Saturday, September 22, 2012

God Calls Us to 'Lifelong Learning'


            Recently I was at the Soccer Complex watching my little cousin play one of his first games on his first team in his probably long sporting career. It’s been a while since I had been to a soccer game at the complex to cheer my little brother on; I’m normally at Hound Hollow cheering for him on Friday nights nowadays. But I was amazed at something that had not changed since my brother’s Scott’s last game, the intensity at which the fans cheer.
            Now mind you this game was for young kids, really young kids, but the air felt tense as the fans barked orders and experienced the fervor of a sporting event. But it was incredible to see grown adults cheering on a children’s sports event as if the Carolina Panthers were on that field.
            Friends we must always conduct ourselves in a way that is conducive to the Gospel we claim. For instance my mom right now is enrolled in the Doctor of Nursing program at Gardner-Webb University, and often that university sends out encouragement to their students. Recently, my mom received this encouragement from Dr. Angela Orsky, a faculty member there at Gardner-Webb, “yes, you are trying to balance work, family, church, school, life in general- and probably right now you feel like you’re not doing a good job at any of them… No one can take away your education, so take a deep breath, cry if you need to, wake up tomorrow and do it again. There will be good days, there will be bad days, and weeks where you are frustrated with the process. Keep working hard, keep your priorities in order and try to find enjoyment in learning and growing as students.”
            As a student myself I can somewhat empathize with what my mom is going through in her doctoral program. How many times are we content to bark orders and yell at the referees for things that are beyond any of our control? How content are in this life to decide that it was the referee’s fault and it’s our job to yell and throw a temper tantrum.
            Simply and directly, God calls us to an existence of lifelong learning, maybe not in the halls of academia, or maybe not in the sense of conventional learning. It is our job not to sit by and bark orders at what could be, it’s our job to use the resources our Creator and Sustainer has given us to the best of our advantage. Whether you are four years old, or ninety-four years old, there is more to understand about God, there is always more to learn.
            Next time you’re on the sidelines, remember the players are learning, we’re a lot like them you know. We’re on a field, and our God doesn’t yell at us like that, God takes us in God’s arms, and in a gentle voice assures us that God gives us purpose and direction. It is in that hope that we find new joy, new existence, and a new education. Remember as if God is speaking to you, there will be good days, there will be bad days, but no one can take me away from you. Keep working, keep your priorities in order, and enjoy this thing we call life.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Our Hopes and God's Hopes



            I would like to offer you up one of the biggest dreams I have. I have a dream to preach at a little chapel in Durham. Now the likelihood of me preaching at this chapel is slim to none for the time being, but the dream still remains. Now this chapel isn’t very small, in fact it’s quite large and on the campus of Duke University. I often wonder what that day will be like, what I might wear, where I might have my family sit… But then I come back to reality, the God I know in Jesus Christ called me to be a preacher, not a fashion model. The God I know that was revealed to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca called me to proclaim the Gospel, not decide seating charts to where my family might be shown off at such an auspicious occasion.        

            Friends it is good to have dreams. It is right to have a world in which dreams are the foundation of reality. But people of God in a world where dreams are not of God, how can reality be of God? I’m reminded of those verses in 1 Corinthians, “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” What if our dreams take the same reality as love? If we do not dream the dreams of God, we are not dreaming the right way.
           This week, offer yourselves, all of yourselves to God. Whether your dream is to preach at Duke Chapel or your dream is to be the next person in space, make that dream a dream of holiness, one that is in it for the right reasons. Then in God’s almighty power, God will bless that dream and make it fruitful. I might never preach in the cathedral like structure that I have come to love, and that’s ok (though if you, the wonderful people of Statesville had anything to say about it I would, and for that I am forever grateful.) The reason it’s ok I might not get to preach there is because I know that deep in my heart no matter what happens God is using God’s power and abilities in and through me.
            If God is truly who we know God to be then God takes our hopes and our dreams, our fears and our failures into consideration. That in no way means that I should plan on preaching at that chapel next Sunday, but that does mean I should cultivate the skills God has given me so if that day ever does come, I will be ready. May we all prepare for what God has in store for us. 

Friday, September 7, 2012

20 Years, 20 reasons


This month, I turn twenty. As a cause for celebration, I thought I’d share 20 faith points to show you the God I’ve come to know and love these past 20 years. So here it goes:
            1. Take time to enjoy the flowers, whether it’s the sunflowers that have graced Statesville these past few weeks or the flowers of friendship enjoy the beauty of God’s creation any and everywhere you go.
            2. Enjoy the art of getting lost, sometimes you find God when you lose the roadmap.
            3. “Remember I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”- Whether that age is 20 or 95 remember that God is with you, present and working.
            4. Sometimes God’s silence is the best antidote to our pain. God is working even in the silence; find God’s presence even when you don’t hear God’s voice.
            5. Enjoy the theology of kids. Even if it’s the theology of the Muppets or Mr. Rogers, kids have so much to say, and their beautiful messages are sometimes misheard or misinterpreted.
            6. If God wants you there, not even the armies of this world can move you. God is the ultimate job security, enjoy it, you can’t get that at any other company.
7. Enjoy the stars: They are twinkles of heaven present on earth, even Peter Pan knew that something better was beyond the second star to the right!
            8. God is love. Anne Lamott says it best, ““You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
            9. If someone asks you to mentor them, drop everything and do it. God calls us to help people learn and grow. Too many times we forget that we are training up the next generation of people to take our place.
            10. Learn from the saints that have gone before us, “We feebly struggle, they in glory shine.”
            11. Teresa of Avila said this: “Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ is to look on the hurting world. “
            12. Never lose the art of sending a card or letter: The early Christians communicated this way, why should we stop? You all encourage me weekly with your messages; they have lightened my heart and given me inspiration to write.
            13. On that same note, sometimes God works best when Facebook is off. Enjoy your Sabbath.
            14. Jesus came, lived and died for you… There’s not much I can commentate on that, enjoy it, live it, love it.
            15. The cross of Christ is one that requires us to carry it as well. Even Jesus needed help getting to Golgotha.
            16. Worship is community based, I love everything about worship, and every Sunday when you sing hymns, hear a sermon and take communion, remember whose you are and who you are called to be.
            17. Enjoy your church, as hard as that can be sometimes. Whether your church has ancient architecture like Duke Chapel, or is a church that was built in the last year, learn to love in spite of the failings of a human institution.
            18.  Kenneth Leech says this about prayer, “The best preparation for a life of prayer is to become more intensely human.”
            19. Don’t give up when the going gets tough. Louis L’Amour says, “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”        
            20. Finally, and most importantly love wastefully, love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself. Love like there’s no tomorrow. Love, love and then love some more.
            I’m confident these points will get me through the next twenty years, enjoy every moment of this life. You only get one go-around, make it count. Thanks be to God.