The Most Important Question Ever

 I was recently reminded of a concept from the movie “City Slickers” (1991):

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean shit.
Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"
Curly: [smiles] That's what *you* have to find out. 

The reminder came from a quote from John D. Rockefeller III:  “The road to happiness lies in two simple principles:  Find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it put your whole soul into it—every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability that you have”

In the distant past George Bernard Shaw put it this way:  “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

And author Jim Collins describes the “Hedgehog Principle” in his book “Good To Great”:

 

The sweet spot is if you can operate in a place where these three circles overlap. 

Soooooo, there must be something to this, there simply must. 

You probably fall somewhere on the continuom from “who cares, I don’t give a crap about this stuff, go get me a beer” to 100% living out your passion, dream & purpose.  Myself, well I care deeply, but to be completely honest I am divided between too many passions and this diversity in my life is probably limiting my potential. 

Where are you?  Do know what your one thing is?  I asked my wife and without hesitation, she blurted out her answer.  I’m not there, not there yet.  My action item is to find that one thing.  What’s your action?  What’s your one thing?

OK, my new deal...

(if you've known me as long as I have, you'll know I have lots of new deals.  You'll also know that I'm awesome at starting good ideas, but not so good at following through.  If you keep reading my blog for the next 40 or 50 years, you'll see if I get better at this weakness or just deal with it.  Time will tell (insert smile here).)

OK, my new deal is to have an official worthwhile blog entry once per month.  I may have other blog entries, but at least one that's worthwhile.  I must have at least one thought/idea per month that's worthwhile eh?  And if no one reads it, it'll be good for me anyway.  It'll slow me down once per month to think.  Mmmmm, like the sound of that.  Oh yeah and I'm not starting in November (insert smile).

With love to all my faithful readers (another big smile).

The Church?

Hello faithful readers.  Been a long time I know.  Don't worry, I've still be thinking, but haven't taken the time to write (and honestly have been too busy). 
   So I have a few questions that hit me last Sunday which I'd like to ponder on a bit: 

What is church?
What is the church?
What is it for?
What does it do?
For who?  poor, downtrodden, oppressed
How does it work?

Lots of questions.  Big questions.  Let's see what I think...

I guess I define the church as the people who believe in God/Jesus and have God's priority and perspective on every aspect of life on earth.  And I believe that priority/perspective is to show love and acceptance and grace to all, to be free from the love of money and worldly success so that we can be focused on loving supportive accepting relationships. 

So church = people.  I'm reminded of an old camp song...  "We are the church, the body of our Lord, we are all God's children and we have been restored."  Another line says "we're called enlightened sanctified for the work of Jesus Christ".  Sure there's some churchy words there, but I think you get the point. 

OK so church = people and people = lives and lives = time and relationship and community.  Yep. 

So from the foundation above, what is Sunday morning church?  What are small groups, bible studies, and house churches?  What are mission trips, fishing trips and vacations?  I'd say they are examples or facets of the church described above.  Long story short the groups and events I bring up are part of community which can include (but not be limited to...)...

• fellowship (Christian word for chit chat)
• teaching, a sermon, a Bible study, learning, growing
• singing songs, reading scripture
• service or outreach to the poor, the widows, the orphans, etc.
• encouragement and support
• challenging one another (as iron sharpens iron)
• resting together (going fishing, watching football, vacation, etc.)

So How does it work?  This I think is very important.  Of the utmost importance because there are many out there that for good reason would say that the church doesn't work or isn't working. 

I think of Jared Allen (of the Vikings) and how he "makes it work".  He's a person and he makes it work...

• he wants it
• he encourages others (pumps them up)
• he's encouraged and challenged by others (other players and coaches)
• he's an athlete that is physically fit (and keeps on it) and is always thinking of what he can do to win win win.  
• You can see that he doesn't do it alone (he's part of a team).  

So let's apply this to church = people and the way that this "works" is if people...
1) WANT IT:  To want to apply God's priorities to every aspect of our lives, time, money, resources, relationships, how we treat others, how we think about others, etc. 
2) ENCOURAGE:  Through your community and relationships, listen, understand, love and encourage others.  Be practical in your help (lend a real hand when asked or even better yet, without being asked). 
3) BE ENCOURAGED / CHALLENGED:  Through your community, find opportunities where you can be stretched and challenged to grow and be all that you can be.  Find a few key running partners that will challenge you to want it, keep wanting it and be more effective in doing it. 
4) ALWAYS BE THINKING /STRATEGIZING how you can be more effective and creative in how you live out your call. 
5) DON'T DO IT ALONE.  I repeat this to emphasize that in community through relationships is the most effective way to truly "love one another". 

I'm sure I've left some things out.  Could always expand from here, but this seems like a nice stopping point for now.  Let me know what you think or what I missed. 

Commentary on Gospel of John

If you are not interested, skip this posting.
I'm reading through The Gospel of John with an accountability group and thought I'd scribble my ponderings here in case anyone is interested. 

It's one week till Easter so, very appropriate to read Jesus' story although I probably won't get to the Easter part until after Easter.  Oh well.  I plan to read one chapter a day.  Here we go:

John Chapter 1:
     WOW, so much in this single chapter!  It starts with the high level plan of God (vs 1-18):  He created all things.  In Him is true life which He gives to everyone.  He is light to shine in the darkness.  He will not be over come.  He gives us the right to become children of God (v12).  God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ (v17).  WOW!  This is it, God's plan.  A good reminder (I'm ashamed to need one) and a great foundation for the story of Christ that we are about to read.
     Vs 19-34 tell the story of how John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus and ends with Jesus being baptized by John.
     Vs 35-end, the start of Jesus ministry.  A couple of interesting things...  In V42 Jesus re-names Simon to be Peter.  Not gonna lie, that's a little weird don't you think?  Not sure if there's some deep spiritual truth here, but if there is, I'd say it's about how we can be new creations in Christ, the old gone and the new has come (see II Cor 5:17) which is part of God's plan.
     Next Jesus asks Philip to be His disciple.  Philip is a little skeptical and Jesus nonchalantly mentions seeing him under the fig tree.  This really impressed Philip that Jesus could know where he was and all about him.  Jesus replied, "if you are impressed by that, stick around and you will see MUCH more impressive things" which is a great intro to the book.  Stay tuned and you will see MUCH more impressive things that Jesus being omnipresent?!  I don't want to skip over the fact that Jesus is omnipresent, in all places at all times.  He sees all and knows all.  I think it's important to know and realize this attribute of God/Jesus as we read this book, as we go through life, etc.  If we want to know God, we should know about Him and how He works.  Good stuff, really good stuff.

John Chapter 2:
     We have two main items in Ch 2:  water to wine and clearing the temple.
     Water to wine:  So this was Jesus' first miracle.  It happened at a wedding celebration.  Why we ask did Jesus choose to do this?  There are many possible answers, but the most obvious one is that His mom strongly suggested that He do something.  The Bible does say to honor your parents.
     What was the context?  Basically, the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.  He just got baptized and had only a few disciples (followers) some of which may have been skeptical.  What was the result of this miraculous creation of wine from water?  Several:  The party continued and the host was not embarrassed to run out of wine.  That's nice.  The miracle also made people believe (V11).  And while that's good, I think it opens a theme about the nature/source of our faith which will keep coming up throughout the Bible.  Why do we believe?  Is it simply because of a magic trick?!  I hope we don't miss the true goodness of God in place of a few magic tricks.  (We will see this theme again, I'm sure of it.)
     Clearing the temple:  This is an interesting 2nd move for Jesus.  I'd say His political career was off to a good start with the dove descending at His baptism and the wine at the wedding.  This next move was clearly not approved by His campaign manager.  Oh wait!!  He's not running for political office.  How quickly we forget God's master plan from John 1.  Now with that context, what is going on here?  The creator of all things sees what's going on in the temple:  The religious leaders of the day have turned the church into a marketplace.  I don't think it would have been so bad if they were selling fashion clothes, but they were selling (and making a fine profit I'm sure) animals for sacrifice!  Making money off of the Old Testament rituals.  Hmmmmm, it's pretty obvious how that made God feel (it's good to know God, how He thinks, what He values, many applications with this knowledge yes, yes in deed).  Did Jesus blow a gasket?  No, no, I don't think so.  If He blew a gasket I think we'd have seen hot sulfur rain down from the sky and not a survivor.  I think God intentionally was making a statement out of His great love for His creation (people).  I think He was saying, "Oh, my dear children, you missed the boat!  It's not about money and sacrifice.  It's about ME and how awesome and perfect I am in every way.  Please don't let sin get the best of you (religious leaders and others alike).  My Fathers house is not a marketplace, but a place of communion and union of Me with my beloved creation (you)."  Yes, I think that's the message He was conveying.  What do you think?
     Application question:  How might you, today, be missing the boat and God's intention for you, your life, how you live, etc. 

John Chapter 3:
     John 3:16  "For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish by have eternal life."  So in verses 1-21 we have a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.  I don't fully understand it, nor will I.  And as it says in v8 I can't explain it.  But, this is the center point.  If we get nothing else from the Bible, church, Christianity, etc. let us get this:  belief in Christ is new eternal life, that's all there is to it.  (I will move on here so I don't dilute the simple truth with my words.)
     Verses 22-end:  So many weighty impactful topics in this book!  "He must become greater and greater and I must become less and less."   (verse 30)  This begs the application question, "How am I becoming less and how am I living in the truth that not only is He more, but He is the MORE?"  Our plans, hopes, dreams, accomplishments, worries, etc.  Can we give them up and die to ourselves for His plans, hopes, dreams, accomplishments?  I think we'll find His much better than ours.  He knit each of us in our mothers womb (Psalm 139:13) and has wonderful things for us to accomplish (Eph 2:10).  He's created us in advance so that we can accomplish His goals and bring Him glory and bring His love to everyone we encounter.  I believe this is why Jesus told us to pray "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven" in Matthew 6:10.  Let us go forth and do it! 

John Chapter 4 (4/20/11):
     Jesus and the Samarian Woman:  What can we be reminded of by this story?  Jesus is not constrained by any lines of race, gender, socioeconomic status, background, etc.  Jesus reaches to all people regardless of status because ALL people need Jesus (we have fallen short, see Rom 3:23).
     The interaction continues to be interesting:  First Jesus asks for a drink which catches her off guard.  The Jesus reveals who He is and she responds with her desire for Jesus' water.  Then, lovingly, Jesus raises the bar and calls her out for her lifestyle.  She avoids the topic by asking a religious question (How similarly do we avoid the heart of God for religiosity questions?).  In Jesus' answer He gives us some good theology "God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth" vs. 24.  Checking questions:  Are we filled with His truth about all things?  Is our spirit worshiping him?  What is our spirit?  How does our spirit worship Him?  What does that look like? 
     Transition:  she leaves to go tell everyone and the disciples show up...
     Jesus shares another tid bit with His disciples.  Again, talking in spirit terms, He says that His fuel comes from doing the will of God (see Lords Prayer in Matt 6:10) and then sends them out to harvest (again in spiritual terms).
     Verses 43-end (Jesus heals):  Again, we are caught in the earthly (human sickness) and Jesus is asked to heal.  The father pleads and Jesus says, "Your son will live!"  I think Jesus heals our infirmities so that we can be drawn into His lavish banquet hall.  Healing the lame, blind, lepers is not God's primary aim, but I think He does it as a scent to lure us in to His inner chambers.  Mmmmmm good stuff.  Checking question:  Have you allowed yourself to be lured in to God?  To a place where you need not perform or do anything?  To a place where you are accepted just as you are? 

John Chapter 5:   (4/21/11)
     So what happens in Chapter 5?  Well, according to the section headings Jesus heals a lame man, claims to be the Son of God and then defends it.  Here we go...
     This lame man had been sick for 38 years!  Wow, makes me thankful for my health.  John not only captures the miraculous healing, but the next part of the story is the religious leaders reaction.  Rather than recognize the miracle, they were upset that the healed man was carrying his mat.  I know, seriously, are you kidding?!  How often do we do the same thing?  How often do we forgo on the goodness of God and relationship with Him in place of business, accomplishments, etc.  Checking question:  (and yes there's a theme)  How are we missing the boat today with our worries and priorities (see post on that from 10/28/10)?
     Now on to Jesus' response to the religious leaders:  The religions leaders were ticked that 1) Jesus healed (worked) on the sabbath and 2) the he commanded the healed man to pick up and carry (work) his mat on the sabbath.  Somewhat petty and Jesus could have said, "hey, sorry about that" and things may have died down.  That is NOT what Jesus did.  Instead He said that God is his Father.  Yep, this really ticked them off.  Jesus then goes on explaining Himself in great detail, but they are so blinded and stuck on not believing His claim that they can't even hear what He is saying.  I liken it to the president showing up at my door to deliver my tax return and he felt bad so he tripled the amount on the check.  I might find it so preposterous, that I don't believe it, throw the check away and shut the door on him.  What a mistake that would be!  An even bigger mistake is to miss out on God, grace, eternal life, peace, joy, etc. but yet, these religions leaders were stuck and simply didn't get it!  Checking question:  Are you missing out too or do you get it?  If so, how do you know? 

John Chapter 6:
     To be continued...