View of God

Good things, beautiful things ... ugly, messy, wonderful, ordinary, blah, down, up, encouraging, depressing. These are the stages of life. Each one will occur to everyone. We know this. We look around the world and if we look close enough, we can find each one taking place.

Good times are so wonderful. I saw a post yesterday by a former UGA defensive player, "Going on vacation with my family today. I'm so glad that for the first time in my life, I won't have to worry about money. God is good." That was cool. A young man with grew up among the poor in our society and was able to rise into wealth through his athletic skill. I know enough about him to be very proud for him and of him. He's always carried himself with grace and with a love for God. But I wonder, is God good regardless?

Matt Redman's song, "Blessed Be The Name" of the Lord", says that He gives and takes away, "he gives and takes away, my heart will choose to say, Blessed be the name, of the Lord." Is our faith circumstantial? When the tough times come, and they will come, are we prepared to abandon our God? Is ours, the first situation in which a human, a person (i.e. Not God), had a difficult circumstance occur? All of a sudden, because of our difficult situation (a sickness, a death, an accident, Katrina, Oil Spill, Haiti, wars in Uganda, real estate market crash, cancer) God has changed? Therefore good circumstance = good God. Bad circumstance = bad God, how could you do this God, I can't follow a God that would allow this ____, God must not be a loving God if he allows this to occur.

All of this does not take away from the pain, the hurt and the devastation. But we need to determine our view of God. Is he good or isn't he? If he is, the scriptures say the he is unchanging, he is forever the same, forever good. In Matthew, Jesus says, "If you then, though you are sinful, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does our Father in heaven desire to give good gifts to the children of God? (paraphrase)? If we have any good in our desires, how much more our perfect and loving God.

Then what is going on, why does bad and wrong occur? Often it is said, that when someone is going through a difficult time, they need someone to rely on, they don't need someone that knows all the answers. I definitely don't know all of the answers. But I am writing this now, because I've encountered more than anyone looking from the outside at me would ever guess. They'll never admit it because saying to others, you have no idea, you've never been through X is easier, pity party for one please. Truth is, we all experience shxt. It is a messy world. We tease ourselves when we believe it is just us, we are all alone.

Whenever terrible times occur, it has been very helpful for me to remember this fact, There are plenty of examples now and in our history, of individuals that experienced WORSE situations than mine and yet, they handled them with more STRENGTH and more GRACE. Re-read that. Worse situations have been handled Better. The holocaust was pretty bad. Nelson Mandela in appartheid went through some mess, the apostles being beaten to the point of death, the apostles experiencing death, oh and Jesus of Nazareth. Believe me, you are not alone. God gets it. He understands and he is with you...this is our God. He is hurting with you, alongside you, even when you're cursing him out. He understands that too.

One of the things I know about my God, he knows a bit more than I do. I can't figure out how 7 different personalities at work, plus our CEO and management team are going to land on two decisions facing us right now. In the context of the world and universe, I know very little. My God knows though. After nine-eleven, PBS ran a special "God and 911". It was interesting to see who came closer to God and who was driven away. Those who were driven away had a view of God that apparently didn't include his allowing a terrorist attack. I wonder what else their view of God doesn't allow. What else would have happened that would have meant their abandoning their love of Christ.

Maybe this helps, following God doesn't mean things are going to be blessed (from a human perspective) all the time. Things are going to be horrible, the scripture promises this. Bad things are going to happen regardless. If you're following God because you don't want bad things to happen, it may be time to follow something else. Build a bubble maybe.

I am not being flippant. Emotions are real experiences. Emotions and reactions to difficult situation with hurt and sorrow and even despair are often right. I just submit to you that God is with you, not against you. However he is moving, he is allowing the brokeness of the world to be broken much of the time. But he also allows beauty. He brings beauty. He wants us to engage him in seeing and creating the beauty by living love in our homes, workplaces, communities.

His mind is bigger than our mind, and this is not a copout. If there is a God, and I wholly believe there is, he is going to know everything and my mind will not be able to comprehend much of it. Like a 6 month old to C.S. Lewis, could it be that the gap between our understanding and God's is even greater? Probably. Actually, most definitely. I need to be careful about making these kinds of statements, but I don't want to follow a God who doesn't have a greater understanding than I. God is omniscient. He is BIG. He is Good. This I know, thought I don't always understand.

I therefore appreciate the mystery of God. Sovereignty vs Free Will ... where does one end and the other begin? Who knows. My God is sovereign and nothing happens without his okay, without his acceptance and will. Yet, I know my foolishness has consequences. Living in a broken world assures me that brokenness will occur. Death occurs. Disease, poverty, divorce, laziness, depression, hunger all occur. My God is still good. Scripture has much to say about his love for the disadvantaged, for the hurting. Psalm 34 "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, he saves those who are crushed in spirit." Isaiah 1:17, "Learn to do what is right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow." God cares. He is with those who hurt. He opposes the proud.

I know a list is the worst in direct conversation during suffering, so I give you my thoughts now. Here is my understanding of why bad occurs:
1) I bring a lot of consequences on myself through foolishness, being too simple minded, through sin. Take a look at Proverbs and in 31 days, you'll see how much mess comes from our choices.
2) Living in a broken world. Others will sin, and sometimes others sin affects my life. We are interconnected more than then post-modern will have you believe. Our choices affect others. Others choices affect me. Drunk drivers in a wreck often affect many lives.
3) Living in a broken world. The world itself is broken, natural disasters, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and more will occur. Disease will occur, sometimes to me, sometimes to those I love.

This world is a mix of beauty and mess. Don't miss the beauty while experiencing the mess. The love of those around you. The love of your God. Hold close to his word for he says he's moving on your behalf, for those who love him, he is not surprised. Your good will come out of whatever it is. Live with honor, through the good and bad. You may or may not see how he is moving on your behalf. He doesn't promise us all knowledge now, but, one day you will.

Our God is BIG. Our God is GOOD. Take your hurt to him and allow others in enough to show you the beauty of the Body of Christ at work.

Living By Influence

Patterns are everywhere, I am fascinated by them.

One of the greatest forces (and patters) in the world is the influence of our peers and our environment. There is an indirect power of boundaries, expectations and culture that is passed through those individuals and groups with whom we associate. They shape us.

This can be a huge benefit in life. Through careful selection, those around us can make us better, pull us forward in directions we need to go through their influence. "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." "Keeping up with the Joneses," isn't restricted to financial decisions. Go to any public event where thousands are around and you'll immediately spot the individuals who have been friends long enough to dress the same and look the same. Habits form. Mannerisms and sayings are repeated and engrained. A new language often develops. I look at those close to me, much of this is true.

This then is our quandry. We live in a world of pop culture, short-term thinking, soft perspectives to work and often low expectations of each other. I just started reading The First Tycoon, about Cornelius Vanderbilt by TJ Stiles. This quote by Mark Twain sums up our Pop fascination as well now, as it did then...written to C.Vanderbilt, " You seem to be the idol of ... a crawling swarm of small souls who ... sing of your unimportant private habits and sayings and doings, as if your $ millions gave them dignity."

If we live in this difficult environment for perspective, if the quote by Mark Twain is similar to our culture's focus, if the short-term is the normal mindset, if we are trying to live out wisdom (inspite of our failures), how are we to find and evaluate, "How then shall we live?". Living by the impressions of others give us wisdom but can also provide us with false expectations and influence that we need to shed to live out our calling.

On the journey of gaining perspective, the movie The Matrix provides much insight. In this setting, the world is living in what is a false reality, carrying on by rules and code set by others. It was easy, fun and seemingly better to be living in the false reality (doing things that had no lasting value) versus living in the real world (with the difficulties it contained). This was best summed up by Cypher,

"You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? [Takes a bite of steak]
Ignorance is bliss"

It's easy to live by the T.V.

It's easy to waste time on things that don't last and don't really matter.

It's easy to want to be apart of conversations therefore we change our habits.

It's natural to live by the constructs of others.

It's natural to think that my appearance matters more than my character and discipline.

What car do I drive, What house do I live in, What school do my children attend, Where do I vacation? These are questions I allow my surroundings to impose upon my life. Some are valid and some are taken too far, with expectations that do not help my mission.

Comfort and ease are our enemies. The natural state of the world is a river gently taking us in its direction. "I have always had a dread of becoming a passenger in life." - Denmark's Queen Margrete II

It takes effort, to consider a higher way. How best to live? What am I called to do? How should we prepare our children? What is truly important in life? What will I care about in 30 years vs next week?

I was talking about raising children with a friend recently. I was pointing out patterns of the past and he replied, "But that was a different time." We didn't get a chance to finish the conversations but, yes, it was different. It is worth visiting and considering how things have been done in the past 10 thousand years at various points in time, maybe our way today, is not the best way. Maybe it is. Let us consider it though, let us intentionally consider the options and select our way because we decided to, not because it was it is the recently popular way.

There is influence we need to pay attention to because it is right. There are other influences that you will have to choose to avoid, because you are choosing a different path. "I don't know all of the reasons for success, but I do know one of the key reasons for failure, Try to make everyone happy"

"People begin to become successful the minute they decide to be." --Harvey Mackay. May we be thoughtful in the direction we choose.