Faith Venture

You Never Know What You’ll Find When You Serve

July 24, 2017

Service is one of the spiritual disciplines.

Maybe it’s one that you struggle with. It seems to be in my nature to help. But sometimes it’s more formal–like agreeing to do something or be somewhere.

I live in a small county in the middle of western Ohio. While there is a lot of manufacturing (which is my expertise), agriculture dominates the local landscape. Since the middle of the 19th century, the county fair is the time when all the farmers and other agricultural-oriented people come together to have fun and show off some of the fruits of their labor. Cattle judging, hog judging, rabbit judging.

Our church has been the “face” of the fair for thousands of people every year as the gatekeepers/ticket sellers/greeters for as many years as I can remember. I think that I’ve been doing that for maybe 30 years.

You never know what you’ll see when you work the gate. Kids coming in with anticipation of the judging of their projects. Older kids trying to sneak in without paying. Watching tired children crying out of exhaustion at the end of a long day.

A storm blew through about an hour before my wife and I worked last night–the first night of the fair and we drew the 7-11 pm shift.

The storm lifted the canopy erected to protect the gate workers from sun and rain at this drive-in gate where mainly exhibitor come in with their large pickups and trailers filled with animals. When we arrived, the canopy was laying in a crumpled mass against the nearest building. We had nothing over us. Just standing in the middle of the drive with a table and two chairs.

No fewer than four people stopped and asked about the canopy offering to go back and bring us theirs. That Midwestern spirit of generosity and helpfulness was alive and well. As my wife said, “There are nice people in the world.”

On the other hand, there is sorrow at times. (And I’m confessing to a sin. If someone from the Fair Board is reading this, I’ll stop in and pay the $9 tomorrow morning when I work again.) I let a man in without paying.

It seems his 16-year-old daughter had run away from home, and he heard that she was at the fair with someone. He said he had alerted the police. He was obviously a distraught parent. I told him go ahead and good luck.

But, alas, later a deputy sheriff gave him a ride back to the gate. He told us that he didn’t find the child. The worst fear of a father. The next call might be from the sheriff’s office that they found a body in a rural ditch. Or the fear of her getting caught in the web of human trafficking.

So, we serve. We see kindness, generosity, anticipation, pride (when the judging goes well), some of the great work of our young people, and then stories of young people who have dropped off the track.
You never know what you’ll find. But you are there.

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For What Do We Search

July 21, 2017

Wisdom says, “Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor;

But evil comes to the one who searches for it.
Proverbs 11:27

I’m addicted to Masterpiece Mystery shows on PBS (originally on BBC). Just watched the series Grantchester. Supposedly a murder mystery series of stories, but the real story line delves into the screwed up relationships of the four main characters. You sit there, you watch it. You can see them coming to no good end.

At the end, one woman asks her man, “Just what are you searching for?”

That was the theme of the story. (Find it on Amazon Prime or Netflix or something and watch it. Worth the hour.)

We need to ask ourselves daily, what are we searching for?

Reminds me of a story from the poet Carl Sandburg. Seems a farmer was standing by a field contemplating the harvest when a stranger drove by. The stranger asked, “What sort of people live around here?”

“What sort were they where you are from?”

“They are a mean, lying, thieving sort.”

“Well, I guess you’ll find the people around here just like that.”

The farmer turned back to his field and a second stranger stopped to chat.

“What sort of people live around here?”

“What sort were they where you are from”

“Why, they are honest, hard working, helpful people.”

“Well, I guess you’ll find the people around here are just like that.”

Why do you think I carefully choose what news sources to read and then only check them a few times a day? I’m not seeking ways to get my negative emotions all fired up.

The people who puzzle me and for whom I pray are those who are seeking, but they don’t know for what they are seeking. They are just lost. Its seems worse to me to just drift through life always searching, never finding.

Every day I seek God. On the good days, I find him.

Posted in Attention, Disciplines | 6 Comments »

Who Was Your Teacher

July 20, 2017

I remembered reading somewhere that there was a question put to Jesus that was designed to bring out which of the two great Rabbis of the time he followed.

So I researched, of course. It’s what I do. Like the commercial on TV–like taking 15 minutes to save 15% on car insurance.

I found a Jewish rabbi who had become Christian. Interesting perspective. And I love getting my worldview expanded through these new people. Sort of like chatting with a stranger in the sauna this week only to discover he was from Uzbekistan. I don’t think I had ever met an Uzbek. He talked of taking the train as a child from Tashkent through Novosibirsk (in Siberia) up to northern Siberia. And sort of like going to Canada’s woods, “I got off the train and was attacked by hordes of mosquitoes.”

But I digress.

There were two famous rabbis in Jesus’ time. Hillel and Shammai. Galileans typically followed Hillel and Judeans Shammai. Every time save one Jesus answered questions as Hillel would have–although at times going further. Hillel, by the way, had a famous grandson also a famous rabbi. You may have heard Paul talk about him–Gamaliel.

I was corresponding with a journalist with a national news organization this week. Noticing his background, I told him that I had studied international politics under the first director of training and recruitment for the CIA as well as a colonel in Army Intelligence. Who you studied under is a validation of sorts.

I’ve had few live teachers of spiritual things and the Bible. The guy at university I spent as much time sparring with as learning from.

But I studied the early Church Fathers, the Desert Fathers, and particularly Augustine.

Some pastors have been good guides. But in my life, pastors come and pastors go.

Who was your influencer? Do you still follow their teachings? Or have you grown past your teacher? That happens, you know.

Don’t have one? Better find one. Soon.

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Strive to be a Person of Value

July 19, 2017

Strive not to be a successful person; Rather strive to be a person of value.

Do you realize we are now 19 days into the second half of the year?

Six months ago we were awash in Resolutions.

Where did those all go?

Unless you listened to me. For years I have advocated changing our focus from the famous specific goals to what sort of person I wish to become.

Rather than saying “I will lose 15 pounds this year”–which sounds specific but it isn’t, really–let’s just picture in our mind a person who is fit and toned. And then we change one habit that will move us toward our picture.

Or perhaps “I will become a person who is calm and at peace” and we develop habits–one at a time–that will move us in that direction. Perhaps meditating 5-10 minutes every morning. Or searching out a mentor.

Or perhaps “I will be a person of value”.

This is actually a by-product. We know that companies that value customers and employees become a company of value.

The same for us. The more we value others and serve others, the more we are valuable.

So how has our 2017 worked out so far? Stuff happens, right? But we have the last half of the year to change a habit or two and move toward the sort of person Jesus would love to call a disciple.

[This meditation was interrupted at 6:04 am by the ringing of my mobile phone. I don’t know who gave that guy in India the table of time zone differences, but it was off by a few hours. He wanted to confirm who I was so that I could receive a “free” magazine. That isn’t moving that company toward a company of value in my eyes!)

Posted in Disciplines, focus, Habits | Leave a Comment »

Christianity Is Not Found Useful

July 18, 2017

Young people do not find Christianity useful.

Scanning my Twitter feed and saw that tweet.

First thought–this sounds like a recycled news item that pops up every few years. Young people have been abandoning the church for generations.

But the writer didn’t say church, he said Christianity.

Is that the same thing?

The term useful is intriguing.

Maybe in terms of a church… It’s perhaps a place to meet people and be with people.

But maybe at 20 you’re thinking that those are not the type of people I’d like to meet. Perhaps not cute, or fun, or smart? Maybe not useful for meeting friends and a future spouse?

Maybe at 30, I’m thinking about contacts for getting ahead in business or my profession? Maybe not useful for that?

Maybe they are so young that they have not experienced a spiritual crisis, yet. Or they haven’t recognized that they are searching for something undefined.

Or maybe, they have. And they can’t find a church more interested in people than they are in politics.

Not being there on that personal level when a person is seeking spiritually or in spiritual need (which in reality we all are) is a failure of the church far too often.

Church as a social place or political place, well, that’s bound to turn people off.

Church as the embodiment of Christianity–now that’s useful. Useful because it helps people.

A half-hour ago, I had only the idea with no idea where it would lead. Then, much like how Jesus would take a physical concept and move it into a spiritual concept, I let the idea take me from the absurd to the spiritual.

Posted in Attitude, Christianity, Disciplines, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

When You Run Out of Time

July 17, 2017

Did the clock say 3 or 5? I thought 3. Maybe it really was 3:30. But I overslept this morning for one of the very few times of my adult life. Only by 40 minutes, but it did feel good.

Maybe I woke up on time, misread the clock, and returned to sleep.

And I have no ideas.

Usually I start the morning with many ideas. None today.

I could say a busy weekend, but not so. I painted Saturday, but I read two murder mysteries in the afternoon instead of tackling the writing on my list.

Then I sat down Sunday morning and noticed a spot that I missed painting the trim around the patio door. Rushed home Sunday evening after a party to finish the paint job. Then we had a thunderstorm.

So today I have a long to do list. The first of July, I had so much time. Now we’re half-way through July. Still have all that stuff to do. Oops.

Sometimes we live that way. Just drifting until we’re out of time. Where did it go?

Sometimes it is decisions. I couldn’t decide on a business trip to California. Then it got decided for me. I couldn’t decide on replies to several important emails. What to say that would get the information I needed without pushing too hard or being obnoxious?

When you live in the land of indecision, you let energy dissipate. And accomplishments decline.

But like most humans, when the deadline draws near, focus sharpens.

That is Job One for me today–focus.

Posted in Disciplines | 1 Comment »

We See Your Heart Reflected In Your Face

July 14, 2017

He experienced a late-in-life conversion. Or maybe it was an epiphany. It was something.

He quit his job. Started a ministry. Was religious.

Funny thing. He never smiled. His face was in a perpetual mild scowl. There was neither joy nor peace reflected in his face.

Rather than attract people, his countenance rather pushed people away.

Do you ever observe people and try to tell from their appearance/posture/face what their personality is like? You look and think, Whoa, I wouldn’t want to be married to that person!

Or like a salesman only out for the next sale who smiles with only his lips? Those are dangerous people.

Or there is the super attractive person. Well, attractive until they open their mouth.

How great it is to meet someone who smiles. Who greets you warmly. Who, even when they are concentrating on something else and you see them, still have an appearance of restful contentment.

There are people who think Jesus was political. Or to be a Jesus follower we must be political. And pursue politics of divisiveness.

But Jesus turned all that stuff on its head. He criticized those for their outward displays of being religious–who smiled with their lips and not their eyes. He said it’s all about the state of the heart. And Paul later listed the fruit you’ll show and feel when you are in the spirit. Peace and joy–these should be reflected in a follower’s appearance. Not hardness, divisiveness, scowling, frowning.

Makes me afraid to look in a mirror.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines, emotions | 1 Comment »

When You Greet Someone, Do You Acknowledge Them

July 13, 2017

You are walking and meet someone you know. “Hi, how’s it going?” you greet them.

Do you care how it’s going for them?

Maybe, sort of. What if they stop and truly answer that question? How deep did you mean the greeting to go?

The greetings I was taught in both German and French are basically the same meaning.

Many of us as Christians are introduced to the Hebrew word Shalom from the Bible. We are taught that it means “peace” in English.

Steve Carter, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, last week was unpacking the meaning of the word and the nuances and meanings deeper than peace as the absence of conflict.

He was shocked on his first trip to Israel when people greeted him with Shalom. He asked about it.

This is an ancient word in the language. It has deep connotations of spiritual awareness of the other person, a greeting encompassing completeness, wholeness, the deep peace that Jesus and Paul also discussed.

I teach Yoga. We use the ancient greeting (as both “hi” and “good-bye”) Namaste (nah’-ma-stay). In the ancient Sanskrit, it also has spiritual connotations recognizing the spirit of the other person and the wholeness of God and people.

Of course, sometimes it is just “hi” or “bye”.

It all depends upon the attitude of the greeter. What is our attitude as we greet people. Are we greeting respectfully recognizing the other as another child of God? Or just a meaningless, quick “hi”?

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Meditate for Life

July 12, 2017

I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night. Ps 63:6

I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds. Ps 77:12

I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways. Ps. 119:15

Scientists continue to discover benefits from meditation or, as it is called these days, mindfulness. Being in quiet and stillness for even just five minutes a day can change your personality.

It slows you down–which is a good thing. You can focus on what is important learning to let distractions fade away.

You become quieter and calmer.

Now we are seeing how meditation helps “white matter” grow between the neurons in the brain. This aids thinking and learning. It’s also thought to have a positive effect in preventing Alzheimers and other brain disorders.

It also helps adolescents, as well as adults, improve their emotional well being.

We think this is new. It’s not. Humans have intuitively know this for millennia. David wrote his songs (Psalms) 3,000 years ago. And no one seemed amazed. The word already existed in the Hebrew language.

Jesus had a habit of withdrawing to be with himself and God. We call that meditation.

Paul reports once on the result of a meditation when he talks of being swept into third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12.

Mindfulness teaches one to be in touch with the body. That is good. Meditating on God is the next step. God leads us to visions and brings us to a sense of unity with creation. But that is for another time.

Mindfulness also grounds us in the present. We are not in the future worrying or in the past recriminating. As the Buddhist phrase puts it, “Wherever I go, there I am.”

I should add that we are now seeing evidence that coffee also helps you life longer. Meditation along with a cup of good coffee–that has been my morning habit for many years.

Posted in Disciplines, Meditation | 1 Comment »

Defining Your Emotions The First Step In Dealing With Them

July 11, 2017

My granddaughter noticed something about me. I forget just what at the moment. But she asked if I were disappointed about it. I said, no that doesn’t describe the emotion. She proceeded to ask about six other emotions that were similar yet different.

For an eight-year-old, that is a good vocabulary of emotions. One of many indicators of Emotional Intelligence is the ability to define an emotion with greater depth than just “bad” or “good”.

Defining terms for problem solving has played a large part in my career. I’m in a meeting (or worse these days is getting caught in an interminable email chain) and find people talking around a problem. I’d attempt to shift the focus first to defining the terms. “What do you mean by that?” I ask.

I might be interviewing someone. I move among many different technologies with many different buzzwords. Sometimes I just have to call a time out and ask, “We’d better make sure I understand how you’re using that word. Just what do you mean when you say that?”

It helps when we are emotionally out of balance. I love how the ancients treated emotions like a family tree. Something like insecurity is the mother of anger, for example.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify just what it is that causes the emotional pain or reaction.

Maturity is the ability to take the next step and not only define your own emotion but also to deal with it. Reading the news, Facebook feeds, watching people in public places, I’d say that most of us could use a good dose of emotional maturity.

Posted in Disciplines, emotions, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »