Faith Venture

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

May 13, 2024

You’ve got to make the morning last. (Apologies to Paul Simon from when he was feelin’ groovy)

My handwriting in cursive degenerates to a scrawl as I hasten to capture all the ideas tumbling through my mind.

Then I remember my engineering drawing classes where they taught “lettering.” Slow down. Form the letters. The idea train will slow down as if for entry to the station.

Sometimes I review notes being unable to read them. Not a good thing.

Slowing ourselves brings our awareness into the scene. We have time to think before writing or talking. We have time to notice the other. And only the other. Time to focus on the task. And only the task.

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Healthy Faith

May 10, 2024

I picked up these thoughts from Arthur C. Brooks, who wrote Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier with Oprah Winfrey. He is a devout Catholic and is a friend of the Dalai Lama. After his recent visit, he jotted some notes from their conversation. He says it better than I could.Try living these, not as a checklist but incorporated as a fundamental way of life. Maybe I’ll write these on a PostIt note and put it on my desk as a reminder when I begin my day.

Healthy faith builds on seven truths:

All people are our family;
Life demands gratitude;
Love repays love;
We are made for empathy;
Love is action, not a feeling;
That action is compassion.
Life’s purpose is to uplift and unite others.

Become a teacher of love. Your classroom is every interaction. Teach through action.

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Beware YouTubers

May 9, 2024

A woman broadcasts nutrition “information” on YouTube. She lifted part of a study that claims oatmeal is harmful to your health that mainstream media reported.

Many published research papers show the many benefits of eating oatmeal—it has fiber of which most Americans eat way too little; it appears to help regulate glucose; it helps decrease one type of cholesterol (I am a sample of one there).

We do that with theology, too, don’t we? You know who you are. You who lifted one verse from the Bible or other spiritual work and constructed a theology around it. The end of the earth, the role of women, the superiority of certain races.

Discernment—perceive, understand, and judge things correctly. Maybe it means reading an entire paragraph, or the entire passage, or letter, or book. After finding context and checking translations, perhaps we lay people can achieve a partial understanding of the breadth and depth of God.

So many learned and intelligent men have written lengthy systematic theologies beginning with the Bible. And they all differ. What hubris do you have thinking you can know it all?

Humility is the beginning of understanding.

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On the Treadmill of Expectations

May 8, 2024

I’ve been a tech geek for a long time. From having electronics components strewn around the house and working toward a Ham Radio license while in high school to building up my own computers in the 90s. Occasionally, I interview someone from a company introducing new software for manufacturing and pause to consider how far technology has come.

But for the most part, I acquire a new iPhone and instantly wish I had more functions rather than enjoying the advances. In my mind I keep raising the bar of expectations. Rather than admiring and enjoying the awe of the magic in my hand, I wish for more.

Our spiritual life can be like that. We ignore the things that God has put into our lives—the people, opportunities, smell of spring flowers, beauty of sunsets. We could pause just admiring the awe of miracles all around us rather than grumbling about some perceived slight.

Let us jump off the treadmill of more and enjoy what God has placed before us.

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Are You a Planner or a Doer?

May 7, 2024

Arnold Schwarzenegger forged a career from body builder to actor to “governator” of California. Preaching fitness for everyone has been a consistent concern throughout his life.

Writing this week in his daily newsletter Pump Club, he discusses how so many of us plan to do things but then never get around to actually doing.

In more than 50 years of my fitness crusade, I cannot count how many times I’ve heard people say they are planning on starting to train or planning on starting a diet. It is always a plan to start on Monday, or the first of the month, or next year. It is never a plan to start now. I see it in the comments of the Pump Club app, in the replies to our daily emails here, and I even hear it from people in the gym. Always planning. Everybody who plans has good intentions, but let’s be honest about what it really is. Planning means you’re not taking action. You’re choosing to avoid getting started. Doing takes effort. Choosing to work on yourself is hard. You know it will be uncomfortable. Changing the status quo is never easy. So you plan. You research. You spin your wheels until you say you wish you could be healthy. And then you start all over, planning and wishing. You wait and wait.

This sounds so familiar. The change you wish may be to lose weight. Or maybe start getting physically fit. Or maybe spiritually fit—I will start studying the Bible Monday or I will have a prayer and meditation session every early morning some day.

Back to Arnold:

I spoke to the annual convention of thoracic surgeons last month. When I sat down to talk to some of my cardiologist friends for coffee after my fireside chat, it was clear most people wait until the choice is made for them — or until it’s too late to make any choices at all.

Will it take a crisis of soul to divert us from the easy path to a life of intentional spiritual practices? Don’t wait for next Monday. Begin today. Right now.

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Time for a Change?

May 6, 2024

The Christian life, the spiritual life is all about change.

I was that sort of person. Now, I am becoming this sort of person. Maybe gradually or maybe suddenly. Maybe I learn a little every day. Maybe something is revealed to me a little at a time. Maybe an event happens opening my eyes to what I’ve been and what I could be.

A preacher used to turn to his right and motion a direction and then turn to his left and motion a direction. That’s repentance, he said, I was going that way, and now I’m going this way.

I’m writing this at 6am on a Monday morning. I have a busy week this week and will be meeting many people—both in person and over the Web.

What will I learn from these encounters? Will I see or hear something that nudges me a bit along the way? Something that opens my eyes just a little? Or a lot?

If I am open to God’s presence for another week, what will happen?

Posted in Growth, Intention | Leave a Comment »

Soul in the Game

May 3, 2024

How are you in the organizations or groups you serve?

Some people have nothing to lose in the game. They have no skin in the game.

Skin in the game would have been if Elon Musk had sat inside the Cybertruck when they shot at it to show off the bulletproof construction.

Soul in the game is when you care. Robert Pirisig writing his essay on quality in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance talked of the mechanic who cared about the quality of his work.

Do you root for something where you have nothing invested? Then what does the outcome really matter?

Are you invested in time or money you could lose? Then you could be hurt by the outcome. You have Skin in the Game.

How much do you really care about the outcome, the quality of service, the people involved? Now you have invested Soul in the Game.

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Whittling Down Jesus

May 2, 2024

Maybe it’s just me. When I was taught the stories and sayings of Jesus as a youth, I really believed that Jesus meant what he said. And I believed that as much as was within our power we should strive to do likewise.

Then I came across people calling themselves Christian who seemed to have such a smaller view of Jesus. Judging by words and actions, they seemed to have a smaller version of Jesus. It’s like they whittled him down to make an easier to understand, less demanding version. In the end, following Jesus became doing what we really wanted to do anyway.

We must cultivate the humility to step outside our own opinions and desires and learn from what Jesus actually said and did.

When he told us to love our neighbor (and gave the example of the “Good Samaritan”), and when he told us to pray for our enemies, we must set aside our prejudices and do exactly that.

When have you (or I) reached out beyond our generation or race or cultural state and helped someone different or prayed for someone outside our circle of comfort? Yes, you “liberal”, pray for the “white supremacist.” And you white supremacist pray for someone with a different color of skin. Pray for that outcast. Pray for the person possessing great wealth.

Jesus is big. Let’s treat him as such.

Posted in Attitude, Grace | 1 Comment »

Pride and Humility

May 1, 2024

I have been reading some ancient insights into pride and humility. As I was making some notes in the margins of the book, this thought came naturally. It derived from personal experience and from observation.

How often does our pride interfere with learning when we read the Bible?

Since we already know it all, do we read simply to reinforce our opinions?

Can we read with a mind open for God to speak new insights directly to us (think of yesterday’s post about praying with open hands)?

Can we read, and, instead of assuming we know what every word means, be puzzled over the meaning of a word? And take time to look it up? Discerning the nuances of translating from the Greek or Hebrew?

I often read with my smart phone handy stopping to look up a word. Often surprised at the word’s various meanings and derivatives. It’s easier than the old days of reading with a dictionary at hand.

Putting pride behind us with a dose of humility is a great warm up before study.

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With Open Hands

April 30, 2024

Andrew Huberman, a famous neuroscientist, described how making a fist sends a signal to the brain thence through the body to tense up and prepare for fight or flight. So, unclench your fists to begin to relax.

Which reminded me of Henri Nouwen’s marvelous little book With Open Hands.

People often are concerned with posture during meditation or prayer. Maybe they’ve seen photos of an old guru or a famous movie star sitting cross-legged (we call it lotus or half-lotus position in Yoga, not easy for everyone to get into) with hands resting on knees and the tips of thumb and second finger touching (called “completing the energy circuit”).

Forget all that. You can sit on a cushion on the floor or on a firm chair with an upright posture engaging strong abs. The important thing is what we learned from Huberman and Nouwen. Unclench your fists and open your hands. Now you will be in a more relaxed posture and a more inviting one. It signals the body and the mind that now I’m open to God. I am ready to receive God’s blessing or nudging or whatever the spirit feels I need for the day.

With open hands.

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