Faith Venture

I have an electric vehicle. I must plug it into a power source to maintain a charged battery.

Some Christians use church in that manner. They plug into a place weekly or randomly in order to get charged up by fast-paced rock music followed by a polished motivational speaker.

Sometimes that reminds me of a story told by a comedian about being on a college football team. They were behind at half-time. The coach gave a rousing talk to get them fired up to go out and win the game. At the height of emotion as they headed to the door to leave the locker room and head to the field, the door was jammed.

All fired up, and nowhere to go.

I charge the car so that I can go somewhere useful.

Someone at the fitness center told me about where they attend church. It’s a small, country place. But they have community. Someone has their back; they have someone’s back. They have lunch together. They perform acts of service together.

They get charged through gathering. They go out to do something.

As one of my bosses used to say, “It’s a beautiful thing.”

As a bonus, I’m passing along the website of an author/singer/songwriter I just heard about last week—Amanda Herd Opelt. She writes from the heart.

When someone dies, we usually want to know the “cause of death.” Especially if we are addicted to TV detective mystery shows, cause of death is crucial to the investigation.

This may be an indelicate inquiry, but if someone were looking at your life, would they need to inquire into a “cause of life?”

How many people seem to be sleep-walking through life! No interests, no service, not much in the way of relationships. 

Intelligence is not a factor. I’ve known fascinating people with either lower IQ or biological emotional problems who pursue interests with the ability to talk through them to anyone who cares to relate.

On the other hand, some highly intelligent people just seem lost in the world.

Once again, how about you (and me)?

Perhaps we are involved in important work.

Perhaps we need to climb out of the rut we’ve built. It can start with small acts of service to others. Accompanied with walks in nature. Movement helps. Paying attention to others adds crucial herbal flavoring to life.

We began entry level soccer referee classes with the joke, unfortunately true, that you will be expected to be perfect your first time on the pitch…and then improve.

What are some other examples?

Your company gets a new CEO.

You begin to study New Testament Greek.

Your church gets a new pastor.

You teach a class for the first time.

You get married.

You have kids. (Both the kids and you as parent)

You begin a meditation practice.

You take up golf.

You start a business.

You write your first book.

Or, maybe we recognize we and others are not perfect, just trying to get better every day.

We recently finished a 15-day cruise to Australia and New Zealand. There were about 900 passengers with about 430 crew. We went ashore to visit 8 or 9 cities. We visited two Māori villages participating in an ancient ritual. Saw seals and blue penguins along the coast of New Zealand.

The amazing realization that came to us—1,000 plus personalities and not one jerk. Everywhere and in all the comings and goings people were respectful to each other and the places we visited.

Life need not replicate the hatred, angst, fear, ego found on social media. Indeed, the richer and more arrogant the owners of Meta (Facebook, et. al.) and Xitter become, the less likely I am to use them. After all, I am the product there. And we know what Wisdom literature teaches about ego and pride.

We can simply open our eyes and enjoy meeting and working with a variety of people each delightful in their own special way. We show respect, and others appreciate and reflect it.

I think that is following in the way Jesus treated people. It follows along with the Apostle Paul’s emphasis on mutual submission. We don’t study it to learn it intellectually. We study it in order to practice it.

Whining—constant commentary about things that cannot be changed to people who have no power to change it. It must solve some inner inadequacy. I don’t know. Most people avoid whiners.

Then there is complaining. It can be different.

Seth Godin thinks the best way to complain is to make things better. “Complaining can be a form of intimacy. It’s a useful way to explain our behavior. And best of all, it gives us a way to communicate as we work to create community action. The best sort of complaint requires generosity and courage.”

Sometimes people who complain are those who notice how something could be better. With a small group of change makers, complaining could provide an impetus to make the change that matters.

Godin continues, “Whining is empty commentary where no action is possible, about something we already understand. We all know it’s raining. Let’s walk.”

Yes, let’s walk.