I Woke up today on “the wrong side of the bed,” not literally as that means I would have rolled over my wife like an out of control steamroller driven by an angry cal-trans worker – BUT metaphorically. Days, like today, leave me a lot of time for introspection, but I realize I don’t like a lot of introspection because I don’t really enjoy much of what I see on the inside of myself so I don’t spend a lot of time doing it (if that makes sense).
As people our emotions are fickle like a junior high girl trying to figure who she thinks is cute or who her new best friend should be. Our emotions are triggered by what we read, what we dreamed about while we slept, what we watched on TV, and even by what we ate the night before and yet I find it interesting that so often people stay stupid stuff like, “follow your heart.” If your “heart” could simply be the regurgitated ramblings of the pizza you ate last night then it probably is not a very good guide.
Jeremiah 17:9 says
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?We think we understand our own hearts much better than we do, like an electrician who thinks 220 volts is the same 110 volts and then blows up half of your appliances on install
(did I mention I was in a bad mood?). God tells us that we don’t understand our hearts because they deceive us into thinking that we know what is right when all we know is wrong. It is why some people who claim to be Christians will live with the person they ‘love’ before they are married to them, it is why we will spend all of the money God generously allows us to make at our jobs on ourselves while giving Him a tiny fraction of it, and it is why Christians have no problem judging others while not taking care of the plank in their own eyes.
Our hearts are deceitful; they are not great guides to life and freedom. But you know who is not just a guide to life and freedom but is LIFE and freedom? Jesus. It is why it is imperative that we listen to what He has revealed in His word to us. It is why we are to believe Him over and above our own silly emotions. It is why we are to trust Him in all things even when our hearts scream at us that things should be different. Our hearts are vain, they are stupid, they long to be God...but only God is God.
So next time you wake up wondering which side of the bed your attitude should be on, it should be on God side, because there is no other side that matters.
Labels: By Elders
This may be a blog and it may not...either way it is up and you get to read it.
A little over a month ago I (Aaron) gave the guys on the board a copy of “The Celtic Way of Evangelism” by George Hunter. I then ask them a couple of questions which I thought would be helpful for you to see our thought processes. Hope you enjoy it...
Aaron
In chapter one we read that the Roman churches saw its job in missions as "Chritianizing and Civlizing." They essentially made the goal of Christianity barbarian propriety rather than Jesus. How can we keep from doing this at Element ourselves?Churches lose focus and can tend to think that if they get people thinking and believing like they do - then they have done their job. Churches tend to take up popular causes - pro life, pro marriage, pro republican – (these are the current "civilizing" issues) – with the belief that if a person believes in these things then they are ok, and a “real” Christian....churches will “program-ize” people to death in the belief that we are meeting their needs.
A church can introduce someone to Jesus to be saved - but do they bring them back to Jesus for solutions to their life issues. Jesus, as Aaron says, “we have one drum and that is Jesus.” After the person is saved do we continue to point them to Jesus as the source of life, hope & true change or do we tell them what to believe and what to do now that they are a believer. Life gets more difficult after one becomes a Christian and that is where we at ECC longs to come along side that person and instruct, counsel and love that person as Jesus would if He were in the flesh here on earth.
We remember that Jesus is the source - and in Jesus there is not only salvation but there is transformation, redemption, hope & unconditional love. So we at ECC focus on these things, not on making sure someone believes that gay marriage is wrong or that if you are a democrat you are somehow “lesser than” or whatever the case may be - we preach, teach, walk and talk Jesus.
In the Preface of the book, George Hunter states that people today, like the celts are looking in the wrong places to make sense of their lives and find their souls true home…where do you think they are looking?Hunter states they are looking everywhere, "from Astrology to Zen." In our culture, I don't think the vast majority are really looking very hard, or considering their soul that seriously at all. I think the longing in their souls is often drowned out and pushed aside by consuming anything that will bring pleasure and make them feel alive. This usually takes the form of pursuing and acquiring material possessions (better houses, cars, boats, etc.), and physical gratification like overindulging in eating, self-pampering, various sorts of sexual activities, and drugs and alcohol.
For those today that realize that there must be something more, they seem to be willing to look almost anywhere--from A to Z as mentioned above--except traditional Christianity for "spiritual" answers. Millions of spiritually thirsty people in this country and around the world right now are finding water in Oprah's toilet as she hopes to usher in a "spiritual awakening" through the ancient eastern philosophies and practices that have been repackaged by Eckhart Tolle. What is especially sad to me is the fact that many experiencing this "awakening", like Oprah, are coming out of the traditional Christian church. We as a church, the people of God, need to demonstrate the power of the only true and living God by how we live and how we love. This will only happen as we seek first to experience God's grace and power in our daily lives to transform us into the image of Jesus.
SO, there you have part of our first discussion...hopefully there will be more to come.
Labels: By Elders
Have you ever found yourself so overwhelmed with meaningless things that you couldn’t finish all the things you had to do in a given day? Have you ever found your mind so cluttered with things to do that you essentially “overload” and don’t do anything at all? Have you ever found yourself spending massive amounts of time reading internet blogs and not actually doing your work while at WORK?
It is interesting that we call all these things being “busy.” I personally feel like I am “busy” all the time but can usually find a few moments to do something I want to do, such as writing a new blog, researching said blog, and then publishing said blog to the world wide web.
The term busy means actively engaged or occupied. I suppose it is like the restroom on the airplane that you have to lock the door to get the stupid useless light to actually turn on so you don’t sit somewhere you shouldn’t or drink the wrong water. Ya, occupied, that’s a great word for busy…because when our mind becomes UNoccupied the stench of the opening door overwhelms everyone within smelling distance.
We use the word busy for everything today.
- If a song has too many parts and doesn’t make sense we say it is too “busy.”
- If a painting becomes too cluttered because the artist didn’t know when to stop we say it is too “busy.”
- In 1526 the term came to be used of a person who is always prying into others affairs, we say they are a “busy” body.
- If a street has too many cars on it, we call it “busy.”
- In 1893 we started to use it of telephone lines when we couldn’t get through to the person we were calling and said “their line is busy.”
- In the seventeenth century being busy became a euphemism for sexual activity. We still use it today in all of the best gangster rap, “getting busy.”
- It’s even a city, Busy, Kentucky (zip code 41723).
Busy
I am surprised we haven’t used it in terms of an infection yet. Busy-ness is like a disease that haunts us and won’ let go. Even when we are not busy we feel the need to act like we are busy so no one will think we are lazy. How did we come to this? How did something that irritates almost everyone universally become for most people our second identity?
I’ll tell you how, because I know you want the answer. It has much to do with the preoccupation with self and our forgetfulness of God. The human animal, when not present with God becomes present only to itself. This idea is replete throughout scripture that if we want to truly learn to rest we must find a way to be present with God.
Moses, in the book of Exodus, is on his way up a mountain where God will visit with him.
In Exodus 24:12 we read The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction."
The Hebrew reading of this literally says: The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and BE THERE.” Rabbi’s teach that God told Moses this because God knew that as soon as Moses reached the top of the mountain his mind would start to contemplate all the ways to get BACK DOWN the mountain and he would not truly BE THERE with God. God wanted Moses present with Him, as God wants us present with Him when we spend time with Him.
In scripture we see God constantly telling us to calm down and mellow out:
- Exodus 14:14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."Nehemiah 8:10-11 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
- Psalm 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
- Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God;
- Zechariah 2:13 Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling."
Even Jesus’ disciples got caught up in the busy-ness of themselves and lost sight of God. In the middle of a storm, the disciples are freaking out and we are told in Mark 4:39 Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. Imagine that, forces of nature calm down and can be quiet in the presence of God, but humans can’t.
Busy-ness of our minds always threatens to undo the peace of God. I know all too well the issues with letting my mind and body become too busy. Just last night I had one of those freak out moments where the peace of God was the furthest thing from me. I became so caught up in the busy-ness of me that I lost sight of Him. This morning I sat down and prayed, found a place of calm, and began the deep hard road of learning to be still in the almighty presence of God.
Even when we finally find that place of being in the presence of God it is often hard to simply BE THERE…but we are commanded to be there, to be present with Him.
My hope for you this week is that you may also find that place where your busy-ness falls away in the presence of God, that you will understand the deep reality of simply BEING THERE with God in a moment, and allowing the calm that comes from knowing Jesus re-center the focus of your life.
Now, get back to work.
Labels: By Elders
I went to an event today that was for the sole purpose of marketing two major companies, Cisco was one, and the bigger of the two was a little business you might of heard of... Microsoft. It was one of those events where people drive trucks around and then show case their wares for all to see, the goal of which is to get people to buy their products. The whole time they were touting how well they collaborate to make sure everything works together perfectly. They demonstrated ways that the two companies make special products for use on the other's systems and so forth. There were people whose soul job is to do everything they can to say how great the products are. These marketing gurus are supposed to tell us that there is no better product then what they are offering, but they need people to show up in order to do it. So what do they do... they have a drawing to give away a free Apple iPod.
You see the humor in this right. If not look up what a Zune is.
That's where the "People are Funny" title comes in. Seriously, we often think that we have the best ideas and know how to get things done. I'm sure the guy coordinating the event knew that people like iPods, and this would draw more people in, but we often don't look at the big picture. We think that we can do stuff on our own and don't need someone to check our work, and often times it costs us money, time... humiliation. The guy from Microsoft said that if the guy coordinating the event had spoke to him about the iPod, then he would have given him a Zune to give away rather than be embarrassed by an Apple product being used.
This is where I get to the point. Having someone else around that can help check our actions is only good if we tell them what's going on and what we are doing. We don't always see the big picture, so having others to help us out is beneficial in so many ways.
I'm pretty sure I didn't win the iPod, but I did get a free t-shirt. XLarge. It's gonna look like a dress on this junior high school girl body of mine.
-John
Labels: By Deacons
So, my co-workers tell me I am a little feisty today so I thought, “I should write a blog” as nothing makes for better blogging than a strange attitude full of wit and sarcasm. Sometimes this wit and sarcasm backfires on me like an old car going down a steep grade spewing black smoke into all the cars behind them (you know the car, it is when you can’t take the smell so you lean forward and put the air in your car on ‘recirculation’).
As a matter of fact I just did this to a co-worker of mine.
It works like this:
--I throw ideas out without thinking about them sometimes…
-- My co-worker thinks I am saying my idea because I have thought it through in meticulous detail (even though for me it could simply be a residual electrolyte imbalance from the tortilla soup I ate last night)…
--He replies to me with answer that makes perfect sense, so much sense that I believe I could have thought of it if I had taken more time to think about it.
-- I respond with, “whatever” (because I really don’t care either way, it was just a tortilla brain burp),
--They feel like either they have shot down my idea (so they feel guilty) OR they are offended because my “whatever” was misconstrued as indifference to what they said.
Does this EVER happen to you? It cannot be just me, can it?
People are strange creatures. Our thoughts about our own selves take up massive amounts of our head space. We think so much about our world as we perceive it that we cannot imagine anyone seeing things any differently.
•If we see ourselves as less than average looking we certainly KNOW no one can see us as above average.
• If someone offends us surely everyone has to be offended too, right?
• If I don’t understand something certainly no one else will, or am I wrong? Which I don’t really believe.
• No one actually liked the movie Master and Commander, did they?
In the book of Proverbs 14:2 we read:
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.Kind of some harsh words, that our way can seem right and yet our way can be leading to death?
How about this…Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.Nobody likes being called a fool, but it is interesting that a fool doesn’t listen to anyone but himself. That can be very dangerous.
I have even more, Proverbs 12:16
A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.Fools get instantly offended when there may not have even been any offense intended, it becomes a matter of perception.
I can honestly say that I have been a fool in my life more than I have been prudent, wise, or right. At times it is so much easier to run headlong into death because my way seems so right than to simply take a step back and think through my own issues. I have even been known, at times, to not listen to good counsel and run off in a foolish direction that has caused more hurt than help.
Because I perceive the world around me to perceive the world the same way I do, I know that I am not alone in this, or that could just be my perception. Actually, scripture teaches this is one perception we all have in common, our lack of perception. I believe our lack of perception leads to our lack of prudence, which in turn makes others with lack of perception and prudence label us fools, but we are too busy labeling them to be fools to notice that they just labeled us fools – (
Ya, I know, try reading that ten times really fast).
No one can penetrate this world that we have made
AND because no one can penetrate our world it means that no one really knows us AND no one can really KNOW us because no one can read our minds, our thoughts, and more importantly, the attitude of our hearts... except Jesus.
Jesus is the only one who gets us. He understands who we are, why we react the way we do, and why we treat other people the way we do. It’s great to have someone understand us –
isn’t it? The thing with Jesus though, is that He never lets us stay in our own deluded self obsessed world. He calls us out of ourselves and into a place of engagement with others where we begin to become the ‘prudent’ and the ‘wise’ that scripture speak of. He calls us to a place where our perceptions grow, hopefully, one day to the place where we can see as He does.
Wouldn’t the world be a better place then? This is part of what Jesus called “The Kingdom of God.”
So how about it, are you ready to try something new? Then think twice before you react, think of a larger picture where the person you are talking to is just as confused as you. Think about beginning to see the world through Jesus and His perception…because honestly, His is the only perception that counts.
Labels: By Elders
The car, YES I SAY, THE CAR, it is the bane of my existence. Not my car mind you, because my car is great, and shiny, and smooth, and cozy, and usually sports a pretty good driver, namely me. When I say “THE CAR” I am referring to everyone else’s car (and yes, this can even include yours).
I say this because no one, and I am not exaggerating because I NEVER exaggerate, NO ONE knows how to drive (except for me, of course). Sometimes I think I should teach driving to people who have RADD (road attention deficit disorder). I picture myself doing this through a megaphone cranked to 10 while other drivers cry and apologize for not knowing all the rules of the road as well as I.
Just this week I barely cut this guy off (and by barely I mean I didn’t even trade paint). It was in one of those round-abouts (commonly called a traffic circle) where if you are old enough to have cataracts or young enough to be considered a high school girl, a yield signs interprets in your head as STOP even when no one is coming. Not wanting to be stuck behind the former, I calmly revved my engine and, in a stealth like manner, pulled my vehicle AROUND the stopped car and entered the round-about. Upon entering the round-about a car, driven by another person who I guess couldn’t see (I assume they had cataracts also) jumps into the lane behind me and honks his horn…for no reason I assure you…then exits the round-about.
This makes me angry. So I drive around the round about as fast as I can (between 5 and 6 times) making all traffic stop because the high school girls and people with cataracts won’t climb into traffic circle with a perfectly sane driver using the round-about to work out his aggression. While driving in circles I am thinking how I wish I could magically appear in cataract man’s car for 10 seconds just to tell him why he is such a bad driver, why he should not use his horn except to wave hi, and why I am such a good driver (proven by the fact that I beat him into the round-about). I think of the words I long to say, the gestures I would use, and the amount of wisdom he would drive off with after I was finished.
When I come to my senses and stop day dreaming, there is a line of cars at all three traffic circle entrances because the high school girls have pole position in every lane. At this time I calmly exit the round-about and go along my way.
But it doesn’t stop me from thinking about how much better a driver I am than everyone else. I say things in my head like “If everyone just drove like me then…” – well ‘then’ I catch myself. If everyone drove like me we would all get stuck at red lights and, to be completely honest, we would probably all die because I cannot drive that well either. I am too oblivious, too aggressive, and too obnoxious. Not everyone is me, not everyone sees the world as I do, and not everyone SHOULD see the world as I do.
Our differences, even when driving, are what make us unique, one of a kind, and I dare say, able to worship God in a way no one else does or can. When you look at a major world religion like Hinduism or Buddhism the goal is to lose yourself, to become one with the universal consciousness. Christianity is the exact opposite. God made us unique. He values that uniqueness and would not change it for anything (because if He wanted to, He would).
In Psalm 119:13 the psalm writer states: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.” The Psalm writer essentially says, “God, you knew what you were doing when you put me together.” What you are, even the things you don’t like about ‘you’ were formed by God (your ears, eyes, toes). God also gave you a personality, some people choose to use that for evil (like being vindictive in a round-about) while others can use that same personality for good (talking to someone truthfully and honestly about their life).
The Psalm writer continues in Psalm 119:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. “ The writer accepts that God is GOD and he is not. Then acknowledges that what God has done is wonderful…it is a great concept is it not?
This is not a form of fatalism that says, “Well, God made me this way, I should never try to better myself.” The truth is God made you TO BE YOU and to grow in ways that you could never dream possible. To believe that others can also grow in ways they or we never dreamed possible is one of the primary things we can do to begin to treat others as better than ourselves. Far from viewing other people as idiots who somehow stumbled out into the great big world, we need to see them as those loved by God and called to something greater.
We too are called to something greater. So, pray for others as much as you pray for yourself (actually pray for them more). AND the next time you see some idiot driving like a nut around a traffic circle, you can pray for the people in that vehicle, especially if you see my wife hanging on for dear life in the passenger seat.
Labels: By Elders
I have been asked repeatedly by various individuals to update this blog more often because they are tired of reading about my reflections on day light savings which coincided in blog writing with Thanksgiving for me. I don’t know what people have against Thanksgiving; I get Turkey, pumpkin pie, black Friday ads, and five extra pounds (which apparently I really need).
So in order to remedy the apparent blog shortage on the internet (by 2010 studies have shown that there will actually be 10 billion blogs on the web) I have sat down repeatedly to write another. But, every time I sit down to write a blog full of inspiration that is guaranteed to not only inspire you but press the limits of Microsoft’s spell checker, I get interrupted (and I mean that in the nicest way possible) by the same people who have asked me to write another blog.
So I have some pressure.
My wife likes to make jam, all kinds of jam, anything that can be made into a jam she will make into a jam. If you have a bizarre bush or tree with something that resembles fruit don’t be surprised if you see her, in a stealthy manner, stealing your fruit-like substance to make into a new jam concoction (I think she also influenced her friend Michele, with one ‘l,’ to begin doing the same thing). I have come home to the most bizarre smells one could imagine, not to mention a bizarre concoction which is also her best seller, Cranberry Jalapeno.
Seriously, who buys jalapeño (pronounced juh-lap-in-ooh) jam? Apparently you do because she can’t make it fast enough. This Jam burns your eyes, stings the back of your throat, and causes my nostrils to twitch while she makes it. Mmmmmm good.
As she finishes making the jam she boils water, which leaves me to think canning jam and delivering a baby have some things in common. She places the canning jars in the water to super-heat them, when she finishes making the jam she pours it into these super-heated jars. She places a lid on the jars and as the jars and jam cool the pressure inside the jars decrease which cause the lid to seal to jar with a nice little ‘POP’ (which sounds more like a ‘ding’ and ‘pop’ combined).
What is the purpose of sealing that jam in the jars? Freshness. So when you open the orange-bark-cinnamon-dirt-jam, it is as fresh as the day it was made.
What makes this freshness possible? Pressure.
Pressure.
In America we are taught to hate pressure, we like it easy. We usually get angry and blame God if we have too much pressure. It is little wonder why Christianity has become so lifeless and mundane in a society that puts itself into impossible situations and then complains about the pressure.
In the book of Jeremiah 18:1-4
these are the words that Jeremiah writes: This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.A potter forms the clay into what he wants by applying pressure with his hands…verses 5-6 go on to say:
Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”Romans 8 tells us that God is the potter for all humanity, James 1 tells us the pressure the potter applies will make us mature, complete, ready to do the works of God if we let it.
In other words we will be sealed with freshness so when we are opened to the world they will get the freshness of God because we have been sealed with the Spirit of God. It is a great and beautiful picture that Jesus longs to use the pressures around us to make us more patient, loving, kind, good, and fresh.
So next time you feel pressure, instead of running or questioning or hiding; simply thank God for it, that He sees enough value in you to mold you and seal you with freshness.
Thanks for pressuring me to write another blog…again.
Labels: By Elders
