Liminal Zones

Sometimes, wisdom can be found on Facebook.  This post really stuck with me.

Have you ever found yourself stuck in a crossroads?  Joe's post reminds me of some of the anxiety we feel at this middle age of changes that life brings us.  We remember past events so very clearly, and sometimes wish we were in some of those events that brought us joy.  Other past events bring us an anxiety that keeps us from moving forward.

I really enjoyed Joe's last line, "To recognize the first hints of dawn will always change the way we see in the dark."  This is the illustration of hope.  When life circumstances are keeping you feeling stuck in the crossroads, what can you hope for?

"We are merely moving shadows,

and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.

We heap up wealth,

not knowing who will spend it.

And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?

My only hope is in you."

~Psalm 39:6-7 (NLT)

Potholes in the Body of Christ

Newly formed pothole in Decatur, IL

Today, as I was out driving, I couldn't help but notice all the potholes in the pavement.  It was almost as if all the snow was covering up these deep faults in the road.  The picture above is just an example of one that is "new."  This made me wonder what is it that causes potholes to form in some places and some roads, but not others?  I did some research in Wikipedia (I know, I know, check my sources).  

A pothole is a type of failure in an asphalt pavement,^[1] caused by the presence of water in the underlying soil structure and the presence of traffic passing over the affected area. Introduction of water to the underlying soil structure first weakens the supporting soil. Traffic then fatigues and breaks the poorly supported asphalt surface in the affected area. Continued traffic action ejects both asphalt and the underlying soil material to create a hole in the pavement.

Potholes are caused by water leaching into the soil under the pavement, freezing, thawing, and traffic stressors.   All of these factors together cause an "eruption" that creates a hole.

This made me think about our Christian walk.  What does a pothole have to do with our walk, you ask? Ok, it's a stretch, but work with me here.  Imagine the road is the body of Christ, or even a person in the body of Christ.  A crack in the body would allow sin (the water) to enter and fester within. The freezing and thawing process represents gradual build-up of the stress that sin puts our body in.  The traffic is the ultimate stress event that makes our sin erupt and create holes in our walk.  When the sin erupts and bursts out, this breaks our Christian exterior.  We lose credibility when the holes erupt.

According to Eaton, et al., potholes may result from four main causes:^[2] 

1. Insufficient pavement thickness to support traffic during freeze/thaw periods without localized failures.
2. Insufficient drainage.
3. Failures at utility trenches and castings (manhole and drain casings).
4. Miscellaneous pavement defects and cracks left unmaintained and unsealed so as to admit moisture and compromise the structural integrity of the pavement.

What about the Christian potholes?  What causes some people in the body to have the eruption of sin in their lives, and others to stay "intact?"  I believe there are several causes:

1.  We have insufficient support from our Christian brothers and sisters to keep us accountable during the freeze and thaw process.  Don't just pretend to love others.  Really love them.  Hate what is wrong.  Hold tightly to what is good. ~Romans 12:9 (NLT)

2.  We fail to drain the sin by confessing and repenting.  Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. ~James 5:16 (NLT)

3.  We allow external forces to injure us, causing us to weaken at specific junctures.  By this I may be talking about childhood hurts, or past offenses by others that we have not sufficiently forgiven.  Unforgiveness causes cracks that allow sin to enter.  But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too. ~Mark 11:25 (NLT)

4.  We have failed to maintain our armor, leaving us vulnerable to the work of the devil.  Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.  Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.  ~Ephesians 6:13 (NLT)

Sometimes, even the best of us fail and have an eruption of sin that causes a hole.  We have to stop, confess, and examine our hearts.  We need to do a 180-degree turn and repent.  God will restore us.

Valentine's Day - What Should We Celebrate?

Jack and Rose fell in love in just 4 days

Romantic Love is what gets celebrated on Valentine's Day.  We often imagine some kind of great affirmation of love from our spouses and loved ones today, don't we?  I spent the week thinking about love the way God designed us to know it.

I grapple with the concept of love as the Bible describes it.  I have a lack of feelings most of the time that really frustrates my family.  I liken myself to Mr. Spock, as I wrote in an earlier blogpost: Love Beyond Life, not really accepting feelings like most people, but choosing instead to bury them until they burst out.

I knew there were several Greek words used to describe love.  I thought about the differences they represented.  If you are not familiar, you can see the description by CS Lewis on Wikipedia here.  Basically, the Greeks felt there needed to be different descriptors for the kinds of love and feelings (or non-feelings) we have.  One of these, most closely aligned with Valentine's Day is the concept of eros, or limerence.  This is the same concept for an intense "falling in love" kind of feeling.  Limerence is a word coined by Dr. Dorothy Tennoy in 1979 to describe that obsessive feeling of the intense "crush" or falling in love with another person.  To me, this also describes eros.  You see it celebrated in movies like Titanic.  People in the state of limerence believe they will feel this way forever.  That just isn't true.  It will fade.

I learned that love goes beyond the feelings of affection, but into the unselfish acts of God.  This is described as agape.  God gave his life for us so that we would not have to face the consequences of our sin.  This type of love is reflected so well in the gospels.  God calls us to love others in the same manner.  Agape is not as much a "feeling" of love, but the action of love.  What are the specific acts of agape?  Think about the charitable acts of others.

It is bond of friendship, or phileo, that fascinates me the most.  This is the hope of long-term love when the eros fades.  This is a noble love and Jesus Himself used this term for his feelings for his disciples.  It is the legendary friendship of David and Jonathan.  It is the kind of love that sustains the test of time.

Today, think about the people in your life, and think about what acts of agape you could do.  Think about your spouse, and remember the eros.  What can you do to spark the passion in your marriage?  Finally, think about those you have a phileo bond, and show them how grateful you are that you have them in your life.

Love is patient and kind.

Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.

It does not demand its own way.

It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful,

and endures through every circumstance.

~1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NLT)

Gods At War - Book Review

I have developed an appreciation for the writings of Kyle Idleman.  He is the author of the book, Not a Fan, that I reviewed a while back.  You can check out that review here.  He wrote a new book in 2013 that I just completed, and he is due to publish a new book on March 1.  God has really blessed him in writing and publishing.

The book, Gods at War, focuses on idolatry.  His basic premise throughout the writing is that whatever sins we face or struggle with are not isolated.  They are rooted in our misalignment of priorities.  When we place something into the position of an "idol," we then struggle with it.  An idol is defined as something that attempts to take the place of God in our lives as first and foremost.  Kyle explains that ANYTHING can become an idol and thus a stumbling block in our walk.  A good test to see what consumes our thoughts would be examining our own google search history.  What hits are most frequent?  Are they mostly centered around food?  Are they sexual?  What is consuming your thoughts?  After we do a little thinking and reflecting, there are chapters dedicated to specific idols in our lives.  The last chapter is the one I struggle with the most, the idol of "me."

I found it interesting that even the good things in our lives can become an idol.  I was fascinated with the stories of real Christians who struggled with the specific idols in their lives.  There were stories of denial, fall, repentance, and restoration.  It does not matter what is your idol, what matters is what you do with the idol when you identify it.  God belongs in the forefront of your thinking.  There can be no other "gods" in His presence.  He demands all of you.

Kyle and his father Ken are going to be speaking at the Elders' and Church Leaders' Conference at Lincoln Christian College this Saturday.  I am really looking forward to seeing them speak.  The topic of the conference is "Lead, Follow… or Get Out of the Way."

The first commandment given to Moses was:

"I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.

You must not have any other god but me."

Examine your hearts.  Remember our Lord is a jealous God.  

The Agony of Falling

I recently saw this commercial and loved how well it illustrates our walk with God.  Bear with me, as it is a two-minute commercial, but well worth the view.

You can see the progression of the athletes as they learn their craft, and the support of their moms.  They fail.  They fall.  They cry out in frustration and defeat.  Yet, time after time, their mom cheers them and encourages them, and they get back up.  So many of us remember our own mothers and fathers cheering us on for whatever we were trying to do.  Without their words of encouragement, we may not have continued.  We may have accepted defeat.

How like our heavenly Father who sees us fail in our walk?  When we try to walk in obedience, we sometimes slip and fall into sin.  He stops us from falling too far, and He tells us to get back up.  He wants us to repent, and then try again.  Time after time, we fall.  We agonize over our defeat, but it is the Lord who tells us, "Get up."  The Lord does not condemn or accuse us when we fall.  No.  He simply says, "Repent."  

"He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." ~Psalm 40:2 (NLT)

Gifts and Talents

The XXII Olympic Games are scheduled to begin events tomorrow with some new events promised.  I have always enjoyed the Winter Games over the Summer Games, and my very favorite event is figure skating.  This year, the figure skating competition adds a team competition, in addition to the traditional individual events.  This event will showcase the collective talents of ten countries to compete in each of the four disciplines: men, women, pairs and ice dance.  I am looking forward to seeing how our athletes do.  The picture above is the ice dancing part of the USA team: Charlie White and Meryl Davis.  Their precision in dance is beautiful to watch.

I used to be a figure skater.  I still have my skates, and I would still be able to skate without falling (I think).  In my youth, I fell in love with the skaters on TV, and I thought it must be easy.  Let me just settle the question right here: it is not easy.  I learned how to skate without tripping over the toe pick.  I learned how to make those graceful turns and to do the cross-overs (backwards and forwards).  I learned how to pay attention to my skate edges, lean over and skate on one foot, with the other foot behind me above my hip.  This is called a spiral, in case you were interested.  I learned a few jumps and a few spins.  I thought I was doing well.

I found out I was not talented enough for competition.  I did not have the natural talents that the Olympic skaters have.  I practiced and practiced, but I was never able to do the more precise moves, like double jumps or backward spins.  It just wasn't for me.  I was crushed.  I have not skated in years.

God bestows upon us gifts and talents.  Talents are the natural things we can do as a product of a specific combination of genetics.  Both my parents are clumsy.  It would figure my natural talent is not something that requires balance and precise body movements.  Some people have a natural talent for all things athletic, others have musical talents.  Whatever our natural talent is, God would have us use it for the benefit of others.

Spiritual Gifts are different than talents.  The gifts of the Spirit are outlined specifically in 1Corinthians 12 - 14.  Every believer receives a Gift from the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building up the Church.  What I find interesting in the Church today, is that not everyone seems to be aware of their spiritual gift and/or is not using the gift for the purpose it was given.  How many of our churches have the majority of the work being done by just the leadership team, but not by the average congregational member?  How can we learn each other's gifts to work together for God's purpose?

Let's start with the basic step.  Get to know each other.  Meet each other for coffee before the church service starts.  Find out what every person has been gifted to do.  Wouldn't a local church look very different if every believer had a role to play?

As you turn on the Olympic games, pay attention to the team sports and pairs.  Look at the complete dependence the athletes have for each other, and the complete dedication.  To me, this is an illustration of the early church.

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord's Supper), and to prayer.  A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.  And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.  They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.  They worshipped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity - all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.  And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.  (Acts 2:42-47 NLT)

Creating a Legacy

Superbowl XLVIII has arrived in a flurry of conversation and speculation.  One of the top conversations has been around quarterback Peyton Manning, of the Denver Broncos, and whether he will win and thus become a legacy.  He is the only player in this year's bowl that has already both won a Superbowl, and lost a Superbowl.  Speculators comment that he needs to win this one to seal his legacy.

I've thought about legacy quite a little bit.  How many of us desire to be remembered when our time is done?  How many of us think about ways to preserve what made us for our future generations?  Some people gather photos and seal them in albums.  Others start making a name for themselves publicly by doing charitable acts or donating things.  Still others, like me, journal and blog, hoping that someone actually reads and takes away some nugget of truth we are trying to convey.  Social media (like Facebook) is just a small example of our desires to be known.

What does the Bible say about legacy?  Consider Paul's words to Timothy:

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God.  The time of my death is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.  And now the prize awaits me - the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return.  And the prize is not just for me but all who eagerly look forward to his appearing." (2Timothy 4:6-8 NLT)

God wants us to serve Him.  He wants all of our work and time to point to him.  The legacy we build is not supposed to be about us.  We are charged to ensure that current and future generations know Him.  I constantly have to check my motivations when I write.  Why do I want to blog?  What purpose do my words have for others?  Does my work actually promote the person of God or His work?  I hope so.

Let's remember our purpose as we gather together tomorrow in front of the television.  There are people who don't know the Lord who could join you in your Superbowl parties.  They may be open to an invitation to your church or small group after laughing and fellowshipping with you.  Be the light in this world.  Create your legacy.

Oh, and Go Broncos!