Unplanted Seeds

This is less of a blog entry and more of a little shelf, holding seeds of thought yet to be planted. I'll probably update this as days pass and more seeds are discovered. Feel free to comment on any.

• Letters to the Martyrs: Essays in this series would be composed as letters to the martyrs of the faith, thanking them for their sacrifice and taking note of the specific attributes exemplified in their lives and final moments. Examples would range from ancients like Stephen (in Acts) to contemporaries like Cassie Bernall. #11.27.2009
  
• The Oracle of Support Raising: In the book of Nahum, the word "oracle" is used to speak of the message to Nineveh, but the actual Hebrew word means "burden". The Oracle of Support Raising addresses the burden that comes with a mission or ministry founded on distributed support. Each person that contributes and enables the work is a stakeholder in it. As such, the oracle of the minister is both the message and work he/she carries as well as the responsibility he/she has to remain pure, steadfast, and devoted to the Lord, because more than just his/her time and resources are depending on it. #12.07.2009
  

Came To The Rescue

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8

The blog title came from the song that was playing on Pandora when I started writing, and it is perfectly fitting. God came to the rescue this week. First, He brought me out of illness over the weekend and gave me a glorious Monday, which seemed unnatural in its peace and joy. Then Tuesday came. "Days Like These" is a reflection on those 24 hours of tumultuous work and embattled flesh through which the Lord proved faithful and left me not to despair. The next day, Thursday, heaven met earth "like an unforeseen kiss" and I was overwhelmed with the grace of God through the advice and time of friends. Today has been uneventful and probably a continued blessing because of it.

In 1st Peter this morning, the top passage stood out. The reason why we are to be separate from and finished with "the desire of the Gentiles" (v. 3) and to be sound in judgment and sober in spirit is for prayer. I guess I would have thought we should pray to be sound/sober, but not the opposite, which is what Peter said. And he's building up -- don't lust/carouse/get drunk, instead be like this (sober/sound) so you can pray. THEN, the pinnacle: "keep fervent in your love for one another" (v. 8). And actually, our love needs to be strong so it can help us forgive our brothers/sisters when we inevitably sin against each other. So, before you can fervently love like this, you need to pray? Interesting...

Thoughts from this week: 1) Enjoy each day of peace, but don't grow complacent, because storms will come. 2) In the storm, don't try to do it on your own--lean on God's strength--and remember His blessings with thankfulness. 3) Turn from sin; then pray, love & forgive. 4) The end is near; make use of every moment.

Days Like These

As the issue became clear late yesterday afternoon and it grew apparent that my evening was unlikely to go as I had wanted and expected, my natural reaction was to assign fault, grow frustrated, and get stressed. I wish I could say that by the power of the Spirit I overcame (Rom. 8:37) and lived out a godly attitude in the midst of trial, but that would be a lie and an insult to injury.

By God's grace, I did recover from such innate reactions more quickly than usual, being reminded of His goodness and many blessings. Even so, this battle continued as the night toiled on, wounds notwithstanding, with the words from a Bob Carlisle song ringing true: The saints are just the sinners who fall down and get up.

Another song which was playing after The Porch also ministered greatly to me in the early morning hours around 1am. I have included it at the bottom, courtesy of the David Crowder Band.

The graphic in the upper right has been my digital companion since yesterday and is the metric for my failure or success in this issue with DFS-R (Distributed File System Replication). To borrow from Switchfoot, thank You, Lord, for putting motion inside our souls and in this Task Manager graphic.

So, after and in the middle of days like these... I am thankful, Lord, that I have not had such a day for many months now. Forgive me for not being more grateful prior to Your reminder. I am thankful that I have a job--at all--and one which has not counted technical problems like these against me. I am thankful for worship, The Porch, JP and Your truth which he presents, and the encouragement of dear friends and companions who mean more to me than they know. Father, I am thankful that You forgive us when we try to rely on our own strength and seek our own relief and fall as a result. Thank You for Your love and how great it is. Thank You.

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

// David Crowder Band: How He Loves Us

Mixture of Thought

This day has been filled with an array of ideas, and it has left me contemplative, to put it mildly. After network maintenance at the office concluded around 12:40am this morning, I was left to rest until the sun or my mind should awake me. The choice was then before me as to whether I should take the hours to rest from a weekend of illness and a late night of work or return to my desk 'round noontime and wrap up the weekend's proceedings. I opted for the second as the former seemed unnatural and wasted.

And so a rather traditional, yet oddly ambient afternoon ensued, beginning with a lunch at Pei Wei with my coworker. A rather unexceptional set of tasks--updates, change management, testing--carried me to the closing bell, and to the car I went. With the sun setting, I navigated south to a Barnes & Noble cafe and a friend who makes it home-like to many. Bible study commenced and then segued quickly to a writing piece, at the prompting of both an exchange with a friend and the subject matter of the study--prayer.

I was twice sincerely frightened at dramatic crescendos in the soundtracks of The Village and The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring as I pored over the material and wrote. And as time passed, words and excitement came over this patchwork metaphor of the Christian life as a canvas and painting. I know not whether the discourse maturely came forth; only the readership can tell. Regardless, though, it brought my time there to a close and off I went.

As I turned north, I thought to myself, "What a peculiar day! What is it that has made it seem so unlike a Monday?" Perhaps it is the Monday that should always be; one unstressed by a chaotic world, one which begins with the Word and prayer and which ends with a study of prayer and an expansion on the Word.

Finally, the evening concluded with takeout (Panda Express) and an episode of NCIS (online). Strangely enough, this served as the final ingredient in the mixture of thought as an undertone of destiny and choice weaved through the show. It presented a proposition: "Destiny cannot be changed, but it can be challenged." I'll not debate the veracity of the statement, but the story surrounding it was one which did provoke me to reflection. Regardless of how many years, trials, and circumstances led you to be who you now are, you still have the choice to change.

Ingredients of a day like today (how you combine them and in what proportions affects the final product): sleep, prayer, Scripture, choices, work, study, driving, writing, tea (Holiday Tea, in this case), music, Chinese food, TV (NCIS), and friends.

Referenced essay: Canvas of the Creator (Veritas Road)

#RN09: Thurs Connecting Seminar

RightNow 2009: Leadership Matters

Heather Zempel - "Developing Character While Growing Spiritually"
(National Community Church, Discipleship Pastor)

• Leadership is a stewardship issue
  
  • We have to lead ourselves first and well ("Imitate me as I imitate Christ")
  • We don't have to know all the answers or have it all together

1. Set goals in our own spiritual growth
   
   • Before we can make disciples, we have to be disciples
   • Acts 2:42-47
     
     • In prayer and awe of the Spirit's work
     • Seeking after God through spiritual disciplines
     • Using our spiritual gifts
     • Being devoted to the Apostles' teaching -- serving God with our minds/intellects
     • Enjoying the favor the people (later hated)
       
       • The early church was either loved or hated -- never ignored
       • One-anothers of Scripture -- serving God relationally
     • Financial/stewardship -- sold/shared resources
       
   • Set achievable goals, but also ones that require faith
   • Set measurable goals (not just "more", "less", etc)
   • Make the goals time-related -- set a trial period to do it
     
     • Look back after the period and decide whether to keep it up or discontinue it (seasonal change)
     • Routines are good, but when it becomes routine, change it up
       
     
     
2. Lean into our strengths
   
   • Develop your strengths and work around your weaknesses (skill/gift weaknesses, not moral weaknesses -- those can disqualify from leadership)
   
   
3. Identify areas in which we want to grow
   
   • i.e. communication
   • List the areas, then set goals to grow
   
   
4. Read
   
   • Leaders are learners
   • It often takes two years for a book to be written; if you read five books a year, you are getting the equivalent of 10 years of people's work and knowledge
   • Read in the areas where you want to grow
   
   
5. Spend time with others who do well what you want to do
   
   • Get involved in what they are doing ("trick" them into mentoring you, rather than asking formally)
     
     • Talk to them about what they are learning
       
   • Add value to the people you want to hang out with (help them in what they are doing)
   
   
6. Write down what you are learning -- journal
   
   • Journal to process and recognize what you are learning
   • Journal because you will see more because you are looking more closely (in Scripture and life)
   • Journal because it helps you see God's fingerprints more often
   • Review the books you are reading
   • Make notes of the conversations you have
   
   
7. Put yourself in leadership situations that stretch you
   
   • We want to see a miracle, but we don't want to put ourselves in situations that need miracles (i.e. mission trips, evangelism, etc)
     
   • Example: if your small group is based in a neighborhood, figure out how to love them, then do it
   
   
8. Always have an apprentice leader (2 Tim 2:2)
   
   • Never do ministry alone; pass the baton
   • See down the generations of the discipleship chain -- i.e. your apprentice's disciples' disciples...
   • We are a link in the chain of the body of Christ and we cannot break it
   • Turn every opportunity into a discipleship opportunity
   
   
9. Create accountability environments for yourself
   
   • Who knows you at an uncomfortable level and can ask anything?
   • We will be defined by the people around us
   • Those people need to be people who love us but love Jesus more than our friendship -- who want us to be more like Christ more than anything else
   • People who are "editors" -- point out and correct the wrong and find good things to make better
   
   
10. Take care of your personal life
    
    • Family first (before ministry)
    • Finances
    • Health
      
      • Don't define leadership quality by hours put in
      • Great leaders know what is important
      • Trust God with 6 days to accomplish that of 7 days (concept of "sabbath rest")
        

#RN09: Thurs Main Session

The notes below and in other #RN09-tagged posts are my primary takeaways from each speaker's session. Many more things were said than transferred from ink to paper to blog, but these are the points that have left me burdened to not merely be a hearer but also a doer of the Word and of those who provide wise counsel based thereon. Enjoy...

RightNow 2009: Leadership Matters

Tim Ross (The Potter's House, Young Adults Pastor)

• Philippians 3:17-19, "follow me", "imitate me" -- Are we worth following?
• We don't judge the heart, but we are "fruit inspectors" -- If you smell like an orange, look like an orange, and taste like an orange...you're an orange!
• We need HOT leaders; people characterized by:
  
  • Honesty
  • Openness
  • Transparency
• This (our) generation is grown on openness, so the only thing truly shocking is when we try to hide our problems and feign strength
• We need to be real, so we can avoid having/creating/becoming fake, burned out, used up, and fallen leaders

Alan Danielson (formerly over small groups at LifeChurch.tv)

• Small groups need to become outwardly focused (in addition to inwardly growing)
• "Ecosystem" -- when you enter one, you change/disrupt it
  
  • Is the change you are having (i.e. in the neighborhood where your small group meets) positive?
  • "Neutral is negative" -- if you aren't having a positive impact, it's negative
  • Benefit your neighborhood -- talk about things inside and go do something about it outside
  • "Positive is positive" -- What's at stake?
    
    • Christ's reputation is at stake (Matt 5:16)
    • Our obedience is at stake (Matt 28:18-20) -- the great commission is repeated five times in the NT
    • Eternity is at stake (Heb 9:27) -- judgment is final -- we will study, learn, and worship forever in heaven, but we only have now to lead people to Christ
    • Our own spiritual formation is at stake (Phil 2:5-11)
    • "Hell is real" -- get off the couch