I have had the opportunity over my life to meet incredible people from all walks of life in countries with cultures unique to my western way of thinking. One such person was Madame Glacidia in the mountains of Haiti.
I didn’t travel there to meet her specifically but she was there waiting on me when I arrived with a medical team one day. The group I was working with, Love A Child, holds medical clinics in small villages in Haiti away from the mass population of Port-au-Prince. Here, medical supplies were nonexistent and the hope of seeing a doctor or nurse was only a dream. Yet, nonetheless, we were here.
When you hold a medical clinic in these villages the power of “word-of-mouth” advertising is seen in it’s most powerful and efficient form. While the village may only have a few dozen residents, there are always hundreds present to receive medical care. They come from neighboring villages. Some close and some far. Some travel through the night to just have the opportunity to possibly see a doctor or nurse. There’s no HMOs, PPOs, or Assisted Living here. It’s just life…in its most primitive form.
Barely able to walk, Madame Glacidia approached the clinic. It was clear this woman was in excrutiating pain. She was delirious. She had a blood disease and it was bad. It had progressed so much in her body that her skin even had the stench of death. She was literally a dead woman walking. Unless a miracle happened…she would die. With her was her 6 month-old baby, her son and her husband. They were obviously very concerned. Sherry Burnette and the medical team did every thing they could that day to help her.
Two weeks later she was dead.
It’s overwhelming to witness such a needless death when all that was needed was proper nutrition and hygiene in the first place. But so many more die each day here in a country that is so close to the coast of Florida. We might as well have been on another planet.
What seemed to be a day late for Madame Glacidia was a day in the nick-of-time for so many others that day. From children suffering from malnutrition to worm infestations in almost every person the team encountered... medical miracles and wonders were wrought that hot summer afternoon. Lives were changed.
I don’t think I’ll forget Madame Glacidia. To me she represents how fragile every life is and how fleeting our time on this planet can be. And I don’t think I’ll forget the children I met that day either. They’re alive because a medical team came to their remote village one day in the mountains of Haiti.
For them, this was truly a life-defining moment. I think it was for me too.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Orange Coke
There’s nothing as special for a first time father as the time when his child is able to talk and to carry on a conversation. It’s our first glimpse into who they really are and what is rolling around in that little head of theirs...
I remember when my oldest son began to really talk. But one day is especially memorable. We were in my little red Nissan pickup heading off on a Saturday morning to do errands. Now remember Seth was only a little over a year old and just beginning to talk.
On this day I was driving down the back roads of North Carolina to pick up grass seed for our yard that I was determined to grow correctly into the showplace of our neighborhood. It’s a rite of passage in manhood you know. That fine balance of water, sun, fertilizer and weed killer to obtain the perfect yard. True American male. The only problem was I was failing miserably. I couldn’t afford the sprinkler system, in fact, in those days it was almost unheard of to have such a contraption buried in your yard unless you were a golf course. And the blazing North Carolina sun wasn’t helping me out much. Everything I planted seemed to burn up overnight. I was a man on a mission...gotta get that yard right. Maybe more nitrogen and water it a little longer every other day...hmmm.
Anyway, as we’re cruising down the road, Seth blurts out; “Hey Dad, know what?” “What son?” I replied. “I love you.” he responded.
Whoa! An arrow straight to the heart! I about swerved the truck off the road. Three little words from a toddler had just re-inserted me into the here and now from my venture into HGTV unconsciousness. Wow, my son told me he loved me! This was incredible! I didn’t even coax him or make him repeat those words after me. I was beaming, glowing, grinning and purely enjoying the moment. And then it hit…
“Dad?” Seth asked. “Yeah buddy, what’s up?” Here it comes I thought... another wonderful phrase of affirmation of me as a father from my son. “Can I get an orange Coke?” This was his term for the drink “Orange Crush”. And if you’re not from the south you probably won’t understand that everything carbonated falls into the “Coke” heading.
Suddenly, I realized I had probably been slyly manipulated. Outwitted by someone less than two years old. You know what? It didn’t matter. We stopped and bought that “orange coke” at the very next store.
That day has long passed and my son is off in college now making his own way, learning the ropes of everyday life. I don’t know why but I still remember that moment in the truck vividly. Maybe because it was unexpected. Maybe because it touched my heart so deeply. Or perhaps it was the first time I was manipulated and really didn’t care. Either way that day was a defining moment for me. Three little words that I still hold onto from a little boy barely able to talk.
God wants that same relationship with us. Just a little one-on-one time from us lights him up. Conversation, heart felt words… a relationship. Sure, he knows when we’re asking for something what our motivation is. But then again I think he just wants us to spend time with him, to let him into our lives. I wonder what would happen if we spent less time trying to figure out the latest doctrine, pondering and cracking the DaVinci code, or scouring scriptures only to prove our position on some theological argument and just spend time with our father. A relationship. I’m sure we’ll discover who he really is.
And we might just get an occasional “orange coke” along the way.
I remember when my oldest son began to really talk. But one day is especially memorable. We were in my little red Nissan pickup heading off on a Saturday morning to do errands. Now remember Seth was only a little over a year old and just beginning to talk.
On this day I was driving down the back roads of North Carolina to pick up grass seed for our yard that I was determined to grow correctly into the showplace of our neighborhood. It’s a rite of passage in manhood you know. That fine balance of water, sun, fertilizer and weed killer to obtain the perfect yard. True American male. The only problem was I was failing miserably. I couldn’t afford the sprinkler system, in fact, in those days it was almost unheard of to have such a contraption buried in your yard unless you were a golf course. And the blazing North Carolina sun wasn’t helping me out much. Everything I planted seemed to burn up overnight. I was a man on a mission...gotta get that yard right. Maybe more nitrogen and water it a little longer every other day...hmmm.
Anyway, as we’re cruising down the road, Seth blurts out; “Hey Dad, know what?” “What son?” I replied. “I love you.” he responded.
Whoa! An arrow straight to the heart! I about swerved the truck off the road. Three little words from a toddler had just re-inserted me into the here and now from my venture into HGTV unconsciousness. Wow, my son told me he loved me! This was incredible! I didn’t even coax him or make him repeat those words after me. I was beaming, glowing, grinning and purely enjoying the moment. And then it hit…
“Dad?” Seth asked. “Yeah buddy, what’s up?” Here it comes I thought... another wonderful phrase of affirmation of me as a father from my son. “Can I get an orange Coke?” This was his term for the drink “Orange Crush”. And if you’re not from the south you probably won’t understand that everything carbonated falls into the “Coke” heading.
Suddenly, I realized I had probably been slyly manipulated. Outwitted by someone less than two years old. You know what? It didn’t matter. We stopped and bought that “orange coke” at the very next store.
That day has long passed and my son is off in college now making his own way, learning the ropes of everyday life. I don’t know why but I still remember that moment in the truck vividly. Maybe because it was unexpected. Maybe because it touched my heart so deeply. Or perhaps it was the first time I was manipulated and really didn’t care. Either way that day was a defining moment for me. Three little words that I still hold onto from a little boy barely able to talk.
God wants that same relationship with us. Just a little one-on-one time from us lights him up. Conversation, heart felt words… a relationship. Sure, he knows when we’re asking for something what our motivation is. But then again I think he just wants us to spend time with him, to let him into our lives. I wonder what would happen if we spent less time trying to figure out the latest doctrine, pondering and cracking the DaVinci code, or scouring scriptures only to prove our position on some theological argument and just spend time with our father. A relationship. I’m sure we’ll discover who he really is.
And we might just get an occasional “orange coke” along the way.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
The Cost
When we’re young we really don’t think much about life altering decisions. In fact, most of the time we are consumed with our careers, promotions, future mates, family and so forth. Mainly, it’s all about ourselves.
But decisions do come and they come in all sizes. Who you marry, what job you take and where you live are all big decisions. But sometimes it’s the decisions we didn’t see coming that affect our lives the most. And sometimes we didn’t even know it was coming when it happened.
Take George Mifflin for example. Most people have never heard of the man these days. But at one time he was present on the lips of most Americans. Politics always incite heated debates and opinions from all of us. The most polarizing is the presidency and who will be the next leader of the free world. George Mifflin was in line to be that man.
That’s right. In fact George Mifflin was already the Vice-President of the United States. His political history could not have been better. He came from a respected Philadelphia family, graduated from Princeton, mayor of Philadelphia, US District Attorney, US Senator and now in 1848 he was Vice President. President James K. Polk had announced he would not seek a second term. Absolutely nothing was in his path to keep him from winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
What happened next determined the future for George. There was split vote over a tax bill that was prominent in the nation’s attention: 27 for and 27 against. As presiding officer of the Senate, George would be the deciding vote.
Here was his dilemma. If he voted in accordance with the current administration’s policy, he would lose the support of the states he needed to win the presidential nomination. George Mifflin’s defining moment. Whether to do what he knew was right in his own heart and risk losing the political position of a lifetime or succumb to popular opinion and do what was the most beneficial for George Mifflin. What would you do? Sure we all like to think we’d make the right decision and take the high road. But when it’s you, that decision isn’t always easily reached. But George did know what he was doing and he voted the way he felt was right anyway, regardless what it might cost him. Well, you guessed it. One day he was the favorite son and the next he was bottom of the barrel. His own state, Pennsylvania, turned against him. The response in his hometown was so violent the state Sergeant at Arms had to be dispatched to rescue George’s family.
At the Democratic convention in 1848, he received three votes. Did you get that? THREE votes! I don’t know but I bet George thought often about his decision on that vote.
George Mifflin is long forgotten by most but his name is not. Surprised? George had become vice-president the same year the great state of Texas had joined the Union. The following year a handful of Texans got together and decided to name a village after George. It was so small that by the time George had died people were just beginning to call it a town.
And that town grew. And now when you travel by air across the country chances are you pass through that little village named after George. That’s George Mifflin Dallas.
Defining moments come in all forms and they don’t always end they way we think they ought to. But, they come anyway. Until you’ve faced a defining moment like George did you never can quite appreciate the quote: “To thine ownself be true”.
Good job, George. Thanks for the example you left us.
But decisions do come and they come in all sizes. Who you marry, what job you take and where you live are all big decisions. But sometimes it’s the decisions we didn’t see coming that affect our lives the most. And sometimes we didn’t even know it was coming when it happened.
Take George Mifflin for example. Most people have never heard of the man these days. But at one time he was present on the lips of most Americans. Politics always incite heated debates and opinions from all of us. The most polarizing is the presidency and who will be the next leader of the free world. George Mifflin was in line to be that man.
That’s right. In fact George Mifflin was already the Vice-President of the United States. His political history could not have been better. He came from a respected Philadelphia family, graduated from Princeton, mayor of Philadelphia, US District Attorney, US Senator and now in 1848 he was Vice President. President James K. Polk had announced he would not seek a second term. Absolutely nothing was in his path to keep him from winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
What happened next determined the future for George. There was split vote over a tax bill that was prominent in the nation’s attention: 27 for and 27 against. As presiding officer of the Senate, George would be the deciding vote.
Here was his dilemma. If he voted in accordance with the current administration’s policy, he would lose the support of the states he needed to win the presidential nomination. George Mifflin’s defining moment. Whether to do what he knew was right in his own heart and risk losing the political position of a lifetime or succumb to popular opinion and do what was the most beneficial for George Mifflin. What would you do? Sure we all like to think we’d make the right decision and take the high road. But when it’s you, that decision isn’t always easily reached. But George did know what he was doing and he voted the way he felt was right anyway, regardless what it might cost him. Well, you guessed it. One day he was the favorite son and the next he was bottom of the barrel. His own state, Pennsylvania, turned against him. The response in his hometown was so violent the state Sergeant at Arms had to be dispatched to rescue George’s family.
At the Democratic convention in 1848, he received three votes. Did you get that? THREE votes! I don’t know but I bet George thought often about his decision on that vote.
George Mifflin is long forgotten by most but his name is not. Surprised? George had become vice-president the same year the great state of Texas had joined the Union. The following year a handful of Texans got together and decided to name a village after George. It was so small that by the time George had died people were just beginning to call it a town.
And that town grew. And now when you travel by air across the country chances are you pass through that little village named after George. That’s George Mifflin Dallas.
Defining moments come in all forms and they don’t always end they way we think they ought to. But, they come anyway. Until you’ve faced a defining moment like George did you never can quite appreciate the quote: “To thine ownself be true”.
Good job, George. Thanks for the example you left us.
Monday, February 07, 2005
"Who wants to be BALANCED?"
"True Balance is in the Body of Christ"by Don Nori
Web: http://www.radicalgrace.org/ http://www.mercyplace.com/
I hate balance. There is nothing more boring than listening to a balanced person. He spends so much time building walls around what he says that he says nothing at all. People who say they are balanced are too concerned about being acceptable. I am not concerned about being acceptable. My concern is yielding enough to the One who possesses me from within that He can do through me whatever He wants to do. I hate balance. Folks who are balanced never change the world. They never affect society. They live safely within the boundaries of the status quo, never challenging the forces that control society, the culture, or the church system. They believe that by reinforcing what is, they will encourage folks to move on. Fact is, balance is the bane of progress. It leads us to believe everything is as it should be, when in reality we are desperate for change, anxious to see and hear from the Lord concerning the things still locked in the heavens. Though the heavens are pregnant with His purposes and eternity dips into time and space, balanced folk explain away the restlessness within. Balanced folk redirect our focus to what has always been. They have the uncanny ability to make the hungry feel guilty for their hunger and the restless feel rebellious for their questions. Balanced people are what everybody likes to have under their control. Balanced people don't ever rock the boat. But the Reformation never would have happened without imbalance. The Renaissance never would have happened without imbalance. The great revivals never would have happened without imbalance.
Imbalance is the key to our growth. It questions what we have done, why we are doing it, and where we are going.
An Adventure Waiting to Happen
Balance tries to convince us there is nothing new under the sun - when in fact everything is new under the sun. Balanced folk love to quote a frustrated and depressed old man who cries out in his depression, "There is nothing new under the sun!" But to our tiny masses of gray matter, everything is absolutely new. God may know everything, but I sure don't. For me, every day is an adventure waiting to happen. Every day is an irreplaceable opportunity to see, hear, and do things I have never even imagined could happen. Each day holds the possibility...no, the probability...no, the certainty that the heavens will open above me, and His Presence will flow within me creating an atmosphere of wonder and awe that will most certainly change me and the world around me. To be sure, there is nothing new to the Lord, but for us there are new mercies, new hopes, new possibilities opened to us every day if we are unbalanced enough to be open to them.
God Talks to Us Outside of the Box
God always talks to us outside the box we have constructed for ourselves. You know that box. It keeps you safe and assured that you are fine just as you are. Our nature is to always define circumstances, feelings, dreams, hopes, and possibilities within the parameters of what has always given us contentment. This box assures us that we are, well, balanced. But this thought is not new. Humans have always tried to re-box what God has un-boxed. Jesus warned us not to put new wine into old wineskins. Yes, the most boring person in the universe is a balanced person.
Church as We Know It is Over
The true pastor must minister from two perspectives. He will always be a pastor, looking out for the well-being of the people. But he will also be open to the new things God will speak to the people, even if what God says is out of the pastor's experience. His concern is for the safety of the flock, but his concern is also for the Church coming into the dream God has dreamed for each individual. He understands that heaven is our destination, but it is not our destiny. The Lord will send many to him to train, equip, and send off to who-knows-where. Not everyone God sends to him is there to expand his ministry. Believers should mostly come to go. They come to be trained and go to fulfill their destiny. The pastor must be sure of who he is and where he is, without feeling threatened when God sends someone with a greater gift than his own. He must always be secure and free enough to equip, train, and then release. He will most certainly have a base of permanent folks whose ministry it is to care for the needs and train those whom God sends. The Church becomes what God intended it to be - a school for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. The five-fold ministry are not the ones that travel the world. They equip and send out those whom they have trained.
Spiritual Specialists?
Why is it that when doctors study a specified medical area they are called specialists, but when Christians give themselves to a specialized area they are called unbalanced? Doctors must rely on their relationships with other doctors whose specializations are different from their own, thereby having experts in areas they know little or nothing about. Specialists in the medical profession build relationships with other doctors whose opinions they not only trust, but rely upon. This is a normal and expected practice. A doctor who tries to be individually thorough in his understanding of the intricate workings of the entire human body is, ironically, considered ineffective. He dismisses himself from the treasure of information and technique available to those who accept their own personal and professional limitations. The day of the general practitioner is quickly coming to an end. The day of the church system's one-man-show is too.
God Sounds Outrageous
God speaks to us outside of our paragons. Everything He says to us sounds outrageous. Our tendency is to dismiss those things that are risky. But when we dismiss the outrageous, we too often dismiss God. When God says something to us that we have never heard before, it often sounds exciting, even though it may bring fear to our hearts. Sometimes that fear turns to exhilaration at the thought of doing something so different. Subconsciously, however, we take a familiar course of action. In our minds, we visit all the people who are important to us to determine how they will react to this outrageous thing we have just heard. Once the votes are cast, most of the time we dismiss this outrageous, albeit exhilarating, thing we have heard, simply because most of the people we care about and who are important to us dismiss it. Even though we believe it, even though it made our heart sing and burn within us, we reject it because our friends have too. That is why so many end up doing what has always been done. Too many people fear the outrageous. They fear anything that God says outside the box they have created for themselves, which, by the way, they have secretly learned to despise. We all like to think of ourselves as so open-minded, so charismatic, so Spirit-filled, when in fact we have created a box in which everything we believe is locked. It keeps us balanced.
Balanced people never change the world. They put you to sleep.
Balance is not in the person.
Balance is in the Body of Christ.
Go Fly a Kite
When I was a kid, I loved to fly kites. My mom would often say to my twin brother, Ron, and I, "Boys, why don't you guys go fly a kite?" So we would. We spent hours in the golden meadows and fossil beds next to our rural Pennsylvania home. A kite is an awesome thing. Even in a shallow wind, it is determined to fly. As the wind grows stronger, the kite's paper panels stretch out as it soars for the heavens, as though never to return. Did you ever notice that a kite never seems to be content as it responds to the wind? As it pulls the string from the one holding it on the ground, the kite goes up as though on some secret mission. The kite has no concept that there is a limit as to how far the string will allow it to go. I was often the one holding the roll of string as the kite pulled away from us on its quest to go higher. The roll burned my fingers as we heard the whiz of the string chasing the kite heavenward. The wind often carried the kite until all the string was off the roll. We could barely see the kite, now only a dot against the sun-lit sky. I always hated when I was out of string, for it created a dilemma. It is never the kite that limits its own flight. The string is always the bad guy. When the string was out, I either had to run with the kite or pull it back down. The kite usually pulled so hard that I feared for the kite. I never really was certain how much stress the string could take before it snapped. So I would run with the kite. I would run until there was some sort of danger. Power lines, a tree, another kite, a highway...all were hindrances to the kite's ability to soar with the wind or my ability to give it what it really wanted: more string.
The Kite is Completely Sold Out to the Wind
All that kite wanted to do was fly, and there was no convincing it that imminent danger was ahead. The kite had captured the wind and wanted nothing more than to go with it, to yield to it, to go as far and as high and as fast as the wind dare take it. But when the string was gone, tension would mount and the exhilaration of the day quickly turned into stress as the battle to pull it back in ensued. I had to somehow work the string so as to gently bring the kite safely back to the ground. As many of you know, this is not an easy assignment. The kite is completely sold out to the wind and has no intentions of responding to someone earthbound and unable to experience the exhilaration of this kind of flight. I can still almost hear the kite as it battled for its life, "What are you doing? I thought you loved to fly! Let me go!" So the tension on the string grew as I called the kite back to earth. In my desire to give it string and yet protect it to fly another day, I found myself taking risks I would normally not take. I wanted it to soar on, but I did not want to lose the kite. Although I knew the string was essential to the kite's survival, it seemed the kite was begging to be released from what it perceived as unnecessary bondage. It was as though the kite wanted to cut its only connection to the ground. The irony is amazing. As soon as the kite gets its way, is freed from the string, it is doomed to crash, usually broken beyond repair.
Who Wants to be a Kite?
God-breathed friendships are like boys flying a kite. Sometimes you are the kite and sometimes you are the guy on the ground holding the string. I am free to be Spirit-blown into whatever God is calling me to be. I am free to catch the highest wind and go to places in the Spirit that I have never explored. But this is because I am in relationship with one or two who I know have my best interest at heart. Their only desire is for my well-being. I am convinced they have no personal agenda, no secret desires, or need to profit from any success I may have. I never have to be concerned that they will become jealous or envious of how I am used of the Lord. I am at peace with the knowledge that their prayer for me is pure and their desire for my success is genuine. The counsel I get is intended to bless and encourage, not to dominate or control. Their motivation is not jealousy or envy. It is love. As in any true covenant relationship, their hands are open, willing either to release or be wrong. Their love, prayers, and support do not waver by my decisions. Conversely, they carry in their heart the same understanding and confidence about my intentions toward them. This kind of relationship cannot be legislated or assigned. It cannot be determined by geographic region or personality test. It is determined by a heart-to-heart covenant that is tested and proven in the crucible of trial and fire. It develops over time as men and women make a daily conscious decision to respond to others as they themselves want to be loved and cared for. This place of trust in the heart of another can never be imposed; it can only be earned. To these folks, prayer is more than laying on of hands. To them, genuine relationship is in the laying on of the heart. The relationship that allows you to be everything you can be is born out of mutual respect, mutual honor, and of course, genuine love. These individuals believe in the calling that is on one another's life. They love, pray, trust, and give room to fly even when the skies are not so clear.
The balance is in the Body. It is not in me.
Out of String
Yes, there are times when the person on the ground is out of string. He feels the pressure of the kite pulling on his better judgment as it flies into uncharted skies. Sometimes it takes all his strength and faith to hold onto that relationship. Sometimes he will run down the street so the kite has more room to fly. When he runs out of street, he runs across the field, holding onto that kite string and praying that soon the kite will catch a smooth wind and settle in. Sometimes the way comes to an end and the strength of the string is tested to an extreme measure. But this situation is exactly why they have been forging a strong bond of covenant all this time. The relationship can stand the test of love and commitment when the mutual sense of covenant has been seared into their hearts. A broken string benefits no one. Without its tension, the kite falls to the ground. The very thing it wanted and desired becomes its downfall - its destruction. Instead of soaring higher and higher, it finds itself broken on the ground or torn by the limbs of a tree. The thing that gave it the power to soar is the one and same relationship that ultimately keeps it in touch with time and space. But the kite is not the only one affected. The one on the ground never would have looked up had the kite not been flying. He never would have been challenged to peer into things he has never before seen. If he were not looking up to the kite, he would never see the world as his friend sees it. He would have missed an essential element of God's heart for the nations. Because he is holding the kite, he cannot help but be affected by the wind that carries the kite heavenward.
We All Need Someone
Of course, this example will work in nearly every relationship in which we find ourselves engaged. I need the ones God puts in my life, and they need me. The prophetic slobbering of a prophet alone will drown the hearer in mystical saliva. The dusty words of a didactic teacher will choke even the most fervent believer. But when the prophet's slobber is mixed with the teacher's dusty words, they form a salve that will always open the eyes of the blind. We must let the ones we love fly. For we will never be satisfied until we ourselves are freed to fly. So we bathe one another in prayer with full confidence in the One who sends the wind and blows it under our wings. This is the freedom to soar. The balance is in the Body. Not in me.
by Don Nori
Web: http://www.radicalgrace.org/ http://www.mercyplace.com/
I hate balance. There is nothing more boring than listening to a balanced person. He spends so much time building walls around what he says that he says nothing at all. People who say they are balanced are too concerned about being acceptable. I am not concerned about being acceptable. My concern is yielding enough to the One who possesses me from within that He can do through me whatever He wants to do. I hate balance. Folks who are balanced never change the world. They never affect society. They live safely within the boundaries of the status quo, never challenging the forces that control society, the culture, or the church system. They believe that by reinforcing what is, they will encourage folks to move on. Fact is, balance is the bane of progress. It leads us to believe everything is as it should be, when in reality we are desperate for change, anxious to see and hear from the Lord concerning the things still locked in the heavens. Though the heavens are pregnant with His purposes and eternity dips into time and space, balanced folk explain away the restlessness within. Balanced folk redirect our focus to what has always been. They have the uncanny ability to make the hungry feel guilty for their hunger and the restless feel rebellious for their questions. Balanced people are what everybody likes to have under their control. Balanced people don't ever rock the boat. But the Reformation never would have happened without imbalance. The Renaissance never would have happened without imbalance. The great revivals never would have happened without imbalance.
Imbalance is the key to our growth. It questions what we have done, why we are doing it, and where we are going.
An Adventure Waiting to Happen
Balance tries to convince us there is nothing new under the sun - when in fact everything is new under the sun. Balanced folk love to quote a frustrated and depressed old man who cries out in his depression, "There is nothing new under the sun!" But to our tiny masses of gray matter, everything is absolutely new. God may know everything, but I sure don't. For me, every day is an adventure waiting to happen. Every day is an irreplaceable opportunity to see, hear, and do things I have never even imagined could happen. Each day holds the possibility...no, the probability...no, the certainty that the heavens will open above me, and His Presence will flow within me creating an atmosphere of wonder and awe that will most certainly change me and the world around me. To be sure, there is nothing new to the Lord, but for us there are new mercies, new hopes, new possibilities opened to us every day if we are unbalanced enough to be open to them.
God Talks to Us Outside of the Box
God always talks to us outside the box we have constructed for ourselves. You know that box. It keeps you safe and assured that you are fine just as you are. Our nature is to always define circumstances, feelings, dreams, hopes, and possibilities within the parameters of what has always given us contentment. This box assures us that we are, well, balanced. But this thought is not new. Humans have always tried to re-box what God has un-boxed. Jesus warned us not to put new wine into old wineskins. Yes, the most boring person in the universe is a balanced person.
Church as We Know It is Over
The true pastor must minister from two perspectives. He will always be a pastor, looking out for the well-being of the people. But he will also be open to the new things God will speak to the people, even if what God says is out of the pastor's experience. His concern is for the safety of the flock, but his concern is also for the Church coming into the dream God has dreamed for each individual. He understands that heaven is our destination, but it is not our destiny. The Lord will send many to him to train, equip, and send off to who-knows-where. Not everyone God sends to him is there to expand his ministry. Believers should mostly come to go. They come to be trained and go to fulfill their destiny. The pastor must be sure of who he is and where he is, without feeling threatened when God sends someone with a greater gift than his own. He must always be secure and free enough to equip, train, and then release. He will most certainly have a base of permanent folks whose ministry it is to care for the needs and train those whom God sends. The Church becomes what God intended it to be - a school for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. The five-fold ministry are not the ones that travel the world. They equip and send out those whom they have trained.
Spiritual Specialists?
Why is it that when doctors study a specified medical area they are called specialists, but when Christians give themselves to a specialized area they are called unbalanced? Doctors must rely on their relationships with other doctors whose specializations are different from their own, thereby having experts in areas they know little or nothing about. Specialists in the medical profession build relationships with other doctors whose opinions they not only trust, but rely upon. This is a normal and expected practice. A doctor who tries to be individually thorough in his understanding of the intricate workings of the entire human body is, ironically, considered ineffective. He dismisses himself from the treasure of information and technique available to those who accept their own personal and professional limitations. The day of the general practitioner is quickly coming to an end. The day of the church system's one-man-show is too.
God Sounds Outrageous
God speaks to us outside of our paragons. Everything He says to us sounds outrageous. Our tendency is to dismiss those things that are risky. But when we dismiss the outrageous, we too often dismiss God. When God says something to us that we have never heard before, it often sounds exciting, even though it may bring fear to our hearts. Sometimes that fear turns to exhilaration at the thought of doing something so different. Subconsciously, however, we take a familiar course of action. In our minds, we visit all the people who are important to us to determine how they will react to this outrageous thing we have just heard. Once the votes are cast, most of the time we dismiss this outrageous, albeit exhilarating, thing we have heard, simply because most of the people we care about and who are important to us dismiss it. Even though we believe it, even though it made our heart sing and burn within us, we reject it because our friends have too. That is why so many end up doing what has always been done. Too many people fear the outrageous. They fear anything that God says outside the box they have created for themselves, which, by the way, they have secretly learned to despise. We all like to think of ourselves as so open-minded, so charismatic, so Spirit-filled, when in fact we have created a box in which everything we believe is locked. It keeps us balanced.
Balanced people never change the world. They put you to sleep.
Balance is not in the person.
Balance is in the Body of Christ.
Go Fly a Kite
When I was a kid, I loved to fly kites. My mom would often say to my twin brother, Ron, and I, "Boys, why don't you guys go fly a kite?" So we would. We spent hours in the golden meadows and fossil beds next to our rural Pennsylvania home. A kite is an awesome thing. Even in a shallow wind, it is determined to fly. As the wind grows stronger, the kite's paper panels stretch out as it soars for the heavens, as though never to return. Did you ever notice that a kite never seems to be content as it responds to the wind? As it pulls the string from the one holding it on the ground, the kite goes up as though on some secret mission. The kite has no concept that there is a limit as to how far the string will allow it to go. I was often the one holding the roll of string as the kite pulled away from us on its quest to go higher. The roll burned my fingers as we heard the whiz of the string chasing the kite heavenward. The wind often carried the kite until all the string was off the roll. We could barely see the kite, now only a dot against the sun-lit sky. I always hated when I was out of string, for it created a dilemma. It is never the kite that limits its own flight. The string is always the bad guy. When the string was out, I either had to run with the kite or pull it back down. The kite usually pulled so hard that I feared for the kite. I never really was certain how much stress the string could take before it snapped. So I would run with the kite. I would run until there was some sort of danger. Power lines, a tree, another kite, a highway...all were hindrances to the kite's ability to soar with the wind or my ability to give it what it really wanted: more string.
The Kite is Completely Sold Out to the Wind
All that kite wanted to do was fly, and there was no convincing it that imminent danger was ahead. The kite had captured the wind and wanted nothing more than to go with it, to yield to it, to go as far and as high and as fast as the wind dare take it. But when the string was gone, tension would mount and the exhilaration of the day quickly turned into stress as the battle to pull it back in ensued. I had to somehow work the string so as to gently bring the kite safely back to the ground. As many of you know, this is not an easy assignment. The kite is completely sold out to the wind and has no intentions of responding to someone earthbound and unable to experience the exhilaration of this kind of flight. I can still almost hear the kite as it battled for its life, "What are you doing? I thought you loved to fly! Let me go!" So the tension on the string grew as I called the kite back to earth. In my desire to give it string and yet protect it to fly another day, I found myself taking risks I would normally not take. I wanted it to soar on, but I did not want to lose the kite. Although I knew the string was essential to the kite's survival, it seemed the kite was begging to be released from what it perceived as unnecessary bondage. It was as though the kite wanted to cut its only connection to the ground. The irony is amazing. As soon as the kite gets its way, is freed from the string, it is doomed to crash, usually broken beyond repair.
Who Wants to be a Kite?
God-breathed friendships are like boys flying a kite. Sometimes you are the kite and sometimes you are the guy on the ground holding the string. I am free to be Spirit-blown into whatever God is calling me to be. I am free to catch the highest wind and go to places in the Spirit that I have never explored. But this is because I am in relationship with one or two who I know have my best interest at heart. Their only desire is for my well-being. I am convinced they have no personal agenda, no secret desires, or need to profit from any success I may have. I never have to be concerned that they will become jealous or envious of how I am used of the Lord. I am at peace with the knowledge that their prayer for me is pure and their desire for my success is genuine. The counsel I get is intended to bless and encourage, not to dominate or control. Their motivation is not jealousy or envy. It is love. As in any true covenant relationship, their hands are open, willing either to release or be wrong. Their love, prayers, and support do not waver by my decisions. Conversely, they carry in their heart the same understanding and confidence about my intentions toward them. This kind of relationship cannot be legislated or assigned. It cannot be determined by geographic region or personality test. It is determined by a heart-to-heart covenant that is tested and proven in the crucible of trial and fire. It develops over time as men and women make a daily conscious decision to respond to others as they themselves want to be loved and cared for. This place of trust in the heart of another can never be imposed; it can only be earned. To these folks, prayer is more than laying on of hands. To them, genuine relationship is in the laying on of the heart. The relationship that allows you to be everything you can be is born out of mutual respect, mutual honor, and of course, genuine love. These individuals believe in the calling that is on one another's life. They love, pray, trust, and give room to fly even when the skies are not so clear.
The balance is in the Body. It is not in me.
Out of String
Yes, there are times when the person on the ground is out of string. He feels the pressure of the kite pulling on his better judgment as it flies into uncharted skies. Sometimes it takes all his strength and faith to hold onto that relationship. Sometimes he will run down the street so the kite has more room to fly. When he runs out of street, he runs across the field, holding onto that kite string and praying that soon the kite will catch a smooth wind and settle in. Sometimes the way comes to an end and the strength of the string is tested to an extreme measure. But this situation is exactly why they have been forging a strong bond of covenant all this time. The relationship can stand the test of love and commitment when the mutual sense of covenant has been seared into their hearts. A broken string benefits no one. Without its tension, the kite falls to the ground. The very thing it wanted and desired becomes its downfall - its destruction. Instead of soaring higher and higher, it finds itself broken on the ground or torn by the limbs of a tree. The thing that gave it the power to soar is the one and same relationship that ultimately keeps it in touch with time and space. But the kite is not the only one affected. The one on the ground never would have looked up had the kite not been flying. He never would have been challenged to peer into things he has never before seen. If he were not looking up to the kite, he would never see the world as his friend sees it. He would have missed an essential element of God's heart for the nations. Because he is holding the kite, he cannot help but be affected by the wind that carries the kite heavenward.
We All Need Someone
Of course, this example will work in nearly every relationship in which we find ourselves engaged. I need the ones God puts in my life, and they need me. The prophetic slobbering of a prophet alone will drown the hearer in mystical saliva. The dusty words of a didactic teacher will choke even the most fervent believer. But when the prophet's slobber is mixed with the teacher's dusty words, they form a salve that will always open the eyes of the blind. We must let the ones we love fly. For we will never be satisfied until we ourselves are freed to fly. So we bathe one another in prayer with full confidence in the One who sends the wind and blows it under our wings. This is the freedom to soar. The balance is in the Body. Not in me.
by Don Nori
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Story of Two Frenchmen
Several years ago I visited Egypt. It was incredible! The site of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids was absolutely stunning. You can’t help but be overtaken by the sheer genius of the projects. Without modern machinery men had left an indelible mark on the world with creations that have lasted for thousands of years.
When you see such great accomplishments that have been made so many years ago, we are often encouraged and motivated to do something ourselves that we’ve never done before. To leave a mark on the world. Two Frenchmen had that very same feeling when they visited Egypt in 1856. While they didn’t know each other before their journey they were on a course of destiny to meet each other in a country so far from their home.
Both men shared how the sight of the marvels of Egypt had moved them. One of the men, Ferdinand, shared his own dream of a modern day marvel that he could leave behind. Shipping lanes that traversed the oceans had to travel around the southern coast of Africa to travel east to west. The voyage took thousands of miles to complete. If there was a way to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea through a man-made canal the trip would be reduced to a startling 105 miles! Most considered Ferdinand’s plan somewhat entertaining but it wasn’t taken very seriously.
But here in Egypt, another Frenchman had taken his plan quite serious and suggested a contribution of his own. He would design a lighthouse that would be twice the size of the sphinx. It would stand at the entrance of the canal welcoming travelers traveling eastward as a beacon of western civilization. Both men agreed their dreams deserved to come true.
In 1859, Ferdinand won the approval of the authorities and began the project that lasted ten years. Now we know it as the Suez Canal. On the other hand the Frenchman that Ferdinand had befriended in Egypt spent years designing his lighthouse for the canal. Countless sketches and models were constructed until at last a design was satisfactory.
The design was quite original but he had one problem. The one thing he needed most for his lighthouse to be completed was the funds to build it. And they simply weren’t there.
Two dreamers. One with a fulfilled dream and one so close but so far from ever being realized. I’m sure he was devastated. To have come this far and not acquire the funding would’ve been be disastrous. Embarrassing to say the least.
But things did change. Several years later another country inquired about the need for a design from the Frenchman. He accepted and was finally able to deliver his dream lighthouse for the world to see. It wasn’t where it was designed to be but then again it was a good place to be. Today, you would agree this was a much better place for such a lighthouse.
That lighthouse, twice the size of the Sphinx, that was supposed to be a beacon of western civilization welcoming voyagers as they traveled through the Suez canal would find another home instead. The designer was Auguste Bartholdi and the lighthouse stands in New York Harbor and is a sign of freedom for all that travel there from around the world, The Statue of Liberty.
Defining moments. Sometimes they land where we didn’t plan them to.
When you see such great accomplishments that have been made so many years ago, we are often encouraged and motivated to do something ourselves that we’ve never done before. To leave a mark on the world. Two Frenchmen had that very same feeling when they visited Egypt in 1856. While they didn’t know each other before their journey they were on a course of destiny to meet each other in a country so far from their home.
Both men shared how the sight of the marvels of Egypt had moved them. One of the men, Ferdinand, shared his own dream of a modern day marvel that he could leave behind. Shipping lanes that traversed the oceans had to travel around the southern coast of Africa to travel east to west. The voyage took thousands of miles to complete. If there was a way to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea through a man-made canal the trip would be reduced to a startling 105 miles! Most considered Ferdinand’s plan somewhat entertaining but it wasn’t taken very seriously.
But here in Egypt, another Frenchman had taken his plan quite serious and suggested a contribution of his own. He would design a lighthouse that would be twice the size of the sphinx. It would stand at the entrance of the canal welcoming travelers traveling eastward as a beacon of western civilization. Both men agreed their dreams deserved to come true.
In 1859, Ferdinand won the approval of the authorities and began the project that lasted ten years. Now we know it as the Suez Canal. On the other hand the Frenchman that Ferdinand had befriended in Egypt spent years designing his lighthouse for the canal. Countless sketches and models were constructed until at last a design was satisfactory.
The design was quite original but he had one problem. The one thing he needed most for his lighthouse to be completed was the funds to build it. And they simply weren’t there.
Two dreamers. One with a fulfilled dream and one so close but so far from ever being realized. I’m sure he was devastated. To have come this far and not acquire the funding would’ve been be disastrous. Embarrassing to say the least.
But things did change. Several years later another country inquired about the need for a design from the Frenchman. He accepted and was finally able to deliver his dream lighthouse for the world to see. It wasn’t where it was designed to be but then again it was a good place to be. Today, you would agree this was a much better place for such a lighthouse.
That lighthouse, twice the size of the Sphinx, that was supposed to be a beacon of western civilization welcoming voyagers as they traveled through the Suez canal would find another home instead. The designer was Auguste Bartholdi and the lighthouse stands in New York Harbor and is a sign of freedom for all that travel there from around the world, The Statue of Liberty.
Defining moments. Sometimes they land where we didn’t plan them to.
Welcome!
Well, here it is!
Years in the making, I've stepped "over the line" and I'm posting some of my writings that I've accumulated over the years. I hope you'll find them interesting, thought provoking and encouraging.
We all have a tendency to plod our way through life oblivious to "life opportunities" around us everyday. This is a chance to read something that might just be about someone you've heard of, someone you never heard of or something that makes you think about your life and the life of those around you.
I hope you enjoy the blog and I appreciate your comments!
-Gene
Years in the making, I've stepped "over the line" and I'm posting some of my writings that I've accumulated over the years. I hope you'll find them interesting, thought provoking and encouraging.
We all have a tendency to plod our way through life oblivious to "life opportunities" around us everyday. This is a chance to read something that might just be about someone you've heard of, someone you never heard of or something that makes you think about your life and the life of those around you.
I hope you enjoy the blog and I appreciate your comments!
-Gene
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