Our pastor talked about this topic and referenced Francis Chan, so I had to look it up. This was a message he shared a few years ago and it really helps put some things in perspective and forces you to think a bit if you let it.
I had to pause the video a couple of times to digest what he was saying the ponder it. I hope you get something out of this and if nothing else, it expands your perspective.
This is short and thought provoking – it builds on the post I made around my personal journey. His message is relevant from a faith / God perspective and from a What Will You Do With Your Life question.
The real deal here is much like I have mentioned already and continue to work on. Hearing, saying, repeating is all worthless unless it turns into a passion filled life in pursuit of a goal and a vision to be something more.
A quote widely credited to Martin Luther King Jr. sums up the situation well. He says, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. “
I posted a bit ago with a video from a guy by the name of Francis Chan. His talk was titled “Lukewarm and Loving it”. Pondering that thought, and thinking about personal growth, both in the spiritual discovery sense, and also the character development and impact aspect, I am forced more and more into reflection on the importance of passionate engagement.
It’s so easy to go through life without really questioning why or what could be. How should I really make a difference, not just for me, but for others. If your faith is such that you say you believe in God, that’s a pretty profound statement to make if you are not seeking a purpose and life impact there. Regardless of your faith, life with a purpose is so powerful, but so much more effort than the easy and safe alternative.
I am generally a guy who finds passion in almost anything I engage in, just ask my clients and colleagues – it is something I am known for. Where I lack in this area, is a more constant “Life Passion” or direction that governs all others. (passions not people, not working on world domination just yet).
I am looking for that passion in my Faith in an exploration of what that means and how that could / should impact my life. It is an interesting and challenging exercise, that is worth undertaking for anyone regardless of where / what faith is your starting point. If you claim one, figure it out. If not, figure out what does matter and why, then how that should drive your life. As I type these words, I have to acknowledge that it is a lot easier to say than live out!
I will post more reflections on this topic as time goes on, with my particular direction coming from a “Christian” viewpoint – air quotes intentional since that is such an abused and loaded word.
Good stuff to think about – lot’s of room to grow and make an impact for a better world with real effort. I’d like to think I’m up for it.
I'm sitting in the airport working, listening to my iPod and I heard this song - the message is pretty simple, but powerful and widely applicable in faith, principles, life in general.
"Slow Fade"
Be careful little eyes what you see
It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade
Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking
It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day
Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in loveOh be careful little eyes what you see
It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living. (quoted) I am finding that the living and the watching can take on a much deeper meaning when considered in the context of dying or the review of the living in memory.
As I look back on what I have lived, I have felt again the cut of poor choices and the joy of positive experiences, once lived and then relived again and again in memory. It is with this in mind that I feel sadness over this personal chapter, knowing this will be a cut I will relive time and again. It is important to salve the memory with positive balance. Time to go find the babies and see if they are up to causing some chaos and being themselves.
You can either take action,
or you can hang back
and hope for a miracle.
Miracles are great,
but they are
so unpredictable.
- Peter F. Drucker
The people who get on
in this world
are the people who
get up and look for the
circumstances they want,
and if they can't find them,
make them.
- George Bernard Shaw
"I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."
— Marilyn Monroe
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." — Dr. Seuss
I recently came across an interesting web application called GapMinder. It allows you to get tailored views of the world and compare a wide variety of demographic information. The summary from the site is here below.
Gapminder is a non-profit venture promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels.
We are a modern “museum” that helps making the world understandable, using the Internet.
I recommend a visit. It reveals the stark contrasts that we often take for granted here in the US and in other more developed countries. How does this gap (Wealth / lifespan / healthcare) shape our world view?
Reading this, I think it clear that this is not a one time ancient event, rather an ongoing thing happening to all of us as believers. The challenge we have, is to identify the gifts we have been given, and then to use them effectively in ministry to God. What does he need from me? From you?
I think that at the day of reckoning, we will be given a chance to look back on the gifts we have been given and explain just how we used what we were given. I want my report to be a positive one, but I seem to stumble on applying my gifts. Maybe I need to work a little harder on identifying ways to be used by God, or better still, ask Him to help me see.
How about you? What is your gift? Are you using it for Him
While floating on the river tonight, trailing a line across the moon dappled water, watching the bats flit across the surface, I was hit again by how seldom we get to "Be Still".
Psalm 46:10-11 (NCV) 10 God says, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be praised in all the nations; I will be praised throughout the earth."
If we don't make time for quiet, we will never have time to hear God...
For now, I will leave you with this important question to ponder.
If there is no God, who always pops up that next Kleenex?
I think that often times, we get so focused on accomplishing a goal, we forget the point of the goal. We can so easily get wrapped up in the how, that we miss the why and the what. I am trying to make a point of clearly identifying my goals, and then working toward the end goal, checking to make sure that I am still on the right heading, rather then drifting with the winds of the day.
Too often, I think we measure the success of our lives by what we fill it up with. The problem with this is that we never give ourselves the opportunity to "Be still" and converse with our God, or our own self. How can we really know what matters if we focus on doing, to the exclusion of the knowing?
Referencing my earlier post about living an insulated Christian life, I feel compelled to comment a little bit further on the Christian vernacular. Sometime ago I was between churches and as a result had an opportunity to attend a fairly wide variety of different churches. One thing that really struck me was the language of the Church. At times, despite growing up a part of a church, I felt something of an alien. I suppose I've spent enough time outside of a church that what may seem to be completely normal to one immersed in the Christian Church culture, to me still seems at times foreign. I hang out with friends to eat and talk and I call that eating and talking, not fellowship. I'm still not completely sure what all the terms mean and I'm fairly certain I don't need to know. I think we need to make an effort to avoid creating our own Christian subculture, rather work on being a light in the culture we are part of.
I'm all for corporate worship but I think, like most things it needs balance. It's so easy to get caught up in the Christian world that we forget what our mission really is.
Matthew 9:10-13 (NIV)
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’a For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus gives something of a rebuke here when he says it's not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick. Have we've forgotten that message? It seems to me that most churches I've been in are very focused on the Church, but not focused nearly enough on the world we are a part of. Maybe that's a product of too many years of trying to be in the world but not of the world, but how can you reach the world if you don't participate in the world?
To know someones pain, you have to know the person first. To show the love of God, we have to know the person.
I am reading an interesting book right now called Velvet Elvis. It is by a guy named Rob Bell and published by Zondervan. I will most likely have a number of posts generated by reading and pondering this book, but for starters, here is a big one. Bigger to some then others I suppose, depending on your world view.
Rob makes a point that I had not really thought about alot to date, but which is pretty simple and profound all at once. He says "The Bible is a communal book. It came from people writing in communities and was often written to communities." He also mentions earlier that the Bible is open ended and must be interpreted. Here is another longer quote from the book that clarifies this point.
And that's because the Bible is open ended.
It has to be interpreted. And if it isn't interpreted, then it can't be put into action. So if we are serious about following God, then we have to interpret the Bible. It is not possible to simply do what the Bible says. We must first make decisions about what it means at this time, in this place, for these people.
He is talking about the process of interpretation that was practiced by the Rabbis in the time of Jesus, who had to make sense of the scriptures in the face of the changing times, and especially with the inclusion of the Gentiles into the fold of early Christianity. I will not go into the details of this process here, though it is fascinating to me, rather I will say that I believe that what was true then, is still true now, in that the Scriptures are meant to be interpreted by a community of believers in a point in time.
