Thursday, July 31, 2008

Treasure Hunting

This past weekend I went to Crater of Diamonds State Park and got to hunt for diamonds. God-incidentally, the text for this Sunday was about a man who found a priceless treasure in a field and he sold everything so that he might possess it and another short parable like it regarding a merchant and a pearl. I noticed a spectrum of different treasurer seekers at the state park and there are some obvious parallels for the church.

First, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfressboro, for a slight admission you enter the park, rent equipment and become a diamond miner. It's a bit like paying to pan for gold out west if you have ever done that. Anyways, getting to the parallels. I noticed that there are a spectrum of treasurer hunters. There are:

Dreamers--One woman picked around in the dirt for a bit and then laid down. Rightfully so. It was hot. Her daughter came along and asked her, "What'cha doin' mama?" Mama says without sitting up and with some laughter, "I am huntin' diamonds. I'ma gunna lay here. Fall asleep and dream about diamonds. Then I'ma gunna wake up and find them layin' in the dirt around me." She laughed and was very jovial about it all. Some in the church are dreamers. They show up hoping to find God. They will laugh and have a good time with friends and family. They aren't likely to invest much effort. Once the experience grows old, if they haven't found what they are looking for they will move on.

Pickers. Most the pickers where novice folks like me. They rent a shovel, bucket and some screens for sifting dirt. They don't really know what to do with the equipment, but mimic what they see or ask questions until they get it. They pick away at the dirt literally and figuratively. Their is a fair bit of camaraderie among pickers. They share collective bits of wisdom that may or may not be true. They lack much experience of their own, but are a bit more committed to searching than dreamers. They will rent the equipment, but are not likely to buy it. So they have limited investment but do put out some effort. They are in the church to.o They may attend Sunday School class or hit a retreat or two. They may do some service work to the church. But its not necessarily a big priority. They pick a good likely spot and give it a good try, but if something conflicts too heavily they are probably out of the picture.

Trawlers. These are the folks who walked up and down rows of ploughed field in the hope of finding a diamond lieing on the surface. They may pause momentarily to look at a clump of dirt like a likley suspect, but the never dig beneath the surface. Their strategy is to hopefully cover enough ground to happen across a diamond. In the church, trawlers bounce from activity to activity without ever really investing into anything to any depth. They are often times people who read alot, but don't necessarily apply what they learn. They jump from group to group and activity to activity hoping to stumble into a blessing.

The Serious Hobbiest. These people are invested. They own their own equipment and visit the park regularly. They have techniques for how they do what they do. They are head smart on diamonds and may even have experience finding some. Some of these folks know just enough to be annoying. Those serious hobbiest who do can even get a bit stand-offish to new people. Novices don't always take it as seriously in their eyes as they should.

Lastly are the Lifers. As you walk toward the field from the visitor center at the park on your left is a large plague in honor of a man named James Avers. Don't miss it. James when he retired spent six days a week mining diamonds. He worked at it for over 30 years. He loved it. It was his passion. He enthusiastically and generiously shared with anyone with half an interest. He was beloved and his face and name became nearly synonomous with diamond mining in Murfreesboro. Diamond mining was not something James did, it was who he was. He was a diamond miner. He found over 5000 diamonds and put his kids through college on those diamonds. Diamond mining was his life.

There are Christians like James. Their faith is not a casual interest or serious hobby. It is who they are. Their faith is their life. Their faith effects everything in their life. They are filled with Joy about it. They do not regret or begrudge a moment of time spent on it. They want others to share that joy.

I discovered something my day in the field. Treasure hunting is not a rational task. Expending your life treasure hunting is irrational. A merchant selling everything for a pearl is irrational. A man selling all he owns to own a field with a hidden treasure is not rational behavior. But to those who do it, there are no regrets and they could not imagine life any richer.

What kind of treasure hunter are you?

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

God Check

This past week at church we looked at the story of Jacob's ladder. For those of you who don't remember it. In short, Jacob after having tricked his father out of a blessing that should have rightfully gone to his brother, finds himself on the run. He leaves his immediate family and is headed to some extended family. He is alone somewhere in between those places when he lies down to sleep and has a dream of a ladder stretching up into heaven. Angels are traveling up and down the ladder. He encounters God through this dream and is reminder of the promises made by God to his grandfather Abraham. When Jacob awakes he declares, "Surely, God is in this place and I did not know it." He makes some pledges to God and commemorates the experience by marking the place with the rock that had been beneath his head and names the place Bethel (house of God).

Every time I read this story the words, "Surely God is in this place and I did not know" arrest my attention. I love sharing God-incident story. You know those stories of events that unfold that are too remarkable and coincidental to be attributed to anything but God's handiwork. But I have noticed that I recognize most God-incidents though only in my rear view mirror. In other words, I can reflect on the past and see God's handiwork, but I often miss it as it is occurring. Jacob had one of those wonderful incidents where in the moment he was fully aware that what was occurring was God at work and he took time to acknowledge it as such.

I would love to transition my awareness of God to the 'here and now'. Intellectually, I know that God is omnipresent. That is to say God is everywhere. I know that God is always present, but how often have I wondered, "Where is God right now?" I realize that if I want to get to a place of God in the here and now, I need to radically revise my question. I need to assume the presence of God and start regularly asking, "How is God here right now?"

In order to do this I have randomly started saying to my family, "God check." That's a call to all of us to take a moment and consider how God is there in that moment right then. I am really enjoying this. A lot of peace seems to flow in those moments. I am curious how regular God checks are going to affect my awareness when applied over time. I would love to find myself regularly saying, "Surely God is in this place, and I know it!"

Blessings to you for greater awareness of God's awesome presence. Peace from the Practical Disciple.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Identify your God given purpose

Regarding purpose--here are a couple of cues to discerning yours:

What skills, gifts, are knowledge do you have that would be beneficial to others? Think about it. When God made you, God gave you a tool box. That tool box wasn't given to you just so you could feel good about the amazing things you could do. The gifts you have been given are given so you can bless the body. By body, I am talking about the body of Christ. Beyond that body, you are intended and equipped to touch the world.

Ask other people what they think you are gifted at. I am not saying that so that you can pick up a few good strokes from others. Often times a person's true gift is something he or she doesn't even recognize. The skill or knowledge comes so easily, it's just assumed everyone can do it. Often times it takes others saying, "No, not everyone can do that. You are gifted.", for that person to recognize how extraordinary he is at somthing. I can't tell you how many pastors I know who were gifted for ministry but it took multiple people nudging them repeatedly for them to recognize the call in their life. That was definitely the case for me.

Lastly, where is the fruit in your life? I was in a church where a woman thought she was a gifted teacher yet she could eliminate a Sunday School class quicker than anyone I knew. She was completely deluded about her "gift." Looking for fruit though isn't always a sure fire litmus test. Sometimes you are in a context where your gift can't be utilized to it's best ability. Jesus left a town once because he was unable to miracles there because of the lack of belief of the people. I hardly doubt we would want to conclude from that experience that Jesus wasn't gifted at healing.

Okay one more lastly, don't forget to pray about what your purpose is. In fact, do prayer first. Ask God to reveal purpose. Ask for people to voice it to you. Ask for doors and opportunities to open. Ask God to speak to you in a way that will give you clarity. As you do that spend time in the Word and journal. The discernment process may take awhile and you may need to experiment a bit, but over time you can clarify your purpose. When you do, knowing your purpose can be very freeing.

Blessings from the Practical Disciple

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Pains of Spiritual Growth

My apologies to anyone stopping by and finding minimal posts. A couple of weeks ago I tried to learn how to use a circus balance board and took a dive and hurt my arm. Typing has been do-able but uncomfortable to painful, so I have avoided the keyboard (and the balance board). Speaking of aches and pains, I have a pet peave about many spiritual growth programs and books, particularly the ones that are effective. Now that may sound odd, but here is my peave. Few spiritual growth books warn you that there is a stage of growth that can be painful, particularly if you go through rapid profound growth quickly.

I was reminded of this recently when I spent a week of training boy scouts in wilderness observation and survival skills. Inevitably when I do this, people find themselves going through some very uncomfortable stages filled with mixed emotion. A typically learning cycle whether it be of nature, prayer, bible study or evening learning a skill, begins with inspiration, moves onto a period of curiosity and exploration. Then a person enters into a time of focused work. In animal tracking we call it dirt time. In learning a musical instrument this might be when you start learning scales, going to lessons, absorbing theory, and spending hours practicing. In something like prayer, the focus work time might be joining a prayer group, taking on a daily devotional practice, or keeping a prayer journal.

After a period of focused work people sometimes can go through a phase of confidence even arrogance. They learn just enough to think they know a whole lot. They know the jargon of the discipline. They have had some experiences they can share. They probably know the authorities of their area of study and they have all the books and paraphenalia associated with what they are learning. We all know though that pride proceeds a fall.

There comes a point in your learning curve where you learn enough to realize that you really know very little. In fact, you may start to question every thing you have learned. You may go through a period of extreme confusion and even begin to isolate yourself. You have a sense that no one really understands what you have seen and experienced. This is the uncomfortable and disorienting phase of growth that I find few materials prepare us for.

I mentored a friend in prayer over a couple of year period. I distinctly remember when he hit this phase of growth. He had gone from being skeptical of prayer to avidly investing himself in prayer. Then something shifted. He wondered how he had grown up in the church and never been taught these lessons of the spirit. He felt like so many people just really didn't get "it." The church in many ways seemed like a shallow misguided bunch of folks. He seriously considered switching denominations. He was filled with anger.

The desire to change jobs, spouse, mentors, and/or locations is not unusual. I was talking to a pastor once about this phase of spiritual growth and she said, "Oh my gosh, I had someone come in my office this week going through this very thing." Her parishioner had become involved in a rather indepth Bible study. The woman had never studied the Bible before. The study shook up her understanding of not only the Bible but of God as well. She was in an anxious place of confusion. She was coming to a greater understanding of truth which was great. However, the shift left her questioning everything that had been normative, so she felt very lost. She actually thought she was going crazy. I asked my friend, "So is she getting divorced, quitting her job or moving." She said, "She is getting a divorce."

Now that may sound crazy. How would Bible study and a greater understanding of truth lead her to wanting her to quit her marriage? It wasn't that the study had lead her to leave. Instead, when someone goes through radical transformative change that hasn't been fully integrated into his or her life, he or she feels the discomfort of the war going on inside of them and they look for an external fix. I call this "if-only-itis." A person rationalizes thinking, "I would feel better if only I had...a better job...a better spouse...a better place to live...a better church...etc." Ironically but not surprisingly, if they change a job or spouse, they find themselves 6 months later saying, "This job/spouse is just like the last one." Duh, the job or the spouse wasn't the problem.

A number of other symptoms can be experienced at stage of growth. Symptoms such as, plunging into addictive behaviors, isolating, become to stagnant to manage normal affairs of life, and more. It can lead to depression or someone completely stepping away from what they were learning. During this phase of growth some pain is probably unavoidable as you seek to integrate what you have been and have known with your new experiences. Suffering is optional and mostly avoidable, but not if you aren't aware that what you are going through are very normative growing pains.

That's enough for now. A friend of mine calls this phase of growth hitting your walls of grief. It is a time of integration. There are tools that we can use to help with that integration, but that's whole 'nother conversation.

This may seem like a big leap from purpose, priorities and principles, but I haven't forgotten about those things. Truth be told, if you head down a path of pursuing purpose, growth and change will be inevitable. You will find hitting these walls soon enough. I'll revisit the three p's soon and how we integrate change. They are lessons well worth learning together.

Peace to you from The Practical Disciple

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

God-sized purpose

I was out this morning hanging a load of laundry on my clothes line and thinking about my purpose. That whole--who am I and why did God make me thing. For about two years my the thing that keeps coming to me is that I have blessed to be a blessing. That is probably true for all of us. In my own particular case, I have had a wonderful cadre of mentors from diverse backgrounds who have all fed me in terms of experiencing God and growing in greater awareness of God. More and more I feel the calling to use each waking moment to be a blessing with those lessons.

What has God given you? What are your gifts and experiences? How do these things equip you or tug on you to be able to serve other people? These characteristics are hints at the reason God has crafted you to be you! You are called one way or another to make an exceptional difference in the lives of people around you. Our spiritual gifts are given to us to encourage and build the body of Christ.

Most of us probably believe too little, too much. We shirk from God size tasks. We only see our limitations. That is okay at one level. We are limited. We are inadequate. That is to say, if we are left to our own resources. Yet God, is so much bigger than our limitations. God's ways are not our ways. What is a God size task sitting on your front porch, may be literally?

Sometimes it takes someone outside of us to see the God size task and our calling in it. I happen to watch a few minutes of a new show on television about models over 30 years old. It's called something like "She's got the Look." I don't recall exactly because I haven't seen it before. All that aside, this evening as I am watching, Daisy Fuentes, spoke about how far she has exceeded what she ever anticipated acheiving. She spoke about how others out there saw a bigger possibility than she did in her. Lastly, she encouraged the models to be open to something greater that others might see for them.

I thought of God looking at each one of us. I thought of how God not only sees our limitations, but how He sees his Son in us. He sees Jesus Christ in us. God sees how we have been created in His image. We layer so many things over that image--fear, anger, hurts, jealousies, desires, habits, and so much more. He sees through all of the layers. God sends messagers trying to get us to shed those layers. God sends strength for us to step right out of the layers. He actually removes the layers.

Let us stop believing too little, too much. The world needs to see God reflected in us. The world needs to see God-sized love, God-sized forgiveness, God-sized joy, compassion, laughter, tenacity, justice and perseverence. Let us shed the layers we cling to even as God strips them away. Let us shed these layers like Lazarus shedding grave clothes.

Live into who God has called you to be. You are God's child. Live as such.

Peace and encouragement from The Practical Disciple

Monday, July 7, 2008

Purpose, Priorities, and Principles

I have been gone for the last week in northwest Arkansas mentoring boy scouts in wilderness survival skills. What a fantastic week it was. I love working on survival skills. Each time I do I am profoundly aware of the distinction between what is truly necessary in life and what is desireable. I value both all the more for it. Survival is all about meeting the need. When you reduce your purpose down to a central purpose like survival so many other things become clear.

Similarly, I am reminded of the importance of knowing and keeping clear priorities. The frequent answer to most questions was, "What are the survival priorities and where does what your asking about fit within that?" Often times the answer was inheritantly obvious in just being reminded of the priorities.

Lastly, survival principles drove the answer to many questions. In survival, conservation of energy is a must. For ever ounce of energy expent, energy needs to be reclaimed in some fashion. Frequently, when asked "why?" our response was, "conservation of energy."

I wonder what those lessons of purpose, priorities and principles would look like when translated to our faith. Life would be so much easier and manageable if we could maintain clarity on these three things. I have some thoughts on what this would look like, but I don't want to jump to those answers to readily. Give it some thought. I will be back in a day ot two with my perspective.

Blessings from The Practical Disciple.