What we do...

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 
--1 Peter 2:15

What we say matters. What we do matters even more. 

How can a mind be changed? How can a heart be won? How can a culture be healed?

Right words are important. Right ideas expressing truth, spoken with right attitudes, are vital. But without right action, words fail.

Doing good pleases God. Doing good builds our character. Doing good brings light into darkness. And a by-product: doing good silences ugliness.

There is enough ugliness in our world. There is too little good. Allow me to rephrase, there is overwhelming good. But there must be more doing good. That is you... that is me... today.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
-- Micah 6:8

God, you made me good in Christ, now help me to have the guts to do good.

For now...
D

But I Still Haven't Found...

We are all searching.

For something. 

It's been a little over a week since my last sunset (power) walk by the lake. Work - and a little play - travel has kept me on the move. 

I noticed two things this hot summer evening by the lake. One, the elderly couple I wrote about By the lake...wasn't there tonight; she with the red bandanna scarf in her gray hair and he sitting quietly in the passenger seat. I was a little disappointed not seeing them. The 100 degree day cast a hazy hue to the sleeping sun. 

The second thing I noticed had to do with a massive cultural phenomenon only about a week or so old. Dozens of people wondered about - not running, power-walking, riding or strolling - but purposefully wondering... chasing Pokemons (Pokemen?). 

If I have one strength it is a gift for noticing. And having dodged several face-down-to-phone Pokeman would-be killers in the path, I began to notice many different searches taking place. Some searched for the mythical beasts. Some searched for perfect sunset pictures. Many sought a calorie burn. A few sought the perfect wind/wave combination to catch kite-surfing air. And others some time in the presence of a special someone. 

This is my point: Everyone is searching for something. 

Bono crooned, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." (If you don't get the U2 reference, I will pray for your non-80's soul.) In many ways I can relate to his sentiment. Two things strike me that I will leave you with in this short post: 1) I have to believe that joy is not so much found in the finding. There must be joy in the pursuit. And 2) Our pursuits must be worth pursuing. How sad it would be to find that for which we are searching only to discover it to be unworthy. 

Search... pursue... good.

For now...

D

Red, Yellow, Black and White...

As you have, I've read many opinions, responses and rants on the recent tragic events in our country. The following is simply an observation from church this morning... nothing more (or less). 

This morning I was moved during worship. I often fight back tears during the music at church nowadays. I don't know if I'm just getting soft, or if it has more to do with the journey of life. Like many of you, my path has not been the expected one.

This morning, as the lights were down and during a particularly moving worship lyric I looked ahead a few rows and across the aisle. Facing me (actually not me, but my direction) was a woman signing the words to the song. Facing her was a large man singing/signing. I was struck. His worship was a beautiful thing. And I'm sure angels were moved... and the Father smiled.

At that moment, the man was not a Deaf-American or Hearing-impaired American; there was only one label that described him in the moment. He was a child of God. A brother. A worshiper singing to his King.

Like I said, just an observation. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Oh, and when the lights came up later I noticed this worshiper, this child of God, happened to have a skin color unlike my own.

It changed nothing. As a matter of fact, in the light of worship, I couldn't tell.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, 

there is no male and female, for 

you are all one in Christ Jesus.

-- Galatians 3:28

For now...
D

A Hope with Scars... (Trials... just one more)

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.  
-- 1 Peter 1:6, NLT

Perseverance has a point. Trials have purpose. In a word, it is hope. And hope is an incredibly powerful thing.

Paul writes:
We rejoice in hope... not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does put us to shame (does not disappoint, NASB)...
-- Romans 5:2-5

Rejoicing (in hope) is easy when it is easy. But there is a depth of hope that comes through fire. It is an unshakable hope. Hope with muscles. Hope with scars.

Persevering through trials deepens and refines character. Who we truly are - and are becoming - is both forged and revealed in the furnace of difficulty. And the hope that is easy in the easy times becomes an experienced commodity. It becomes a part of who we are. It IS who we are.

The hope of (and in) God NEVER DISAPPOINTS!

God, I will hope in you.

For now...
D

The Joy of Trials

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.  
-- 1 Peter 1:6, NLT

We tend to think of enduring as not only a means, but an end. It often seems the best we can muster. But this is not enough. Surviving and thriving are vastly different things.

Peter writes that we are to be truly glad because, there is wonderful joy ahead. Jesus' brother James put it this way, Consider it pure joy... when you face various trials (James 1:2).

There is art and faith necessary to thrive even in the midst of trials. Required is a steely-eyed willingness to acknowledge the reality of the giant standing before us; mixed with a childlike - almost silly - belief that the giant will fall.

It would be inauthentic and possibly damaging to dismiss our trial. It is real. But just as real, realer if you will allow me, is the joy beyond. And the One who stands behind the giant of our trial is gianter.

We must learn to look to the far side. Christ himself endured the trial of the cross by focusing on the joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2).

And here is the key: the joy beyond, is our joy in the midst. If I were preaching, I'd pause, then slowly enunciate those words again. The God who stands behind the giant also stands beside us as we face the giant. His shadow overshadows every giant. (Yep, I'd repeat that one too.) And, in his presence is the fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). So as we face the trial, we recognize the joy on the other side and we realize (as in experience) the joy of his presence even in the fog of trial.

I saw the movie Everest the other day. It is the story of the catastrophe that surrounded the May 1996 expedition attempting to summit the highest pinnacle on the planet. There are many analogies and lessons that I will save for later. It is one statement made by Doug Hansen that impacted me. "Suffer a few more days, and for the rest of your life you'll be the guy who got to the top of Everest."

Endure because you must. Survive because you can. But thrive because because there is a joy... a joy on the far side... a joy that is also here, now.

God, as Nehemiah said, "The joy of the Lord is (will be) my strength."

For now...
D

Trials

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.  
-- 1 Peter 1:6, NLT

It has been a bit since I last wrote. A little funny, the topic I was working on was that of trials.

We all have trials. They are inevitable. I've heard preachers quip (and have been guilty of such myself), "You are either in the storm, have just come out of the storm, or are about to enter the storm."

For many of you, like me, it's been a little stormy. But in the immortal words of Donna Summer (and a loose transliteration of the Apostles Peter and Paul), I will survive! And so will you.

To do so, we need the imminent presence of the Holy Spirit, the support of the community of faith, and some old fashioned guts.

At times we cannot move forward. We feel like we cannot advance. Paul writes, ...having done everything to stand... stand firm... (Ephesians 6:13-14).

So stand.

The words simply haven't come the last week or so. But words will return.

More to come on trials.

Since I've already broken all reverence with a disco quote, I'll end with an 80's Elton John lyric: I'm still standing!

For now...
D

Ramblings... Ugliness, Orlando and the Overwhelming Power of Beauty

Ours is a beautiful world. And it is an ugly one. Often the beauty is demonstrated in the aftermath of tragedy. The ugliness: the tragedy itself; especially when man-made.

We always wonder in the face of ugliness. We speculate and offer half-hope reasons and responses. We attempt to make meaning of it, but the dots cannot be connected.

This relationship between beauty and ugliness mirrors our hearts. Within each of us there is beauty. And there is ugliness. To put it in biblical terms; there is darkness, and there is light.

Ugliness is not creation. It is distortion. And ugly acts result from distorted attitudes, distorted views.

A distorted view of God.
Man-made tragedy is often perpetrated in the name of (a) god. I readily admit to a bias: I believe there is One God. And I believe this God has chosen to reveal himself in many ways; through creation, through scripture, in mankind, and ultimately and fully in Christ. To those who might say this is in some way narrow-minded, I simply challenge: do the work of honest investigation for yourself. If God is a God of truth and beauty, he can stand the scrutiny. But a word of caution: be ready to deal with the revelation. Light exposes darkness and beauty exposes ugliness. (I won't apologize, after all Ramblings is in the title of this post.)

Those who do damage in the name of God, at best misunderstand his nature. More likely, their distortion is due to a counterfeit version of God; a god of their own making.

The biblical God (and again, I admit my bias) is a God of love. I don't begin to understand every facet of his character, methods or means. But I trust his heart. After all, he demonstrated his passion through ultimate sacrifice.

In the aftermath of the Orlando tragedy I have heard both pronouncements of judgement and calls for tolerance. I cannot agree with the former, and find the latter to be a watered-down version of love. (Who would ever desire to be merely tolerated, when they could instead choose to be loved!?)

We live in a world of beauty and ugliness, light and darkness. And though I don't always understand the relationship, I do know the same God who calls me to stand on his truth, calls me to love unconditionally.

Ugliness is a distortion of beauty. And ugliness in the name of (a) god, is the result of a distorted view of God.

A distorted view of self
Each of us is the result of myriad relationships, experiences, pains and joys. These all come together to form our identity - the way we view ourselves. Scripture says we are fearfully and wonderfully made; that we are a special creation in God's image, in the midst of the beauty of his spectacular creation.

Our (self-)identity can however, become distorted. Sometimes we forget there is a God, or we replace him with a counterfeit. At other times we personally take on the role of god. Oblivious self-importance causes us to think too highly of ourselves. Or the opposite - extreme self-deprecation forces us to lose sight of our uniqueness.

Each of these results is a distorted self-view and gives birth to ugliness.

A distorted view of others
It could probably go unsaid; with a distorted view of God and ourselves, there is little hope of viewing those around us in a healthy way. Long ago I read in a counseling book the following line: Damaged people damage people. We've seen this axiom played out; whether it be a parent on the soccer sideline, a priest in a church, a politician in the seat of power, or a man holding a weapon with murderous intent.

Any and every ugly act becomes possible when we lose sight of the beauty and person-hood of our neighbor(s). Ugliness is almost always the natural outcome when a person or people are devalued.

Jesus summarized the key to living a life of beauty with the statement: Love God and love others as you love yourself. Distortions removed. Ugliness washed away. Beauty wins out. Light overcomes the darkness.

In summary, the tragedy of Orlando is the result of ugliness to the extreme. The sad reality is there will be another Orlando; another Oklahoma City, 911 or Waco. There will be another because ugliness exists.

However - and this is the huge however - beauty ultimately wins! I believe that from my core. I believe it because the nature of God is beauty without ugliness. He is love without distortion. He is light that overwhelms the darkest darkness.

Do I understand tragedy? No. But I trust. And that is beautiful in itself.

For now...
D