Thoughts on Inception, part 1...

Ever heard of this movie that came out a while ago about dreams? Inception, I think it was called...Apparently it did rather well at the box office. I think this Leonardo fellow might have a future in the moving pictures industry...If you didn’t see it, congratulations - You’re one of 9 people worldwide that held out...I myself saw it twice. Good to know that I can be led around by the nose by whatever Hollywood thinks I should watch. But I really dug the movie, and actually mostly for some of the messages that found their way in... Not usually what I find redeeming about the Hollywood oeuvre, but this one had some interesting ideas that rattled around in my head for a while afterwards. In particular, the following lines: “What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea.” “A single idea from the human mind can build cities.” “An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.” Actually, all of those lines can be found in the trailer, so if you want to pare down the two hours it takes to watch the whole thing, there you have it.


I love this idea, that an idea is a resilient parasite. Typically, of course, a parasite is an organism that has a symbiotic relationship with a host. In other words, it feeds off the host (the host sustains it), and in return, it influences the host. Sometimes for good, and more often, in a negative sense. I think the screenwriters are onto something with this notion...See, the actions we take in life are born in our thought process. Thoughts lead to decisions, which lead to taking action.  But just like in a parasitic relationship, much of our thought process is a reaction to circumstance; that is, something happens to us, and we process it, and react. And for more of us than would care to admit (and more of the time), we’re reacting to ideas implanted by people and cultures that aren’t particularly healthy, yet we accept them as reality, and make our decisions based on those ideas. And once those ideas get a foothold in our everyday thought process, it’s pretty darn hard to kick them out. Very resilient, in other words.


All of this got us thinking that it might be really beneficial to do a series at Element about this very thing. What happens when the ideas we allow to take root in our minds are God-birthed ideas, ideas that don’t simply mirror what society says are the norm? Revolutionary ideas...What are the ideas that we’re allowing to shape the actions we take? The bible is replete with dramatically counter-culture ways of living that, if we let them become foundational,  permeate our whole lives and introduce a new hope and a new way of life to others. And so we’ve been immersed in this series for the past few weeks and having some incredibly challenging discussions...Specifically about what it  means to fully embrace these ideas, and how to identify the first step I need to take, from a practical standpoint, to start down the right road? Even if I already identify myself as a follower of Jesus, what are the areas in which I’m content to stay where I am, or justify going down a road that doesn’t please God? What are the first steps towards changing that?


Week one began with a challenge from the book of James, which is an incredibly practical book on living out God ideas...And the way the whole book starts is fascinating to me. Of all the things he could kick off with in a quest for holy living, he starts with the following verses:

James 1:1-4
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.


According to James, we need to understand that we  A) Are in need of growing, every one of us. B) Have been given the opportunity to grow by God Himself, and C) Can’t make it happen without a whole new way of thinking. In effect, the journey starts with a revolution of the mind. We can take all the steps we want to, in an attempt to see our relationship with God grow and the things in our lives look like how God intends, but that doesn’t happen until we embrace God’s standard, rather than our own. And that’s really a 180 degree reversal from where the human thought process defaults.



It all boils down to this: When everything gets difficult around me, I ACTIVELY choose to view it as an opportunity to make a God-centered decision. When everyone else around is running, hiding, and otherwise reacting badly to tough situations in life, we have an opportunity to take a simple, but bold, and literally life-changing step. Consciously choose to treat trouble in life as an opportunity for growth. This is no Dr. Phil idea, this is  straight from the Word of God. What are you facing right now that seems difficult? What are you going through in life that you wish you weren’t? What are the ideas that you’re letting shape how you react to those situations? Try James 1:1-4 on for size. Realize that, though it seems completely counter-intuitive, it’s God’s plan for you. It’s quite literally a revolution in the face of the business-as-usual thought process of the world. Let’s make it happen...

Something to wrestle with...

"He who begins by loving Christianity more than Truth, will proceed by loving his sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I can't lie here...This is a disturbing quote. Partly because of how true it is, and partly because of the reaction it provokes. On the one hand, it tends to make some people defensive, as though Coleridge is belittling Christianity (which he isn't at all). On the other hand, it makes people nod their heads and say "See? That's what I've been saying for years!" Both reactions, and the varying degrees thereof, are inherently dangerous. In the first instance, elevating any movement of God, even Christianity itself, above the One who gives birth and meaning to it can, and usually does, foster legalism and misguided zeal. The second school of thought typically results in a dismissal of the Church altogether, or at the very least, a refusal to admit that the community of God is a great and necessary thing. 

I think Coleridge makes a fantastic point here - that the end result is self-love above the love for God Himself. Admitting this is important...Being humble enough to admit that our reactions to statements like this are in need of dramatic retooling is just as important. I've been seeing this play out in a lot of conversations lately, and I'm not thrilled to have to admit that. As followers of Christ, understanding that the Church is a God-breathed entity and indispensable to our spiritual journeys is critical, but let us never elevate the zeal for God working in ways we like above our zeal for God's will to be done. The two things can often be very different. And on the other side of the fence, to claim be a follower of Christ and wallow in cynicism about the Church is counter-productive at best, and at worst, crippling to our own lives and to the lives of those we influence. 

I think there's a Church revolution-in-waiting right now...But it's caught between those who love the comfort of religion too much and those who are waiting for the revolution to happen to get involved. The first results in spiritual stagnation. So does the second. Let us do, and be, the change the Church needs. Let us love the Truth (Jesus) more than religion. But let us never become people who expect that it's other people's task to do that for us. Out of a passion for God flows a passion for His people and his Church...You can't love God and dismiss his Church and His people. Let's not fool ourselves, friends...This is a critical truth to embrace...Let's embrace it together.

Listen to me...I'm an expert!

There’s an epidemic sweeping the nation, people. And no, I’m not talking about Justin Bieber (but as a friend of mine once said “You can make fun of Justin all you want, but dang, that girl can sing.” :) I’m talking about becoming more and more a culture of “experts”. You see it all the time on TV, of course. Watching two of the major news stories of the past year (the Oil Spill in the Gulf and the trapped Chilean miners) illustrated this so well. In situations like those, there's always someone invited to share their perspective as an expert on the matter, so we saw experts on marine wildlife, fishing, disaster cleanup, geology, and anything else that might possibly pertain to the situation. And I learn a great deal by watching things like that...First of all, that someone can actually qualify as an expert in “subterranean captive extraction.” But mostly, I learn how much I don’t know. And it’s good to know that there are people all over the place who have spent years studying, debating, and learning about their particular areas of passion, so that when when push comes to shove, someone’s already done a bunch of the mental legwork. I’m not your guy when it comes to disaster cleanup... Turn to me in an oil spill, and all I can think about is the price of shrimp going up. But thank God there are people who have actually applied themselves to disaster management, so that nobody ever needs to rely on people like me. In that sense, experts are great, and necessary.


It’s not the legitimate culture of expertise that I’m addressing here, though. It’s our human tendency to become “instant experts” on things without putting the work in. We see this all the time during election season, for example. People have strong opinions about candidates, topics, and bills, but in a great many cases, don’t have the necessary foundation to conclude the things they do. What usually ends up being the case is this: People start with a gut feeling about what they like or don’t like (usually developed over years of their own personal experience), and end up drawn to candidates and positions that reflect that perspective. Is it wrong to do this? Not at all! It’s human, and unavoidable. The problem comes when we begin to play the game (and often don’t know we’re playing it) of considering ourselves experts in that topic. We may not verbally claim to be, but we often act as though our decisions are based on objective study and empirical evidence, when in fact that’s not usually the case at all. We think nothing of making sweeping claims that a certain economist or political scientist is flat-out wrong. I’m hugely guilty of this in my own life, though my actual schooling as it pertains to economics and political science is rudimentary at best. What I do have is an opinion and a stubborn streak. So I tend to be dismissive when I hear things that contradict my comfort zone, though the expert I’m dismissing has devoted their adult life to understanding that topic, and may well have some things to say that I would do well to consider.


Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that a degree in a given field is a golden ticket to being right no matter what you say. I am saying that we live in a culture that’s often far too easily dismissive of actually doing the work of knowledge acquisition, processing that knowledge in a environment that challenges the conclusions drawn, and above all, of learning from others in humility, whether we think they have something to offer us or not (and generally, of course, people have more to offer us than we give them credit for. Disagreeing with someone’s stance on a given topic is not the same thing as not having anything to learn from them.)
Sadly, I see this all too often in the Christian community (disclaimer: I’m talking about the Church as a whole. This isn’t a veiled way of talking about my own church community, although of course, we’re not immune). I’d like to be able to say that I see a dramatically higher percentage of people that interact with each other in humility,  eager to learn from each other. I can’t say that with a straight face, though. There are people who do reflect that humility, and I’m truly blessed to know a bunch of people that challenge me on this regularly. But I also see a big portion of the population that are  “instant experts” on the nature of the Church, theology, and everything related. Rather than being people who are committed to meeting together, learning from each other, and moving forward together, we often degenerate into people who are committed to pointing out why we shouldn’t be meeting with this group or that, why I can’t learn from this person or that, and breeding disorder instead of unity. And to be honest, and possibly a little too blunt, those who always know best what should done in the Church, or always “know for sure” on a given doctrinal issue, are usually the ones who don’t display productive behavior in the Christian community. They’d rather lament the way things are, than actually be the change they wish they could see. And usually they talk a great game, and are never short of breath when it comes to defending why and how they think what they do. The irony is that they’re usually quite dismissive of the person rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to do the gut-level work of God, because they’d rather be a color commentator than get on the field themselves. And by the way, there are many people who will read this and nod sagely, thinking that they’re the ones pitching in and it’s others that need to learn this. If you just thought that, or got offended in any way, chances are pretty good you need to step back and re-evaluate.


I have to confess that I’m not immune. I have observed situations for about a tenth of a second before I knew that I knew that x was wrong, and should be addressed in this particular way. I have held a position, theologically speaking, for years, because my favorite professor came from that background, and I never challenged that assertion like I should have. I have not always been a humble learner. I have been an instant expert. And the great irony for me is, now that I’ve been deeply immersed in the study of Scripture, Christian community, and the Church for the better part of my adult life, having had the incredible privilege of some of the wisest, best teachers on the planet, the biggest thing I've learned is how much I have to learn. And that’s no false humility...That’s the facts. I am convinced of this: That the Church (which is a God-breathed and designed community, not a construct of man) is at its most effective in reaching a broken world with the hope of Jesus when humility and teachability are its foundation. You don’t know it all. Neither do I. But let’s never forget that God has gifted some with teaching abilities, some with uncommon wisdom, some with greater discernment...And reading a few articles that back up what we already thought or having a strong desire for something to be a certain way will never replace a lifetime of learning humbly from the community that God has placed us in. Embrace that community...Embrace the opportunities that God gives you to learn from others. There’s absolutely nothing like it. What an amazing thought - That we could become experts in listening, being shaped, and humbly allowing God to mold us. Let’s do this...

Organized religion...And some famous authors...

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've updated this thing...Life has a way of reorganizing my calendar for me, so I've been nowhere close to being the master of my itinerary lately :) I wanted to jot down a few thoughts, though, about a topic I've been thinking a fair amount about, and has coincidentally also gotten some media attention. We just kicked off a new series at Element called The Lowdown...The idea is that there are a bunch of basic questions people have about God and the Church, and the Church needs to be a driving force in dealing with them honestly. This past Sunday, we opened with the age-old "What if I don't buy into organized religion? Can't I just do the spiritual journey thing on my own? Why do I need the Church?" And I, for one, think it's a great question...Why, indeed?

Now, there are a bunch of things that come to mind here, but one of the biggest contributing factors to this question is this - the Church has issues. No surprise there, right? I mean, the church is full of people, and the people have issues; therefore, the Church has issues. Not really rocket science, is it? This past Sunday I talked a bit about a guy named Christopher Hitchens and a woman named Anne Rice. Well-known authors both...One a respected journalist and the other a writer of fiction. Both intelligent people, and for a variety of reasons I've enjoyed and learned from both of them in different ways. The reason they came up this past week, though, is precisely because of the fact that Church has issues. Hitchens is well known for his atheism, and has spoken at length, and written a great deal on why He's doesn't buy into the God thing. Rice considers herself a Christian, but recently made the announcement that she's leaving the Church - not denying Christ, but leaving the people that claim Christ. 

There a number of reasons Hitchens doesn't believe in God, but one of them is a longstanding mistrust of the way the Church has handled itself in interpersonal ways. For him, the fact that Christians (and followers of other religions as well) sometimes display hypocrisy, arrogance, employ coercive tactics, etc., means that these people don't really have anything to offer that's different from what he sees elsewhere. Thus, God Himself has nothing to offer. I realize I'm reducing his arguments down to a fraction of what he has spent years elaborating on, but you get the point, and I don't think Hitchens would argue that I'm misrepresenting him. For Rice, she came to follow God after a long journey that also included embracing atheism, and now 12 years later, is dismissing the church as well. Interesting that two people with very different conclusions on the existence of God conclude the same thing about the community of God. 

But here's the problem I have. Ask anyone you know about the Church, and whether believer or not, pretty darn-near everyone will assent to a slew of problems in the Church. The bottom line is that the Church is full of people, and people can't seem to get their act together, and we all know it. 

But here’s where they make a critical mistake, and where so many of us do when we write off the Church. Since we are all, every last one of us, sinners (meaning that every last one of makes mistakes and often operates in a way that’s not what God says is the way He created us to live), does it make any sense for that to suddenly change when we get together as the Church? If we’re all prone to sin, does putting a bunch of people who are prone to sin together in the same community, magically remove all potential for human stupidity? Of course it doesn’t. But the problem here is that for so many of us, it freaks us out when we see the human side of people in the church. Somewhere in the the thought process, we think about God's claims of changed lives, realize that's not very evident in a great many people, and throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. 

I  hear people say quite often that they've always wanted the church to be more real and more accessible. They say that they've had enough of the shiny veneer, of the idea that you can get all too often in the Church that following God means that life is easy and perfect. The problem is, though, that many of them write off the church as not practicing what it preaches when it is real. The fact is, when we commit to dealing honestly with each other, warts and all, and when we make the statement that we're all screwed-up but God loves us anyway, then people are  attracted by that message. And so they come, and become a part of the community, and then they screw up. And by "They", I mean "all of us".  And when the screw-up happens,  we throw the hypocrite tag around and and in some cases, go so far as to write the church off, as though God somehow promised that a community of people would somehow never act like humans. Someone treats someone badly in the church, and we sadly shake our heads and write off the church. Someone doesn’t perform a church task well or with integrity, and we write the church off. The church doesn’t look or behave exactly how we want it to (as though anything in life does), and we write the church off. And we think we can make the statement that I’m all about God, I just don’t like the people who claim to follow him, so I’m not gonna be around them. 

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?  1 John 4:20

[Anyone who] does not love other believers does not belong to God. 1 John 3:10

If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 1 John 2:4
 

And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. 1 John 4:21
 

Well, hang on, we say...I don’t hate my brothers and sisters... I just don’t want to be around them, extend them any grace, or be patient with them when they screw up. But that's a problem. Because God loves us anyway, despite our stupidity. Why do we think our  definition of love should be different than that? And here’s where Hitchens and Rice and probably each of us at some point or another just flat-out get this wrong: We’re defining God by the community, rather than the other way around. God is an amazing, perfect God, working through and redeeming imperfect human beings. And to be brutally honest,  we're being pretty darn arrogant when we say that other people aren’t representing God well enough for my standards. Because I guarantee that those standards are situationally different for ourselves. I'll sign off with this...

But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.  1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin. 1 John 1:7 (Message)

In other words, it’s not just a good idea. It’s not whether or not it happens to fit my comfort zone of what I like in other people. It's not a verse for pastors to pad their sermons with...And it’s certainly not a way for you and I to lay out our own requirements for the kind of community that meets our own flawless standards. As sinful people, we don't get to draw that line. God smashed the line, and loves us anyway. And God says, if you love me, then you love my people, and you be with them...

“If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?” - A.W. Tozer

I love this quote. I like the way Tozer thinks, anyway, but this quote in particular strikes a chord deep inside me. Tozer's reflecting on the idea that God gives us the tools, gives us the ability, to do the things He asks us to do. The problem for many of us is that we don't recognize that He's done so, and so we continue to ask God for clarity on something He's already made crystal clear.  This is particularly true, I think, when it comes to the whole process of figuring out what God wants us to spend our time doing, whether right now or in the future. Jon Acuff brought this up in his book "Stuff Christians Like", which I highly recommend :) In it, he talks about someone being asked to stick around for a few minutes after a church service and help stack chairs. The person being asked then responds with "I'll pray about it." Pretty spiritual response, isn't it? I mean, it's hard to argue with. Who could take issue with someone wanting to submit everything they do to God in prayer? The problem is, as Acuff points out, it's just stacking chairs, and someone needs your help. Do we really think Jesus is going to say no? Can you picture Him saying "Sorry, pal, I know this person needs your help, and I know this would just take a few minutes, but I really think you'd be better off doing something else. The future of your relationship with God depends on this; why don't you go dig into something a little more obviously spiritual, and let this guy fend for himself? He probably didn't plan ahead enough, anyway." Or "That's not your spiritual gift...Your gift is something entirely different, so I think your time is better spent doing that. I've shaped someone else specifically to stack chairs - Let them do it." 

     Kind of ridiculous, isn't it? Yet, as Tozer points out, there are times when the choice is obvious, and yet we allow ourselves to fall prey to this very thing. I think I'm safe in saying that when someone truly needs your help, you're not being disobedient to God by lending a hand. On the contrary, the book of Philippians makes the statement that we're to consider others more important than ourselves. In Tozer terms, the watch says it's time to pitch in and make a difference for someone by investing in them - It's entirely too easy to "over-spiritualize" this, and let opportunity after opportunity fly by to translate love into action, while we pursue whether or not God wants us to do this. I'm certainly not saying we shouldn't commit major decisions to God in prayer; not at all. But we do know that we're called to love, and that God doesn't call us to be all about ourselves. In fact, He specifically calls us to NOT be all about ourselves. Who needs your help right now? When what you want collides with what someone in your life needs, what wins? Uncomfortable though this may to hear (and it's certainly  a sobering thought for me, given how much I like NOT having to sacrifice), God's direction for my life and yours is not at odds with serving the people around us. That IS God's direction for us. I pray that we (and certainly I) understand this more and more, and that more importantly, understanding translates into action. I think that just might change the world.

Aerosmith, Plumbers, and the Pope...

Ever had something stuck in your head for what feels like absolutely FOREVER? I distinctly remember a two-week span when I was in high school when I had the Aerosmith song "Dude Looks Like A Lady" playing on repeat in my brain. I'm not sure what that particular song says about me that my brain latched onto to it with both hands, but it was a miserable fourteen days, I can tell you. No matter what else I listened to or did, that song was rattling along as the soundtrack to my miserable existence, until one day it was just gone. Who knows what it was replaced by...One of the many constructive things seventeen-year-old guys think about.

But I'm going through something similar right now, and I have been for the past couple of months. Fortunately, it's a concept, not a song. Two straight months of ANY song, let alone Aerosmith, would doubtless have me in a straightjacket...But the concept is this (and if you've been around me over the past couple of months, you've probably had to hear about it. For that, I'm sorry. I'm not very good at not talking to everyone within earshot about what I'm currently thinking...): How do we bring the incredible reality of God into the ordinary, the mundane, the everyday world? In other words, how do we change our perspective, so that we don't see the human life we have to deal with and the God life we want to deal with, as mutually exclusive? A few weeks after this started to occupy  much of my thought process, I was given a book called The Insider, written by Jim Petersen and Mike Shamy. Coincidentally, it's subtitled "bringing the kingdom of God into your everyday world." In it, they point to the beginning of what Paul writes in the book of Ephesians:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. Ephesians 1:3-10 (NLT)

They follow up this passage with this thought: "This paragraph is filled with vital information. God has purposes. He has a plan and right now He is in the midst of working it out. This is not an emergency rescue operation that God is performing, a sort of "Plan B" after things went wrong. This plan was in place before God created anything at all! We also learn that at the center of this plan is the creation of a people, and that the cost of getting them would be the blood of His Son. In summary, this passage tells us that life has to do with a people and a cross."
 
To be it slightly differently, the God parts of life aren't hanging around somewhere, high above the human moments, waiting for just the right moments to be seen. The God moments are right smack in the middle of the human moments. The famous Jewish Theologian, Martin Buber, puts it this way:
"The critical religious experiences of man do not take place in a sphere in which creative energy operates without contradiction, but in a sphere in which evil and good, despair and hope, the power of rebirth, dwell side by side. The divine force which man actually encounters in life does not hover above the demonic, but penetrates it."
 
The work of God is done through His people, with all of the baggage that people represent. The work of God is not intended to be done through only a certain kind of person, who dots the i's correctly and warms the church pew the right way. Your every interaction, my every activity, whether as plumber, pastor, or painter, has the tremendous potential to advance God's cause, to be indifferent to it, or to actively lead people away from it. And I might add, to be indifferent to it long enough IS to actively lead people away from it.
 
It's really about recognizing that every place we find ourselves is ripe for an honest telling of the God story. Not necessarily the plan of salvation, and not even necessarily by speaking. By honestly being who God has created us to be be, infusing all of life's vital work with the essence of God. To be ready, as 1 Peter says, to give an answer to those who ask. To be just as ready to listen instead of talk, do instead of demanding to be served, treating people around us like they really do matter to God Himself. In this way, every last one of us becomes an artist in the whole painting of life. We don't have to wish we had a part to play, or a gift to use. You have, and you do. God is in the mundane, and he uses the ordinary. As Benedict XVI said so eloquently upon taking the office of Pope: "[I am] a simple, humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord. The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with insufficient instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. In the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help, let us move forward."

There, now, if a Protestant, a Jew, and a Catholic can all agree on something, maybe it's worth thinking about :) Let's do it...
Peace to you all...

Hope, Miley Cyrus, and infected wounds...

As we've been going through this series at Element called "Anatomy of a Life With God", I've been reminded every week as I've been preparing for Sunday about a basic truth in my life, which is this: Every morning when the alarm clock shatters my deep sleep and pries me away from my dream (which was a strange little surrealist number last night about searching for my contact lenses in a strange house...I don't even wear contacts. Weird. A psychologist would have a field day with me), I feel like I have hope. For real. There's something about facing the day that feels somehow limitless, like I can see a whole bunch of possibilities, an incredible variety of ways my day could go. Even when the day's schedule is packed, and there's not much room to be flexible, it still feels to me like my day is wide open to see what God can do with it. I know, it sounds all "motivational-speaker-ish" to say something like that, but I really feel like it's true. That's become an aspect of my own Life With God. I really do feel an almost intense feeling of excitement when I think about my day. Of course, this isn't always true, but it's true quite often, and the difference is, it rarely used to be true at all.

                                                                                                                                                For quite a while in my life, If I had something written on the calendar for some point in the future, such as a night out with friends on Friday, or a Miley Cyrus concert next Tuesday (Just kidding about the Miley Cyrus part. She wasn't around during this time in my life. Then, it was Hanson. Remember "Mmmbop"? Of course you do.), then I had something to be stoked about. But the daily grind was pretty much just that, a grind. Somewhat  unpleasant...Mostly something to be endured...And I used to look at people who were happy more often than not with some degree of suspicion. What are you so cheerful about? Don't you realize that reality's no laughing matter? Even this idea of joy, this notion that God can change my outlook seemed weird...Almost as though I had to pretend that life wasn't often grim, bury my fingers in my ears, and chant repeatedly, à la Bob Wiley: "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful..."

                                                                                                                                                But something changed for me several years ago, in a kind of unlikely way, and though it didn't happen overnight, my perspective on my day changed, and with it, my perspective on God. I worked for a while in a Research and Development lab for a company that came up with innovative ways to treat hard-to-heal wounds. As you can imagine, many of the case studies we did were done with patients who were facing difficult times. Now, one issue you have to contend with in dealing with an open wound that won't heal is the issue of moisture management. I don't mean to be gross here, but a wound heals best when it has a certain amount of moisture present. Too dry, and it won't heal. Too moist, and it's prone to infection, among other issues. I remember one patient in particular - She had tried many different things with very little success, and was extremely depressed. Her outlook was essentially that that her day held no more hope than the previous, because she felt like she had tried everything, and the wound still kept getting infected. Until one of our team started treating her wound differently, and brought her infection issue under control. Within a couple of days, the infection was gone, and the wound started showing healthy tissue. And though it took time, eventually the wound healed completely. I remember being told about this case and thinking, "What an incredible relief it must be to know that you're finally on the right path, physically speaking. That can't help but affect your outlook on life. You'd finally feel like you had hope." And as I thought that through, more and more, I started finally adding up the numbers in my own life. I felt like I knew God and had a relationship with Him. And if that was true, and God is who He claims to be, then I had the hope that I was on the right path. And if I was on the right path in the area in which I was struggling the most, then shouldn't that give me some hope for my daily life? Why so bitter about life all the time? The problem was that I was viewing my relationship with God as an event on the calendar in the future, so life was, at best, to be endured until then. I had to actually choose to let Him affect my outlook on life.

Psalm 34:4 (NLT) says this:

"I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears."

I believe that's true in my life. But I also believe that I had to let Him free me...I run into people all the time who can tell me everything there is to know about the nature of God, and yet live, essentially, without hope. I know what that's like. My prayer for us all is from Romans 15:13 (NLT): "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

And just as we're looking at the fingerprint of God on these people throughout the Bible in our "Anatomy" series, I would dearly love for people to be able to look at our lives for the same kind of thing. That our lives would be evidence of a living God - moving, breathing, and changing lives. Giving hope where there once was none. I don't know much, but I do know this, and I write this as one who's been changed...