You Don't Know Unless You Know

I have a sister who is now several months along in her first pregnancy. It's fun to watch her experience all those things moms-to-be experience for the first time, seven years now since the first time my wife experienced them. Yesterday, it was baby hiccups. She posted on Facebook about how weird it was to feel that tiny person hiccuping inside of her. "But it's Wonderful!"

A mutual friend, who has never experienced a pregnancy was curious: "Why is that wonderful?"

"Because," I started to answer, and stopped. How do you explain it to somebody who doesn't know? Especially when I, myself, have only experienced it vicariously, through my wife? I understand it. I've felt the baby hiccuping in my wife's womb, and have been pleased and awed and amused. A hiccup, as annoying as it is to an adult (and, let's be honest, probably an unborn baby, too!), is also a wonderful reminder of the little life growing within. Intellectually, I get it. But how do you explain it to somebody who has never had the experience. Why is it wonderful? "Because it is."

It can be just as difficult trying to find words to explain to people why your life is better with Christ. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to "always be prepared to give an answer" when people ask us about the hope we have. But how? How do you explain it to somebody who simply doesn't know? It's like trying to describe how something looks to somebody who was born blind.

In fact, Paul comments on exactly that problem in 1 Corinthians 2:14:

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

The truth is, without asking for the guidance that can only come from God's Holy Spirit, we ourselves can only touch on the outer edges of explaining our hope in Christ. Just as my wife, who experienced her own pregnancies, and my sister, currently going through it, were far more able than I to explain the simple joy of a hiccuping baby, it is only through the Spirit of God that we can begin to describe for others who God really is. 

Even then, it can be discouraging as your friend tries to understand what you're telling them, because, unless he or she knows through the experience of the Spirit, he or she simply can't really know.  Like my friend who won't fully understand pregnancy until she experiences it for herself, we can't understand God without being given that understanding directly from the source.

So, be encouraged. It isn't our job to guarantee understanding when we tell others what Christ has done for us. We simply need to let the Spirit of God speak through us and, when they're ready, He will give to others the understanding He has given us.

We're Burnin' Daylight!

As my wife and I were sleeping, one of my little girls came into our room crying because she'd had an accident -- something that rarely ever happens anymore. As I started going upstairs to find her some dry clothes, I passed through the kitchen and checked the clock on the stove: just over a half an hour before my alarm would go off.

If you're a parent, chances are you've been right where I was. If it had been even half an hour sooner, you'd consider the circumstances long enough to realize you had plenty of time to go back to sleep. But no. Thirty minutes sleep roulette. Maybe you'll be able to go back to sleep, or maybe you'll lie awake as your little one struggles to get comfortable between the two of you. Maybe you should just take the loss and get up early. It's an important decision -- too important, maybe, to be making first thing in the morning, but there you are.

A huge fan of sleep, I chose bed.  I like to squeeze every last drop of sleep out of a night as is humanly possible. I figured, if I could get an extra 15 minutes out of the deal, I was doing okay. That the human body doesn't actually work that way did cross my mind, but then, I'm a pretty committed sleeper, when I get the chance.

No... my ability to get everything possible out of a night's sleep has never been in question. The bigger challenge for me, I've found, is getting everything out of my day.

Often, it is difficult for me to remember that time is a gift, and it is finite. God has given us a limited number of days in which to do His work, but so many of my hours are wasted on things that don't really matter. I will struggle to go back to bed and squeeze every last drop of usefulness out of my sleep, but when it comes to doing the same for my day, I find my commitment often falls far short.

In the movie, The Cowboys, one of John Wayne's catch-phrases is, "We're burnin' Daylight." The meaning was pretty clear. Enough coffee and chit-chat; we have work to do.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

There is work to be done. And we're burnin' daylight.

Looking Back, Taking Stock

My wife and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary yesterday. I love celebrating my anniversary with my wife, because it is a great moment for reflection and recommitment. I look back on the years, and on the good and bad events in our life together, and consider how they have molded us into the couple, the parents, the people we are today. I look back on how I have done by her, and renew my commitment to be her rock and partner, and to never let a day go by where I don't let her know in some way how much I love her. 

These moments of reflection are important to life in general as well: to look back on how God has moved in your life; on those events, positive and negative, which have helped to make you the person you are now.

Romans 8:28 - For we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God uses circumstances to bring us closer to Him. Not only the bad circumstances, but even the good things that happen in our lives are made better when they help us grow in Jesus Christ.

Today, as we near the Advent Season and the end of another year, I want to encourage you to take a look at the past year in your own life. What has happened, good or bad, and how have you handled it? Have you come nearer to His presence in those situations? Maybe, God was teaching you something, and you didn't even notice.

Or maybe, it was just another opportunity for Him to let you how much He loves you.

If It's So Great To Be Forgiven, Why Are You Such A Sourpuss?

Have you ever noticed that, no matter what you say or do, it seems like there's always somebody who has to put a negative spin on it? I'm not talking about just at work or school, either. This sort of thing actually happens in church, too.

A lot. 

Does that seem improbable? Allow me to suggest an experiment: come up with a new idea for ministry. We can't do it that way! We've never done it that way before! That's not what our last pastor did, and anyway it'll never, ever work! 

Or, try sharing a bit of good news. Too bad it won't last. Just wait, that'll go south before you know it! I don't really like/approve/appreciate/enjoy that... but whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Maybe it's human nature, but it seems like we very often can't wait to find the cloud attached to the silver lining. 

 

This is so contrary to who Jesus is, though, and to who we are, if we are in His spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says to "Rejoice always." Not to look for the negative in your circumstances, or to find reasons to be a naysayer, but to "pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

 

So often, it seems as though Christians have very little to be happy about. At least, if we were to judge on their countenance and behavior.  But don't we, after all, have the best of reasons to rejoice? Shouldn't we be an example in our exuberance that we, in our lostness, were found and in our blindness given sight? 

 

Seems like I read about something like that somewhere...  

The Biggest Shopping Weekend of the Year!

I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it. I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my kids. I love spending time with my family, laughing together in the living room while in the background the Lions find new and interesting ways to lose another game and the smell of cooking turkey and stuffing wafts in from the kitchen. I love sitting back and drinking a post-dinner cup of coffee while deciding whether or not to eat another piece of pie, or whether to simply wait a few hours so it will be as enjoyable as it is delicious. I love how easy it is, looking around the room and listening to the sounds of my children playing, to find reasons to be thankful.

Many people find it ironic that, on the heels of this wonderful day of togetherness and thankfulness, we spend the early hours of Friday standing in line, nearly freezing to death as we wait for the stores to open, so we can push, shove, scream, cajole, and fight our way to whatever big sale brought us there in the first place. How the Rockwellian family portrait of Thanksgiving gives way to the materialistic, consumer-driven chaos of Black Friday.

Even more ironic, perhaps, is that all this insane materialism is in celebration of a small child, born in poverty, the very incarnation of God on earth, who grew into a Man, a prophet, and a Savior for the entire world.

As the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year creeps into the entire weekend, and on into Cyber-Monday, let us remember what's truly important -- not only during the Christmas season, but for the entire year. And let us be an example for the rest of the world, in our love, joy, and thanksgiving for what Christ has done, and for what God gives us every single day.

Philippians 4:5-7

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Where to, God? Part 2

I went to college for radio. Sort of.

Fresh out of high school, excited for what God had planned, and ready to get started, I began my Freshman year with a double major in Broadcasting and Business Management (the latter to make my parents -- who wisely insisted on a fall-back plan -- happy). By the time I actually left college (not graduated -- a story, perhaps, for another time), I had spent much of my time in video production, film studies, journalism, writing, and, yes, radio. My experiences were as varied as could be for a mediaphile. I had gotten married, interned with a film company, and had decided my career would not, in fact, be in radio, but in film and video production.

I mention this, because looking back on it now, I see that God had given me my original passion and that I -- and not He -- moved in a different direction. A fickle race, mankind.

And of course, when it came to doing things my own way, I failed. Often. After multiple part-time and temporary jobs, and after failing to pull the video production job into a permanent, full-time position, it still took a long time for me to get the hint.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. My wife had, at some point during all this, gotten pregnant. I still couldn't find a solid, full-time job, and, once the kids came, we thought we needed a bigger place. We found what we thought was perfect -- until the landlord decided, six months into our stay, that he wanted his daughter to live there. Now we had two kids, little money, and soon, no home. We did what you do in those situations: we went to family.

We moved in with my wife's family in Northern New York. Then, once his rental property opened up, we took up residence there as her father's tenants. We got jobs, the two of us, almost right away after moving out there. Well, part-time jobs in retail. But it was work.

A few years after moving, my Father-in-law found an ad in the local paper: a small country radio station was hiring. No experience necessary. I actually HAD experience -- AND education. I applied, and was more or less hired immediately. It didn't pay a lot, but it made me happy, and I kept my part-time job to make ends meet. More importantly, I believe now, it was God's way of getting me back on track for His plan.

Making a long story short, after a couple years there, I was hired into a larger station, where I worked another three, before finally being brought back into Christian radio where, I suspect, God wanted me all along.

Here's the thing with God. When you seek His will, ultimately you will find it. When you fall short of seeking God's will, He will put you into a place where, as Rich Mullins sang, You're lost enough to let yourself be led.

I spent a good chunk of my adult life depressed and unsatisfied. Ashamed of my failure to provide for my family. Even more ashamed that I knew, ultimately, I wasn't doing what God wanted me to do. But as I look back, I see something amazing: even though I forgot about God's will, He did not. And, when I was ready to ask Him, He had already laid the groundwork to put me back on His path.

Matthew 6:31-33

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I have learned, through my own errors in life, by the side of a patient and understanding wife, under the watchful eye of a loving God, that a life lived outside of His will is a life unfulfilled. I'm not going to pretend everything will be perfect here on Earth as long as we do what God says; but I know it's a better life knowing that I'm walking the path laid out by the creator of the Universe. I won't pretend to know what's up ahead, but God does. And that's good enough for me.

Where to, God? Part 1

Sometimes, it feels like there aren't ANY choices...
Sometimes, that's because there are just too many.

My favorite song by Rich Mullins is one he recorded as a demo, shortly before his death in 1997. In the final verse of "Hard to Get," which is about the struggle to understand God's relationship to man, Rich sings:

I can't see where You're leading me, unless You've led me here
To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led

It can be difficult, in the midst of depression or despair, to feel the Hand of God on your life. In an economy where finding a job that allows you to support your family is itself a monumental task -- so monumental, in fact, that many have simply given up looking -- it's easy to wonder: where is God's plan for my life?

Before my children were born, that was where I found myself. I had left my job -- a dead-end position in corporate communications that, at least, paid a living wage -- in order to more fully engage in freelance video production. I was an entrepreneur! I had begun working with a woman who had established herself in the professional videography world, and we had plans to take her company beyond weddings and graduations. The time was right. People would pay for our services, and there was plenty of money to go around.

I had planned to leave my position right before 9/11/2001, and left shortly thereafter. I was just too short-sighted to understand the economic impact at the time. I learned. After years of struggling and taking on part-time jobs, I was offered a position with another company to do exactly what I had wanted to do, but with full-time hours and pay. I would build their video services business from the ground up, and it would be exciting, and new, and fulfilling. And, to make a long story short, it was a bitter disappointment.

Just like that, I was back to substitute teaching. To taking whatever wedding video job I could find, and filling the rest of my hours through a temp service. I was briefly offered a full-time, entry-level position with a multi-billion dollar corporation, only to see the position eliminated before my first day of work.

It was depressing. It was debilitating. There were days I couldn't even get off the couch. I was just... ashamed. Saddened that I was unable to provide for my family. Beginning to crumble under the debt and pressure. My wife and I were fighting about everything. Put simply, if my little family had a future, I couldn't see it.

Jeremiah 29:11-12

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

I love to look back and see now how the Lord moved in my life. How He positioned  me from depression to trust in Him. This is all part of a larger story, of course... one that is still playing itself out, even now. 

I couldn't see God's Hand leading me. I couldn't see that He led me to exactly that point -- the point at which I could realize that I -- and my family -- needed to let Him lead.