I want to know them

I have been listening to some Shane Claiborne (<--short vimeo clip about him) podcasts recently and this quote is from a lecture he gave at Fuller Theological Seminary. It rocked my world.

He said, "I asked participants who claimed to be "strong followers of Jesus" whether Jesus spent time with the poor.  Nearly 80% said yes. Later in the survey, I sneaked in another question.  I asked this same group of strong followers whether... they spent time with the poor, and less than 2% said they did. I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy of the church is not that 'rich Christians' do not care about the poor but that 'rich' Christians do not know the poor."

That leaves me with 2 things, questions to be exact...
who are the 'poor' in my world? and what does it mean to know them?

Of course the materially poor are easy to spot.  I observe them nearly every day scrounging to find coffee money and wondering if they'll make it til their check comes next week.  But what about the poor in spirit.  I see many more of these folks and my heart aches.  The fixer in me wants to fix their lives but reality is that they need an encounter with the Father's love.  And yet Jesus says, "blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" so there's an 'up side' to being poor in spirit.  I think the key is realizing it and holding your hand out for a touch from Him.

Knowing the poor is much more difficult than simply recognizing and noticing them.  It takes me a step further and it calls me to be a part of their life in some way.  This is where the rubber meets the road and it's gets messy.  Hardly ever do I allow myself to be inconvenienced too much.  I think about Jesus and what his day looked like as he walked this earth.  Probably interruption after interruption.  Outside of his time with the Father, his day, his life was not his own.  HE LET PEOPLE WEAR HIM OUT!  Don't you think so?  But that's the nature of poverty-- need.

Lord, let my eyes be open to the poor (in material things and spirit) and help me to lay my life down in order to really know them. 

Headcoverings

Just the thought of them makes me laugh.  I really don't know why.  I guess because I think about ladies who think they need to wear them in church to be holy or pray or something.  We visted a church back in the day and I saw them with my very own eyes.  Kinda made me chuckle and secretly want to roll my eyes.

But today, another type of headcovering tickled my funnybone.  Oh, it's been an ongoing thing for me.  You see, at the pool I've tried to train my eyes to not look at... well, men.  For obvious and various reasons this isn't prudent for me.  So mostly I just do my laps and chat with my bud upon occasion.  This morning the headcovering swim caps were in full bloom as spring is obviously just around the corner.  (not that it feels like it or anything)

So first there were the matching turban-like ones, elderly husband and wife.  It's been awhile since I've seen these folks but I want to say that they are baby blue and resemble one of those old-school ice packs that the school nurse put on your head.  Or maybe like Dumb Donald's hat from the Fat Albert show.  This cute couple sports theirs like a rock star but I'll betcha they call theirs a 'bathing cap'.  No shame, I tell ya.

I observed another matching set today.  Just red, bright red.  See you from the other side of the pool, red.  Another elderly lady wore hers and her helper had the same.  Maybe it was so you could see 'em comin.  Well they did have their own lane but just in case.

Then there was the lady that just brought her shower cap, I think.  It was white with simple flowers.  Functionality was her aim.  Oh, and I can't forget the dude that just wore his rug... IN THE SWIMMING POOL.  Who was he kidding?  Guess he wasn't going under although the temptation crossed my mind.  But he would've lost his glasses.

And finally, there were the cool kids.  Theirs were multicolored and simple.  Guess it makes them swim faster.

Early on, my bud and I, discussed whether we should have a pool head covering.  We decided that we didn't want to swim that fast.  and I wasn't wearin nose clips either.



SOPs?

So tonight I came home and just wanted to relax a bit, drink a beer, and go to bed early.  But I have some pretty strong emotions over tonight's happenings.  I didn't really want my first post back to be negative so I'll try and... well, you know....

Coming from 'corporate America' and having left a job where there were norms, I find it difficult sometimes when I encounter life outside of them.  Some might call them SOPs or standard operating procedures.  Such things as kindness and consideration of other's feelings, avoiding demeaning or argumentatives tones, etc. etc. are just a few things that come to mind when I think about how we treated each other back in cube life.  It wasn't even the 'Christian way' but moreso the human way.

So what I encountered tonight, within the walls of the church, made my heart sick.  And what is more-- the fact that we/I let it go on and on.  Supposedly "it's been dealt with" and I say well obviously "it" hasn't because "it" is still continuing.  If this was happening in a secular workplace, the person would have long been fired.  But is that the answer?  To release them from their service?  We are called to love and so that means we care about this person's life more than we care about the damage they are doing (to others) and to the team as a whole?

Wow, what a tightrope!

If at first you don't suceed... try, try again

After receiving some encouragement from a friend, I'm going to try and resurrect this blog and use it as a fun way to share some thoughts and stories. So stay tuned.

One of my new favorite things...

the power of an encounter

 

What does it take to impact a life so much
that one would change the course of their life forever?
A God encounter.

I was just thinking the other day....God encounters are so much more than simply a physical manifestation; they are intimate and powerful. When you live your live out of 'function' without an encounter, all you are left with is religion--dead, powerless religion. Lord, save us from it.

I'm also realizing that the reality of an encounter with the Lord often proves to be more difficult than at first thought. From the beginning of the Bible to the end, the ppl who have God encounters can tell you-- they change your life. I'm so hungry for the same. Also....a God encounter defines who you are.

I am challenged by Abraham. What kind of God encounter did he have that caused him to take his whole family and begin to wander into the unknown? His simple act of obedience was the seed of a nation that would change the world. But his obedience was birthed from a God encounter. It swept him up and captured his heart and moved him into something that lasted more than a moment-- he believed. He believed that there was something greater than him, something greater than now, and he wanted to lay hold of it and invest in it.

Remember Moses with the fiery bush, David as he played his harp and before he led his armies, Job in the midst of the storms of life, Isaiah as he produced a life-altering revelation, the disciples as they left all that they knew to simply follow Jesus, Saul on the road to Damascus, and Peter when he declared that Jesus was the Christ.

Again, a God encounter defines who we are. I pray for more of them for myself and also for you! Come, Lord Jesus.

Getting there is half the fun... (Day 1)

Many of you have already heard, but many still have asked about my trip up north and how it went. I wish I could say all was smooth sailing... I think Steve Sargent hit the nail on the head when he said, "this adventure will be more difficult than you anticipated yet much better than you anticipated." So I've had the "more difficult" already and so now looking forward to the "much better".

Note to self... things always take longer than you expect. Due to selling my car the day before and just taking an excruciating amount of time to haul stuff to goodwill, the trash, and finally pack the smallest amount possible... I left a day later. This was a hard decision because I'm all about making the plan and working the plan but couldn't hop in a car and drive 12hrs after being up all night.

I left beloved Indy Saturday morning with cat in tow and joyful heart, ready to embark on all God has for me. It's a wonderful place to feel and know that you are in the center of His will for your life. So secure, so safe. The Lord really gave me the opportunity to truly decide if that's lip service or I really believe that in my core. Just a few miles west of the IN/IL border a van just a bit ahead of me and in the other lane lost control and swerved in my lane. Of course my first reaction was to break and try and get out of his way which really only made matters worse. We hit each other and both went into the median. He stopped there but I went through it into uncoming traffic and hit another car coming from the other direction causing him to flip. It all happened within seconds, of course, and so I sat there, air bag activated, trying to "get a grip" on what had just happened. Of course I was concerned about my cat's well-being as well. Avis sent a new rental, my parents traveled from Indy and helped me transfer my stuff, and I was back on the road by about 2:30pm. No lie, it was a challenge to not get discouraged. I was minding my own business (in my own lane) and driving carefully on the very slick road. Can't other people drive? what the heck?

But the Lord is faithful. He brought a measure of peace to my stressed out soul and I felt His nearness with me in increased measure. I'm so thankful for so many of you that prayed for me, especially on Saturday. Your calls and text messages were so encouraging. I don't know that I've ever felt the intense prayers of family and friends like I did on Saturday. It was incredible.

More to come... (it gets better).