The Promised Land for the New Year

After the Exodus, God sent his people Israel into Canaan, the Promised Land, and he promised that he would help them take the land.  He prepared them for battle, warning them what lay ahead, and sometimes giving them specific military strategy.  He also prepared the way for them naturally, by sending hornets ahead of the Israelites, causing the Canaanites to flee the land.  God promised to drive the Canaanites out gradually, so that Israel could take over the land gradually and not be overwhelmed.  (Deuteronomy 7:20-25)

Our souls are like the Promised Land.  We are all messed up in one way or another; our past is full of mistakes and rebellion; our thinking is distorted and not based on reality.  The enemy of our souls occupies territory in our souls, and refuses to yield ground.  He holds this territory with lies and deception.  When we agree with those lies, the territory remains under enemy control.  The Bible calls these areas "strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).  The Canaanites controlled the land which God had given to Israel.  So Satan controls parts of our souls, all of which rightly belong to Christ.  Whenever we let fear or guilt or anger dominate our thoughts and distort our perception of reality, we can see the influence of the enemy.  To one degree or another, we all struggle with this influence.

The good news is that God is delivering us.  He gradually opens up territory of our souls so that we can be free.  God uses circumstances and the natural maturing of life as he used the hornets in Canaan:  he opens our minds gradually to see the world from a grown-up, spiritual point of view.  He doesn't show us everything at once, but over time he reveals the truth to us and exposes the lies of the enemy.

When the truth is revealed and the lies exposed, we often have to do battle to claim that new territory.  It doesn't come easily, even with God's help.  We have to work for it.  We have to stand on God's word as truth, in spite of what circumstances or the world may say.  We have to choose to live in faith.  We must intentionally reject our old ways of thinking, even though they are so familiar and comfortable.  We have to remind ourselves that we are tired of living under the devil's deception.

I marvel at how gently God reveals my wrong patterns of thinking.  I also marvel at my old mental ruts.  My old habits of thought continually lead me back into stinking thinking. 

Life in Christ, full of the Holy Spirit is the Promised Land.  It is where God wants me to dwell.  Every day Jesus is claiming new territory in my soul, and I have to fight to take it.

Really, Jesus won the battle on cross.  He took the territory.  He won the victory.  I just have to believe it and trust him.  That changes the way I live.  That's how God changes the world.

The New Year is a great time for a new beginning, choosing to live in the Promised Land!

Christmas Reflections

Christmas calls us back to the years gone by. We can feel the cold, smell the cinnamon, and hear the old favorite Christmas songs.

One of my favorite Christmas presents from childhood was an electric train. I remember asking Santa for the train, and he delivered. It had a horn, a light-up crossing sign and an automatic uncoupler feature. You could even make smoke come out of the smokestack. I still have that Lionel train, and it still works. Some of the pieces are missing, but I still enjoy setting it up. It seems like Christmas is the perfect time to pull it out. The sounds remind me of childhood.

I also remember getting Major Matt Mason, an action figure who came out before they knew what to call dolls for boys. He was the brave astronaut who ventured into the void of outer space, doing daring things that I can’t remember. This was just a year or two before Neil Armstrong and company actually landed on the moon.

In my neighborhood we had a tradition of lining the streets with luminarias, brown paper bags with a little sand in the bottom and a votive candle. All the neighbors would light the candles every night for a few nights before Christmas. The neighborhood glowed with ribbons of light winding through the hills and trees. Neighbors agreed to keep their lights off, allowing the bags to light the night. People came from all around to drive slowly, without headlights, experiencing the glow of neighbors celebrating together. We strolled the streets with friends and time stood still.
Jesus was touching my heart, and I didn’t even know it.

Boring?

Sometimes that is a throw-away word.  Boring.  It can mean a general negative feeling toward something or someone.  Math is boring.  No it isn't, unless you are just mindlessly crunching numbers.  Students may say that math is boring, but usually they mean that they don't get it and they are tired of working on it. 

Sometimes people say that the Christian life is boring.  What does that mean?  I think it means that they believe the Christian life is safe and predictable.  It is not challenging.  It means going to the right places, reading the right books, watching the right TV shows, praying the right prayers.  It means staying out of trouble and being nice.  It means fitting into a mold.

Jesus certainly did not fit into a mold.  As I look at the life of Jesus, I don't see anything boring about it.  He was always on the move, but never in a hurry.  He was constantly following the Father's lead.  He was speaking the truth in love, and with a great deal of confrontation.  He was not afraid to call out hypocrisy or any other sin.  Jesus surprised people with his answers and his questions.  He called people to follow him and loved the unlovable.  He went willingly into the city where people were conspiring to kill him. 

I believe the Christian life should be lived on the edge.  It should be on the cutting edge of the work God is doing.  It should be daring.  It should never become routine. 

God wants more for us. 

If we are living by faith, we will constantly need for God to show up.  We will face hardship and failure.  We will be challenged to face our fears, to face the truth about ourselves.  We will confront evil and be persecuted.

That's not boring.  And unfortunately it's not what my Christian life looks like.  Yet.

I Love Stokesdale

Rarely does a week go by that I don't consciously thank God for Stokesdale.  It's a treat just to live here.
Every time I go into the Bi-Rite grocery store, I see someone I know.  The people who work there are personal friends, and invariably I find other customers to talk to.

Mail gets delivered to me, even with an old address.  The people at the post office know me and where I live, and where I used to live.  Even the Fed Ex and UPS delivery people know where to find me.  Yeah, they know that the church has moved to another address, and they know they can deliver stuff to my house.

And at the post office, no one ever has to wait in line.  If there is a line, I probably recognize some of the people in it.

People care about one another.  When a family has a hard time, the community is there to help out. 

At Parker's, they know what beverage I have with my breakfast.  At Southern Hardware, I know the owner, and he remembers what kind of chainsaw I have.  At Snatchers, they repair my car honestly, stand by their work, and help me find a good deal on tires. 

The Christmas Parade is a parade of friends.  Kids we know wave from floats of churches, clubs, schools and businesses we know.
The fire chief helps the elementary school coordinate with our church, so that we can help raise funds for a school field trip.

A Stokesdale traffic jam has six cars in it.

The season opening of Humphrey's Ridge Restaurant is like a family reunion.  Everyone is excited that the weather is warming up and we can soon swim in the lake.

We are close to Greensboro, Winston-Salem, the airport, Belew's Lake.  We are outside the frenzy of city life, and just a few miles from real wilderness. The Blue Ridge Parkway is about an hour away.  I can see Hanging Rock Mountain from my street.  This is a beautiful part of the country.

Somehow God has smiled upon us, allowing us to live in a small place with a big heart, where we can experience the beauty of his creation.

On Thanks and Thirst

Yesterday we were blessed at Crossroads to have Christ Winter, a representative from Living Water International, share with us about their ministry.  For years we have given to Living Water as part of our Christmas offering, and Chris helped to make our giving more personal.

Chris told us that when Advent Conspiracy and Living Water teamed up in 2006, there were over 1.2 billion people in the world who needed clean water.  Today "only" 884 million people need clean water.  In just a few years, our giving has made a tremendous difference.  Millions of people now have clean water to drink.  It's working!

Living Water drills the wells and trains villagers to take care of them.  Periodically LW sends representatives to check on the wells, perform repairs, and make sure that the water is accessible to everyone.  All these visits provide opportunities to share with people the good news about Jesus. 

As we keep chipping away at the water problem in the world, I imagine that in 10 years we could virtually eliminate the lack of clean water.  Through LW, this work is done in the name of Jesus.  The wells are a constant reminder that Jesus came to be with us at Christmas.  Jesus redeems from the diseases of dirty water, and he redeems from the dirt and hurt in our souls.

At Thanksgiving we celebrate by giving thanks to God .  With a big meal we feast and celebrate the blessings God has given.  But I don't think I have ever raised a glass of water at the meal, just to thank God that we have it to drink.

This Thursday, I'll do that.

Confession

I love writing, especially when it is going well.  Sometimes the words just flow.  The phrases just flow through my fingers onto the screen.

But then there are times that I can't get the words to come.  Sometimes I can't think of what to write.  Other times, I find that the idea is there, but the way to say it is...um...um...well you get the picture. 

I also suffer from writer envy.  When I read good ideas, presented in a compelling, colorful way, I find myself wishing that I had said it.  Sometimes the writer is saying what I have been thinking, but never put into words.  And that's my frustration.  I like to write, but don't make enough time to do it.  I want to write a book, but I'm not making any progress.  I can barely get a blog uploaded.

Recently I came across a file, something I worked on years ago, never published anywhere.  It was just a start of a writing project -- one of those things I started and never did anything with.  It was good.  I was surprised.  Lately, it seems like I can't write anything.

My daughter is doing the November writing challenge.  "Everybody who's a writer knows about this, Daddy."  Guess I'm not a writer.  Anyway, the challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  She's already got 30k. 

I need to write more.  I need to write every day.  Writing has an impact that can potentially last through the rest of history.  Of course, you have to write something worth remembering.  I'm not trying to write 50,0000 words in a month.  But maybe I can write more than two blogs a month.  And maybe I can write something worth remembering.  I'll never know unless I write something.

There, I wrote something.

Visiting with God

I have often wondered about prayer.  What is praying, really?  Sometimes I wonder what "counts" as praying.  If I am thinking about a friend with a need, am I praying?  Do I have to ask specific things for the person?  Do you have to pray out loud, or is it OK to pray silently?  What if I fall asleep...have I really been praying?  What about day dreaming?  Does that count as prayer?

Fil Anderson's book, Running on Empty, has really challenged my thinking about the spiritual life.  I recognized myself in his descriptions of his own prayer experiences.  Like Fil, I have spent countless hours bringing requests before God, telling him what was happening and what he needed to do about it.  I have been very careful to say just the right words.  I have prayed the scriptures, prayed while walking, prayed on my knees, prayed with cards and lists.  There is nothing wrong with any of those practices.  But the form of prayer is not really what prayer is about.

For many of us, prayer is just a monologue.  It is a formula of worshiping, praising, confessing, asking and thanking.  When we are through, we say amen and go about the day.

But prayer is not a monologue.  Maybe prayer is more like a conversation.  I have spent many hours talking to God and then listening for God's voice.  Usually after a long litany of needs and requests, I will pause for a minute, just in case God wants to get a word in edgewise.  "OK God, here's your chance to speak, if you want to say anything... How 'bout it?... Nothing?... OK.  Amen." 

If I don't rush the conversation, I will listen for God more patiently.  I might actually hear his voice.  Still, these conversations can feel like times of prayer that "count."

While talking with friends this morning about prayer, it occured to me that prayer is really more like a visit.  During a visit, there will be times of speaking, listening and silence.  You can do something while you visit, or not.  A visit is about being with someone, not going through a formula with just the right words, for just the right time.

I think that prayer is like visiting with God.  Sometimes it can be structured, sometimes free flowing.  But it's all about relationship.  I just need to make time to be with him.  I need to be in his presence so that I'm not too distracted to hear his voice and speak to him.  I can't let time with God always be something that I barely squeeze into my schedule.  On some days that may be necessary.  But there have to be some days every week when I can put away all my distractions and visit with the Creator.

I want to stop worrying about whether my time with God counts as prayer.  I want to begin enjoying his presence, opening my heart to him, hearing his voice and experiencing his embrace.  God doesn't need to be something else on my to-do list.  He is someone I like being around.  More profoundly, I am someone he likes to be around.  Wow.