9.19.2020 - week 72
‘a merry heart doeth good like a medicine:
but a broken spirit drieth the bones.’
proverbs 17.22 (kjv)
i’m being called a con man. anyone who knows me or follows me on instagram knows i spill coffee. and lots of other things. but lately several people have accused me of doing a ‘bit’ like jimmy kimmel’s matt damon thing or (formerly) famous christian performance art atheism, people ask if my spilling is ‘real’ or simply behavior cultivated for attention. sadly, it’s 100% real. all the way back to 2nd grade, i have struggled with my fine motor skills. bad handwriting, deplorable at crafts, no chance at legos etc;. add in the multiplying factor of perpetually going too fast and i spill a lot of things, really often.
so i have adapted by stashing a spare shirt in the car and at work (which one time was memorably ‘borrowed’ and worn by a co-worker 40 years my senior) and by learning to laugh about it. when i was growing up my parents made us memorize and recite, ‘if you can’t laugh at yourself, the whole world stinks.’ the helpful point being: the ability to see our frailties and follies and smile rather than get all worked up and tense frees life from unneeded stress.
my wife is a master at this. last year her sister visited us. kristen said her favorite part of the vacation was when we went to the wrong beach and lugged firewood half a mile only to realize there were no fire pits around and lugged the wood back to the car. she delights in finding humor in the small disasters of daily life, and it makes her a delight to live with.
one of the temptations during difficult times (like 2020) is to get too serious, to start thinking endless somber-ness is the ticket to where god is taking you. in certain pockets of christendom, fussing + faultfinding are fruits of the spirit. yet, that is not where abundant life is found.
german theologian helmut thiecke says, ‘a church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub and the toastmasters’
so i guess the point is, laugh a little. don’t worry that all amusement is somehow counterproductive (as i was once sternly told at a fancy dinner by a cheerless woman). if it will eventually be funny, why not let it be now. your brand won’t be ruined by showing your frailty, normal non-ridiculous people like you that way. so laugh a little. and maybe pray that i learn how to hold my coffee.
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
When you think of the ‘white flag’ moments of your life, what comes to mind?
relationships, hopes or dreams, the perfect plan that crumbled
So often times of surrender become defining moments in our lives and we have the choice to decide if we are going to live in a tug-a-war of surrender or if we are going to choose to see what God will do through it.
When I think of the hall of fame of surrender in the Bible I think of Abraham. God promised him that he would have offspring like the number of stars in the sky. But as he aged he kind of questioned God, “like I heard you but this hasn’t happened yet and I’m getting like really old?” But as you read on God did exactly as he said and he brought Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Now comes the crazy part, God asks Abraham to take his son and offer him as a burnt offering. Now the Bible never references Abraham as a genius but he knew that in order to have offspring like the stars of the sky, Isaac would have to have babies.
This brings us to Genesis 22:7-8 “And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.”
Let’s start here: fair question from Isaac. Not to mention that if I were to put myself in Abraham’s sandals I might have waved my white flag right there. Like let’s have a little replay on that vision you originally gave me… maybe instead of my son I can surrender my land or my goats but I’ve thought this all the way through, God, and your promise can’t come to fruition if I follow through with this plan. And yet there’s none (zippo, zilch, nada) of that. The one thing that scripture does mention before they go up to the mountain for the sacrifice is that he worships. As I read a commentary about this it said that it would be more like bowing down and not like a joy filled sing-along which makes sense given the realities. It inspires me that instead of wasting time trying to barter with God, he aligned his focus and heart by bowing before him and reminding himself of who He is.
I read this quote from Spurgeon reminding us that this was a real life situation yet Abraham’s faith superseded his fear. “That knife that was cutting into his own heart all the while, yet he took it. Unbelief would have left the knife at home, but genuine faith takes it.”
Had Abraham wasted his time bartering with God he wouldn’t have seen God provide in an absolutely miraculous way. Abraham’s unwavering faith was obvious when he took the knife about to slaughter his son was STOPPED when the voice of God intervened and provided a ram! Only God. But going through the process of what God asked proved his allegiance of heart and that he truly trusted God no matter what he asked. Too often there have been moments in my life where I knew God was asking me to surrender something to him but I grasped onto “it” too tightly instead of Him. I don’t know what that ‘thing’ is for you, that he is asking you to surrender but this I know: just like Abraham, you can trust him. You could miss out on so much if you choose a tug-a-war instead of the white flag.
cup of leadership
between the promise + the payoff is the process.
between the moment of decision and the moment of reward is the difficulty.
between the ‘it will’ and ‘it has’ is ‘it hurts’.
david in caves for a decade waiting for his coronation to become a throne
joseph in prison waiting for that dream god gave him to come to pass
abraham + sarah wandering through the dessert into their elderly years, no child in sight
the examples are all over scripture and our world. it’s painful to lead and painful to wait. but the victory comes on the other side of the pain.
book review
the world of secular non-profit work lives far away from church work, but they have a lot of similarities. if we are willing to look at the existing expertise, we can find great help for our churches. the authors have done wide analysis of what makes for excellent non-profit leadership and combined it with compelling anecdotal examples. a lot of emphasis is placed on the fundamentals of clear strategy and cohesive team with a long term viable financial model. the prose is thick and technical in some places, but if you are trying to lead in this sector, this book will help you.
stuff for you to click on
1. idk who the exact target audience is for a justin bieber / chance the rapper collab, but i must be pretty core .. its called ‘holy’ and its a wow. is it a slightly confusing mash-up of love song and worship song, yes but (name of christian artist) has been doing that for years.
2. my family just finished using my brothers videos for morning devotionals, they are incredible resources for grade school / middle schoolers —> watch here
3. my mid-week service this week i think will be an encouragement to you. its a punchy 45 minutes of music + teaching. watch it here