1COR1.10

I've been ruminating a lot lately on God's command to live in harmony with one another to the best of our abilities; of living according to Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians in his first letter, that they be of one mind in agreement, undivided, perfectly united in mind and thought. I believe that neither God nor Paul were so naive as to believe that we contentious humans would be without disagreements, conflicts of opinion and division with reference to ideologies and theologies. Yet, in spite of the foreknowledge that such diversity would exist in our thought-lives, the commands and exhortations were made.

The expectation, then, must not be that we will always agree that water-births at home are the most holy, or that an industrious woman with a small business who makes wares to sell in the marketplace is the best definition of a Proverbs 31 wife, or that the largest quiver is the best quiver whether by biological reproduction, fostering or adoption. How, when, why and where we bear our children, not to mention how many we have and whether or how we choose to prevent their fertilization, implantation, survival, birth, etc are some of the most widely and passionately contended topics among women of child-bearing age. Conversations about philosophies on how to raise them and under what circumstances to school them are equally impassioned.

I have recently felt alienated and condescended to by many of my believing peers because of their beliefs and the manner in which these beliefs are conveyed....so much so that I avoid all such conversations with individuals whose positions are more firmly held, more heatedly defended than my own. I have recently concluded that, in Christian circles, it's not religion and politics that are the touchy subjects best avoided in social events, but child-bearing and child-rearing. Perhaps it's that we are afraid that we will create little heathens with our decisions and predestine our children for a lifetime of separation from our beloved Savior---that's a valid fear. However, it's one founded in truthlessness and disbelief in God's sovereignty. It may, in fact, be a rejection of God's sovereignty altogether by means of believing in our power as humans, and perhaps our right as Americans, to determine these things for ourselves. To determine, even, the eternal place of our children by bearing and raising them in the most right way.

I have to distinguish that it is believed by many that their decisions are the most right, because they may be so courteous as to concede that other ways are not wrong, per se, just not as right. These are like the questions found on the GRE, not questions found on the SAT. The distinction being, of course, that the SAT may offer several wrong answers and only one right answer, while the GRE offers several nearly best answers and only one truly best answer.

My antithesis to the egocentric belief that bearing and raising a child in the most right way will guarantee their salvation and future positive impact on the world leading to other individuals' salvation is simple: God's more powerful than you. You could completely mess up your child and God could redeem him anyway; you could do everything within your power to raise your kid right, and the kid may never be saved. The result of this is not that we throw our hands in the air with disillusioned hopelessness, but that we rely on the Spirit and pray.

I was blessed during my pregnancy to be reminded by several wise friends that the child within my womb was not my own, but God's. Likewise, the child raised in my home is God's, and the adult he becomes will be God's---God's to save or not to save, God's to have mercy upon or not to have mercy upon. Because I love my child ardently, I will pray for his salvation daily and raise him to the best of my ability to love God and thusly to love others. This is the point upon which we all must agree. The methods, the manners and the means---upon these points we must agree to disagree in harmony and love and respect. We must hold these philosophies, opinions and ideologies with an open hand, willing to be released at any time for the sake of the Church and, ultimately, for Christ.

I often joke that the only reason I shop at Walmart is to get a lesson in how not to parent. But I have recently been convicted that my mentality has been one of unforgiving judgment of the parenting of others based upon the behavior of their young (and occasionally grown) children. Unfortunately, I do this in more places than just Walmart, and even do it at church with my believing family members. To them I should extend the greatest love, though am often critical in the name of sharpening iron with iron and holding believers to a higher standard. Consequently, I'm slightly paranoid when Blaine acts out that others are doing the same to me. Who knows? They may be. But to the best of my ability, I must live in harmony with everyone, not creation division by my judgment or alienating ideologies. I must be united in mind and thought on the essentials and lovingly humble about the non-essentials.

Limitless

We who are believers are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, a member of the triune Godhead; a member of the Godhead who overcame death, the other members of whom are seated IN the throne of God and AT THE RIGHT HAND of the throne of God. Could this Godhead be more powerfully in control of all things? God has already overcome and defeated--in fact, he had before the foundations of the world. Why do we contend so willingly that the flesh cannot be overcome? We ridiculously insist that instinctual, human, basic desires are unable to be put down by the God who has already put them down!
Let me say that sin, temptation, tendencies, human nature, habit, and all the other terms for "living my life like God's not in charge of it" are challenges every.single.day. I do not deny that I struggle every day with being self-reliant, judgmental, arrogant, angry and unloving. EVERY DAY. But we cannot make any excuses for these habitual resistances to submission. I was once a slave to sin, but now I am a slave to righteousness because the old me has died and I am birthed anew in Christ because of his free gifts of grace and mercy.

Put that sin DOWN. It's a rabid dog and it needs to be shot. And hey, God put himself in you via the Holy Spirit and basically armed you with a shotgun and unlimited shells. So take that 12-gauge Holy Spirit out and shoot that rabid dog sin of yours and stop coddling and making excuses for it. It has to go. You can't live with a rabid dog, because it will kill you. So shoot it. No excuses, no delays. Shoot it with the shells of humble broken prayer before Christ that you know you've succumbed to sin, that you tried to live independently of his power and take control of it on your own, that you even tried to justify it in your mind. Shoot it with the shells of self-control and obedience by replacing the bad habit with a good one--with countering your habitual sin with what you know is good, true and right every single time the temptation arises. Shoot it with confession to brothers and sisters who can provide accountability for you, and shoot it with making the most of that accountability through commitment to truthful reporting in spite of the shame and fear that may accompany it. Shame and fear are of the devil--there is no fear in love. And nothing can separate you from the love of God.

Live in the knowledge that he loves us in spite of our sin, and in spite of our coddling unwillingness to shoot our foaming-at-the-mouth, rabid-dog sin. After all, it was in our death, in our sinfulness that he saved us and loved us. How could he now start to not love us or find our sin so repulsive he would reject us? That would contradict not only his nature, but reason. He has empowered us to overcome the world and our sin. In his power and love, we are LIMITLESS. We can overcome anything that life and fleshly desires throw at us. How wasteful to sit around thinking that our sin is drowning us, overtaking our lives or keeping us from doing great things. God is a God of great gifts, and he wants this amazing gift for you, this gift of freedom from fear and shame. So go overcome the world as a conqueror armed to the teeth with the Holy Spirit.

Be limitless.

Coffee, not crazy.

Paul called believers to be all things to all people. So many times, this is translated into a call for cultural relevance. I have heard individuals take that principle to the extreme, crying out for a partier to the partiers, an experience to reach the experienced. That is neither biblical, nor beneficial.

When they catch a whiff of the aroma of Christ, to some it will be a stumbling block. Not that we are thusly to be incendiary and intentionally cause others to stumble--we are to live in harmony with all men as far as it concerns us. And we are to bring them the good news, to let our lives be evidence so that people will be ashamed of themselves when they try to fault us.

So whether we are culturally relevant or counter cultural is not in and of itself the point. Obedience to the whole of our calling, our purpose, our commission--that is the purpose. To know God, glorify, love and enjoy him in intentional lives well-spent here and now, so that that we may do so forever.

 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. --Romans 12:1-2


Tonight, we were both culturally relevant and countercultural. We didn't have to draw attention to how different we were from our peers with strange attire or esoteric language. We were comfortable and casual, appropriately dressed for our age and environment. We didn't have to try to mesh with a perception of social acceptability by pursuing mindless entertainment in provocative minidresses and going crazy. We drank coffee at Kaladi Brother's in midtown, read the Bible chapters together for this week, consulted R.C. Sproul, looked up cross-referential passages to shed light on our questions, and prayed for God's guidance in our reading and in our lives. We chatted and bid each other good-night. No pressure, nothing awkward or ostentatious. Just 90 minutes of accepting the place and time we have been given, pursuing a ministry of reconciliation--helping others to come to realize that they, too, must be reconciled to God and to each other--and of love. We love them because God loves us; they can love others because God loves them and because we loved them because God loved us. A simple domino effect of love, obedience and reconciliation. Although, really, given the state of the world and its natural proclivities...it is a little crazy.

Lucky Number Thirt3en

Last night I slept 13 hours.
Today I started 13 games on Words With Friends.
If you reverse the numerals in tomorrow's date, it's the 13th!

I really have nothing significant to say. Which might to infer, then, that the other times I blog I'm saying something of value or worth. In fact, I'm not implying any such self-inflating nonsense. Rather, I feel the need to record some thoughts while hoping that no one take me too seriously.

1) I realized that I have selective faith. I was talking with a Christian co-worker today about the absurdity of some hypothetical situation and posited that, "it would be like some hobo stealing my wallet and me saying, 'Oh, go ahead an take my smart phone, too. And while you're at it, here's my coat!'" Suddenly I realized how much that SHOULD be the reality of my life. Could Matthew 5:38-48 be any more practically applied in the contemporary world?! I doubt it. But I heard myself considering the biblical road with incredulity in my voice. It scared me a lot to think that, even as I typically possess great confidence in my own knowledge of scripture and what it requires of me, I so easily forget how --or even THAT-- it affects my day to day living.

God spits out lukewarm. Revelation 3 is not unclear about how he feels about it. It's like a Go Big or Go Home mentality on living in obedience, which, HELLO! is how the whole Bible describes it. Even Bob Dylan had it figured out--You Gotta Serve Somebody. Scratch that. it IS a go big or go home LIFESTYLE, not just a mentality.

Last Wednesday, I was transferring my Kaladi Brother's Alaska Vanilla Chai from the cup it came in into my Starbucks travel mug so it would stay warmer longer. Sharine had no faith in my ability to pour it safely from the one vessel into the other. I knew that if I held the lower lip of the cup about an inch above the travel mug and quickly tipped it and poured steadily without hesitation, not a drop would be spilled. I was right.I learned that one through a combination of spilling experiences and my fire-eating Uncle Rick's advice that you just have to go for it or get burned, I knew I couldn't try to play it safe while pouring; that I couldn't take it slow and try to sneak the hot beverage in. Some would dribble down the side of the cup, then a bunch would gurgle and pop over the entire travel mug and spill down the other side, too. i KNOW I'm not the only person with this experientially acquired knowledge.

But I also know that I am one of many who try to take that approach to Christianity when we all, without exception, should be putting ourselves in the right position, going for it without hesitation and confidently knowing the outcome will be successful.

T minus TEN

 My older sister Megan used to be a prolific force for our middle school Cross Country team. Every Friday night, there was the carbohydrate load entailing several heaping plates of spaghetti, the religious watching of the movie Chariots of Fire and a good night’s rest so that twelve hours later there could be a killer race where she would come in second to a German wunderkind from a rival school. The immense amount of prior preparation had something to do with what she always used to tell me: “A Dream without Action is only a Wish.” I typically ignored the platitude, popped a Michael W. Smith cassette into my portable tape player and sprawled across the floor to do my homework, relying on my lucky orange panties to bring me the kind of cross country success she produced through relentless training, diet and devotion to the task. Her natural talent probably helped a little.

Obviously, over time I came to have an appreciation for sacrificing leisure, comfort and even human necessities like sleeping, eating and general hygiene in order to achieve my goals.Yet, in the course of reaching academic milestones like a obtaining a baccalaureate degree, and putting some significant life events under my belt like marriage and moving away from family, I have not to this point learned to boldly step out in faith and obediently pursue ministering to this hurting world. If man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, and I haven’t set aside my own personal ambitions in order that I may glorify God through my obedience, then for what have I been living?

Of course, there is no secular life when a woman lives in Christ, as everything she does is Spiritual. And whatever she does, she must do it all to the glory of God, as working for Him, not for man. But to be honest, I can’t say I worked hard for God. Rather, I labored for myself and the fulfillment of my academic and vocational aspirations; for my pride because I can’t stand to fail; and to mollify my own fears that, should I not excel, my worth would somehow be invalidated because I falsely believed that I am what I do, and I am worth what I achieve.

Now I find myself in Alaska. Degree, check; job, check; great home with loving husband and ridiculously cute dog, CHECK. One Sunday, I find myself sitting listening to my dad preach about Bible studies in the wake of the tsunami and earthquake rocking Japan’s world, bringing the whole nation to its knees. Suddenly, I have an inkling that this type of outreach is actually something I can do, and it will be authentic! I won’t be doing it for false motives like responding out of guilt or feeling peer pressured into participation. This is what I will be doing to respond to his call, because a fire has been started in my soul, and because God is inspiring me to follow the passions that He himself gives me. I have connections to unbelievers through my job and Nate’s job. And I also have connections to young believers who need to be encouraged and spurred on toward love and good deeds. 

 This is what I was made for; this is who I am meant to be: a lover of Christ, and therefore a lover of people.

Sharine and I have been prayerfully seeking God about who to invite, what to study, when and where and how frequently to meet, and we have finally sent out our invitations. We kick off our Bible study with hopefully five other young ladies, meeting Wednesday evenings at a local coffee shop. Their knowledge of God ranges from “absolutely no knowledge of religion or faith whatsoever” to “lifelong believers.” The method will be to read the Bible, pray for God’s wisdom and cast away everything that hinders as we seek Him. Please pray for us as we step out in faith in a way that is true to our passions and in response to his calling. We start in ten days!

Building Sandcastles

Perhaps the most devastating of all the feelings found on the emotional spectrum is disappointment. With plain sadness there may be a loss of elation, with grief a loss of something held dear, and with loneliness a lack of companionship. But somehow, inherent in the sentiment of disappointment is an acknowledgment that expectations were failed, and hopes dashed. Somehow this is much more difficult to handle. On the ambulating wave of life, one comes to terms with the reality that troughs are as inevitable as the beloved crests we all hope to surf for the majority of our lives. Understanding the inevitability of these low points enables us to cope with the difficulty they bring, knowing they are as unavoidable as they are temporary. It may be that I only hold these views because of my nature as a pessimist, though I consider myself an optimistic realist, whether this consideration is, in fact, a realistic assessment of my view on the glass’s contents.

When I imagine a particular scenario unfolding, such as the telling of a story or piece of news, I sometimes narrate in my head the potential outcomes as though I were a first-hand witness or the resonating deep bass voice-over who must make millions doing trailers for action films. By envisioning the sequence of events prior to their occurrence, I can prepare the delivery of the news or tale in order to arouse the most desirable response from my audience. The danger inherent in this method is the set-up for failure should the delivery or reception go differently than what was planned. Then, what should have been a delightful moment becomes one of frustration and disappointment—two of the most opposite of reactions from that for which I ardently hoped and attempted to produce.

Human relationships are unpredictable. They are like hurricane winds and we individuals involved in them are like meteorologists. Oftentimes, patterns do emerge making certain trajectories more likely than others. But on the other hand, no matter how many times one sequence of events happens exactly the same way, there is no guarantee that it will happen again. We can build all the walls we want to prevent damage from flooding into our lives, but that will not necessarily prevent loss or pain. And though one response could be to move away from the source of unpredictability, you can’t live on a beach on the gulf if you don’t like strong gales or high tides. Risk is an unavoidable factor when engaging a dream and trying to bring it to realization. Risk is unavoidable whether you bother to pursue your dreams or not. The possibility of loss, frustration and disappointment will always be there. So neglecting to tend to the development of a hope in order to avoid getting hurt is foolishness. Might as well build sandcastles for the fun of it, even though the tide may wash them away.

There are such things as Dumb Questions

A lot of my friends are, or in a very short time will be, new mothers. Consequently, I've been pondering that transitional phase of going from being an independent being responsible for self and partner only, to being the bearer of another being into the world for whom you are very much responsible. That phase in which your sleep goes from being an uninterrupted nightly given to a coveted periodic possibility. That phase in which thoughts of how well an outfit coordinates with shoes and accessories are replaced by thoughts of how to cover up spit-up stains and breast-milk leaks.

There are a lot of glorified aspects of pregnancy and motherhood, and a lot of known challenges as well, like whether you'll be the pickle and vanilla ice cream type, or the frozen meatloaf and rhubarb pie type; whether you'll have an easy pregnancy, one with forty straight weeks of endless nausea, or one of being laid up in bed with gestational diabetes and anemia. Of course, the question of whether I will be one of those who can pull off wearing skinny jeans at week 38 is a superficial question, but one I entertain nonetheless. I weigh it as heavily as I do the question of whether I'll look lean and toned in the face, or if I'll look like Will Smith in Hitch after he eats the seafood to which he's allergic.These, though, are truly stupid things to think about in terms of being with child.

During the holidays, many songs and Nativity stories highlight how the mother of Jesus must have handled her pregnancy. I imagine no amount of prior preparation could have made that child-bearing event one of normalcy. Two of my favorite Christmas songs of all time, Mary Did You Know? and Breath of Heaven, both examine closely the intimate feelings and questions she must have had. Her questions would, no doubt, have been tied to the divinity of her progeny and the knowledge of his significance to the world around her, and the future of mankind. Those are questions worth asking.

I have never even wondered how the raising of my child will affect the future of all mankind. Do you suppose that Luis Palau's mother or Billy Graham's mother asked the same kinds of questions that Elizabeth asked about John or Mary asked about Jesus when they were pregnant? Is investing in Baby Einstein materials, or playing Mozart against my belly able to bring as much positive good for my future child and the world as investing in the Scriptures and praying over my belly will be? Seems worth dwelling on for a second.

In light of recent events my close friends have experienced, I have had to consider if I'll praise God for giving and taking away should that situation arise; if I'll still rejoice and consider perfect a child with a chromosomal disorder. These questions are certainly worth pondering, and I hope that, should they ever arise with immediate relevance in my own life, I will respond in the most God-glorifying way possible.

I'm not pregnant for any of you who may be wondering. I've just been observing the monthly postings of baby belly protrusion progression and thinking about silly things like the loss of independence, toned tummies, and control of life that comes with a baby and thought that those three things are truly the least of my worries. How could I possibly think that "Will I still be hot with stretchmarks?" might be a valid inquiry in light of the many more profound answers I might seek?