Category Archives: Articles

Articles

The Most Offensive Word in the English Language?

Leave a comment

Discipline–A Dirty Word Today?

discipline-bridge

Discipline [dis-uh-plin]–activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.

Judging by the reaction I see these days when the word “discipline” is uttered, you’d think it’s the most offensive word that could possibly be spoken. Seriously, I see more angst and disgust from the sound of this word than if I drop an F-bomb, B-word, or GD.What is it about discipline, the word or the action, that causes people to shudder? It is fascinating, intriguing, and also a little disturbing to me. I’ve even found myself shying away from the word, trying to find less offensive, hives-inducing ones. But then I have to tell people that our website is RippleEffectConveniences.com, which is simply not true.

Then this morning I was like, “Why am I afraid to use it? What’s the big deal???” Discipline is a good thing. A very good thing! It’s discipline that enabled me the skill to play face-melting metal guitar. It was discipline that empowered me to gain 25 lbs. while simultaneously decreasing my body fat % in less than one year back in ’98. It wasn’t luck and genetics. It was discipline that earned Ana’s law degree, not luck and genetics. It was discipline that got my sister into the IUPUI Hall of Fame for volleyball (look it up) not luck and genetics. (Conversely, it was due to a lack of discipline that I did not earn an engineering degree from Purdue. And because of a lack of discipline of going to the dentist I enjoyed having two abscessed teeth yanked out of my head a couple hours before going to a wedding rehearsal in which I was the best man.)

Discipline, discipline, discipline, I love discipline! (Ron Burgundy voice) Oh it feels so good to yell that. You know what two of my favorite books are? The Spirit of the Disciplines and Celebration of Discipline. Celebrate discipline baby!

I think what is so perturbing to me is that by turning our nose up to discipline and acting like it’s a travesty to be challenged, we disempower ourselves. We are capable of so much, and because we are afraid of discipline, we sell ourselves so short on the lives we could be living. Isn’t discipline just consistency and habit formation? Is that bad or offensive? To want empowerment for others we care about so they can live in more freedom? That is what discipline brings, freedom.

Any improvement or growth you’ve made has involved discipline to some degree. So why do we hate hearing about discipline in the spiritual life so much? Aren’t we to mature in Christ? What is it? What is so repulsive about reading and listening to Scripture every day? What is ridiculous about a set aside time for focused prayer every day? Or encouraging one another daily? Is the pain of it just absolutely unbearable? Are we too addicted to our idol of comfort in modern day America? Are we in love with our autonomy too much to where we can’t stand the idea of handing over any of it to someone or something else? Giving up any control whatsoever? Having any accountability? Again, going by the defensive reactions to the word, I’d say the answer to those questions is the affirmative. The mere thought of discipline in the spiritual life seems to be just paralyzingly awful to some. Don’t spiritual disciplines bring about really positive fruit in one’s life and therefore those around them?

Doing the same thing at the same time everyday is good. It’s habit forming. It’s helpful.

It’s good to do hard things.

It’s good to be challenged.

We can be so much more, living so much more freely, yet it seems we hamstring ourselves because we don’t like this word or thought. I kind of want to start replacing actual offensive words with this filthiest of words from my dirty pirate hooker mouth: Son of a Discipline, Mother Discipliner, Holy Discipline, and of course the very controversial Goddisciplinnit. Oh this is fun, it feels sooooo good to get this out of my system!

I think my new discipline will be to use the word discipline 77 times a day for the rest of my life.
Discipline
Discipline
Discipline.

I do realize that the definitions at the top of the page prove that discipline is pointlessly painful and a stupid waste of time. So because of that, I apologize for this rant. Look I’m just trying to keep a sense of humor about all this.

Anyway, as has been said before:

Freedom is not the absence of rules, it’s the presence of discipline.

And if you don’t like it, then you can just go discipline yourself.
(get it?)
(see what I did there?)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Discipline

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Articles

1.27.15–>”God’s Orchestrated Concidences”

Leave a comment

God’s Orchestrated Coincidences

OC2

More times than I can count now, I have just “happened” to pick up a book by chance and inevitably read what I’ve just been thinking, writing, or reflecting on. This happened yesterday. Reflecting on becoming one with God as the point of our entire lives, I read the intro to this little gem, a collection of Oswald Chambers’ writings on peace and joy. Here is that intro, written by Julie Ackerman link:

Joy and peace. Peace and joy. The two are such close friends that we seldom find them alone. They show up together in greetings, in salutations, and in prayers. They are nearly inseparable during the Christmas season. And no wonder. Are any gifts more desirable than joy and peace? They are two of the most needed and valued states of being. They represent the end of longing and the satisfaction of desire.

Few things bring greater joy than a peaceful resolution to a conflict. If you estranged from a loved one, will any gift from that person, no matter how expensive, bring as much joy as reconciliation? Surely not. If you have a wayward son or daughter, nothing is more welcome than peace restored.

Joy and peace are companions. We can’t entertain them separately.

The lack of joy and peace indicate dissatisfaction. And all dissatisfaction ultimately goes back to God; it’s an expression of our disappointment with Him. For the Christian, joy and peace come from reconciliation with God first and then with others. According to Oswald Chambers, joy comes when we are fulfilling the purpose for which God created us, and doing so requires that we be reconciled to Christ in such a way that makes us:

one in identity with the faith of Jesus, one in identity with the love of Jesus, one in identity with the Spirit of Jesus until we are so one in Him until the high-priestly prayer not only begins to be answered, but is clearly manifest in its answering-“that they may be one, even as We are one.”

Being one with Christ not only brings us into peace with God but gives us the actual peace of Christ. This peace is unshakeable. No trouble or conflict or crisis can take it from us. And that is pure joy.

Joy and peace throw their arms around us in celebration when we become one with Christ and then become reconciled to one another.

May the God of all peace grant us the joy of full participation in His plan of reconciling all things to Himself and restoring peace to planet earth.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Articles, Daily Meditations

1.14.15–>”The Examen Prayer”

Leave a comment

Examen

This is a prayer of reflection and self-examination associated with Ignatius of Loyola and his spiritual exercises of the sixteenth century. It is quite an excellent tool for tuning in and becoming present and aware of God’s working in and throughout your day as well as growing an awareness of your own heart’s stirrings and motives. It grants spiritual clarity.

For any of you who are not familiar with it, or maybe have not looked at it in a while, here is a tiny primer and outline of it from Timothy Gallagher’s beautiful book The Examen Prayer: It is “a way of praying that opens our eyes to God’s daily self-revelation and increasingly clarifies for us our own responses to it. As this spiritual clarity grows, we gain a correspondingly greater freedom to respond and so to progress in our relationship with God. We find a path toward what our hearts most deeply desire: a growing relationship in love with God (Ps.63:1), and so with the People of God…In our spiritual tradition, this way of praying is called the examen. Although it did not begin with him and is not unique to him, the examen is associated in a particular way with Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), who so richly experienced it and so ably taught it to others.”

An Outline of the Examen

“This outline is based on Igantius’ presentation of the examen in the Spiritual Exercises (no.43). I placed it here as an introduction to all that follows; it may also serve, once the content of this book has been assimilated, as a practical tool in praying the examen.”

Transition: I become aware of the love with which God looks upon me as I begin this examen.

Step One. Gratitude. I note the gifts that God’s love has given me this day, and I give thanks to God for them.

Step Two. Petition. I ask God for an insight and a strength that will make this examen a work of grace, fruitful beyond my human capacity alone.

Step Three. Review. With my God, I review the day. I look for the stirrings in my heart and the thoughts that God has given me this day. I look also for those that have not been given by God. I review my choices in  response to both, and throughout the day in general.

Step Four. Forgiveness. I ask for the healing touch of the forgiving God who, with love and respect for me, removes my heart’s burdens.

Step Five. Renewal. I look to the following day, and with God, plan concretely how to live it in accord with God’s loving desire for my life.

Transition: Aware of God’s presence within me, I prayerfully conclude the examen.

Traditionally this is prayed in the evening, perhaps before bed. I have also found it very helpful to pray sometime in the afternoon as a refocusing for the day. It has been a wonderful tool in fostering a greater awareness of God throughout the day in my experience, slowing me down before the day gets away and lost. Maybe it could be a helpful practice for you too!

In the Name of Jesus, 
Soli Deo Gloria

Articles

Public Speaker vs. Communicator

Leave a comment

Public speaker

1 seeks to be understood and liked
2 asks: what do I have
3 focus on techniques
4 is self conscious
5 wants to complete the speech
6 is content oriented

Communicator

1 seeks to understand and connect
2 asks: what do they need
3 focuses on atmosphere
4 is audience oriented
5 wants to complete the people
6 change oriented

-From The Maxwell Leadership Bible

Articles

Christmas 2013

Leave a comment

This child will bring healing to the world. Healing through freedom for each heart who believes…

Freedom from guilt.

Freedom from the need for approval of people.

Freedom from the search for significance and worth in anything but Me.

Freedom from the desire to possess.

Healing via metanoia— a change of vision…

To see the world as it really is, ascribing all that is in it its true value.

Ascribing all people infinite value, seeing the precious jewel at the core of each person.

To see all people with His vision: compassion, understanding, and self-offering.

Healing with the gift of constant, direct access to the Source of Life and strength and love.

Healing by experiencing My moment-by-moment comforting Presence, support, guidance, help, and unconditional Love to all who seek it from the utmost sincerity of their heart.

This is what this child shall bring…

Articles

The Power Of Joy

Leave a comment

From The Life Model

www.lifemodel.org

Living From The Heart Jesus Gave You

 

  • We are wired for joy and wholeness from birth, but we live in a fractured world in which we experience traumas (type A & type B) which block maturity.
  • In the our first two years out of the womb, the desire to experience joy is the most powerful force in our life.
  • Joy is relational and is best defined as “someone is glad to be with me.”
  • Some neurologists now say that the basic human need is to be the “sparkle in someone’s eye.”
  • When this joy is the strongest force in a child’s world, life makes sense because they look forward to moments when they can reconnect to joy – being with their beloved. And this desire for joy continues throughout life.
  • Life makes sense and is empowered by joy when people are in relationship with those who love them and are sincerely “glad to be with them.”
  • Joy is produced when someone is “glad to see me.” It is contagious and travels back and forth between people through nonverbal cues at a rate of six cycles per second.
  • Joy also comes from a relationship with God who knows everything about me and is still “as-glad-as-glad-can-get” to be with me. Immanuel.
  • 21st century neuroscience is affirming everything YHWH told us in the Bible and through Jesus thousands of years ago. This is something to pay attention to.
  • Just the knowledge of someone “glad to be with me” can return us to joy. It does not even have to be physically experienced.
  • This is what can heal our traumas from this fractured world because it builds our joy strength. Your potential joy strength must be greater than your pain in order to recover.
  • Having enough joy strength is fundamental to a person’s well being. We now know that a “joy center” exists in the right orbital prefrontal cortex of the brain. It has executive control over the entire emotional system. When the joy center has been sufficiently developed, it regulates emotions, pain control and immunity centers; it guides us to act like ourselves; it releases neurotransmitters like dopamine and seratonin; and it is the only part of the brain that overrides the main drive centers – food and sexual impulses, terror and rage. The brain’s “joy center” is the only section of the brain that never loses its capacity to grow! So “joy strength” can always continue to develop!
  • How does it grow? It grows in response to real, joy-filled relationships. This is part of God’s very design for our healing.
  • 1] Smile whenever you see your child 2] Use authentic voice tones 3] Be genuinely glad to be with them 4] Have sacred time (tech free) – Remember, people respond to how we are feeling about them on the inside

 

 

Articles

Contempt

Leave a comment

In his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell mentions a marriage counselor who can predict, with better than ninety percent accuracy, if a marriage will succeed or if it will end. He films a couple interacting for about ten minutes or so, then combs through the video, second by second, looking for four things – defensiveness, being critical, stonewalling and contempt. The most important of these predictors, he says, is contempt because it, more than the others, crosses gender lines. It is the most destructive and divisive.  It is beyond anger, for it is hierachical.  Anger says, “I can’t stand you!” or “I am so mad at you!” But contempt says, “You a**hole!” It places the other person on a lower level of humanity.

☩☩☩

Upon hearing this, my mind went to Jesus’ so called Sermon on the Mount.  In it He stated that anyone who says to someone, “You fool!” is in danger of or liable to the fires of Gehenna [Matt. 5:22]. Growing up, I never really understood this at all. It seemed overly harsh in a shallow sort of way for Jesus’ teaching. I’ve heard that some preachers say that this was Jesus’ way of telling us not say “GD.” But Dallas Willard wrote that here, the Master Teacher is actually dealing with contempt, and Gladwell’s section about the marriage counselor brought it all together for me.

☩☩☩

This is the brilliance of Jesus. Who knows the human heart better than the One who made it? He knew what goes on inside the human heart for the words “You fool” to escape the mouth. He knew that these word were motivated by contempt and He knew the depths of its destructive and dividing power long before we figured it out. It wasn’t about just calling people names or saying bad words. In our modern society of busyness and bumper to bumper traffic, it’s usually, “You a**hole!” But it’s not just saying that, it’s the contempt in our hearts that evokes this tonal manifestation of destruction. In essence, I am placing that person beneath me, and doing so is evil.

☩☩☩

How do we deal with preventing contempt from polluting our hearts? Meditate on Jesus’ teachings. Contemplate them and we will find them to be much deeper than what we can take in from a quick reading, or rote memorization. His words are the truth of life, and words with that much substance require ample chewing before they can be properly ingested. May we accept and feed the inner transformational healing of Jesus so that contempt is nowhere to be found in the hidden depths of our inner self, but only love for all. Only then will the words “You fool”  not even enter our mind.

Philippians 2:3☩Romans 12:3

Articles

Focus On Self

Leave a comment

A clever and extremely effective strategy of the enemy is tempting us to keep focus on one’s self- our own problems, struggles, physical ailments, insecurities, shortcomings and failures.  When our thoughts are with these circumstances, they are not with God.  “You’re such a hypocrite; you can’t be of any help to anybody else.”  “You need to fix yourself before you can even think of a life of prayer and helping others.”  “Who do you think you are?”  These are the lies and accusations we hear in our head as our attention is turned toward our circumstances.   The name Satan translates to “Accuser.”

☩☩☩

In my last year working with homeless youth, I experienced one of those nights that had such an impact on me that it left a permanent imprint on my life.  I took a call from a guy and his girlfriend who needed to get into a shelter for the night.  It was late and very rainy, and I was ready for bed.  Rarely did I need to physically respond to hotline calls as most situations could be handled over the phone.  But this call required my going out.  Frustration started to set in as the couple was late meeting me at the agreed-upon rendezvous point even after giving them more than enough time to walk there.  Here I was focusing on myself, as God was most likely chuckling at me knowing the whole while exactly what He was doing, and what His purpose was for this evening.  Right before I decided to forget it and head back home to bed, they showed up.  After dropping the young lady off at the women’s shelter, I had some time alone with this young man on the way to the men’s shelter.  During our conversation, he told me, “I’ve read the Satanic Bible.  Most people think it’s about worshiping the devil.  But it’s not.  It’s all about the worship of self.”  That last phrase has never left me.  That’s why God took me out of the house that night- not just to give a couple of homeless youth a ride to a shelter, but to impress upon me a truth in such a way that would always stay with me, with the visual imprint of a rainy night, a tattooed and pierced young man, and a quiet car ride to a homeless shelter when I would rather have been sleeping.  Merely reading those words in print or hearing them from some speaker may very well have been easily forgotten.  But not so with God’s method.  He knows best how to help you remember something.  And to think that I almost missed it by focusing more on my own frustration than what God may have been up to that night.

☩☩☩

We grow through adversity, yet it is in this state when we tend to be our most selfish.  The enemy scores a huge victory when our minds are set on what is not going well or how we have messed something up.  We operate in a mode of scarcity when we focus on the obstacles at our feet [head down], instead of operating in a mode of abundance through focusing on the beautiful mountain ahead of us [head up], which represents the power of God and what He is able to do.  This is where the deep understanding of the mind as written in Romans 8:1-8 and Colossians 3:1-17 comes in, and why these two passages should be memorized, ingested and assimilated into the core of our being.  You see this daily, the pervasive weak-minded focus on what I can’t do, or how awful my circumstances are.  Rarely do you witness the strength-minded focus on the almighty power of God, what He is capable of, what He has done, and what He wants to do.  The Bible is filled with unqualified people doing supernatural things because their focus is on the Creator of the universe, and not their circumstances and shortcomings.  It’s difficult to even imagine the apostle Paul expending vast amounts of energy making excuses why he could not minister due to the trauma he no doubt experienced from shipwreck and floggings.  What if he was always thinking about his past and what heinous things he inflicted upon Jesus’ followers?  What if he had allowed himself to be paralyzed by focusing on all the negatives in his life?  Lord knows he would not have been nearly as effective as he was.  He did not dwell on what he couldn’t do, but chose to set his mind upon God Himself and what He could empower him to do.  Do we really believe that Yahweh created all of the galaxies, yet my situation is beyond His abilities?  Or beyond His care?

☩☩☩

Our Master Teacher was no doubt focused on His heavenly Father every moment of His life.  No matter who or how many turned away from Him and would not follow, He kept moving forward on His Daddy’s mission for which He had a clear vision.  Jesus Christ Himself did not have a 100% success rate in ministry and evangelism.  He did not sulk in wondering why those who did not believe Him chose the path of this world.  “Oh if only I had said this.  Maybe I should have taken a different approach with that rich young ruler and not offended him.  Maybe I’m not cut out for this sort of vocation.”  Even while being tortured to death He was conversing with God.  His very asking of why God had forsaken Him shows He was thinking of…Him!  And He prayed for those killing Him.  Here I sit and fret over wondering if someone thinks well of me.  Pathetic.

☩☩☩

It should also be understood that the enemy will just as well push us to focus on good things more than God Himself.  Ironically, one of the great hindrances to an intimate relationship with God, can be service to God.  Again, as long as I am concentrating on my work for God, I am not necessarily thinking about Him.  This can be subtle.  It may take the form of talking about and planning on doing good things, because as long as we are talking about doing good things, we are not doing them.  “Jesus went around doing good”, Dr. Luke tells us in Acts 10:38.  This, of course, flowed out of His constant abiding in the Father.  Good things being more important to us than God Himself can also take the form of Bible study for the sake of study and not transformation of the heart.  Study is an important spiritual discipline, seeing we are commanded to love God with all our mind, but as long as I only remain on picking apart the meaning of a word, I am not living it.  As Thomas á Kempis appropriately said, “I would rather feel contrition than know its definition.”

☩☩☩

What a brilliant temptation, to inflict us where we are all so easily prone to stumble- thinking about ourselves too much.  The enemy is more powerful than us, and very smart.  After all, he’s an angel, with millennia of experience.  But remember, that makes him the opposite of Gabriel, not God.  So, thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice, we have access to much more power, the enemy’s creator.  But on our own we will fail.  Every time.  By partnering with other Christ followers, focusing on our heavenly Father and wielding the power of the Holy Spirit, we can win.  Every time.