faith

My Life Four Years Later

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Four years ago today, I got called into a meeting with two HR reps at my old job. They sat me down and let me know that my job was being eliminated and that I was no longer needed– effective immediately.

That day started off as most work weekdays do. I showed up and started doing my job with not even the slightest inkling of something fishy. I never suspected the company was about to let 50 employees go that day. I don’t think too many people had a clue of what was about to happen.

I’ve found out that day and every day since that God is bigger than my employment status. He’s bigger than what’s in my checkbook. He’s bigger than any amount of bills that are coming due.

God is bigger than anything I’ve yet faced or will ever face. More than that, God is enough. For whatever still lies ahead for me to face, God is enough.

Looking back, I see that perhaps I was getting a little too complacent with my life at that point. Maybe God needed to shake things up a bit.

I can’t say that my faith has grown by leaps and bounds. I do know more than ever that it’s not a big faith in God that counts but faith in a big God– even if that faith is as minuscule as a mustard seed.

It’s not that I have such a stranglehold on God. There have been days when I know that I’ve been carried, too helpless to hold onto much of anything. God has been holding me.

I repeat what I said earlier– God is enough. God is sufficient. If I ended up with everything I could ever want in this life time and don’t have God, I have nothing. If all I have at the end is God and nothing else, I have everything.

 

FOMO?

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“And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there” (1 Corinthians 7:17, The Message).

I was the walking definition of FOMO long before such a term ever existed. Back in my college days, I went through a period where I would wander the Union campus in search of the exciting event I feared I was missing out on. There had to be something great with lots of people involved– almost everyone except me– that if I found it and participated would drastically alter my life for the better.

I probably wasted more than a few nights chasing after these mystical and mythical moments that never materialized.

Now, FOMO (or Fear Of Missing Out) is the prevalent excuse for a lack of commitment by so many– why tie yourself down to someone or something when the possibility of something better still remains?

It seems to me that with FOMO, you do miss out. You miss out on the beautiful ordinary moment you’re in while you’re searching out the elusive and illusory moment. Wherever you are, the grass will always appear greener somewhere else.

It’s like in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe where Eustace spurns good ordinary food in hopes of getting more of that magical Turkish delight from the White Witch. He ends up with neither and with nothing but regrets.

The opposite of FOMO is celebrating the moment God gives you and finding the gifts in it. FOMO says that God is holding out on you but faith says that God is true and trustworthy in all circumstances.

The antidote to FOMO is giving thanks for what you have over fretting over what you don’t have or working about missing out on what might have been. The cure is to see every moment as part of God’s plan to work all things together for your good. Even those ordinary moments.

 

Friday Eve (Also Known as Thursday)

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It’s Friday Eve, known to most of the normal folks of the world as Thursday. For me, it’s the one day of the week where I don’t have to be anywhere or do anything.

As usual, I was very deliberate in my choice of musical accompaniment for my daily trek to and from work. I chose Miles Davis, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Van Morrison (along with WAY-FM and Mornings with Wally).

As usual, the best day of my week lasted as long as the worst (and I really didn’t have any bad days– I’m just making a point here). The very worst day you’ll ever face still only has 24 hours. As much as it may feel like it some days, the horrible no-good very bad days do not last forever.

I still need God as much on my best days when all my traffic lights are green and the commute is light as I do when I seem to hit every traffic light just as it’s turning red and everything I touch implodes. My need for Jesus hasn’t diminished with any spiritual growth or maturity. In contrast, all my growing up has shown me with increasing clarity my increasing awareness of my total and complete dependence on God.

That’s not a bad thing. As Jesus says in His beatitudes, blessed are those who know their own poverty of spirit and desperate need, for God’s Kingdom belongs to these people. Those are the ones always with open hands rather than closed fists who ask and receive in such abundance that the overflow touches the lives of those in their circle with whom they live, work, and play.

I find myself praying a lot more in traffic, especially on that one part when I have to cross over four lanes to get to my exit. I’m always relieved to get that part out of the way.

I doubt I’ll ever reach a point in my life where I’m not grateful for Friday. It’s automatically awesome for being the last day of the work week.

Oh, by the way, TGIF in advance.

 

Remembrance

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“When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.
For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I’m feeling most ghost-like, it is your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I’m feeling sad, it’s my consolation. When I’m feeling happy, it’s part of why I feel that way.
If you forget me, one of the ways I remember who I am will be gone. If you forget, part of who I am will be gone” (Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter’s Dictionary).

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about people I haven’t seen in a while. They were people God put in my life for a season and a purpose but who have since moved on to the next great adventure.

I wonder (as I’m sure many of you sometimes do about people in your past) if these people remember me and think of me as much as I think of them. I hope they remember me fondly. More importantly, I hope they are better for having known me– more encouraged and more encouraging, seeing themselves as God sees them though Jesus.

Ultimately, if we are truly Abba’s children, our legacy on people’s lives should be that we were signposts and memorials on the road that pointed to God’s goodness and faithfulness. If all they can remember of their time with us is that God showed up in their lives, that will be enough.

 

The Grand Adventure of Life

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“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to” (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings).

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered” (G.K. Chesterton).

I made the comment last night that I was going on an adventure last night (or something like that– I’ve slept since then so my recollect is suspect at best). A friend of mine asked me today what that adventure was.

This is what I should have said in response:

Life itself is a grand adventure. Waking up every morning and getting another 24 hours is adventurous in and of itself.

Living in absolute dependence on God is an adventure of the best kind. You never know when and where He will show up, only that He absolutely will show up if you only have eyes of faith and a heart full of gratitude big enough to see Him.

Faith is trusting without needing to know all the answers and without requiring that every step and every second be road-mapped and planned out ahead of time. Faith is the ultimate adventure.

Some days, I think I’d like to take off like Bilbo in The Hobbit or Frodo and his friends in The Lord of the Rings. Some days, I feel like I really could use a good quest.

Then I’m reminded that maybe the biggest and best quest of all is simple to go out into a dark world and be salt and light. To go into a godless world and be the only Jesus that some will ever meet and the only Bible that some will ever read. To preach the gospel at all times and use words when necessary.

That in my opinion is the grandest of adventures.

 

 

2,115 Posts? Really?

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“One of the most satisfying aspects of writing is that it can open in us deep wells of hidden treasures that are beautiful for us as well as others to see” (Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey).

This July will mark six years since I started writing these blogs. For me, that’s a long time. There have been very few things that I have done consistently for that long, outside of eating and breathing and such.

Part of me still hopes that one day my posts will blow up and my readership will escalate into the millions and I will be able to retire from my job and write blogs exclusively. Part of me still hopes that chocolate is low-calorie and fat-free. You can’t have everything you want.

Even if this never becomes anything more than a hobby and a release, that’s just fine with me. These have been extremely therapeutic for me and helpful for many of you. That’s enough for me.

I said it before quite a few times and I say it again– I’d write these blogs even if I were the only one reading them. I really really would.

I have enjoyed writing them much more since I finally got my Mac Book Pro. I do feel a bit more hipster-y and cool, though I am still a goober at heart (in case you were beginning to get worried).

Faith will always inform everything I write on here, whether it’s overtly faith-based or not. That’s who I am. That will always be who I am.

2,115 posts. It does boggle the mind. Well, it boggles MY mind. At an average of 300 words per blog, that comes to over 634,000 words. That’s more than the word count in the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I should know. I just looked it up on google to be sure.

My next goal is one million words. But as always, my main goal is to be authentic and encouraging and (sometimes) challenging. Maybe one day I’ll finally break down and write that novel. Maybe.

 

Remembering May Day Six Years Later

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“When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
    you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
    you will not be burned up;
    the flames will not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2, New Living Translation).

It’s hard to believe that it was six years ago that the historic 1000-year floods hit Nashville. I remember sitting in front of the television seeing news broadcasts featuring images that looked like they could have come from the latest disaster movie. It all seemed too surreal to be real.

I also recall not being able to go into work that day because of the flood waters that made the street out of my subdivision impassible.

Most of all, I remember that even though there was much property damage and even a few lives lost, we survived. In many ways, Nashville is better and stronger than it was six years ago.

For me, it continues to be a reminder that my real treasure isn’t here on Earth where thieves break in, where rust corrodes, and where flood waters destroy. My real treasure isn’t things. It’s people.

My most treasured possession is Jesus because I know that I am His. I am overwhelmed in a flood of a great affection that is stronger than my fear and doubt and shows no sign of abating. That’s still the love that keeps me going.

There is no famine or flood or fire that can separate me from God’s love in Jesus. There’s nothing at all that will keep Jesus from getting to where I am and meeting my deepest need at that moment.

The best news of all is that this love of God is still available to anyone who asks. This Jesus is still willing to come into the heart of anyone who seeks Him by faith. Remember that when those proverbial flood waters overwhelm you.

 

Yet Still More Randomness on Hump Day

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Every now and then, I come to write these blogs and I really don’t have a theme. I have lots of ideas in my head that are all disconnected (and 95% of them are song lyrics or movie quotes).

The one theme that keeps reemerging like the chorus of a song is grace.

There are days when I feel confident and suave. I feel like my life’s going well. I’m able to truly appreciate how very blessed I am and I have all the confidence in the world that God is truly in control and that He’s got my future in good hands. Those days are grace.

Then there are days when my latent dorkiness comes to the surface. Just about every conversation feels awkward. All those old fears about people not wanting to be around me once they really get to know me come back. Those days are also grace.

Every day I wake up is grace. Every day I wake up I need God’s grace, both the good and bad days. There aren’t days when I can get by with a little less. I always need as much as I can handle (and then some).

Grace means that it’s okay that you’re not always okay. Grace means that you can celebrate brokenness because you know that’s where the light gets in (and where God’s light gets out).

So maybe I did have a theme after all. Who knew? I didn’t until I started typing.

Grace has certainly been the theme of my life. As much as I need it, I’m not always good at extending it to those who disappoint me. Maybe I even need grace to be able to give grace.

God never tires of being gracious with me. He loves me with a holy love that meets me where I am in my mess yet refuses to leave me where He found me.

I’m also thankful for that on a Wednesday night at 10:40 pm.

 

You Matter

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If you haven’t heard it from anyone else all day, hear it from me: you matter.

Even when you feel alone and neglected in the middle of a crowd, you matter.

Even when it seems no one wants to bother to get to know you or your story, you matter.

Even when you don’t feel like you have anything to contribute, you matter.

Hear it again– you matter.

God made you with a unique blend of talents and passions and designed you to play a part that no one else but you can play.

You have a story to tell that at least one somebody out there needs to hear– even if some days that one somebody is you.

Even in the midst of your worst pain, God sees you. He has not forgotten you. He has not abandoned you.

Even when it seems no one notices or cares about you, the right people will. There will always be someone who will encourage you and support you (and even sometimes rebuke you in love if needed).

Maybe your job is to look up and look around. Look for the ones on the periphery who look out of place. Look for the ones on the outside who don’t feel like they have anybody on their side or anyone who even knows they’re alive.

Perhaps all it will take is a smile and a kind word. It could be that simply sitting and listening is all it will take.

Remember that as the body of Christ, we’re all in this together. If I don’t work right or you don’t work right, we don’t work right. It’s that simple.

So to be obnoxious and repeat what I’ve already said, let me say it again– you still matter. I will keep repeating it and restating it until you finally start to believe it about yourself and those around you.

You matter.

 

Everyone’s Welcome

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Have you ever been around a group of people and felt alone? Have you ever been in the middle of a group discussion where they included everyone but you?

The kingdom of God is for you.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone else which abruptly ended after they decided you weren’t interesting enough to keep talking to? Have you ever felt categorized and labeled and made to feel less than adequate?

The kingdom of God is for you.

I still love that Jesus chose shepherds and fishermen and tax-collectors and prostitutes to be His followers. He invited the outcasts and outsiders to be His disciples and entrusted them with the greatest work the world has ever known.

The kingdom is a party where everyone’s welcome. There’s no height limit, no age limit, no intelligence quota, no hip factor. All that is required is that you come as you are and admit that you need help. The one stipulation is that you confess that you can’t fix what’s wrong with you and only Jesus can.

It really is a shame that in so many churches so many believers who profess this Jesus will practice the opposite of what He preached. They preach grace but what they practice is a set of unwritten rules to follow if you want to belong and fit in.

Being made in the image of God gives a person dignity. The fact that Jesus died for that person is more than enough to validate their value and worth. Who are we to belittle those Jesus loved enough to suffer the cross for?

This coming Sunday, let’s go out of our way to welcome those outsiders and misfits in the same spirit which Jesus pursued us when we were outsiders and strangers. Let’s choose to be vessels that the transformative love of Jesus can flow through.