What a day yesterday was in terms of seeing God working in people's lives. I started the day tuning in to a country station in Wooster to keep up with local weather conditions. We were starting the day with freezing rain and I wanted to keep up with what I was looking at ahead. I wasn't two hundred yards down the road before I found someone off in the ditch. No one was hurt but the young man was very grateful that after 45 minutes someone finally stopped just to check and see if he was okay. Help was on the way as he had a cell phone. There was nothing I could do as it was going to take a winch to get him out. We talked for a few moments and then parted ways. I said, "God bless you," to him as I climbed in my truck. You could tell people didn't say that to him often because there was a long pause after which he said, "God bless you!."
As I traveled to Wooster ,just before I got into the office, there was a Randy Travis song that came on. "Three Wooden Crosses." Had never heard it before, but what a touching reminder that the seemingly small things we do in life can have a huge impact in exponential ways on other people's lives. A dying pastor places his worn out Bible in the hands of a hooker which leads to things that only God can accomplish. Wow!
A couple hours later I found myself sitting in on a bereavement session with one of my co-workers who is a Social Worker. We often team up. There are professional lines that they as SW's cannot cross when it comes to spiritual conversation. I can tread where they know we need to go but they are prohibited from doing so. At our agency there are several SW's willing to partner with chaplains this way and more often than not it is a very symbiotic formula benefiting the client.
The woman who she was meeting with has been in several times and I have participated in the last 3 sessions. As I walked in the room to join the session already in progress one could tell by the woman's face that there had been significant change is this woman's life. . . for the better. Her countenance spoke for her. (Countenance describes a person's facial expression in terms of revealing their emotional or spiritual state of being.) Her problems had not gone away but her perspective of them had radically changed. She was beginning to understand that losses, tragedies, conflict and challenges could not only be endured but be gloirify God when turned over to Christ. She spoke of the new levels of intimacy with God she was beginning to experience, the reading she was doing, the changes in her attitude, the positive affect it was having on her family, the overall spiritual growth she was having. We had a great session, shared some scripture. She was so eager to pray as I closed our time together.
All that was enough to give anyone an excitement about the day and things to ponder while taking inventory of the day's events but it wasn't even noon yet.
At 11:00 am I found myself again with the SW but also the hospice RN sitting in the living room of a new patient. There were a couple of small decorative crosses on shelves as I looked around the room, but the biggest object in the room that spoke about her faith was about an 18" tall wall hanging that is very familiar to many of the Christian faith as an accepted rendition of what Jesus might have looked like. As we got around to talking about her faith background, she shared how she had been brought up in a strict religious environment where guilt was a big factor and requirements to participate in many activities made the whole church scene seem more like prison than a means to know God and grow in his Love.
As we talked she eventually made a statement that she hoped she was going to get into heaven. I asked how she was going to get there and she replied she hoped she had led a good enough life to get into heaven. I paused for a moment.
l pointed to the wall hanging and asked, "Who is that to you?" she replied, "Jesus, of course."
I then asked, " what is the purpose of having Jesus in our lives if we have have to earn our way into heaven by doing enough good?"
She thought for a moment and replied, "Jesus is there to help us be good." (I thought wow, over 12 years in a very main line denomination and this is all she came away with!)
You never want to burst a person's bubble and leave them with chewing gum all over their head!. I first said, "You are absolutely right, Jesus is there to help us do good, but did you know there is more, more that will make the thought of heaven more wonderfuland easier to attain than doing good works?"
At first she had a look on her face of grave concern as though she had done something wrong or I had shared something that was suspect. What came next was so tender. Her sister in law drew to her side and said, "Let me hold your hand." Wow did they have a supportive relationship!. The sister in law obviously knew what was coming and she wanted to give her some assurance that it was okay to hear it.
First I asked, "Are you familiar with John 3:16?"
"No." she replied, but when I started to recite it she did acknowledge familiarity with it. I went on to do a little teaching about the difference between believing and doing as it relates to the promise of eternal life. Then I asked, "Can I read a few verses to you from YOUR Bible?"
This gave her great relief to see that I was going to give her more information from a source she trusted. They quickly found her neatly preserved Bible and handed it over to me. I turned to Ephesians 2 and began to read and explain as we went through the verses about being saved by grace through faith in what Christ already did for us. This lady about jumped out of her recliner! When the moment hit that she already was assured of her salvation because of her love for, belief in and submission to Jesus, you could almost see the choir of angels in the room singing the Hallelujah chorus. She had gone from guardedly hopeful to jubilantly joy filled in an instant. Oh what a releif it was for her. What a day this turned out to be! Could it get any better? (And I get paid to do this!).
I finished out the work day got home early, spent the evening quietly at home but the day was still not over. As I lay in bed preparing to fall asleep Mary did something I rarely see happen. She was channel surfing and stopped on a christian station. Usually it's a flamboyantly dressed individual running a phon-a-thon or preaching a health and wealth gospel message but tonight was different. It was Don Piper, pastor and author of "90 minute in Heaven."
We laid there and listened to his personal testimony of being clinically dead for 90 minutes and how that all played out. His faith before he died, his experience in heaven, his faith through his recovery, his being used by God to take the message to others to leave something behind a message of hope before he left this world again permanently. I pondered the connections between my "little" accident, my recovery, my ministry and his as I tried to fall asleep. I never lost consciousness during my accident and my wounds seem so minor compared to his but there was so much I could relate to in how it affects one's life and others
I had to get up. It certainly wasn't too much God for one day, I don't think I'll ever say that but it definitely was a too much to ponder, too much "Divine Conspiracy", too much "I'm talking to you, Bob," to think about as I thought through the day.
I heard the words from that song several more times before I finally went to sleep in the wee hours of the next day.
"It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It's what you leave behind you when you go."
Praise to the God of All Comfort
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Winter Solstice
Happy Winter Solstice? I mean, what do you do with that? One of my FB friends wrote that this morning and well, at first it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. This is the Christmas season! How could we have our eyes and our mind focused on anything else? Are we becoming that much of a post Christian culture?
But wait! Me thinks that makes me out to be a hypocrite for it is I just less than a week ago was a harbinger of spring to someone lamenting it was winter. It is I who look forward to the first day of spring with such anticipation and relief. It is I who start a countdown to spring right after Thanksgiving. It is I who cross off the days until that joyous 3rd week in March. In fact I now begin the celebration early – as soon as we go to daylight savings time!
How can I be so shallow in my thinking that it would be sacrilegious to say happy winter solstice? It is a season of joy for those who love winter! My errant thinking assumes that someone else might observe it as a celebration of some weather god or goddess.
I never look forward to the first day of spring as the celebration of a pagan festival. Nay! I look forward to it with assurance that the God who created the universe and who created me will usher in the seasons with such punctuality, such predictability, such dependability!
If we therefore can look at the seasons and the cycles of the moon and sun not as something to be worshipped themselves but as evidence that glorifies the One who created them, what more reason to celebrate their arrival!
It is we, mankind, who chose Dec 25 to plunk down as a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. How can we hold in contempt an act that Christ himself ordained as part of creation?
Let us celebrate even more the Word which created it all; the Word that became flesh through the birth of Jesus Christ! Happy winter solstice, happy summer solstice, happy autumnal equinox, happy vernal equinox all in the name of the One who created them!
MSG © Deu 4:19 And also carefully guard yourselves so that you don't look up into the skies and see the sun and moon and stars, all the constellations of the skies, and be seduced into worshiping and serving them. GOD set them out for everybody's benefit, everywhere.
John chapter 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The Word 4 was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc--ZYUyE2M
But wait! Me thinks that makes me out to be a hypocrite for it is I just less than a week ago was a harbinger of spring to someone lamenting it was winter. It is I who look forward to the first day of spring with such anticipation and relief. It is I who start a countdown to spring right after Thanksgiving. It is I who cross off the days until that joyous 3rd week in March. In fact I now begin the celebration early – as soon as we go to daylight savings time!
How can I be so shallow in my thinking that it would be sacrilegious to say happy winter solstice? It is a season of joy for those who love winter! My errant thinking assumes that someone else might observe it as a celebration of some weather god or goddess.
I never look forward to the first day of spring as the celebration of a pagan festival. Nay! I look forward to it with assurance that the God who created the universe and who created me will usher in the seasons with such punctuality, such predictability, such dependability!
If we therefore can look at the seasons and the cycles of the moon and sun not as something to be worshipped themselves but as evidence that glorifies the One who created them, what more reason to celebrate their arrival!
It is we, mankind, who chose Dec 25 to plunk down as a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. How can we hold in contempt an act that Christ himself ordained as part of creation?
Let us celebrate even more the Word which created it all; the Word that became flesh through the birth of Jesus Christ! Happy winter solstice, happy summer solstice, happy autumnal equinox, happy vernal equinox all in the name of the One who created them!
MSG © Deu 4:19 And also carefully guard yourselves so that you don't look up into the skies and see the sun and moon and stars, all the constellations of the skies, and be seduced into worshiping and serving them. GOD set them out for everybody's benefit, everywhere.
John chapter 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The Word 4 was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc--ZYUyE2M
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Looking for the Mars Hill moments
Yesterday I was talking to a man that I knew was going to have a tough time, “letting me on to his ranch” emotionally so to speak. I did my customary ice-breaker questions with him and when the timing seemed right I asked if he had any doubts,fears, or unanswered questions that were of a spiritual nature.
Doubts? None. Fears? None. Curiosity? Yes!! ”When does God have time to take care of Himself?” Some folks might brush that off as a childish theologically underdeveloped misunderstanding of who God is. However, when a person is facing their own death in a matter of weeks or less and they can ask you a question like this, it is indeed an indicator that God and eternity are on their mind!
For me, it was also a door opener to build a rapport with this man. I saw wrapped up in his question, a genuine sincere appreciation for the wonder and complexity of God’s creation: his acknowledgement of an Intelligent Designer, a Divine Creator, a power much greater than himself.
Don’t miss this: while all other indicators observed might point to a life of irreverence, his question was flowing from his reverence for God. I acknowledged it as such and from that point on you could see the wall coming down and a bridge of trust beginning to be developed.
It wasn’t long before he was sharing he grew up in a mainline protestant denomination and how church had become irrelevant and a turnoff to him over the years. I don’t try to preach in these situations, I mostly listen. Eventually he went on to mention the word Jesus in a respectful manner!
Listening in an attentively without coming across like you are going to correct or admonish everything that is said goes a long way in building a relationship wherein you can share God’s truth . . . eventually.
At the end of the visit I asked for permission to pray for this man. He surprisingly let me. Do you have any idea how much information you can share in a prayer? It is there you can remind them of God’s forgiveness of sins, his sacrificial love through Christ, the concept of unconditional grace, and their potential to be a child of God without earning it rather just by asking. There were tears in the room when we we’re done.
We have to look for the Mars Hill moments in life! (Mars Hill is the location of the Areopagus where Paul preached in Athens in Acts chapter 17) These moments are found when someone else creates a touch point with the living God giving you an opportunity to continue on in a conversation about the truth of who God is in a relevant respectful manner. That to me is God’s invitation to join Him in the work that is already being done in this person’s spirit.
Acts 17:23:b –26 “Now what you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth ” 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]
Doubts? None. Fears? None. Curiosity? Yes!! ”When does God have time to take care of Himself?” Some folks might brush that off as a childish theologically underdeveloped misunderstanding of who God is. However, when a person is facing their own death in a matter of weeks or less and they can ask you a question like this, it is indeed an indicator that God and eternity are on their mind!
For me, it was also a door opener to build a rapport with this man. I saw wrapped up in his question, a genuine sincere appreciation for the wonder and complexity of God’s creation: his acknowledgement of an Intelligent Designer, a Divine Creator, a power much greater than himself.
Don’t miss this: while all other indicators observed might point to a life of irreverence, his question was flowing from his reverence for God. I acknowledged it as such and from that point on you could see the wall coming down and a bridge of trust beginning to be developed.
It wasn’t long before he was sharing he grew up in a mainline protestant denomination and how church had become irrelevant and a turnoff to him over the years. I don’t try to preach in these situations, I mostly listen. Eventually he went on to mention the word Jesus in a respectful manner!
Listening in an attentively without coming across like you are going to correct or admonish everything that is said goes a long way in building a relationship wherein you can share God’s truth . . . eventually.
At the end of the visit I asked for permission to pray for this man. He surprisingly let me. Do you have any idea how much information you can share in a prayer? It is there you can remind them of God’s forgiveness of sins, his sacrificial love through Christ, the concept of unconditional grace, and their potential to be a child of God without earning it rather just by asking. There were tears in the room when we we’re done.
We have to look for the Mars Hill moments in life! (Mars Hill is the location of the Areopagus where Paul preached in Athens in Acts chapter 17) These moments are found when someone else creates a touch point with the living God giving you an opportunity to continue on in a conversation about the truth of who God is in a relevant respectful manner. That to me is God’s invitation to join Him in the work that is already being done in this person’s spirit.
Acts 17:23:b –26 “Now what you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth ” 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
that all important "membership"
Church
What does it mean to “attend a church”? Be a “member”? When you have the privilege like I do to ask people about their faith history it leads to some interesting data. I have learned that just because a person belongs to a Christian church doesn’t always mean they know what it means to be a Christian. If some one told you they were Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Brethren, Methodist or Presbyterian et cetera, wouldn’t you assume they meant they were telling you they were a Christian? I can tell you from my experiences that it is not always the case!
I get some pretty amusing comments sometimes. Here are some statements all made by people who identified themselves as being “members” of a church.
“All that preacher wanted to do was talk about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! I got tired of it!”
(As Tim the Tool Man Taylor used to say, “Eeehhh?”)
“I believe there is a God and I hope I’ve been good enough to go to heaven someday.”
(And that would be a Christian belief because. . . . ?)
And here is one I got today. In responding to a question, “what brings peace into your life?” the individual gave a good 20 seconds of deafening silent thought and then said to me, “I don’t know! What gives you peace?” Bravo! First person to throw the question back at me! (Yes I was ready and I had an answer.), but sadly, “the Christian” didn’t know what could give them peace in their life! Are you picking up what I’m laying down?
What is “the church” doing these days or more specifically in the last 100+ years or so to instruct its inhabitants on the basics of Christianity? How can people be “members” of a church for decades and at the end of their life only have a shaky fear-filled “hope so” about whether there is a God, what Jesus was able to accomplish, or if there is a heaven and whether they can purchase a ticket to get in?
In the Book of James there is a verse that says “you do not have because you do not ask.” I’m thinking a lot of folks “have no hope because they do not know!” The church of the Kingdom of God/Heaven is responsible for conveying the gospel: the life transforming facts about the atoning redemptive work of Christ on our behalf.
Yet as Mike Erre frames it in his book, Death by Church, we all to often see, not the church of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the kingdom of the church: a cultural saturated entity existing for its own glory and purpose. A place where members receive benefits and are served. A place where commitment and accountability are marginally optional. A place where discipleship is for those “fanatics.” A place where discipline never takes place so as not to offend anyone. A place where the unspoken norm is that it’s okay to be silent about out faith because everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and besides there are other pathways to God we must tolerate. A place where attendees are not worshipers but rather an audience for a performance (and a critical audience at that.
The long term affect: no hope, no faith, no ability to explain what they thought they believed but were never challenged to think it through, verbalize it, and explain it to someone else.
I was once told that in the military, a helicopter pilot can not enter actual flight training until he has the entire section from the operations manual memorized by heart for emergency landing procedure due to mechanical failure and can recite it out loud. Why? So that at the moment of crisis there is no lack of knowledge or faith. I get to see the “Christians’ who never learned what they had (or didn’t have) the opportunity to believe. As they approach death, they are panicked like an untrained pilot who is about to crash land. There is often fear, doubt, depression, anger, or hopelessness needlessly built into these people’s lives.
Is it too much to ask that everyone who calls him or herself a Christian to be instructed in such a way that they can comfortably verbalize the principles of their faith so that they can pass along a believable story about the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is that too much to ask about someone who is trusting their future to this “Jesus” fella?
What is “the church” if it cannot turn out a believer who can explain the biblical truth about what they are living for and dying to become?
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…
Hmmm . . . so maybe it’s a heart issue as well?
What does it mean to “attend a church”? Be a “member”? When you have the privilege like I do to ask people about their faith history it leads to some interesting data. I have learned that just because a person belongs to a Christian church doesn’t always mean they know what it means to be a Christian. If some one told you they were Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Brethren, Methodist or Presbyterian et cetera, wouldn’t you assume they meant they were telling you they were a Christian? I can tell you from my experiences that it is not always the case!
I get some pretty amusing comments sometimes. Here are some statements all made by people who identified themselves as being “members” of a church.
“All that preacher wanted to do was talk about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! I got tired of it!”
(As Tim the Tool Man Taylor used to say, “Eeehhh?”)
“I believe there is a God and I hope I’ve been good enough to go to heaven someday.”
(And that would be a Christian belief because. . . . ?)
And here is one I got today. In responding to a question, “what brings peace into your life?” the individual gave a good 20 seconds of deafening silent thought and then said to me, “I don’t know! What gives you peace?” Bravo! First person to throw the question back at me! (Yes I was ready and I had an answer.), but sadly, “the Christian” didn’t know what could give them peace in their life! Are you picking up what I’m laying down?
What is “the church” doing these days or more specifically in the last 100+ years or so to instruct its inhabitants on the basics of Christianity? How can people be “members” of a church for decades and at the end of their life only have a shaky fear-filled “hope so” about whether there is a God, what Jesus was able to accomplish, or if there is a heaven and whether they can purchase a ticket to get in?
In the Book of James there is a verse that says “you do not have because you do not ask.” I’m thinking a lot of folks “have no hope because they do not know!” The church of the Kingdom of God/Heaven is responsible for conveying the gospel: the life transforming facts about the atoning redemptive work of Christ on our behalf.
Yet as Mike Erre frames it in his book, Death by Church, we all to often see, not the church of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the kingdom of the church: a cultural saturated entity existing for its own glory and purpose. A place where members receive benefits and are served. A place where commitment and accountability are marginally optional. A place where discipleship is for those “fanatics.” A place where discipline never takes place so as not to offend anyone. A place where the unspoken norm is that it’s okay to be silent about out faith because everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and besides there are other pathways to God we must tolerate. A place where attendees are not worshipers but rather an audience for a performance (and a critical audience at that.
The long term affect: no hope, no faith, no ability to explain what they thought they believed but were never challenged to think it through, verbalize it, and explain it to someone else.
I was once told that in the military, a helicopter pilot can not enter actual flight training until he has the entire section from the operations manual memorized by heart for emergency landing procedure due to mechanical failure and can recite it out loud. Why? So that at the moment of crisis there is no lack of knowledge or faith. I get to see the “Christians’ who never learned what they had (or didn’t have) the opportunity to believe. As they approach death, they are panicked like an untrained pilot who is about to crash land. There is often fear, doubt, depression, anger, or hopelessness needlessly built into these people’s lives.
Is it too much to ask that everyone who calls him or herself a Christian to be instructed in such a way that they can comfortably verbalize the principles of their faith so that they can pass along a believable story about the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is that too much to ask about someone who is trusting their future to this “Jesus” fella?
What is “the church” if it cannot turn out a believer who can explain the biblical truth about what they are living for and dying to become?
1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…
Hmmm . . . so maybe it’s a heart issue as well?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
open ended questions
Recently I had an opportunity to pray with someone who has had a particularly rough life. Without revealing personal information, let’s just say he journeyed though just about every low spot the human experience could touch on. Before I prayed for him, I asked him, “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?”
His first reaction was much like Christopher Lloyd’s character from the old TV series “Taxi.” “Whoaaaaaa!” I like to call them “Jim Ignatowski” moments. He was at a loss for words . . . briefly. Then, he blurted, “I do have a question, . . . ‘God, what did you expect of me?’”
Wow! Did I ask for it! What a deep question! What potential for assumptions buried in that question:
Was there a sense that whatever he perceives those expectations were, he has not achieved them?
Was there a sense of failure?
Was there a sense of past tense and completion: that there is an irreversible finality to something in his mind?
Was there a sense that there is no chance of reconciling whatever is broken or dysfunctional?
Yet the question itself affirms the man’s willingness to talk: a willingness to hear God.
Of course my first instinct was to start spewing scripture to ”encourage” him. Instead, I complimented him for the deep thought and said I’d like to talk about that next time. (I generally see him 2 times a month).
It’s on occasions like this that most of us want to blurt out what we think God would say. My instincts tell me that would be disastrous with this chap. He was probably thinking in his mind, “you’re gonna tell me all the things I already know I have done wrong, make me feel worse than I already do about myself and tell me I need to get down on my knees, repent, and be saved.” He is in a place spiritually and emotionally that is very resistant to listen to someone with a spiritual agenda. He requires trust and credibility and they take a long time to be established.
There is a journey I suspect that this man still has to travel before he is ready to hear answers. Call it a defiance disorder if you like, but I know for sure a person like him knows a person like me has not seen all the things he’s seen so there is almost an unspoken disqualification of anything I might offer. I haven’t “walked the walk” with him. This guy doesn’t need Captain Obvious preaching to him. He simply needs someone to listen, make reflective statements to him and assist him in externalizing and verbalizing his beliefs about himself and God. One would want to be careful not to use phrases like “ you need to . . .” “you ought to . . . .” or, “you should . . . .”
So what did I do? Well I prayed for him, I lifted his prayer requests and also asked God to answer his question for him. Then I walked away . . . so tempted to answer his questions, but I just walked away. As it turns out, the circumstances that brought us together a couple times a month were removed and that was the last time I saw this man, at least for a while.
Some people reading this might say, “Bob, you didn’t lead this guy through the Sinner’s Prayer or show him the Roman Road. You left this guy hanging!” Absolutely correct. I did not and I would not do either of those things and I sure did leave him hanging.
Why? Because I believe God is not a helpless buffoon who can’t get the job done without our help. He is capable, self sufficient; omnipotent and almighty. He invites us to join Him in what He is doing but He is very capable of getting the job done Himself. I realized my role for the day and then stepped out of the way. Can’t God bring someone else along side to help? I believe God will provide opportunity and circumstance for this man to truly get his question answered if he truly wants an answer.
So what about you? Do you ever ask people open-ended questions about spirituality?
Can you ask them in a way that causes them to think deeply and are you okay if you don’t have an answer for them?
I’d love to hear some of the questions that you all ask!
Please feel free to leave them as a comment!
His first reaction was much like Christopher Lloyd’s character from the old TV series “Taxi.” “Whoaaaaaa!” I like to call them “Jim Ignatowski” moments. He was at a loss for words . . . briefly. Then, he blurted, “I do have a question, . . . ‘God, what did you expect of me?’”
Wow! Did I ask for it! What a deep question! What potential for assumptions buried in that question:
Was there a sense that whatever he perceives those expectations were, he has not achieved them?
Was there a sense of failure?
Was there a sense of past tense and completion: that there is an irreversible finality to something in his mind?
Was there a sense that there is no chance of reconciling whatever is broken or dysfunctional?
Yet the question itself affirms the man’s willingness to talk: a willingness to hear God.
Of course my first instinct was to start spewing scripture to ”encourage” him. Instead, I complimented him for the deep thought and said I’d like to talk about that next time. (I generally see him 2 times a month).
It’s on occasions like this that most of us want to blurt out what we think God would say. My instincts tell me that would be disastrous with this chap. He was probably thinking in his mind, “you’re gonna tell me all the things I already know I have done wrong, make me feel worse than I already do about myself and tell me I need to get down on my knees, repent, and be saved.” He is in a place spiritually and emotionally that is very resistant to listen to someone with a spiritual agenda. He requires trust and credibility and they take a long time to be established.
There is a journey I suspect that this man still has to travel before he is ready to hear answers. Call it a defiance disorder if you like, but I know for sure a person like him knows a person like me has not seen all the things he’s seen so there is almost an unspoken disqualification of anything I might offer. I haven’t “walked the walk” with him. This guy doesn’t need Captain Obvious preaching to him. He simply needs someone to listen, make reflective statements to him and assist him in externalizing and verbalizing his beliefs about himself and God. One would want to be careful not to use phrases like “ you need to . . .” “you ought to . . . .” or, “you should . . . .”
So what did I do? Well I prayed for him, I lifted his prayer requests and also asked God to answer his question for him. Then I walked away . . . so tempted to answer his questions, but I just walked away. As it turns out, the circumstances that brought us together a couple times a month were removed and that was the last time I saw this man, at least for a while.
Some people reading this might say, “Bob, you didn’t lead this guy through the Sinner’s Prayer or show him the Roman Road. You left this guy hanging!” Absolutely correct. I did not and I would not do either of those things and I sure did leave him hanging.
Why? Because I believe God is not a helpless buffoon who can’t get the job done without our help. He is capable, self sufficient; omnipotent and almighty. He invites us to join Him in what He is doing but He is very capable of getting the job done Himself. I realized my role for the day and then stepped out of the way. Can’t God bring someone else along side to help? I believe God will provide opportunity and circumstance for this man to truly get his question answered if he truly wants an answer.
So what about you? Do you ever ask people open-ended questions about spirituality?
Can you ask them in a way that causes them to think deeply and are you okay if you don’t have an answer for them?
I’d love to hear some of the questions that you all ask!
Please feel free to leave them as a comment!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Orphans
The Orphan
We have a new resident in the house these days. She will have been here two weeks tomorrow. Like any newcomer who gets grafted into a family, in their own unique way, they bring disruption to the routine and flow of things. There are adjustments that need to be made. Schedules might have to change. Routines might have to be altered. Space might need to be rearranged. Relationships, de facto, might be affected by the new addition. And sometimes when an orphan is brought into a home, the pitiful waif can be a constant reminder of the tragedy or trauma that left them in such a condition.
On top of that, no refugee can totally leave everything behind when they go to start a new life somewhere. It’s hard to leave culture, history, experience, tradition and other baggage behind. The material things can be abandoned but the very nature of who we are and where we’ve been and whose we’ve been can’t be altered or erased very well.
I ‘m sitting here this morning starring at my mother’s dog Maggie. Mom passed away just a few days ago. I think one of the things holding her here was just her wanting to make sure that Maggie was going to assimilate into our family okay.
So here’s Maggie: a 12 year old mutt. She’s part beagle and part something else; supposedly Chihuahua. She has bad breathe, crooked teeth, came to us un-housebroken, and has that hound dog kind of heavy oily smell to her skin. She’s so ugly that she's sort of cute; She’s not the first pick for someone like me who loves Jack Russell’s. She is a real ragamuffin in every sense of the word.
Before she came here she spent 6 weeks at a boarding kennel while mom went from one hospital to the next. Maggie lost a lot of weight in that time, which really was good for her health. Mom had a bad habit of feed her all the wrong stuff and had her grossly obese.
Our other dog, CoCo, a three year old Jack Russell mix, has been tolerant of her, occasionally expressing some jealousy. Over all though, their new relationship seems to be symbiotic: it’s good for both them to have company as they have both been isolated from the rest of the dog world and, be it good or bad, Maggie has learned to bark, jump and even run a little bit. It’s been quite the awakening for her.
But there she lies quietly this morning on the old towel that is now her corner of the kitchen. She’s looking a little lost and sad as I stare at her. Truly we didn’t want another dog in the family right now, but out of charity and honor for mom, we took her in. She has attached herself to me without my solicitation. She whimpers when I leave and has begun to assimilate in her own way, Coco’s celebration dance that “daddy’s home.”
She will be a constant living reminder of my mom for the rest of her days. I’m sure when Maggie passes some day it will be a time to grieve mom’s passing one more time. But, I’m finding this morning that she’s more than a reminder of mom: she is at the moment a reminder of how we should live reflecting God’s grace.
Weren’t we in the same condition when we came to know how unconditionally God loves us? Pitiful orphaned sinners that we are with our bad breath, crooked teeth and smelly skin, God allows us into the kingdom by His grace and by His mercy.
Through His son Jesus there is a way provided for all us ragamuffins to be a child of God. And as followers of Jesus, are we not called to a new life in Christ? One in which we are called to see the world as God sees it: offering love to the un-loveable, charity to the destitute and providing a seat at the table for those who would find it no where else.
In the stillness of a quiet summer Sunday morning I am flooded with God’s presence. Welcome Maggie, to the little kingdom that is part of the greater Kingdom. It is by grace you have been saved . . . just like us.
2 Samuel Chapter 9
We have a new resident in the house these days. She will have been here two weeks tomorrow. Like any newcomer who gets grafted into a family, in their own unique way, they bring disruption to the routine and flow of things. There are adjustments that need to be made. Schedules might have to change. Routines might have to be altered. Space might need to be rearranged. Relationships, de facto, might be affected by the new addition. And sometimes when an orphan is brought into a home, the pitiful waif can be a constant reminder of the tragedy or trauma that left them in such a condition.
On top of that, no refugee can totally leave everything behind when they go to start a new life somewhere. It’s hard to leave culture, history, experience, tradition and other baggage behind. The material things can be abandoned but the very nature of who we are and where we’ve been and whose we’ve been can’t be altered or erased very well.
I ‘m sitting here this morning starring at my mother’s dog Maggie. Mom passed away just a few days ago. I think one of the things holding her here was just her wanting to make sure that Maggie was going to assimilate into our family okay.
So here’s Maggie: a 12 year old mutt. She’s part beagle and part something else; supposedly Chihuahua. She has bad breathe, crooked teeth, came to us un-housebroken, and has that hound dog kind of heavy oily smell to her skin. She’s so ugly that she's sort of cute; She’s not the first pick for someone like me who loves Jack Russell’s. She is a real ragamuffin in every sense of the word.
Before she came here she spent 6 weeks at a boarding kennel while mom went from one hospital to the next. Maggie lost a lot of weight in that time, which really was good for her health. Mom had a bad habit of feed her all the wrong stuff and had her grossly obese.
Our other dog, CoCo, a three year old Jack Russell mix, has been tolerant of her, occasionally expressing some jealousy. Over all though, their new relationship seems to be symbiotic: it’s good for both them to have company as they have both been isolated from the rest of the dog world and, be it good or bad, Maggie has learned to bark, jump and even run a little bit. It’s been quite the awakening for her.
But there she lies quietly this morning on the old towel that is now her corner of the kitchen. She’s looking a little lost and sad as I stare at her. Truly we didn’t want another dog in the family right now, but out of charity and honor for mom, we took her in. She has attached herself to me without my solicitation. She whimpers when I leave and has begun to assimilate in her own way, Coco’s celebration dance that “daddy’s home.”
She will be a constant living reminder of my mom for the rest of her days. I’m sure when Maggie passes some day it will be a time to grieve mom’s passing one more time. But, I’m finding this morning that she’s more than a reminder of mom: she is at the moment a reminder of how we should live reflecting God’s grace.
Weren’t we in the same condition when we came to know how unconditionally God loves us? Pitiful orphaned sinners that we are with our bad breath, crooked teeth and smelly skin, God allows us into the kingdom by His grace and by His mercy.
Through His son Jesus there is a way provided for all us ragamuffins to be a child of God. And as followers of Jesus, are we not called to a new life in Christ? One in which we are called to see the world as God sees it: offering love to the un-loveable, charity to the destitute and providing a seat at the table for those who would find it no where else.
In the stillness of a quiet summer Sunday morning I am flooded with God’s presence. Welcome Maggie, to the little kingdom that is part of the greater Kingdom. It is by grace you have been saved . . . just like us.
2 Samuel Chapter 9
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
God is still in the small stuff
God is still in the small stuff
Today was an incredible day at work in regards to seeing things happen that affirm once again that God is in the small stuff.
One of the nurses I work with was used today in a powerful way to minister to the daughter of a former patient of ours. For my friend, the nurse, (we’ll just call her Kay) it started on the drive to work. “Something” triggered Kay to remember a family that our team took care of last year. The patient died in the month of March. Maybe it just being the month for the anniversary of her passing was enough to bring it to mind. Nonetheless “for such a time as this” it came to her mind today.
I got into the office late today. After Kay left for her rounds, one of our supervisors came looking for her to convey a phone message he took. We talked a few moments trying to connect the dots on when this Pt was taken care and what we could remember about the family. Later in the day I met Kay and some others from our team for lunch.
There was much to talk about at lunch As five of us sat around the lunch table we talked about spiritual concerns of two other families we are presently talking care of. Their situations are challenging and raise a lot of questions.
As we were talking, I asked Kay if one of our supervisors had gotten to talk to her since she left the office. She affirmed that he had. “You know it’s the strangest thing, I was just thinking of that family this morning. What do you make of that Bob?” My reply was, “sounds like God is getting ready to do something and it involves you.” I went on to share some of my own experiences where God “called someone to mind foe me” and there was a clear need for prayer as time unfolded in the situation.
We went our separate ways after lunch. As the day progressed, Kay gave me a call to update me on her phone conversation with the patient’s daughter at the end of the afternoon. We’ll let the details of the conversation remain private. They really aren’t needed to finish the story.
Kay said, “by the time I got around to calling her back, (by the way, circumstantially, she could not call her back until late in the afternoon) I had thought all day about the patient, the family, all the dynamics of family relationships, the challenges this woman faced as a caregiver for her mother, and all that we talk about at lunch. I knew exactly what this woman needed to hear from me for encouragement and healing when I found out what she called for.”
“So Kay,” I said, “ Can you see how God took the whole day to prepare you to get ready to speak just exactly the words this woman needed to hear so that she could receive the healing message of affirmation she so desperately needed to hear?”
“Yes” she replied, “ I can now.”
Isn’t it wonderful, incredible, stupendous and engaging to know that God wants to invite us to do things for Him, with Him, that he could do quite well without our participation?
Esther 4:14 says:
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
Queen Esther was being reminded by her uncle that God placed in that moment of time for a specific purpose and plan. Maybe she couldn’t see it coming but it was at this critical moment of crisis for her people that she had risen to a position of influence to do something positive. The choice was hers: if she declined, God would find another person to fulfill His plan.
How often do we miss God’s fingerprints in the small stuff? How often do we miss the invitation that God is giving us in the minor details of life? How often do we miss or decline the opportunity to be used by Him in the epic story of someone else’s faith journey?
And if he can be so pervasive in the details of our lives how hard is it to believe that He did such an incredible act of grace and mercy for us on our behalf through the ministry death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? How hard can that be? Really?
Thank you, Kay for surrendering to His will today.
Today was an incredible day at work in regards to seeing things happen that affirm once again that God is in the small stuff.
One of the nurses I work with was used today in a powerful way to minister to the daughter of a former patient of ours. For my friend, the nurse, (we’ll just call her Kay) it started on the drive to work. “Something” triggered Kay to remember a family that our team took care of last year. The patient died in the month of March. Maybe it just being the month for the anniversary of her passing was enough to bring it to mind. Nonetheless “for such a time as this” it came to her mind today.
I got into the office late today. After Kay left for her rounds, one of our supervisors came looking for her to convey a phone message he took. We talked a few moments trying to connect the dots on when this Pt was taken care and what we could remember about the family. Later in the day I met Kay and some others from our team for lunch.
There was much to talk about at lunch As five of us sat around the lunch table we talked about spiritual concerns of two other families we are presently talking care of. Their situations are challenging and raise a lot of questions.
As we were talking, I asked Kay if one of our supervisors had gotten to talk to her since she left the office. She affirmed that he had. “You know it’s the strangest thing, I was just thinking of that family this morning. What do you make of that Bob?” My reply was, “sounds like God is getting ready to do something and it involves you.” I went on to share some of my own experiences where God “called someone to mind foe me” and there was a clear need for prayer as time unfolded in the situation.
We went our separate ways after lunch. As the day progressed, Kay gave me a call to update me on her phone conversation with the patient’s daughter at the end of the afternoon. We’ll let the details of the conversation remain private. They really aren’t needed to finish the story.
Kay said, “by the time I got around to calling her back, (by the way, circumstantially, she could not call her back until late in the afternoon) I had thought all day about the patient, the family, all the dynamics of family relationships, the challenges this woman faced as a caregiver for her mother, and all that we talk about at lunch. I knew exactly what this woman needed to hear from me for encouragement and healing when I found out what she called for.”
“So Kay,” I said, “ Can you see how God took the whole day to prepare you to get ready to speak just exactly the words this woman needed to hear so that she could receive the healing message of affirmation she so desperately needed to hear?”
“Yes” she replied, “ I can now.”
Isn’t it wonderful, incredible, stupendous and engaging to know that God wants to invite us to do things for Him, with Him, that he could do quite well without our participation?
Esther 4:14 says:
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
Queen Esther was being reminded by her uncle that God placed in that moment of time for a specific purpose and plan. Maybe she couldn’t see it coming but it was at this critical moment of crisis for her people that she had risen to a position of influence to do something positive. The choice was hers: if she declined, God would find another person to fulfill His plan.
How often do we miss God’s fingerprints in the small stuff? How often do we miss the invitation that God is giving us in the minor details of life? How often do we miss or decline the opportunity to be used by Him in the epic story of someone else’s faith journey?
And if he can be so pervasive in the details of our lives how hard is it to believe that He did such an incredible act of grace and mercy for us on our behalf through the ministry death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? How hard can that be? Really?
Thank you, Kay for surrendering to His will today.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Blessure
I love it when God reveals himself and catches me off guard. It’s really a delightful feeling to be surprised in a way that profoundly yet simply affirms that God is in the moment with you. Sometimes it can sneak in with such subtly but finish off like the roar of a lion with His sovereignty and succinctness.
Today I experienced just that. I was visiting with one of my hospice patients. Both the social worker and one of the volunteers and shared with me that this man was in tears because he missed his dear deceased wife, was sure that if there was a heaven she was there and was struggling with disbelief on his own part that neither heaven nor God were a sure thing for him.
H was struggling with what is common to a lot of people today: lack of information; lack of faith; a void of hope; a sense of right and wrong but an inability to acknowledge that the definition of right and wrong emerges from a supreme being. Add to that a view point that the Bible is a great literary work but cannot be trusted to represent a God if He did exist because the authorship is assumed to be fallible mankind. In short, no on-board compass to believe in anything unseen.
I tried several different approaches to logically and lovingly present an apologetic for the existence of God: Talking about the spiritual nature of the law; of love, of human emotion and when he referred to someone as evil, our inherent ability to recognize good and evil.
It seemed like he enjoyed the conversation and appreciated the effort but just could not believe in the unseen. It had to be tangible and palpable.
Referring back to his wife, his son, his career and all the other things he felt so grateful for, He said, “ I have been one very lucky man in my life.”
I responded by stating that he might want to consider that he was blessed instead. He muttered back something to the effect that blessing meant wounded. Now me being who I am I replied to that with a Tim Allen, “eeehhh?”
What he was referring to, he explained, was that the phonetic cross over of “blessed” in English sounds close to the French word blessure which is a noun for injury or wound.
Now you all can make of that whatever you want but this was the moment that God interceded and established His awareness of the conversation and His contribution at least for my benefit.
My first reaction was that these two words are about as far apart as you can possibly get. And then . . . it hit me, “ by His wounds we are healed.” The ultimate blessing we have received was because Christ was wounded for us. And it went on from there: Was I not blessed myself this past year through the wounds I received in the accident I experienced? Have I not also been blessed by those whose wounds drew them to a deeper intimacy with the God that loves us? I was overwhelmed with God’s love and His presence.
Now throughout the entire conversation my patient, a man in his early 80’s would reach for a tissue and wipe a tear from his eye. As this epiphany hit me, I said’ “ pardon me but my turn to reach for the tissues.”
I was in awe of what had just happened. Not just that God had spoken to me; I’m used to that. More awesome was the fact that he spoke to me through an unbelieving spirit such as this man who lacked faith.
The irony was that as I shared the explanation for my tears of joy, this man was actually happy for me but could not spiritually embrace what he just witnessed. How sad is that?
As on previous visits, he was very receptive to prayer and his hand trembled as we prayed. And also like former occasions, he thanked me for going out of my way to visit and welcomed the notion of my stopping by again another time.
I believe this man is a work in progress. I won’t force my beliefs on him any further than what he will permit me to share, but I can see God is working in his life. He (the patient) even taught me previously (at my request) how to say “God loves you” in a foreign language that he taught for many years. (So I could say it back to him in his heart language?)
I can only walk away from all of this today being assured and blessed that God was in the moment with me today. I did not walk alone.
I am also prayerfully hoping that tonight as this man falls asleep, he is praying through the words spoken to Jesus in Mark 9:24b " . . . help me overcome my unbelief!"
Today I experienced just that. I was visiting with one of my hospice patients. Both the social worker and one of the volunteers and shared with me that this man was in tears because he missed his dear deceased wife, was sure that if there was a heaven she was there and was struggling with disbelief on his own part that neither heaven nor God were a sure thing for him.
H was struggling with what is common to a lot of people today: lack of information; lack of faith; a void of hope; a sense of right and wrong but an inability to acknowledge that the definition of right and wrong emerges from a supreme being. Add to that a view point that the Bible is a great literary work but cannot be trusted to represent a God if He did exist because the authorship is assumed to be fallible mankind. In short, no on-board compass to believe in anything unseen.
I tried several different approaches to logically and lovingly present an apologetic for the existence of God: Talking about the spiritual nature of the law; of love, of human emotion and when he referred to someone as evil, our inherent ability to recognize good and evil.
It seemed like he enjoyed the conversation and appreciated the effort but just could not believe in the unseen. It had to be tangible and palpable.
Referring back to his wife, his son, his career and all the other things he felt so grateful for, He said, “ I have been one very lucky man in my life.”
I responded by stating that he might want to consider that he was blessed instead. He muttered back something to the effect that blessing meant wounded. Now me being who I am I replied to that with a Tim Allen, “eeehhh?”
What he was referring to, he explained, was that the phonetic cross over of “blessed” in English sounds close to the French word blessure which is a noun for injury or wound.
Now you all can make of that whatever you want but this was the moment that God interceded and established His awareness of the conversation and His contribution at least for my benefit.
My first reaction was that these two words are about as far apart as you can possibly get. And then . . . it hit me, “ by His wounds we are healed.” The ultimate blessing we have received was because Christ was wounded for us. And it went on from there: Was I not blessed myself this past year through the wounds I received in the accident I experienced? Have I not also been blessed by those whose wounds drew them to a deeper intimacy with the God that loves us? I was overwhelmed with God’s love and His presence.
Now throughout the entire conversation my patient, a man in his early 80’s would reach for a tissue and wipe a tear from his eye. As this epiphany hit me, I said’ “ pardon me but my turn to reach for the tissues.”
I was in awe of what had just happened. Not just that God had spoken to me; I’m used to that. More awesome was the fact that he spoke to me through an unbelieving spirit such as this man who lacked faith.
The irony was that as I shared the explanation for my tears of joy, this man was actually happy for me but could not spiritually embrace what he just witnessed. How sad is that?
As on previous visits, he was very receptive to prayer and his hand trembled as we prayed. And also like former occasions, he thanked me for going out of my way to visit and welcomed the notion of my stopping by again another time.
I believe this man is a work in progress. I won’t force my beliefs on him any further than what he will permit me to share, but I can see God is working in his life. He (the patient) even taught me previously (at my request) how to say “God loves you” in a foreign language that he taught for many years. (So I could say it back to him in his heart language?)
I can only walk away from all of this today being assured and blessed that God was in the moment with me today. I did not walk alone.
I am also prayerfully hoping that tonight as this man falls asleep, he is praying through the words spoken to Jesus in Mark 9:24b " . . . help me overcome my unbelief!"
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