or art, but in the hearts of God's people. The church needs the fervor of parishioners who are hungry for the mystery of God and desire to celebrate the majesty of the One who redeemed their souls and has given meaning to their lives. The church needs to reignite the flames of passion for loving thy neighbor as thyself, and filling the world with the message of hope, peace, goodness and righteousness. The church needs you and me to move from our lives of complacency and onto the stage of this world proclaiming the Good News of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! The church needs the declaration to all men and women that no one is beyond the reach or the touch of a loving Heavenly Father, no one.

The church needs you and me and I pray that in her hour of need we might be found faithful.

The Battle Within

Being good is never an easy task. Despite how much each of us want to be good and righteous and “holy” it seems like something we can never really attain. Even when the best of the best do what they think is right is it really? I mean do we ever do anything with a pure heart or do we do what we do so that we might gain the accolades of others, the applause of the masses or the silent approval of our inner heart and heavenly Father? And if you are doing something to get something, is there ever a truly altruistic act in man?

Aw, these are questions and thoughts I ponder daily with little or no real resolution. And honestly, on this side of heaven, I don’t think that we are capable of truly altruistic acts. Now that is not to say that we are not capable of good. I totally believe that we, as created humans made in the image of our Creator, are totally capable of doing good and even being good, but in our best we are still flawed. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked abouve all things.

I totally relate to the apostle paul in Romans 7:7-21 where he says “15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

Why is it that evil reigns in my heart when God to lives there too? Does He not cast out these evil things? Why is there such a pull to the evil? Is it that it is just so good? Is it that it is so tangible? Is it that it is so immediate? I don’t know, but maybe it is all these things. Maybe it is that for a few seconds, but do we have no memory of how miserable we are after it is said and done? Do we not remember how much it hurts us and more importantly, what is at stake each time we choose to disobey? We claim to be the most evolved creatures on the earth, but I would argue that we are very inept at our ability to see things for that they are. We risk life and limb in order to get our “fix”. It may not be that serious for everyone, but the fact is that we all seem to harbor some secret sin that we nestle near our heart and hold on to with the grip of a gymnast on a performance ring.

So what is the motivation for good? Well obviously, if you are a believer, there is a deep sense in which you know you are suppose to be good and “holy.” And though that deep feeling is motivational, it is rarely motivational enough to keep us from doing wrong for a long period of time. It works fine for a day or week or even a few months, but ultimately we’ll fail. There has to be something deeper, something more motivational. I think that in order for us to really follow God we have to do a few things:

1) We need to learn to realize that we are inherently evil. We are born in sin and in sin did our mother conceive us (Ps 51:5). As much as I want to think that I am good, I am not. God knows this and that is why we He sent us a Savior.

2) We have to submit ourselves to the Lord. That’s a great “churchy” statement, but one that really is true. We don’t like submission. We don’t like giving up control. We don’t like pain.

3) We have to discipline ourselves in every aspect of our lives, especially emotionally. We need to take a deeper look at our heart and life and ask why we are medicating our pain with this sin. Why can’t we simply bring these things to Christ? Why can’t we look honestly at ourselves and realize that we have to face the discomfort in order to allow the Healer to truly bring healing in our heart.

I want to stop the sin, stop the pain, stop the self loathing, stop the distance that all of these things cause me with my Father and with the ones that I love. I want freedom. Christ promises that it was for freedom that Christ set us free (Gal 5:1). I want it. I am sick of my sin. I am sick of my lack of discipline. I am sick of medicating my pain with food, with lack of control, with self-hatred. And unfortunately, I don’t seem to be too motivated till I hit the wall. I look in the mirror and I see the shape of my boy or the inability to even fit into the “fat clothes.” I hear people talk of God’s movement in their lives and I know of what they speak, but I haven’t experienced it personally in quite some time. I see the Word and long to hear from my Father, but am often too busy or too lazy or too something to just sit and spend time with Him. I can’t go on like that anymore. The world is too willing to accommodate my demise and I cannot allow it to happen.

I want a holistic approach to life that allows me to be me and allows God to be real and present in my life. That means that I have to acknowledge my sin, surrender my will and discipline my life not out of obligation, but out of my genuine love for God and my sincere love for myself. Its easier to hate me and simply love God but that is not his will for me at all. He wants me to love me just as much as I would love others. Its not selfish, despite how much we may have been thought that it was – it’s the way we were created to be.

There is Hope in Pain

Hurt. There seems to be no end to the amount of pain and hurt that is in the world. Sunamis, murder, war, death, abuse, pain, pain, pain. It is enough to even make the most faithful doubt.

But in the midst of it all there are glimmers of hope. This is not what God intended with his creation. And just when we are about to lose hope, you see something incredible; something that renews your mind and spirit and lets you know that despite the pain, there is good in the world.

I know a bunch of women who decided that they needed to do something to help those that were less fortunate, generational poor, single women in their community. They have decided to give of themselves and enlist others in the process to give - time, money, know-how, skills, you name it. And why? Because they love people and believe that change is possible. People like that give me hope and make me stop and think about how selfish I often am.

I know that as long as we live in this world there will always be pain and hurt. As I understand it, it is an inevitable part of our fallen world. But there is an undercurrent that exists as well; a tide of do-gooders who genuinely believe that serving is the highest order of truly loving people. They pour themselves into others and rarely think of themselves. I want to be that kind of person.

I really believe that in the midst of all the pain of our world there is silent army that is rising up, a quite flood of people who have decided to live their life for the service of others and not themselves. I hope you'll join the rising tide and make an eternal difference in our world.

The Blessings of Pain

We live in a rather gratuitous world. No matter what takes place in our lives we seem to have some way to alleviate the pain and discomfort those things might bring to us. But does that really help us in being better people? I think not.

Though no one, myself included, enjoys pain and difficulties in life, I really do believe it is through pain and suffering that most of humanity really grasp the depths of what it is to truly be human in the highest form. If you read the biographies of world changers you will find they are generally people who have suffered much and, in that suffering, come to a deeper, more profound understanding of life, mercy, hope, happiness and grace. It is through the absence of things that we discover the real primacy of life - those things which really matter.

I am convinced that it is through suffering that we truly get to know the heart of God for it is in those moments of suffering that we are most likely to reach out to Him, depend on Him and seek Him with utter abandon.

I am also convinced that through the crucible of these difficulties that God refines and hones our lives to be more like Him. It is like the lump of coal buried deep in the bowels of the earth. It is ugly, not terribly useful and lacking the beauty and luster to allow it adorn the hand or neck of someone. However, if that same piece of coal is put under extreme pressure, under the "trials of life" if you will, that it becomes a beautiful diamond. In that process I am sure that the coal thinks that it is going to die. Thousands upon thousands of pounds of pressure seem almost unbearable, but it is not. God knows what He is doing and at just the right moment the coal, once black and non-reflective, is transformed into something that it never imagined it could be -- a diamond -- and with the ability to reflect and refract light!

I can't help but think that this is how God has intended our lives as well. We will experience difficulties if we live in this sinful world, there is no doubt about it. However, if we are faithful, if we allow the Father to transform our lives through the difficulties and hardships, we will emerge something more precious than we could have imagined and something that can reflect all the radiance of the One who created us.

... So don't fight the pain and hardships of this world as they are indeed par for the course. Instead, embrace them as a refining process that allows you to reflect the One who has created you and promises to never leave you or forsake you. Don't waste the pain. He certainly didn't and because He didn't we now have life and have it more abundantly.

The Impact of One

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound? Aw yes, this is question men have pondered for the ages, but today it found resolution in my heart. It indeed does make a sound and though we may never know of the impact it has made the evidences of its actions are felt throughout the land.

A funeral was the setting of this revelation. She was a Godly woman, full of feisty quips and a contagious laugh. She was small in stature but huge in heart. She lived as though every child in the world was her son or daughter and she loved each one as only a mother could.

For almost twenty-eight years she served as a Minister of Preschool Children at a large Protestant Church. Three generations of children had come through her Bible Studies, Vacation Bible Schools, Mission Education programs, and Childcare Development Center. She was oft times the first one to tell them about the Jesus she had grown to love and serve so selflessly.

As I looked around, the church was packed with people she had touched in one way or another. Hundreds and hundreds of people sat with tear-filled eyes as they listened to commentary on an extraordinary, but yet ordinary, little Texas lady.

During her life I wonder if she pondered the influence she had on the lives of so many? I think she probably didn’t; not because it wasn’t important, but she simply wasn’t one to think much about herself or her needs. She was a servant of the first order and did it all with the dignity and quietness of a true saint. She tirelessly cared for an ailing husband and an aging mother while constantly expanding her ministry to preschool children at her church.

As I listened to the accolades of those who knew her and worked with her, I couldn’t help but think how indeed temporary this world really is. This is NOT our home. I couldn’t help but be just a bit jealous about where she is and what she is experiencing in the presence of God.

But it also made me stop and think about my life; my living. What would anyone say about me? Could they say about me what they said about her? Could they give testimony to my selfless dedication to anything? Were there enough people who really knew me to be ale to speak honestly of my heart and my life? Such selfish questions in the midst of such horrific tragedy – I guess it shows the wickedness of my own heart.

I was moved to tears not because I doubt where she is at this very moment, but for the beacon of light she was each and every day as she carried out her life and her work with passion and purpose. The world is a little darker without her presence

She didn’t have any newspaper reporters taking pictures or getting interviews with the people that attended. There will be no fanfare at her burial or dedications and/or declarations at City Hall. She was a quiet servant who often times went unnoticed by most unless they happen to have a preschool child. But her lack of notoriety did not diminish the depth of her investment in the lives of people. She made an impact and that impact will not quickly be forgotten.

It is an honor to take part in a memorial service for one so very special, but it is an even greater honor to see the impact that she has made in the lives and hearts of so very many.

So today a very small tree with a giant canopy fell and there were a few to hear it. But when it fell, its branches were so wide and its roots so outstretched that there were very few in all the forest that did not feel the bush of its wind in falling or the tug of moving roots beneath their feet. Everyone was effected and everyone seemed to be touched. One small tree made a very big difference.

What a tribute to a life well lived and even better invested.

The power of One. In a day when big crowds and large venues are the norm, when everyone is counting numbers and bigger is always better, there is a resounding cry from one little lady who lived her life dedicated to making an impact on ONE little baby at a time. Our Heavenly Father can't help but smile and say "enter in to your place of rest; well done!" as he points to a sea of of people touched by a woman one person at a time.

May we never forget the lesson of reaching, touching, helping, caring, educating, sharing, and loving just ONE.

Choices to Serve

The news and political operatives are buzzing with ideas and thoughts about what we ought to do in the election. Bush vs. Kerry. Who will be president? The two seem quite different, yet when you really listen, they often sound very alike.

I'm glad I live in a land that allows choice and I am glad I am an American who does not take that choice for granted. I've already walked into the polls and done my voting. I've participated in this great experiment called democracy and I am praying that when the election is all said and done that it will truly be all said and done. It seems as though the days of a gracious loser are long behind us. Already each side has gathered their lawyers and lobby groups to protest the results no matter their outcome. How sad. Why can't we just vote, live with the vote, and know that the person with the most votes (either public or electoral college or both) won the race.

But elections are not the only thing we have to make choices about these days. Each day we have to make tons of choices that radically effect our lives and those around us. Will this day be a day we choose to walk in obedience to a Higher Calling or will it be a day that we choose some lower voice, some lesser way; one that pleases the flesh and fulfills the moment, but leaves us empty and longing for more of something?

The Bible seems to understand the dilemma that we face with our choices. It says that we are to choose today whom we shall serve? That is question that strikes at the heart. Who will we serve today? That's not quite the "American" way to think about life - serving, but it is the kind of life that radically changes the world we live in. Just think what our world would be like if everyone today went out to work or school or to whatever they were going to do and simply served. They didn't think about how much money they could make, who would notice their work, how much power or influence they could wield, but simply served the needs of those around them? What a different day this day would be.

Jesus seemed to live out that kind of servant life. He asks us to "follow" and I can't help but think that that following involves serious serving. If we take it as serious as He did, it is serving humanity even at the expense of our own life. Indeed, "greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friend."

... An army of servants - what a seemingly powerless but truly powerful group. That is a choice I want to make today and everyday! I want to serve.