What is Your Default? Most of us have a comfort zone, that place where our life feels safe, in balance, in control. This is the place where we come to rest and feel most normal. Even in physics a comfort zone of sorts is referred to; as Newton observed, an object at rest stays at rest. We can be like that. We all have our go to’s. I like my spot on the couch; and I don’t like when I’m ready to kick back for the evening and someone is sitting there! In life we have our go to’s as well. I’m talking about the things that go beyond a favorite pair of slippers or the meal we always order at our favorite restaurant. I’m speaking about the defaults we tend to in our life when we are faced with things like speaking in front of people, going on that missions trip, pursuing an education at night school, or making that financial investment. These are the things that require us to move out of what is comfortable to us and move into what we see as risk. Interestingly, Newton’s first la...
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Unexpected I just returned from a trip to Haiti where I led a team of short term missionaries on a one week missions trip to one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. I had my ideas and plans of how this trip would play out, but I held on to them loosely, knowing God would do the unexpected. Sometimes the hardest thing for us can be to go off script; to deviate from our best laid plans. In Haiti it is not uncommon for plans to fall through and things to change. But God moves powerfully in the unexpected. I had strategies and formulated notions in place for what I was going to do in this country that shares an island with the Dominican Republic. And I was prepared accordingly. There is nothing wrong with being ready; with being a prepared person. But the investment we make in our readiness, in our preparation, must never take front seat to what God has planned behind the scenes. If our plans become more important than His moving and direction then we're ...
Ti gou Ti gou is a creole phrase that means “a little taste”. Like the expression, just a taste - I just want a little taste. " Just give me something to hold me over. I just want to whet my appetite." I have dog. Actually, it’s my wife’s dog, I pay for his food. His name is Buddy. Typical, boring, is that all you could come up with? name. My wife and I have a hard time coming up with names. Maybe it’s the commitment of it all. It’s not like you get a dog or have kids every week. Our daughter Bethy came home without a name. For like a week, she was baby girl Furcinitti. Which is really not such a bad name. “Hey, Baby-Girl, you want a ti gou?” Anyways, sometimes our dog won’t eat for a long time. His food will just sit there. We try to encourage him, and tell him to eat, but he acts rather disinterested in his full bowl sitting on the floor near his water. Sometimes, though, I’ve found, if I want him to eat, all I have to do is give him a taste of somet...
My Mess I needed a haircut. My mane was getting out of control. Remember the patient in the children’s game Operation? That’s what my hair was looking like. So, at the advice of one of my daughters, before church started, I donned a hat to cover the self-willed strands. I think I remember this being inappropriate in some circles, but, my hair was probably more offensive in its current state than my hat. And I actually received compliments on the hat, which was a gift from another one of my daughters. After service, a sweet elderly lady in our church overheard me saying what a mess my hair was and how I needed this hat to cover up the mess. Her comment was, “Don’t say that!” How sweet. I explained to her that my hair was quite disheveled underneath the neat gray hat, and that I needed to cover up the mess. Her response, “Oh … well, you’re still my mess.” I smiled at her kindness and walked away. But her comment lingered in my mind. And in my heart. You may be a mess, but yo...
Content Contentment is a lifestyle. A lifestyle, I would say, that is not pervasive in our current western culture. After all, one very familiar dictate which has been handed down to us is, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Our inalienable rights. I like to be happy. But I’d much rather be content. Contentment is a gift from God. Those who spend their lives pursuing their own happiness will never arrive at the peaceful place called content. What you strive to attain, you strive to keep. What you strive to attain is never enough. Really. The life ruled by the mentality that happiness comes from something you don’t have is insidious, filled with emptiness, and rewarded with grasps at fleeting satisfaction. And this lifestyle is dangerous, for it creates in us an increasing hunger. And for those of us who are weak-willed, that means danger. In the written account (called the book of Acts) of the early Christian church we see the recounting of a man who I ...
Patterns You get what you pay for. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Nothing in life is free. There are only two things certain in this life, death and taxes. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Can't complain. No one would listen anyway. How many of these memorable quotes have you heard? How many have come out of your mouth? How many have you actually believed? Paul, an apostle of the Christian faith wrote these words of caution in a letter to the church that existed in first century Rome, "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world ..." He was speaking to a world view, a way of thinking; an adopted outlook on life. The quotes above make sense; they seem to have some truth to them, an element of sensibility. And they may carry some truth, but they certainly carry much more. Hidden behind their surface meaning exists a philosophy, an attitude, a pattern of thought. Under the covers you'll find words that, in contrast to provi...
One of Those Days ... Have you ever had one of those days? Maybe that day has turned into a week, and maybe that week has turned into a month. Or maybe your "one of those days" has turned out to be one of those years. Life is good at handing out disappointments and broken dreams. Our expectations are often easily let down. People fail. We fail. Some of us have hearts that take on offense more easily than others. We all have different personalities. But even the greatest leader among us, the hero of heroes, can fall prey to discouragement. Even kings fall to it. As people, we may hold a position, but our positions can hold us and put us in the most difficult of situations. Look at king David. While out fighting battles with his men, David's home base at Ziklag was under attack. The wives and children of his army were taken away, leaving David and his men to return to an empty, burned out city. They were outraged. And they were outraged at David, their leader. There ...