We got a kingdom update on the back road last night (5-21-10). Enjoying time away to celebrate our anniversary in Steamboat, we went to the hot tub. Just as we arrived and settled in, we saw a young boy and girl heading over, obviously prepared to join us. Bummer! They arrived with their mom and we started some idle chatter.
We found out that they attend a church in Denver that we pass by every time we come to Steamboat. Also, there was one daughter who was not with them on this trip. She had just arrived home from a missions trip to Ecuador and was too tired to be dragged away for the weekend. I think they had gone to Chinquil, Ecuador. They helped with some VBS ministry and raised about $1000 to give to a family to build a new home. One thousand dollars goes a long way considering they live in a hut with paper walls.
It felt like we were each just passing by and sharing a few stories of Jesus as we rested in our journeys. It is strangely and deeply comforting to hear first-hand how God is moving in another person's life. We discovered a family here who is precious to Jesus. He is moving in each of them. This daughter had an incredible hands-on time watching Jesus at work in Ecuador and that spilled over to her family. We just got splashed with a bit as well.
The Kingdom is advancing, it cannot be stopped!
As I was writing about this experience I heard Jesus say “Make a big deal out of this David.” My mind responds “What's the big deal? Fifteen minutes of chatter in a hot tub?” I've heard about mission trips before. I've met christian families before. But this time God stopped me and impressed on me that EVERY time I meet a Christian family, and EVERY time I hear about a mission trip, I ought to make a big deal about it.
I was given a picture of our encounter and it wasn't meaningless chit chat in a hot tub. It was two sentries behind the battle lines meeting and sharing stories from the front. Whether we were between assignments, carrying a message to another Captain or bringing fresh supplies to another area of the battle, this meeting was important. And every time we pass their church we will be reminded to pray for the family that God made to cross our path. We will pray for them to be bold in their faith, for that 15 year old to remember how God moved in and through her in Ecuador, for the other teens on that trip and we will be refreshed by remembering that God is on the move. I got a notion and I don't have any particular Biblical reference to back this up, but I got a notion that Satan will be utterly confused at where the help for this family is coming from. His Kingdom is advancing forcefully.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Jesus on the way...
How important is it that I arrive on time? I know, if I have an appointment or meeting that I need to respect the other parties involved and get there on time, but what about when we leave on vacations? Why am I still uptight about schedules then? It's as if vacation doesn't start until we get there. The packing, the driving, the stopping for potty breaks don't count as vacation.
Unfortunately this kind of thinking also removes my ability to rest on a daily basis. I get up in the morning, gotta get to the gym, gotta get to the office, gotta get that next marketing plan done, or in place, gotta make phone calls, gotta... The end of the day comes and I have been caught in the whirlwind of activity with no focus or purpose and without my awareness of Jesus. It's like driving on the interstate looking for my destination and unable to enjoy the journey. Amazing sunrises, mountains, rivers, forests and quirky people, even Jesus Himself might be seen all around on the journey, but I've missed it.
If Jesus is found on the back roads, it is because He is less concerned with my timely arrival than He is with enjoying the journey with me. He enjoys the scenic route. He wants to amaze and inspire in the quiet little sleepy towns found there. He is not a program to be implemented but a person to relate with. I'm finding He is far less concerned with my “doing” than He is with my “being”. I've found He is far less concerned with my “arrival” than with my “journey”.
So, I rest easy in the imperfection of the now. Yet I know that He is with me and that is enough.
Unfortunately this kind of thinking also removes my ability to rest on a daily basis. I get up in the morning, gotta get to the gym, gotta get to the office, gotta get that next marketing plan done, or in place, gotta make phone calls, gotta... The end of the day comes and I have been caught in the whirlwind of activity with no focus or purpose and without my awareness of Jesus. It's like driving on the interstate looking for my destination and unable to enjoy the journey. Amazing sunrises, mountains, rivers, forests and quirky people, even Jesus Himself might be seen all around on the journey, but I've missed it.
If Jesus is found on the back roads, it is because He is less concerned with my timely arrival than He is with enjoying the journey with me. He enjoys the scenic route. He wants to amaze and inspire in the quiet little sleepy towns found there. He is not a program to be implemented but a person to relate with. I'm finding He is far less concerned with my “doing” than He is with my “being”. I've found He is far less concerned with my “arrival” than with my “journey”.
So, I rest easy in the imperfection of the now. Yet I know that He is with me and that is enough.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Remembering My Journey on the Back Road
One of my mentors posted a quote on his blog from Thomas Merton. Alan Fadling spoke of his own perfectionism as a place of ongoing recovery. I've often used the words of Jack Miller to describe my own similar path – “My name is Dave and I am a recovering Pharisee.” Here's his quote:
“All in all, we suffer from the disease of perfectionism, which is the biggest obstacle to true perfection because it dries up the interior spirit, kills real faith, makes us concentrate on ourselves instead of Jesus, puts a “false Jesus” in our hearts instead of the real Jesus Who is a Savior. He is not waiting for us to become angels before He starts to love us. He loves us because we are imperfect, not because we are good but because He is good…. Most of them believe this only in theory. They are obsessed with their own miserable little “perfection” and “imperfection.”.” (Thomas Merton. The School of Charity. Selected and edited by Brother Patrick Hart. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1990, p. 58.)
This disease, as Merton puts it, is insidious in it's permeation of my soul. It creates a pattern that leads me consistently away from Christ and His very real righteousness given to me. The pattern has looked something like this through the years:
First I come to Jesus, it is refreshing and new and I feel the healing down to my toes. It's as though my strong Father, the hero of my story has come along side me, placed His hand on my shoulder and said “It's going to be alright David, I Am here.” Those simple words crush the heart of stone and create a new heart of flesh that He takes in His hands and molds into the likeness of His own.
But the stoney heart soon attempts to retake its throne. It doesn't attempt to come against the power of heaven. That would be fruitless. Instead it seeks agreement in the new life, with a slight tweak. It says something like “Yes, this is good, a good place to be. I like this, I can work with this. Thank you Jesus, I'll take it from here. I just needed a clean slate, a spiritual bankruptcy so to speak. Now You've empowered me to live life. I have Your instruction booklet, I'll learn it. And look at these people around you, what are the spiritual ones doing? They go to church? I can go to church. They don't smoke? I can do that. They don't swear? I can stop doing that.”
And so it begins to slowly, one degree at a time, inch my heart back into itself. Instead of living under the grace that was freely given and freely received in the beginning, I begin to feel as though I've earned just a little bit of it. Instead of giving all the praise to Jesus and extolling Him alone for any victory in my life, I begin to say “Thanks for the help Jesus, I appreciate it. Call you later.”
But then I was struck by the words of Jack Miller who said “Cheer up, you're worse than you think.” And Martin Luther who said “We must learn to repent even of our good works.” Suddenly I realize that I have not had to give a reason to anyone for the joy that is in me because there has been no joy within me. The Gospel had become a list of tasks with no life in them. I was always striving to find the joy Jesus promised and always frustrated that it just kept feeling like work with no payoff. And so, the realization that my sin was even deeper than I thought was a blessing. I could go back to the beginning, back to the joy that I had at first, back to Jesus.
My Pharisee heart had to be crushed by the law the way the Pharisees were crushed by the law in Matthew 24. I needed to realize that the story of the two sons in Luke 15 was about me. It's not about the younger brother at all. The younger brother is only there to show the magnificent grace of the Father to the elder brother. The story is about the elder brother and whether or not he will come and join the party. Yes, Jesus was calling the Pharisees to join in the party and rejoice over their younger “prodigal” brothers.
When I read that story and found myself sympathizing with the elder brother and thinking that Jesus was wrong, I realized that something was incredibly out of whack in my heart. If Jesus was calling me to join the party, why was I sitting outside sulking? If Jesus was declaring me righteous enough to come in and celebrate and saying that “all that I have has always been yours” then why did I operate as though I were a poor broken sinner?
Today I'm seeing more and deeper healing in my heart. It's not a healing that leads me back into the Law but deeper into the Gospel. My life, more and more is being marked by God's grace. I see Him offering me all that is His. It's amazing.
I heard the words of this song really for the first time this morning:
No guilt of life, no fear of death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand
In His Grip,
Dave
“All in all, we suffer from the disease of perfectionism, which is the biggest obstacle to true perfection because it dries up the interior spirit, kills real faith, makes us concentrate on ourselves instead of Jesus, puts a “false Jesus” in our hearts instead of the real Jesus Who is a Savior. He is not waiting for us to become angels before He starts to love us. He loves us because we are imperfect, not because we are good but because He is good…. Most of them believe this only in theory. They are obsessed with their own miserable little “perfection” and “imperfection.”.” (Thomas Merton. The School of Charity. Selected and edited by Brother Patrick Hart. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1990, p. 58.)
This disease, as Merton puts it, is insidious in it's permeation of my soul. It creates a pattern that leads me consistently away from Christ and His very real righteousness given to me. The pattern has looked something like this through the years:
First I come to Jesus, it is refreshing and new and I feel the healing down to my toes. It's as though my strong Father, the hero of my story has come along side me, placed His hand on my shoulder and said “It's going to be alright David, I Am here.” Those simple words crush the heart of stone and create a new heart of flesh that He takes in His hands and molds into the likeness of His own.
But the stoney heart soon attempts to retake its throne. It doesn't attempt to come against the power of heaven. That would be fruitless. Instead it seeks agreement in the new life, with a slight tweak. It says something like “Yes, this is good, a good place to be. I like this, I can work with this. Thank you Jesus, I'll take it from here. I just needed a clean slate, a spiritual bankruptcy so to speak. Now You've empowered me to live life. I have Your instruction booklet, I'll learn it. And look at these people around you, what are the spiritual ones doing? They go to church? I can go to church. They don't smoke? I can do that. They don't swear? I can stop doing that.”
And so it begins to slowly, one degree at a time, inch my heart back into itself. Instead of living under the grace that was freely given and freely received in the beginning, I begin to feel as though I've earned just a little bit of it. Instead of giving all the praise to Jesus and extolling Him alone for any victory in my life, I begin to say “Thanks for the help Jesus, I appreciate it. Call you later.”
But then I was struck by the words of Jack Miller who said “Cheer up, you're worse than you think.” And Martin Luther who said “We must learn to repent even of our good works.” Suddenly I realize that I have not had to give a reason to anyone for the joy that is in me because there has been no joy within me. The Gospel had become a list of tasks with no life in them. I was always striving to find the joy Jesus promised and always frustrated that it just kept feeling like work with no payoff. And so, the realization that my sin was even deeper than I thought was a blessing. I could go back to the beginning, back to the joy that I had at first, back to Jesus.
My Pharisee heart had to be crushed by the law the way the Pharisees were crushed by the law in Matthew 24. I needed to realize that the story of the two sons in Luke 15 was about me. It's not about the younger brother at all. The younger brother is only there to show the magnificent grace of the Father to the elder brother. The story is about the elder brother and whether or not he will come and join the party. Yes, Jesus was calling the Pharisees to join in the party and rejoice over their younger “prodigal” brothers.
When I read that story and found myself sympathizing with the elder brother and thinking that Jesus was wrong, I realized that something was incredibly out of whack in my heart. If Jesus was calling me to join the party, why was I sitting outside sulking? If Jesus was declaring me righteous enough to come in and celebrate and saying that “all that I have has always been yours” then why did I operate as though I were a poor broken sinner?
Today I'm seeing more and deeper healing in my heart. It's not a healing that leads me back into the Law but deeper into the Gospel. My life, more and more is being marked by God's grace. I see Him offering me all that is His. It's amazing.
I heard the words of this song really for the first time this morning:
No guilt of life, no fear of death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand
In His Grip,
Dave
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Backroad Jesus
Most of my life is currently lived inside my town of Colorado Springs. I'm raising my girls here with my beautiful wife in our little house. I work here and interact with customers and colleagues for business here. We have many friends here after 10 years of living. We worship here and meet God here. Most of my travels consist of driving the city streets over and over. They are familiar and constant. I see the same fellow travelers on my commute; the same street people; the same kids waiting for school to start. I love this town and don't mind the familiarity of its streets, but I love the back roads even more.
The back roads up in the mountains are loaded with refreshment for my soul. The further you drive, the less traveled the roads are and the more refreshing the air is. There is mystery there. Old dirt roads that disappear into a canyon, their twin tracks through grassy meadows that have almost recovered from their use. It makes my mind think of covered wagons, trappers, hunters or pioneers from 150 years ago. My imagination starts to think about what life was like for them. I'm transported to another land, another time, and I become less trapped by my day to day life. On the back roads of life's journey is where I find Jesus too.
He's mysterious. He appears as I'm driving down a familiar road like twin tracks through the dense trees. Sometimes I ignore the invitation and think “I'll check out that road another time.” But I've learned that I'm rarely able to find that particular road again. So more and more I'm open to His invitation and take every opportunity to meet with Him. I've noticed that there are many other travelers who join me from time to time on the back roads.
So, I intend to document and journal some back road experiences with Jesus. I'll talk about fellow travelers, invitations, mysterious appearances and wonderful experiences of Christ along the journey. After all, He may not always appear in the same place or in the same way twice, but He's not difficult to find... “The heavens are LOUD with the Glory of God!”
The back roads up in the mountains are loaded with refreshment for my soul. The further you drive, the less traveled the roads are and the more refreshing the air is. There is mystery there. Old dirt roads that disappear into a canyon, their twin tracks through grassy meadows that have almost recovered from their use. It makes my mind think of covered wagons, trappers, hunters or pioneers from 150 years ago. My imagination starts to think about what life was like for them. I'm transported to another land, another time, and I become less trapped by my day to day life. On the back roads of life's journey is where I find Jesus too.
He's mysterious. He appears as I'm driving down a familiar road like twin tracks through the dense trees. Sometimes I ignore the invitation and think “I'll check out that road another time.” But I've learned that I'm rarely able to find that particular road again. So more and more I'm open to His invitation and take every opportunity to meet with Him. I've noticed that there are many other travelers who join me from time to time on the back roads.
So, I intend to document and journal some back road experiences with Jesus. I'll talk about fellow travelers, invitations, mysterious appearances and wonderful experiences of Christ along the journey. After all, He may not always appear in the same place or in the same way twice, but He's not difficult to find... “The heavens are LOUD with the Glory of God!”
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