Review & Reflection

See you in August!

Romans 9:19-21

You will say to me, then, “So why does He still blame people?Who can stand against His purpose?”

Are you, a mere human being, going to answer God back? Surely the clay won’t say to the potter, “Why did you make me like this?”

Doesn’t the potter have authority over the clay, so that He can make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

Sunday we went to visit our dear friends, the Gossers, who moved out to the boonies last year.

I like the word “boonies.”

They live in such a land where directions to local establishments can quite literally include, “Turn right at the tire swing.”

Like their church in the woods we visited. A beautiful white chapel with a sign on front that read, “Est. 1917.” I asked a couple of the members if they were gonna have a big parade in two years. They laughed. And then told me they just rent this space. It’s not their building.

Oh.

I love simplicity. This was a beautifully simple church with simple music. And the message I took home with me was, simply, that no matter how things may look, God in His sovereignty is working out His plan and will bring all things to Himself. Nothing can thwart that. Something I’ve heard before, yes, but in this setting conducive to a narrowed focus, it was hammered home within me in a beautifully, comforting way.

God is working everything out for good. We can trust in that. Without having to understand it all. Who can understand it all anyway?

Back at the ranch we sat in rocking chairs, because that’s what country folk do I’m told. And we talked of life. The Sabbath and its implications were brought up for deep discussion by our deep-thinking, expert conversationalist friend, Emily. Should we still keep it? Is it suppose to be Friday sundown to Saturday sundown still? Does the timing of it unlock mystical power? I like how we always talk of things well below the surface of sports and politics. Especially while sitting on rocking chairs in the boonies.

I think Sabbath is very important, and that we are meant to keep it, not out of law, but out of design. Our design is such that we need rest and shutdown. Many do not take it. Spiritually it is important to show us that God is the sustainer of all things, not us.

Take a respite and recharge 24 out of every 168 hours. Rest in God. Everything won’t fall apart.

So there it is, simply put–God is working everything out for good. Feel free to take a break once a week.

Yesterday at Trinity Church we had baptisms.

It was very moving to hear the stories of the “baptizees'” journey and reason for participating in this public sacrament.

One of the men had asked his wife to read his story, which spoke of his walking away from God, and being without faith in God for many years, before recently turning back around, and recommitting himself to Christ, and to leading his family in Christ from this day forward. He had told me a week ago that he was a straight up atheist for something like ten years until these past few months or so. Then he experienced love through the community of their Fountain Square neighbors after having moved here from out of state. He was “loved into the kingdom” we might say.

Beautiful.

And just before he was immersed in the water, he said,

“I just want to say one thing to everybody here. I am a living testament that you can give up, but you are never given up on.”

I am who I AM says I am.

Somehow I got poison ivy.

It sucks.

It’s really irritating and I hate it.

A few nites ago I awoke around midnite irritated and itchy. No surprise, that’s what poison ivy does. I was so very tired, but of course couldn’t really sleep. Fumbling around in the darkness, not fully conscious, I grabbed a tube of hydrocortisone cream in hopes to relieve the itch. I applied some to the back of my right hand which was giving me the most fits.

I’m no doctor or scientist, but I can now tell you from experience, that hydrocortisone does not relieve the itch of poison ivy. In fact, it exasperates the itch by about 14,000. That’s my conservative estimate. It heightens irritation. And it causes a nice burning sensation that makes you wish you were merely holding a blowtorch two millimeters from your skin  because that would be relief compared to the chemical burn I was experiencing.

So I prayed.

I lay there and prayed in agony.

And I thought of my nine year old daughter, Gabriela. She has suffered from eczema to a terrible degree most all of her life. It affects her sleep, concentration, fun, you name it. Sleeping next to her one nite, I realized how much of the nite she spends scratching and not sleeping deeply. It can flare up due to stress, being tired, heat, eating the wrong food, full moon…

It hit me that she goes through the pain I experienced a few nites ago about everyday. It hit me how easy it is to lose the sense of what she fights through on a daily basis. How easy it is to lose empathy for this thing I don’t go through. Sometimes I fall into just wanting her to suck it up. But it’s really hard, and I can’t know what she actually goes through.

But now I have a glimpse. And for that I am thankful. Going through what was only mere minutes of suffering has been extremely helpful in understanding Gaby and being more patient and understanding. The very next nite we had house church, and for whatever reason she broke out right before we even got started, and it was very, very easy to take her home and find some relief as the intense “steroids-applied-to-poison-ivy-rash” incident was still painfully fresh in my mind. I even felt it was a chance to care for her and practice this new found empathy.

For the record, we have had our most success with her skin this year thanks to an excellent doctor/healer, a wonderful supplement, and stricter nutrient ingestion.

May we try to be just a little more understanding today of our fellow human being made in the image of God who may be suffering in ways we do not know or understand. Though it may make no sense to you, it is real to them. We are all so different in our nature and nurture, that what may be traumatic to me will roll off your back. And vice versa.

P.S. I got sunburned yesterday.

So we all have probably talked about the whole praying for a good parking spot thing. Should we? Shouldn’t we? Does God care?

Well, this isn’t really about all that.

I was thinking more of the liberation of not needing, or even wanting, a parking spot close to the entrance. It saves energy, time, and perhaps even…prayer. All three of those can be used for other things.

Since my wife  acquired a FitBit, she has been religiously tracking her number of steps per day with a goal of six miles’ worth. This is quite the challenge with her sit-at-desk job. So, whenever we’re out, she parks at the first space we find, usually in the back of the lot, so as to get an extra couple hundred steps in.

I too typically park far from the front door, as I enjoy walking with my healthy, semi-hairless legs God gave me.

When you don’t really care about where you park and, therefore, don’t even look, it takes a small bit of stress out of your day. It’s a non-issue. You’re happy with whatever. Walking is nice, but close is fine too.

What I especially enjoy is when people circle the lot a few times looking for that sweet close spot AT THE GYM!!! Hahahaha. Wow. No need to wear yourself out with that 30 yard walk/warm-up before you exercise. Seriously, people.

Anyway, the point is not parking spots or exercise, it’s a metaphor for our lives of course. The more that’s off the table the freer we are. The less we need or want, the more liberty we live in.

My mom has bad knees. She has one of those stick people in a wheel chair cards hanging from her rear view mirror. There’s some spiritual metaphor there too.

Here’s an equation we could use for measuring personal liberty:

100/Needs = Freedom

(Using only positive integers, for simplicity’s sake, makes the highest possible score 100)

It shows that the fewer things you require to be happy, the greater freedom you live in.

Something concerning I’ve noticed the last few years or so is people in conversations who ask no questions whatsoever.

I’ve had convos with a few people who excel at the skill of never asking anybody anything about their life or well-being. I say “skill” because once you take notice of it, you realize that it actually seems to require great effort to take such little interest in someone with whom you’re conversing. It’s utterly draining to constantly be the receiver of information without an outlet for pouring anything out. And heck, I’ve taken a class on listening, and I’m still worn out by “Never-Ask-Any-Questions ‘conversationalist’ person.”*

Some people are awesome at question asking. You’re genuinely interested in others, and it shows through your thoughtful questions. There’s some of you who inspire me and I hope to be as good a question-asker as you someday.

This questionless conversation is something I’ve recently been able to name, and now I notice it all the time. Like when you’re shopping for a certain kind of car and all of the sudden you start seeing that kind of car all over the place, but mysteriously never saw many before.

Questions affirm people. They show that a person is interesting and worth knowing. They show you’ve been listening. You may not be a pro question-asker, but if you ask none, then you’re not interested in the other person. You’re that person in the picture up there. The great information disseminator of self. Admit it, if you never ask people anything about themselves, you’re just kinda weird.

Jesus asked a lot of questions.

I’m just sayin’. He did.

He asked 307 questions recorded in the gospel accounts. Of the 183 questions He was asked, He only directly answered three of them. Perhaps our bumper stickers should read “Jesus is the Question” instead of “Jesus is the Answer.”**

Questions cause people to think. More than answers do. We get the answer and then we stop thinking. Stop asking someone questions and you’ve probably stopped thinking about them.

So anyway, this is just kind of an outlet for me to get this stuff out of my head, but I do hope it may turn a light on for some or someone you know. Sometimes we just don’t notice these things in ourselves. “Visually-impaired places,” I believe they’re called. No wait, “blind spots.” Perhaps you could start noting how many questions you do ask in your next few conversations, and check to see if you are indeed interested or uninterested in other people. Make sure you’re not Mega Monologue Man, or…….I can’t think of any “W” words right now…

But hey, enough of me talking about myself, why don’t you talk about me for a while now?

*I’m referring here to informal conversations not spiritual direction or counseling, just to be clear.

**http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Is-Question-Questions-Answered/dp/1426755147

Luke 18:11

“God, I thank you that I am not like the other people…”

Last nite, as my yoga session at the gym was ending with quiet stillness, lying upon my pink mat with hearts, I was convicted. The Holy Spirit exposed to me, in clarity, my sin of comparison. That I’ve fallen back into my default nature of comparing myself with people when I see them, instead of simply loving them via seeking their flourishing and looking to encourage, affirm, and call out anything positive.

Ruach showed me how much it’s been pervading my thoughts and captivating me. Being a 4 on the enneagram, I so want to be the most specialest person in the room! Therefore, to size everybody up, to judge if I am indeed the special of the hour, is a great temptation to me. When not keeping this in check, it is quite destructive and confining.

Comparison requires and eats so much energy that could be used for more constructive applications. How love desires to use that available fuel to celebrate others and call out their positive attributes.

So what if someone is awesomer than me. Great! When I’m in a healthy place in this fight, I see people and naturally look to encourage them and call out whatever greatness I see, hence, championing them as Jesus has championed me. He always encourages. The Spirit always comforts.

I read somewhere that, upon entering a room of people or having people enter our area, that it is in our human nature to automatically judge them as a threat or an opportunity. A threat to extinguish, or an opportunity to exploit. Or even worse, the third category of “inconsequential”-neither threatening or exploitable. A nobody. But in the kingdom of God, with a regenerated heart, new nature, and cultivated spirit, I believe we can see everybody as opportunity–for blessing. For encouragement. For affirmation. And, thus, for joy-building. It transcends comparison, freeing up all of that would-be wasted energy to see others more clearly, and to be a conduit, rather than a dam, of God’s love.

To hell with comparison. It robs me, and even more so, others, of way too much.

To heaven with celebration, blessing, and joy-building.