These are things you can only see in Mississippi!  We had stopped at the only place in the small town we were visiting to get some lunch.  Bumpers is a off brand version of Sonic.  We are waiting for our order and up rolls this guy on his scooter.  I just had to share.

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose that you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it? … Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief. “A Grief Observed” (1961)

(warning this post is rambling at best, but I wanted to get it written down for my sake)

The quote above is from C.S. Lewis and in that quote is a great truth. I think that most things we believe in we would rather not test. Unless you are the type of person that tests everything to see if it is true. I think of how many things I have heard taught in an effort to educate Christians that if believed was certainly untested. But I am thinking today about the risk of testing a reality or belief.

I guess in a very real sense I have always ‘believed’ in God. I have had crisises of faith but have never got to the point of not believing. But it is a very different thing to be a believer and to be a follower.

Following is risky(and I am not talking about submitting to whatever number of steps you are taught to follow in order to get your ticket to heaven punched).  Following is really, truely following Jesus. It is believing that the mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us. That his life is available, that he lives in us, that we can actually have an intimate relationship with the creator of the universe. I haven’t always been a follower. For the longest time I thought it was about getting it all right. Then in testing that it failed. You can’t get it all right, it not about that. In part it is about admitting you can’t get it right but God can and Jesus did and placing your trust and faith in Him.

I am chosing faith. I am and have been choosing to lean into walking with God. That is something I have been growing in for some time. Leaning into, not grasping but pushing purposely to test and see.

So what do I mean by walking with God? That in a thousand small ways every day you can go to Jesus and ask “What do YOU think?” “What should I do?” , “What do I say to them?” You might call this revelation. It should be matched with wisdom. If you tend to rely too much on one or the other you should try growing in the other.

What I mean by that is that most people I know rely too heavily on wisdom.  They rely on what makes ’sense’ to them.  Their actions or lack of action is based on things such as “past performance is the best indicator of future success”.  I have relied solely on this in the past.

I do know a few people that I think could benefit from more wisdom.  But they are few.  These people seem to rely solely on revelation.  The collective wisdom of church around them is screaming but “God told them…”   And there is one of the rubs.  So much kooky, weird stuff has been done in the name of “God told me…” that it is a great deceptive ploy.  One sniff of that and so many good hearted people turn away, sometimes never to again listen for God.

So back the the Lewis quote at the beginning.  This belief, (the belief that God is alive and speaks not only through the written word but in other ways that never disagree with the written word) if it is to be tested requires me to take my greatest questions, my biggest weaknesses, my doubts, my very life to God and ask…and listen.

For you to lean into this means that you will have to purposely give it a try. You will have to find some quiet both externally and internally and listen.  You will need to invite God to speak.  Ask what he wants to tell you.  You might find it to be exactly what you need to hear.

Today I was holding our youngest (Titus who is 4) while we were worshiping, we were singing Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God” and i hear this little sweet voice singing:

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, How great
Is our God

Age to age he stands
And time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb

It was a sweet, sweet gift to hear him singing those words.

Later he told me he was practicing.

For those interested there is a description of Maria Chapman’s memorial HERE.

(ht ChrisMarlow)

Yesterday was a day of great loss. Early yesterday morning I noticed a voice mail from a number I didn’t recognize and didn’t check it until early in the afternoon, my old friend Eddie called to say that John Robert Dobbs had been killed in a tragic accident. His father John is well known in Church of Christ blogging circles. Their work after another tragedy (Katrina) showed the love of Christ to so many and allowed God’s Kingdom to break through the veil of this world in a powerful way.

John Robert the few times I was around him was such a great young man. Seemingly void of many of the insecurities that plague so many young men. But, he was still quiet and it seemed had a deep tenderness. The other young folks flocked around him. He was obviously a leader. John has blogged about their loss HERE or click on Out Here Hope Remains in the sidebar.

John and Maggy’s loss makes no sense. I don’t think I buy into that it will one day make sense.

My heart was already heavy when we heard that Steven Curtis Chapman’s youngest daughter was run over and killed in the driveway of their home yesterday. A blog has been set up HERE.

Another family that has done so much to help others faces a tragic loss. It makes no sense to adopt this precious little girl and then for this to happen.

So last night as I was going to sleep I found the tears streaming as I prayed about these losses and the parents who must be so devastated. I was asking God about the pain I was feeling and His pain in these times. I firmly believe that He hurts. I believe that He said the only way he can face it, is to know that it isn’t the end of the story.

We have to remember that.

We have to orient ourselves to things not being as they seem. That if Jesus really did raise from the dead then we can trust him to do as he promised. One day he will return. One day the grave will not hold us. One day we will fly. One day all will know that death has lost its victory and sting.

For now, my heart hurts.

Weekend before last I was in Colorado for “Wild at Heart Advanced” which is a ‘retreat’ of sorts put on by Ransomed Heart Ministries.

We arrived to lots and lots of snow. The picture above is after it cleared and we had two days of above freezing temperature.

It was a group of 450 amazing men. I met many for the first time and some of us remembered each other from “boot camps” in the past. I met Jeff and Ray who are directors at Village of Hope in Orange County. They use the message to reach out to men who are homeless and are doing an amazing work!

I also met fellow blogger and all around great guy (even if he was made fun of for his frequent use of “yall” Brian Mashburn.

The weekend was an invitation to lean into a life of walking with God.  There is so much to say and tell, but without a lot of context it wouldn’t make much sense.  I recommend reading Elderedge’s newest book Walking with God.  I think it is the easiest to read and most practical book he has written.

Maybe more later…but probably not.  I just can’t find time to blog.

Long time no blog.

I’ve been reading this book by the same title as the post. It is by Jake Colsen and is a fiction book about a pastor who encounters a guy who helps him see the dangers and ways religious systems rob people of relationship with God. At least that is how I sum it up. Those of you who have read it chime in. Donna recommended it and Kim was insistant that I read it. So I am almost finished and wanted to post this quote. It isn’t the best quote of the book but one I thought might help some people. It comes in a discussion about a house church, Marvin is a guy in the house church and John is one of the main two characters.

After a few moments Marvin let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know, John. I always thought the institution I left wasn’t working because it had the wrong principles. I thought we were getting the right ones in place so we could finally experience real church life.” Murmurs of agreement buzzed around the table. “But you don’t see it that way?”

“No, I don’t. If it helps, I think you’re finding better principles–onesthat reflect more accurately the life of the early believers. But keep in mind that following priciples didn’t produce their life together. We can observe what happened as they followed Jesus, but copying that won’t produce the same reality.

“Jesus didn’t leave us with a system; he left us with his Spirit–a guide instead of a map. Principles alone will not satisfy your hunger. That’s why systems always promise a future revival that never comes. They cannot produce community because they are designed to keep peoeple apart.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they keep the focus on services or rituals, principles turn most people into spectators. By holding up standards and motivating people to conform to them they only encourage people to pretend to be what they are not, or to act like they know more than they really do. Questions and doubts are discouraged and people can’t deal with the things they are hiding. Thus they only let people see the shadow they want them to see, not who they really are. Feeling isolated, they only become more focused on their own needs and what others aren’t doing to meet them. They fight over control of the institution, however large or small, so that they can make others do what they think is best. It is a story that has been repeated for a couple of thousand years.”

Following a pattern or copying whether it is 2000 years ago that you copy or if it is the group whose conference you went to just doesn’t produce the same reality. I love that line about he gave his Spirit instead of a map. And I know the part about people pretending is so true. So whether you are in a big church, little church, house church, fluid church, coffeehouse church or whatever, Here’s to everyone, following the Spirit’s leading and to seeking God’s guidance on every decision.

I’ve been reading a gift from John Eldredge which is his soon to be released book “Walking with God” The book is I believe his best and easiest to read yet. Much is sharing of his journal over the course of a year as he tries to walk with God…thus the title. In the fall he suffered an accident that left him without the use of his hands for an extended period of time. In that suffering he writes the following. BTW, he is not saying God caused the suffering.

“The sorrows of our lives are in great part his weaning process.
We give our hearts over to so many things other than God. We
look to so many other things for life. I know I do. Especially the
very gifts that he himself gives to us—they become more important
to us than he is. That’s not the way it is supposed to be. As
long as our happiness is tied to the things we can lose, we are
vulnerable.”

This truth is core to the human condition and to understanding
what God is doing in our lives. We really believe that God’s
primary reason for being is to provide us with happiness, give us
a good life. It doesn’t occur to us that our thinking is backward.
It doesn’t even occur to us that God is meant to be our all, and
that until he is our all, we are subhuman. The first and greatest
command is to love God with our whole being. Yet, it is rare to
find someone who is completely given over to God. And so normal
to be surrounded by people who are trying to make life work.
We think of the few who are abandoned to God as being sort of
odd. The rest of the world—the ones trying to make life work—
seem perfectly normal to us.

later he says,

We see God as a means to an end rather than the end itself.
God as the assistant to our life versus God as our life. We don’t see
the process of our life as coming to the place where we are fully his
and he is our all. And so we are surprised by the course of events.

It’s not that God doesn’t want us to be happy. He does. It’s
just that he knows that until we are holy, we cannot really be
happy. Until God has become our all, and we are fully his, we will
continue to make idols of the good things he gives us. We are like
a child who throws a fit because he cannot have a toy or watch
TV. In the moment, he could care less that his mother adores
him. His world is out of sorts. He does not see that his heart is
not in the right place. He needs his mother’s love and comfort far
more than he needs the thing he’s made an idol of.

So anybody out there a Jesus Freak? Do you know anybody who is? Why is it so hard to be completely abandoned to God? And why do we accept as normal those who are trying to “make life work”?

In John chapter 2 after Jesus clears the temple (the first time) (also the first passover recorded by John, which gives us the span of Jesus’ ministry)  the text says:

²³Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.^{F16 24}But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. ²⁵He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

How many times do we feel the need for ‘man’s testimony’ about us?  How often do we turn our question to others?  “how do you see me?”  “Am I good or good enough?”  “Do you love me?”  You know the question you ask if you think about it.

Our validation needs to come from God.  Only when I remember this principle do I find peace.

And the winner is….. Jeanna (the artist formerly known as beaner).   Despite Jeff coming out of the comment closet here and Darin’s valiant effort to stretch one comment into 12, the staff here prayed over those little slips of paper in the box that we would draw the name of who needed this book the most and so there you have it.

Jeanna, I think you have my email, send me your address and I’ll send you the book, if you don’t have my address, just leave a comment and I will get back with you.

Thanks for playing everybody!