Life Outside Of Our Boxes

We are so easily impressed with our accomplishments that we fail to see the significance of God all around us. This of course leads us to live within the context of our reductionistic paradigms that are within our human ability to achieve. Life (religious life) according to "Me". Wow, who would not want to jump on that band wagon. This of course is what we do, jumping from one bandwagon (we call this Church) to the latest fashionable bandwagon that suits our particular paradigm. We find others who help us live in our less than a dream world. It is similar to reality TV, staged and predictable, but then again that is how we like it - living in a world where we think we have control. Paul writes to the Ephesian Church about "out of our control" living. He uses an analogy all to familiar to us - being drunk. So what does this drunk Holy Spirit life look like? Instead of us looking at some rally where most of the people are behaving strangely, maybe we ought to look at our brothers and sisters in places like Zimbabwe or India. Places where unthinkable tragedy is a present reality and the only way to live is by God's Spirit. Maybe here we can discover the true meaning of a Spirit led life, a life that has praise, gratitude and humble submission not because of their life experiences, but in spite of what is happening around them. I think it is time to get off our bandwagons and engage this world we call home with Spirit led lives.

Expectations

I'm curious where we get our expectations from. Did we inherit them from our parents or maybe a close friend. Perhaps we adopted some from a book we found stimulating. Where ever they come from, they dictate much of our worldview. Taking this one step further, I'm really fascinated with people's expectations for God. This finds its expression in our traditions, in those things we hold close and are unwilling to negotiate. Most of our expectations lead to disappointment, frustration and anger. Our key assumption is that everyone (including God) knows and understands our expectations (they make sense to us therefore they should make sense to everyone else). The religious leaders in Jesus' day had their "Word of God" based expectations. They were so focused on their set of conditions that they missed the very Messiah they claimed to be seeking. I guess I wonder sometimes how much I miss because of my preconditioned expectations that I have developed over the years? Let's shift our perspective for a moment. The question we should be asking is: What are God's expectations for us? That would change everything wouldn't it?

How Powerful is Belief?

I remember a call I received from a funeral director wondering if I would be willing to do a memorial service for a 30 year old mother/wife who was found dead that morning. When I began walking with the family through this difficult time, it was apparent that they were avoiding the cause and or circumstances around her death. At one point I received a call from the coroner who later met with me and here is what he said. He informed me that there was no physiological reason for this woman to be dead. Her organs were fine, there was no heart attack or stroke. There was no embolism in the brain that ruptured. There were no toxins or poisons in her system to cause her death. They found her lying in her bed, very peaceful. There were no signs of foul play. He looked at me and told me that he has seen this kind of death maybe 2-3 times in his lifetime. All I can tell you he said, is that she laid down and "willed" herself to die. This of course points to something in her life that was so evil that she would literally believe herself to death. (that is another story) Our beliefs, right or wrong, dictate what we see, how we feel, and the eventual choices we make. Now relate this to our thinking about God, family, politics and every aspect of life? If our beliefs have that kind of power, it is easier to understand why in light of overwhelming evidence, why people still choose to believe what they believe. It isn't about facts, it is about what I believe the facts to be. A source of truth and a foundation for beliefs outside of ourselves becomes all the more important. But all this really messes with the head doesn't it.

Mother's Day

I find it intriguing that we celebrate a day which culturally we live against. Moms are not news makers (unless you happen to kill your children after they are born). Success for women in our culture is when they adopt all the characteristics of their male counterparts (How absurd is that when we are trying to get men to act more like women). Our world fails to realize the quiet influence woman have apart from the defined cultural successes of our day. Legacies are not built in boardrooms, they are defined in our homes and in our communities. My mom died in 1989. Our youngest daughter never had a change to experience the kind of influence she gave as a grandmother to our other children. This kind of influence goes beyond our boundaries of family. What is needed today, is people who will come along side of kids, teens and young adults and live out the possibilities of life. I'm getting close to the age my mom left this world. I now realize just how short her time was in this life. It causes me to ask, what is my legacy? What do I want people to say about me? I realize that "being the greatest Pastor in the world" is not what I want written on my gravestone. I would rather have my children and a few others live out the influence that was given to them. So to all the women out there - Happy Mother's Day - you are far more important than you realize.