Category Archives: Quotes & Excerpts

Courage: hearing and responding eagerly to the particular way God is calling us at this time and in this place.

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Continuing from yesterday …

The same could be said for churches and religious organizations. We do not genuinely fulfill what God is calling us to be and do as a community unless we develop the capacity to hear together the voice of Jesus in our midst—His voice of assurance and comfort, but also His voice of call and guidance. It is easy for churches or religious organizations to look elsewhere for models or trends to follow. Some church leaders are easily attracted to attending a conference or reading the most recent how-to book to learn how to help their church or religious organization develop in the same way as some remarkable church on the other side of the continent or the ocean. Others, in contrast, are nostalgic about a tradition, about the way things have always been done in this particular community, and speak of it as “own way.”

Yes, we need to learn from others. And surely we are right to stress the value of the heritage we have within our church communities and organizations. But both our search for new models and our love for our own way of doing things can undermine our capacity to hear the new word that Jesus has for us as a community. We urgently need to develop a corporate capacity to respond to the voice of Jesus and have the courage both to hear the voice and to respond eagerly to the particular way God is calling us at this time and in this place. 1

» This seems to me a vital need among our leaders, for me personally, and in particular for the Renew Church family in the coming year.

 

  1. Gordon T. Smith, The Voice of Jesus: Discernment, Prayer and the Witness of the Spirit (IVP Books, 2003), 17-18. Emphasis added. ↩
 

It’s too easy to live by duty, the expectation of others, the inertia of culture…

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For us as individuals, the danger is that we might never develop an inner life. It is easy to life by duty, the expectation of others, the routines of our work and the inertia of culture and religious traditions. Surely what we long for, though, is an authentic interior life in which we know to the core of our beings that the Spirit of God is present to us and speaking life to us — a life that is personally and dynamically our own. With a well-developed interior life, we live our lives in response to the Spirit. We choose to live that which we are called to live — our life, not someone else’s life. 1

  1. Gordon T. Smith, The Voice of Jesus: Discernment, Prayer and the Witness of the Spirit (IVP Books, 2003), 17. Emphasis added. ↩
 

Some wonderful (& terrible) reasons why I run.

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Father & son at the finish line of my first race (Shamrock Run 15K on St. Patrick's Day 2013)

Father & son at the finish line of my first race (Shamrock Run 15K on St. Patrick’s Day 2013)

I was an active kid. If you’re curious at all what I was like as a wee lad, then watch my son for a bit. Yep, I talked to myself, ran around a lot, loved being outdoors, played with bugs and spiders, and could get lost in space between the words and white space of a good book, pictures optional. I’m a brown-and-grey-haired version of #Dutchumentary. He and #Heidirooni are so active, fun and free. As much as depends upon me, I want to be there as they grow up.

It was a sad lack-of-activity-ness coupled with natural curiosity that got me back into running a few years back. This November will be four years since I took a mile jog to see if my left foot could withstand the pounding. That’s the foot I ran over with our Jeep Wrangler before the kids were born. (Yes, you read that correctly. Turns out it is possible to run over your own foot with your own car, provided it has a short wheel base.) Essentially my left heel became the emergency break, and a small metatarsal fracture latter and subsequently minus having a healthy fascia (foot arch) meant I was wincing in pain.

Father & daughter at the finish line of my first 5K race (Freedom 5K in Molalla on 7/4/13)

Father & daughter at the finish line of my first 5K race (Freedom 5K in Molalla on 7/4/13)

So, “I can” is the first reason why I run. It beats sitting all day, which is killing us (and negating the good of exercise). Plus, I’d like to make a runner out of you, since there are so many health benefits from running, even surprising ones.

Ran 7.6 miles in Nov. 2010, then 384 total in 2011, 813 in 2012, and 1,234 miles in 2013. In 2014 I've logged half of this year's goal of 1,420 miles.

Ran 7.6 miles in Nov. 2010, then 384 total in 2011, 813 in 2012, and 1,234 miles in 2013. In 2014 I’ve logged half of this year’s goal of 1,420 miles.

Borrowing the title for this post from the Oatmeal’s comic creator, here are seven-and-a-half more reasons why I run, since that’s my current average per mile training pace.

  1. running = sweating = laundrying

    running = sweating = laundrying

    Running is fun. At first it was anything but fun. I think those first miles returning to running in 2010 were a brisk eleven minutes a mile. Couldn’t tell what was worse: aching legs or burning lungs. What happened to me? Why couldn’t I just get out there and run fast and far? Being thirty-something and sedentary really stung. I vaguely remember the good ol’ days of being young and athletic, and now was neither. But you know what’s fun? Setting small goals and reaching them. And setting some more. And your wife noticing and saying you don’t seem so out-of-shape anymore. Continue reading →

 

Making prayer happen.

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I am rediscovering a desire to pray for people, leading them in God’s strength not mine. I’ve hit the wall too many times trying to ’make things happen’ on my own. The quoted section below confronted me a few months back and before sharing I wanted to see if I was growing and changing. Well, a prayer life develops in the way Spring comes: slowly and suddenly.

“Prayer is essentially acknowledged helplessness. We ask God for his glory, for his help, for his will, and for his favor because we know we are powerless to “make things happen” ourselves. (Consequently, when we are not praying much, it is typically because we think, even in our difficulty, that we can handle it.) To “clothe yourselves in humility” (1 Pet. 5:5) is to put on the righteousness of Christ (Eph. 6:4), because he humbled himself from heaven to earth, gave up the exploitation of his deity, and prayed his guts out.

If the sinless God-man often withdrew to lonely places to pray, what is our excuse? Prayer is the ultimate humility, because it presents the empty cup to God for his fullness in Christ. “Your will, not mine,” prayer says. “Your glory, not mine,” prayer says. “Your power, not mine,” prayer says.

Certainly there is a way pastors 1 turn prayer into performance, but it’s difficult to do this when we are all alone, so that is where we should do most of our praying. Not all of it, but most of it.

You may think your prayers are nothing to write home about. That’s fine. You are not writing home, but heaven. God is merciful. He accepts your lame prayers. What he wants is nor your eloquence but your heart.

When we cease praying for ourselves, it is because we think we are the captain of our destinies. When we cease praying for our church, it is because we think we can manage it quite well. When we cease praying in our sermon preparation, it is because we think our words are the power of salvation to all who believe. Let it be far away from us that we would sin against the Lord by failing to pray for [His] people (1 Sam. 12:23). 2

  1. And anyone else with a spiritual leadership role, whether in the home as father and mother, husband and wife, or a teacher of kids at church. Essentially, anyone who has others “watching” as they pray in public. ↩
  2. Quoted from Jared Wilson, The Pastor’s Justification: Applying the Work of Christ in Your Life and Ministry. Part 1, The Pastor’s Heart, chapter three, “The Humble Pastor,” pp. 68-69. Emphasis mine. ↩
 

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? (Do what’s best next!)

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“Every Christian must be fully Christian by bringing God into his whole life, not merely into some spiritual realm.”
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What do you do? What’s your vocation, the good contribution to the greater good you get to carve out and work on each day?

Do you ever feel conflicted, as if your job is less important than all that spiritual stuff you could be doing for God? You have lots to get done, but the “spiritual” people are telling you to just relax, quit trying so hard, and ‘let go and let God.’1 Do you feel that faux guilt? What is a responsible person to do?

If you’re productive, resourceful and hard-working, you press on through. You’re responsible for people, projects and tasks. Are you supposed to sit and read your Bible and pray all day when your job is to lead, decide, invent, confront and create?

It seems we pastors are suddenly realizing that people have jobs and life and stress, and it isn’t just the ‘religious professionals’ who are doing God’s work. (Yep, I can admittedly be pretty slow to see others’ contributions in God’s mission.) This is a good development. Yet to be honest, I think we pastors tend to have a skewed view of work — and aren’t known for possessing the best work ethic in general — so we’re not really the best in equipping people to work with all their might.

Where can people turn to learn how to get things done, from a godly perspective?

I’ve read numerous books on productivity, including David Allen’s Getting Things Done. My copy is highlighted all over, and I keep it near my desk for reference. GTD was really helpful for a guy who tries to do too much, too fast, all at once. (Yep, I’m a recovering multitasker.) Yet, I couldn’t adopt the ‘system’ wholesale, partly because of the spiritual nature of my work. Something annoyed me about all these business leadership books. They’re all about self-empowerment and emphasize self-actualization. Potential is a terrible thing to waste. But is it the worst thing to waste?

Enter a site like whatsbestnext.com. For years Matt Perman has been faithfully writing on productivity from a God-centered emphasis. God’s glory is the most terrible thing to waste, and we have a responsibility to honor and reflect Him in all we do (and why we do it). Motivation matters. Matt’s a consummate learner, and thoughtful reflector on all he learns and does. Leaders are readers; leaders are also doers. Been reading his blog for years, yet wondered when he’s go deeper in equipping Christian leaders, publishing an accessible book. Alas, here it is.
What's Best Next
Matt Perman says why he wrote the new book, What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done, which released this week:

“My aim in this book is to reshape the way you think about productivity and then present a practical approach to help you become more effective in your life with less stress and frustration, whatever you are doing.
I want to help you live the life that God has called you to live, and to live it with maximum effectiveness and meaning. If you are an executive, I want to help you be a better executive. If you are a homemaker, to be a better homemaker. If you are a pastor, to be a better pastor. If you are a creative professional, to be a better creative professional. If you are a missionary, to be a better missionary. And if you don’t know what life God has called you to live, I want to help you find it.”

In fact, I am convinced that this book will be helpful for anyone wanting to get things done. Obviously, for Christians, yet also for anyone. If you buy one for a non-Christian (or not-yet-Christian) business leader, and they don’t find it imminently helpful, I will buy it back from them. Seriously.

Perman knows that bad productivity approaches are annoying. And stresses that managing ourselves well is foundational to all we do. Plus, if you’re more efficient, you’ll be more effective, and thus be able to do more good for others. (See, it’s not about you!) In 350+ pages, coupled with a thorough table of contents and some fabulous appendices for quick reference, What’s Best Next will help you create a productivity approach that works, and helps you do more good for others.

Another quick excerpt:

Continue reading →

  1. I find the phrase “Let go and let God” to be lazy and unhelpful. It doesn’t reflect the message of Jesus, which would be more like: “Trust Me, rest in Me. And get to work doing what I want you to do.” ↩
 

What is poverty?

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What if poverty isn’t about a lack of food, money, or clothing?

What if our attempts to help the poor can actually hurt them?

Good intentions aren’t enough.

Brian Fikkert—co-author of When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself 1, and founder and executive director of the Chalmers Center (whose vision is for “local churches to declare and demonstrate to people who are poor that Jesus Christ is making all things new”)—looks at the deeper meaning of poverty [video]:

We were created for a relationship with God, self, others, and the rest of creation.

It’s a beautiful mess.

—

Let us commit to learning together how we can walk with the poor in humble relationships, rather than only providing temporary handouts to them. We cannot “fix” them. Only Jesus can.

I too am poor.

You are too. 

—

Continue reading →

  1. I can think of no better book on poverty and truly helping the poor than When Helping Hurts (Amazon, WTS Books). ↩
 

Bravery: risk-taking faith.

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True discipleship is radical and risk-taking, because true disciples rely on God to keep his promises to bless them, and not on their own instincts, plans, or insurance policies.

It is hard to be truly brave without faith in God. The kind of bravery that does not arise out of faith in God is adventurism, or macho heroism, or plain cruelty. It can be rooted in insecurity, or a desperation to prove oneself, or hopelessness. Only faith-based bravery will walk the line between atrocities on the one side, and cowardice and ineffectiveness on the other.
—Timothy Keller, Judges For You

 

The God with dirty hands.

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What does God think of the messiness of our lives? Is He mad like the parent who tells the kids to clean their rooms only to return and find them dirtier and more disheveled than before?

I’ve found through Jesus God the Father comes and cleans up the mess alongside us, even doing the hardest parts gladly, yet letting us feel like we’ve contributed to the project. Of course, without Him it (and we) would still be a mess, and simply put, He’s done it all. All because Jesus proves God doesn’t mind getting messy.

“We worship a God who gets His hands dirty, forming humanity from the dust of creation, becoming human and breathing His first breaths in the filth of a stable, and living an ordinary life as a carpenter. His hands are stained with blood and dust as He climbs Golgotha and His hands are forever scarred by nails as He dies for you and me. The story of the Gospel is a story that takes place within our world, beginning in a garden, journeying through deserts, and showing up in the landscapes and living rooms of our own stories, where we first came to know Jesus and hear what He’d done to bring us back to God.
… Though Jesus has ascended to heaven, He’s not finished with getting His hands dirty. Now, though, His intent is to get His hands in the dirt through you and me as we live in the world on His behalf.” 1

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  1. Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for a your a Spiritual Journey, 195-196. ↩
 

Faithresting.

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When we come to Jesus we “arrive in the presence of God, whose wrath we should fear and whose holiness should terrify us, yet He gives us rest. Not wrath. Not judgment. Not condemnation. Rest. Rest from struggling, proving, earning, laboring, and losing. We’re given an easy yoke and a light burden. The membership dues are no greater than the entrance fee—and Jesus has taken care of them both. ‘Y’all just come on in,’ He says, again and again. ‘The laboring is done with, and I’m not starting it up again.'”1

Faithmapping_closein

28 Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest. 30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. 2

  1. Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey, 174, “Disciples.” ↩
  2. Matthew 11:28-30, The Voice ↩
 

I know my weakness, know my voice, but I believe in Grace & choice …

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Mumford & Sons’ newly-filmed music video of “BABEL,” filmed in San Francisco:

Excellent filmography, better melodies, and even better-est words…

So you may sing along, here are the lyrics to Babel1, the title track on their newest album:

‘Cause I know that time has numbered my days
And I’ll go along with everything you say
But I’ll ride home laughing, look at me now
The walls of my town, they come crumbling down

And my ears hear the call of my unborn sons
And I know their choices color all I’ve done
But I’ll explain it all to the watchman’s son,
I ain’t ever lived a year better spent in love

‘Cause I’ll know my weakness, know my voice
And I believe in grace and choice
And I know perhaps my heart is fast,
But I’ll be born without a mask

Like the city that nurtured my greed and my pride,
I stretch my arms into the sky
I cry Babel! Babel! Look at me now
Then the walls of my town, they come crumbling down

Continue reading →

  1. “Babel” is the one missing song I wish they’d played live at their recent concert at the Rose Garden in Portland, which was quite simply the best concert I’ve ever attended. (And yes, I’m aware there’s a controversy on whether this band is “Christian.” Thus I tend to reserve their two songs featuring an F-bomb in the chorus to those times I need a little angst to get me up a steep hill while running.) ↩
 

I am not what I ought to be …

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John Newton“I am not what I ought to be — ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be — I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be — soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.'”

—John Newton1 reflecting on 1 Corinthians 15:10.

  1. As quoted in The Christian Pioneer (1856) edited by Joseph Foulkes Winks, p. 84. Also in The Christian Spectator, vol. 3 (1821), p. 186. ↩