Not Why But Who

"The question we need to ask ourselves when God allows us to go through hard times is not why but who? In the mind of God, pain always has two intended recipients: us and someone else. If we choose not to take what we've experienced and find some way of using it to help other people, we miss a large part of why God allowed us to suffer in the first place." --Brian Jones, Second Guessing God

This switch in the mode of thinking can be powerful. It changes our situation from "poor me" to who can I help with my my learning through suffering. It puts us into the service oriented line of thinking that we are taught as disciples. It allows us to have some power in our suffering instead of us feeling completely worked over and powerless.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

New Car Smell of Faith

I have always believed that there was more to being a follower of Christ than just saying a cute little prayer. It has been an annoying presence in my life to think that the church has failed new Christians in huge ways by not telling them of sacrifice and service. We promise them that their lives will be changed, but often times it is not the immediate change that they were expecting. They get through the honeymoon period of salvation where they tell all their friends and family that they are saved and how their lives are changed and then that feeling ends. The salvation buzz wears off and they realize that the changes they were expecting to see haven't happened yet and the miracles they were waiting on haven't manifested themselves yet. Brian Jones in his book Second Guessing God says that for him when he started having doubts it was like the new car smell wore off on his faith.

By the third page of his book I knew I had found a new favorite author. The first of the best passages in the book (and there are many) comes from a conversation between him and one of his mentors.

Brian: "My faith in God right now is like a walk on the beach. Ive taken off my shoes, and as i stand at the water's edge, the tide has started to roll across my feet. It feels wonderful. Up to this point my spiritual journey had been incredible, but in the last six months doubt has begun to paralyze me. It's like when the water goes back out to the ocean. It is washing away the sand underneath me, and my feet keep sinking lower and lower and lower. If this keeps up, there wont be anything left to stand on."

Mentor: "Brian, I have stood where you're standing. Ive felt the water cascade across my feet. I know how wonderful it feels. But Ive also had the water go back out to sea. I've felt the sand get washed out from underneath my feet...When the last grain of sand is finally gone, you're going to discover that you're standing on a rock."

That is awesome. First to know that we don't go through things that others around us haven't been through. Second to know that as deep as the sand around us might seem, we have a foundation that we have built our house and our faith on. When it seems like we are sinking and have no hope left we will hit our rock and that will keep us from sinking any further. Sometimes I think those rough times hit our lives because we need to get back to the basics of our faith and our walk with Christ. those times usually help us get closer to Him and reinforce the faith that helped us start our walk with Him to begin with.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing

Traveling Light and Second Guessing God

I have one go to book that I have read over and over again, and with each time I complete it it ministers something new to my heart. That book is Traveling Light by Max Lucado. This book seems to have something encouraging to say on just about every issue of life I have encountered. Lucado spills biblical truths in a true storyteller's fashion. I absoultely, whole heartedly recommend this book to anyone who needs a little encouragement and a some relief from the baggage of life.

I have asked myself to read much more than I have in the past and one of the books I picked up was Second Guessing God by Brian Jones. I have been through the low places in my walk with God, where He seems so far away and so quiet. It is almost as if I am walking alone and have been forgotten by the One who said He would never leave me or forsake me. But to say that or to confess that to anyone let alone myself seems to be admitting that my faith is not solid and I am not the big spritual giant I want to be. While I don't think anyone except God could ever answer why we go through the things we go through here on this earth, Brian Jones takes a great stab at it, joining personal anecdotes with quotes from spiritual giants and of course the Bible. His writing is easy to follow and after looking at my copy of the book I can see he leaves a lot to be reconsidered after you read through it the first time (as my copy is all marked up). I reccommend this book to anyone who is going through those low times yourself. Not becaause it has all of the answers but because it humanizes and normalizes what you are going through, therefore making it easier to understand and to deal with.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!

Mike

Quotable Quotes--Seth Godin , The Dip

"Persistent people are able to visualize the idea of light at the end of the tunnel when others can't see it. At the same time, the smartest people are realistic about not imagining light when there isn't any."--Seth Godin, The Dip

There have been times in my life when I wanted to make a name for myself and thought that I had the perfect idea or project that would help me do just that. I focused most of my time and my energy on the creation and implementation of that idea. Not only that I would invest the time and energies of the people that I had working for me on my pet project. When it became even possible that the idea wasn't going to be successful, I focused more of my energy and time and more of my resources (human and otherwise) on the success of my great idea. I had Wizard of Oz syndrome--Pay no mind to what's behind the curtain. I tried to force myself and those who were working on the project to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Putting a spin on a slowly or rapidly failing idea was a lot easier than admitting that it was a failure. In the process I wasted (squandered really) my time and energy, and that of the people I had working on the project, on a project that would have been better being sent out to pasture with the other well intentioned but unsuccessful ideas. It would have been better to accept the idea as a failure and move on to the next one. How can I apply this to the spiritual life?

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Quotable Quotes--Seth Godin , The Dip

"Just about everything you learned in school about life is wrong, but the wrongest thing might very well be this: Being well rounded is the secret to success." --Seth Godin, The Dip

One of the biggest points that I have taken away from this book is mediocrity is not okay. Yet that is what most of us choose when we make the decision to know something about everything or at least a lot of things. We never perfect our knowledge in one area and become an expert on the subject. Experts are scarce. We need to focus on greatness and narrow our scope of knowledge and skill a little. Well roundedness is not as good when you have the opportunity to have expertise.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing.
Mike

Quotable Quotes

I am reading The Dip by Seth Godin. This has come highly recommended to me and has gotten some great reviews. It is also very, very easy reading. Here's a great quote from the book:

"The problem with infinity is that there's too much of it." --Seth Godin

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Novels That Allow You to Escape

I know so many people that are constantly in a book. Most of them are reading so heavy duty stuff, very little fiction reading goes on. I love to read too. Books about discipleship or spiritual development are on the top of my reading lists. But occasionally I like to take a break from expanding my mind. I need a good fictional story to get me involved and before I know it hours have passed. One of my go to authors for that is Patricia Cornwell. I picked up one of her novels yesterday in the bookstore and started reading it. I was a third of the way through the novel before I realized it. She is mystery writer and one of her best known characters is Kay Scarpetta--a medical examiner with a law degree that would make any of the CSI's look like sesame street. If you like crime thrillers Patricia Cornwell is the autor for you. Right now I am reader Predator. She was also befriended early in life by the recently passed Ruth Graham. She published a biography of Ruth Bell Graham in the late 90's. Read up on Cornwell her accomplishments are amazing.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Thought Provoker for Tuesday

"The greatest threat to devotion to Christ is service for Christ."--quoted in The Great Omission by Dallas Willard

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing.
Mike

Great Omission

Since I felt called to the ministry, I have had an urgency in my heart for discipleship. I had a horrible and very minimal understanding of discipleship growing up. And it is sad to say that that was the understanding that I was taught in church. As the church we often design, redesign or create programs and then they end up becoming our focus that we have designed the program to become our focus and not the goal the program was supposed accomplish. Discipleship is not a new concept. It is not something that we have to design programs for or set up committees to accomplish. Discipleship is about going back to the basics Jesus spent time teaching to the crowds that followed him and more in depth to the 12 He chose to sit at His feet.

The Great Omission by Dallas Willard has been a breath of fresh air and has confirmed what I have been feeling. I don't really enjoy reading topical books unless they are edifying, but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Although it reads like a college text book sometimes, it is easily understood especially if you have a heart for teaching people about trues discipleship or on the quest to find it for yourself. If you can I suggest you pick it up as a summer read.