“Get Real”

“All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him (God), not on self-willed determination to be godly. (Oswald Chambers)

I read that sentence this morning and it got me thinking. There comes a time in our spiritual walk where we can no longer “play” church but must start being the church. We must stop simply showing up on Sunday so those around us can see us as godly and start showing up to hear from God. Difficult times are coming, for some they are already showing up in the form of bills piling up on the counter as the bank statements dwindle.

The world we live in needs a church in action not a club concerned with appearance and marketability. The current climate will squeeze us hard to see what we are made of. Life in these United States may not ever be the same and we, the church, need to get our head out of the sand and serve people where they are right now.

As the church, the vice grips will tighten so the surface things (Dross) can raise to the top be scraped off (that part hurts) and the task of true, authentic refinement can happen. When we get serious about serving God first and others second, this process can start to happen. We must serve God first, our fellow man/woman, second and our organizations last.

How much of what we do to be Christian is truly based on perfect oneness with God and how much is based on trying to be godly? There’s a huge difference and our culture can smell it a mile away and so can the person sitting in the pew, next to you.

“That Moment”

Remember that moment that just passed? You know, the one that happened just a second ago that you failed to pay attention to? You let it slip by as though you could make it happen again. You treated it so casually and now it is part of history, something you can only look back on.

How many times in a day, does God offer us definable moments that we treat as nothing more than a step to the next step? How many times (I think I just missed one) did he offer us a moment to put down the pen, stop washing the dishes or resist the temptation to get something done, so we could see greatness in that moment that just rushed by.

As the economy slips deeper into the toilet, more people stand in line for help and the bills pile up, more moments will be trampled by “the worries” of life.

Life rarely turns out like we planned. Passions, goals, ideas and dreams are modified, managed or manipulated into something new. Change is not the most difficult part of this journey and neither is waiting (although I hate waiting). The saddest part of all of this is “That Moment” I lost worrying about something I can do nothing about.

Truth: It’s supposed to set us free.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Truth. In our current culture truth is a little like pudding that fails to jell. It’s flimsy, flakey and very difficult to recognize if it doesn’t line up with the thought of the day. I just watched a scientific show on the origins of life. In it, it investigates and shows the holes in Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection. This was not a Christian based show but a DVD produced by Scientists. With recent discoveries of DNA coding and what’s behind it, according to this show, there must be intelligence involved in the process. Yet much of the scientific community, and some reading this blog will reject that idea writing it off as motivated by religion rather than taking the time to look at the facts in an attempt to discover the truth.

This got me thinking about truth.

Is truth really in the eyes of the beholder?

Is truth simply a matter of how each of us sees things?

Does majority decide the truth or is it something that’s simply true, whether we like it or not?

Truth is supposed to set us free but in our current cultural, conventional truth seems to be more important than simple “truth”. Conventional truth creates robots not thinkers.

We’ve almost grown accustom to watering down the truth. Politicians, governments, religions have learned to professionally “manage the message” to a point where searching for the truth has become a challenge. You have to work at finding the truth not simply listening to the evening news, reading the paper or believing what you hear. I think that is a positive that comes out of all of this. However, it’s a positive that you have to work for and we are not a culture that likes to dig for information anymore. We’re used to the spoon-feeding and ridding ourselves of the silverware is difficult.

I live in Springfield, near Eugene and a couple of bumper stickers are as familiar in the area as VW Vans and old Volvo’s. One reads “Question Authority”. Problem is, that bumper sticker doesn’t mean question “Cultural Authority”. The other one has something to do with open minds being like parachutes. The point being we all need to be more open minded. The problem is, open mindedness also is in the eyes of the beholder or our culture. Question: Why is it still okay to look down on people who are overweight?

We like to think of ourselves as “Free Thinkers”?  But the concept of “True Free Thinking” will get you in trouble. Those who say they support your freedom to think outside the box might be the first to attempt to blog you into silence or submission.

As I watch the events of this past week I see and feel some hope for change. But the truth is change is costly, change means pain, change means we can’t rely on one man or his party to do the right thing. Change means, as our new president has said, we must all get involved. At this point, getting involved is so easy to agree with. When it means getting our hands really, really dirty, how many will still be standing in the volunteer line?

It is said that the truth will set us free. The problem is we need to be free to find the truth. I wonder that we haven’t become so numb to the truth that we may not recognize it when it stares us in the face.

Clearing the Air

I love metaphors. The Willamette Valley’s recent battle with the fog reminds me a lot of my life. How you can get socked in and have no clarity and sometimes have to change position to clear the air. Kathy and I physically left the valley for a day, visited the Oregon Coast where it was sunny, and found our vision. I took my HD camera with me and here’s a little story about the whole idea. Enjoy.

Alone Time.

I haven’t always liked being by myself. I remember a time when I’d always take someone with me on a trip or to places I had to go. During the campaign I always had a staffer with me. There’s so much work to do that one person just can’t do it alone. But I remember one time when I had to go to Lakeview and I decided I was taking that trip alone. I needed the drive time to sort out my life, my head and my campaign. I drove hundreds and hundreds of miles alone. It was one of the greatest trips I can remember.

Yesterday  I drove up to Portland to see my big sister who is visiting from Arizona. Kathy, my wife, was in meetings all day here in Eugene so I had to go alone. I hoped in the car, put on the cruise control and drove to Portland. It was a good day. Just me, my thoughts, God and a couple of phone calls. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a people person. But I think I’m a better people person when I have some time without people.

HOPE “More than a feeling”

I couldn’t sleep much last night. I’m troubled by what I’m seeing surrounding the swearing in of our new President Obama. Right off the bat I don’t think it’s his fault. My concern is not with his future leadership. I didn’t vote for him but I think he can serve as a good President. My fear is for the people who are trying to create Obama into a Savior rather than a Servant. The man clearly wants to serve his country and the people who live here. But I was watching some specials last night and many are placing so much HOPE in one man, there is no way he can live up to their expectations.

What is it about us, in this country that we look to others to do what we need to do? We want this man, who is simply a man, to lead us out of a mess we have created. (We can blame parties but if we look deep enough we all own some of this mess don’t we?) We don’t want to deal with the root causes or change the way we really live, but we want change. We want America to be what America should be but have no clue how to define it.

Many of those on the so-called Right will pooh-pooh Obama and HOPE he fails. I think that’s wrong too. Give the guy a chance. He won and whether you like him or not he is our President and we need to give him a chance. That doesn’t mean we gloss over mistakes or don’t call him out when we think he and congress move in the wrong direction. In fact, we should be watching more closely than ever to make sure EVERY VOICE in America is listened to and that will not happen if we fail to be vigilant. But we have to give him a chance and not just wait for him to trip up so we can jump all over him.

People want change…change to what? We want leadership but are we really willing to follow? What if President Obama starts disagreeing with some of his supporters? Will they be as excited tomorrow as they are today? It always goes back to “We The People” and our willingness or lack of willingness to really change. Remember, change is more than a word it’s a lifestyle and not many are willing to give up to receive.