Be Still and Know…

I’m good at bucking trends and beating odds.

Medically speaking, I beat the odds again this week. It’s extremely rare for an adult to contract the childhood disease known as “Hand-foot-mouth.” Since I don’t like to be typical, I decided I’d come down with the relatively harmless but very uncomfortable and inconvenient illness. Today has been day three of dealing with blisters on my hands, tongue, and throat. While I’m feeling a tad better, I’m still quite contagious and am taking every precaution to not get my family sick.

So, I’ve relegated my existence primarily to the back deck, dining room table, and bed. It doesn’t help that I am a people person by nature. On top of that, this was my first week away from my job at the bank. I switched gears so I could focus my energies on part-time work, school, and ministry. I had some AWESOME plans set up for this week and next. But my contagiousness and exhaustion have not allowed me to do much of anything, except for resting. I think that’s what the Doctor is ordering…

SILENCIO, POR FAVOR

In a day of apps and podcasts and music and videos and all kinds of communication, it is hard to “be still and know” that the Lord is God. It’s been extremely hard to go from 60-hours a week of work to absolutely nothing. I’ve desired to spend time with the Lord these last few days, but I have programmed myself to need noise and entertainment all my waking hours. It is hard to tune out the noise and commune with Christ.

Last night I had a bit of a breakthrough, though. One practice of mine is to occasionally read out loud a passage of Scripture and record it. That way, I can play it back over and over, and it becomes a whole lot easier to dwell on and reflect. If I’m reading out loud, there’s not a whole lot else that I can be paying attention to. So, last night I began recording, chapter by chapter, the book of Acts. Mega encouraging, mega sobering. Since recording, I’ve listened to it at least twice, and have had the words of Luke the doctor/historian ringing through my brain. Very, very grateful…

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU

So, here’s my challenge to you, whether you are sick or not. Pick a book of the Bible. I’d suggest, for now, something from the New Testament. Something a bit shorter (Philippians is a great place to start!) Whether it’s through a recording app you have on your phone or computer, or if it’s an old-fashioned tape recorder, read out loud and record that book, one chapter at a time. Save it. Play it back often. Just like in reading the Word, each time you go through a passage, you’ll begin to see new things as you interact and dwell on God’s revelation to man.

**Pick a book of the Bible

**Record it, one chapter at a time

**Play it back at least daily for a month

**Grab a notebook/journal/online notepad and take notes of anything that grabs your attention. What is God saying? What does He mean? How will you respond?

**Pick a new book for the next month and repeat….

**Let me know how this goes for you!

 

An Open Letter to My Beloved Confluence Church

Dear Confluence Church,

I hope you are all doing well this evening. Been thinking a lot about you these last couple of days, and I thought I’d drop a line. Mostly a thank-you letter, with a few extras sprinkled in.

First, I have to say that these two months that my wife, son, and I have been a part of your fellowship have been a significant blessing to us. Although we miss our home church three hours north of here, we feel like we’ve discovered new family here. Operating as a house church has its unique challenges; however, it also has it’s unique privileges. While I’m still adjusting to life without pews, I am gladly soaking in the sense of earnest community.

My wife told me the other day that a great tag line for Confluence Church would be, “More Than Just Church.” She is absolutely right! When I walk through the door (or host our meetings at our house), I don’t feel like I need to put on any kind of front. Whether I’m in a great mood or crummy one, whether I’m tired, depressed, or ridiculously joyful, I feel warmly embraced by people who are also not wearing masks. Whether I preach well or lay a goose egg, whether I’m coherent or not, you all are so incredibly accepting and loving.

One thing that earnest community does is celebrate together the victories and cry together in the defeats. In these short two months, we’ve had opportunities to come alongside hurting people, mentor challenging pre-teen boys, encourage fathers, support overwhelmed college students, bless busy families, and get to know new friends who are just kind of floating by.

Confluence Friends, you’ve been a real encouragement to me spiritually. How refreshing it’s been to take a month off of planned or programmed times together! Instead, our times of deliberate prayer and worship have been amazing! We’ve been able to get to know each other quickly, and we’ve been able to seek God’s will for our small fellowship. And yes, I do mean fellowship in the biblical sense. Not just “get together and goof around,” like most people define “fellowship.” I mean “partnership” together. We’ve been a fledgling church on a mission. A mission to:

**Seek God’s face

**Worship Him

**Understand God’s Word together

**Build unity and community together

**Devote ourselves to good teaching, partnership, eating together, and praying together.

Regardless of what we look like in five years in terms of size, location, or format, I pray that we don’t lose this part of our identity. If we do, then we need to put on the brakes and move on to church b, c, or d. Stay committed to what God has shown you to be thus far. You are a beautiful, organic thing, Confluence Church.

Here are a couple of things I’d like to encourage you with.

**Don’t be afraid to do this stop-the-presses-and-pray-for-a-month thing OFTEN. Our regularly scheduled programming can just wait. 😉

**Don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable. God may ask us to reach out to a particular group of people we don’t know well, or He may want us to move beyond our ecclesiastical, church preferences. More hymns, more worship choruses, more electric guitar, more banjo, more cowbell, more drama, more dance, more food, more time. God could ask us to have more or less of anything.  Let’s let Him lead…

**Don’t be afraid to be bold. As we become a light in our neighborhoods and in our town, we will be called to say things that aren’t very popular. We can’t shrink back. And we can’t be shy when it comes to sharing the truths of the Bible with each other.

**Don’t be afraid of the extremes. One day God may show us that Confluence was just for a short season and ask us to all to move on to other fellowships. OR He may have bigger plans for our church, and call us to expand our family by hundreds or maybe thousands. Trust God for direction and the courage to move that way.

**Don’t be afraid to fail. We could make some well-intentioned decisions and do some things that just fall flat. That’s okay. God’s still on His throne and He’ll never go on vacation or lose our file. He’s got us covered.

Thank you for letting God use you all to impact my life. God’s goodness is evident, and His Spirit is alive and working in each of you. Don’t quit!

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7

Thanks for taking a moment to hear me out. Until we see each other again soon-

All the Way Home,

Brandon

p.s. Thanks for all the coffee.

The Discipleship Paradigm

Been thinking about the total package of following Jesus. including helping others walk with Him. What all does discipleship entail? What paradigm must I switch to in order to go from a weekend-only Christian to an everyday, on-fire follower of Jesus?

Here are a few short musings of mine on the various layers of living a passionate, sold-out life for Jesus:

The COST of Discipleship- following Jesus and helping others to do the same requires sacrifice of time, energy, and resources. And it’s much more serious that just that. Whether in life or in death, discipleship also costs you your life.

The JOY of Discipleship- following Jesus and helping others to do the same taps into a wellspring of soul-level blessing, allowing you and those you influence to experience ridiculous amounts of joy that can only come from God. As we grow in closeness with Jesus, we see our lives change from the inside out. As we help others grow, we have front-row seats to the work of God in the lives of those we are investing in!

The ACHE of Discipleship- The more time I have walked with Jesus, one thing consistently comes into clearer focus- my permanent need for a Savior. We must live in the tension of, on one hand, seeing God work in our hearts and change us, but on the other hand, seeing our sinful selves resist those very changes. From here until the grave, we wear an earthsuit that is soiled with sin. We are bent toward selfishness. As the Holy Spirit works in us, we will definitely see our character change. But until we are perfected on the day of His coming, we must live with the ache of following Jesus and helping others do the same IMPERFECTLY. We long for home, and we ache.

The TOOLS of Discipleship- In order to follow Jesus and to help others do the same, we must have love. Love for God, love for people, a love for God’s Word, and a love for prayer. These ingredients will open your eyes to God’s priorities.

The POWER for Discipleship- Galatians 2:20 shows us that the Christian is no longer on his own to try to live, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives THROUGH us! There is only One who can successfully live the Christian life, and that’s Christ Himself. Our feeble attempts are powerless and can lead to frustration for us and heartbreak for God. Pray and ask the Lord to live through you as you follow Him and help others do the same.

The PASSION of Discipleship- As we grow closer and closer with Christ, we can’t help but be involved in His work here on earth. Whether you are a pastor or a painter, a church planter or a chiropractor, we all are on a mission from God. The idea that we should leave ministry up to the professional clergy is ludicrous and lazy. We each are especially equipped with GIFTS and OPPORTUNITIES in order for us to reach the world for Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit take you where He wants you to be. Don’t be afraid. Passionately follow the footsteps of Christ!

God’s Emergency Room

PREFACE

I love Michael Card’s music – his integrity, his lyrics, his musicality. And I appreciate how his work is always grounded in hope. Nothing sugar coated, just an honest darkness-broken-by-Light truth that he conveys in every single song. I’m thinking just now of his “Joy in the Journey.”

i’ve been listening to that song since I was a teenager. It was a blessing then, but I hadn’t yet experienced the depth of what that song captures. I had to traverse the journey a ways first before I could truly appreciate the joy that can only come from Christ while we’re in the middle of hardship.

I’m thankful that we don’t just have a some-day sort of hope for the day that Christ returns and we go home to live with Him forever. The joy and assurance that come from knowing we’re secure in our relationship with our Heavenly Father here and now is meant to be a “foretaste of glory divine,” a constant reminder that we have been ransomed by the King of the Universe from the clutches of sin and hell.

Life is hard, and I’m not about to paint a rainbows-and-roses picture of life on earth. For me, compared to starving children in Ethiopia, to little girls home and abroad who are swept away by the sea of sex trafficking, to men who have been wrongfully imprisoned for most of their adult lives, to women who have been raped or abused by their husbands, compared to MOST PEOPLE around the world, I have lived a sheltered, safe, comfortable life. Our struggles in life are unique to us; the level of pain and heartache is relative. While my life’s hurts don’t compare to those of, say, Sarajevo’s cellist, whose beloved city was pummeled to pieces in the mid-90s, I have never experienced a civil war within my own country’s borders.

On the flip-side of the coin, no one else has experienced my particular brand of depression or grief. Countless people are immersed in severe clinical depression and grief over the loss of a loved one, but no one has lived through the exact same circumstances that I have.

While I write, I’m not trying to say “Oh, woe is me. See I what I went through.” While the cellist’s specific circumstances and mine are different, we can dig through the rubble of both our tragedies to find common ground, underlying pieces of evidence that God is good and that He is in control.

My life, in the grand scheme of things, is not that special. We’re not little “snowflakes,” entitled to special attention from everyone and anyone. But I write because my God is special, my God is holy, and my God seeks to draw men unto Himself. In every trial and tribulation I’ve been through, I’ve seen the hand of God at work. You see, this piece of writing isn’t about ME, it’s about the God of the Universe who desires that “none should perish, but that all should have eternal life.” While no one has sinned precisely just like me, the reasons for sin and the consequences of our selfish choices are quite similar.

 I’m a messed up guy in constant need of a Savior.

These anecdotes are not mine, but I’m merely a steward of them. They were especially coordinated, woven, and ordered by an all-powerful God who is, at the same time, loving, gracious, and good. I pray that as I share these episodes of my life, that I treat them with honesty, clarity, transparency, and humility. My hope is that you can see that through my life God’s love and work have been quite evident, and that in whatever it is you experience – now or down the road – this same God will be diligently at work. I want you to know that He loves you.

Thanks in advance for reading…

SELF-SUFFICIENT

Winnie the Pooh galoshes. Hated ‘em. They were bright, colorful, hard to get on, and they prevented a boy from being, well, a boy. Mom insisted that my brother and I wear our galoshes any time we went out in the rain and mud. This day was no different.

In a small section of our expansive back yard, we had an area with a swing set that we called “the play yard.” Perfect place to play in the dirt, to defy the limits of the swings, to enjoy our Tonka Trucks (to clear away any misunderstanding – it was I who buried all those dump trucks and dozers deep in the soil, just for fun. My brother was not even an accomplice in the case.) It was a place to just get lost in!

Well, we were goofing around in the play yard, yes, in our galoshes. The rain was intermittent, and the soil was soggy. I don’t remember, but for some reason, my brother went in the house. I was addicted to the play yard, and I want to goof around some more. Typical elementary school behavior.

After sliding and swinging and climbing some more, I found myself near the ladder of the slide. I paused for a moment before looking down. I couldn’t move my feet, galoshes and all. As the rain began to pour, I began to sink into the soft mud. I was completely stuck. Those shoe-enveloping rain boots wouldn’t budge.

Instead of calling for help, I fought and I fought with with the elements. Yet, for what seemed like an hour, I could not win. Did I yell for Mom or Dad to help me out? No. I felt like I had what it took to get me out of my jam. Definitely a matter of pride and especially self-sufficiency.

Finally, someone randomly came out of the house looking for me. I don’t recall who it was, but they found me in my sad, soggy state and helped free me and my Winnie the Pooh Galoshes from the muck and mire.

PRIDEFUL

When I was eight years old, I broke my femur on the first day of summer vacation, right after I was done with the 2nd grade. What an ordeal! Missed the Olympic Torch which was carried through my hometown, missed the yearly visiting carnival, missed hanging out with my friends and family. I was in traction for over a month, then a hideous body cast for over a month, and then in physical therapy for a few weeks before school started up again. However, one thing that I was thrilled about was the beginning of my nine-year soccer career at the end of that summer. I had gained a lot of weight, but I wanted to get some exercise and to be on a team, like my older brother.

At some point early in my soccer years, I recall asking one of my older sisters a very revealing question after a game. I know now that I was not a great player, but at that time I thought I was somethin’ else. After a game in which I thought I did particularly well, I asked my sister, “So, do you think I’m the best player out there?”

My ever-diplomatic and sensitive sister replied, “Well, I thought you did a very good job today.”  Even after pressing her to clarify her stance, she didn’t seem to have arrived at the same conclusion I had. I thought I was better than all the kids on my team, and I wanted to be acknowledged for it. I wanted to be valuable.

COMMON THREAD

Yes, I might appear to be hard on my younger self. I imagine most kids that age want to be affirmed and that they want to know they can do things on their own. I wasn’t at all unique in those ways. What I do want to draw out, though, is that I see these two issues – self-sufficiency and pride- as the common thread that was been a part of my whole life. They are a permanent part of my inner wiring, part of my earthsuit that I will wear until I go Home.

And, as I carefully dig through the story of mankind throughout the Bible, we have always leaned toward our default positions of pride and self-sufficiency. Look through the prophets of the Old Testament. Ezekiel passes on several rebuking message from God to the Israelites regarding these two ever-present issues. Not only do men and women of old demonstrate these glaring flaws, trace the trajectory of all of our lives and I bet you will find these two issues intertwined all throughout.

I know that all through my life I have thought higher of myself than I ought, and I have aimed to pull myself up by my own boot straps (or galoshes, take your pick).

While I can tell countless stories of how I have been prideful or self-sufficient all throughout my life, this isn’t the focus of this work. Paul the Apostle tells the church in Rome, “…but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The deepest part of my story isn’t my sin, but the deepest part of me is the grace that saved me from that sin.

While we talk about sin and call it what it is, our gaze mustn’t stop there. We must see that forgiveness of sins is available because of the death of Someone who didn’t have any sin in His life at all. He died on my behalf in order to give me that deep grace.

Prime Rib Prayers, Part 3 (“Walk Worthy of the Lord”)

I have dug out my notes for my study through Paul’s prayers in his New Testament writings, prayers that focus on God’s intervention in the church’s spiritual life. I see these types of prayers -prayers about eternal, spiritual things- as “Prime Rib Prayers.” It’s okay, and quite encouraged to lay before the Lord all of our needs. But let’s not stop at asking God for physical healing or financial provision. Let’s pray and ask God to grow us more and more into the men and women He desires for us to be, and pray the same for those around us.

Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-12 starts off with, “We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord….”

The first phrase I looked at was “filled with the knowledge of His will.” Check my previous posts for the first two installments. Now I turn our attention toward the phrase, “walk worthy of the Lord…”

The six or so items in the “Prime Rib Prayer” in Colossians 1 are not separate, unrelated topics; they describe a progression. Paul prays for a filling of the knowledge of God’s will “SO THAT” you may walk worthy of the Lord…

So, once we are filled with the knowledge of what makes the Father happy, we then have the capacity to “walk worthy of the Lord.”

In Romans 6:5 Paul describes how believers have a new way of “walking,” a different way of living once we come to an understanding of our need for a Savior, “Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.” Notice the Father’s glory is what raised Christ from the dead.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we don’t raise ourselves from a life of sin. We are raised up to walk in this new pattern of living by the power of the Father.

Elsewhere, in Galatians 2:20, Paul further explains how this new way of walking, of living, works: “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Jesus Christ is the only one who can live the Christian life. WE have a moment-by-moment decision to either cooperate with the Holy Spirit and let Christ live through us or walk in the failing power of the flesh.

To “walk worthy of the Lord” means that we are aware of our shortcomings, of our constant need for grace, and that we humbly agree to yield to the indwelling power of Christ to live and move through us.

In and of ourselves, we cannot walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. What is pleasing to the Father is for Him to see us fully dependent on Him, trusting Him to live, speak, and move through us.

The prophet Isaiah makes the quality of our good deeds quite clear: “All of us have become something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.” (Isaiah 64:6) It cannot be us who generate the ability for ourselves to walk, to live, in a way that pleases God.

So, then, doesn’t this progression leave us high and dry? Set us up for failure? Why should we be filled with an understanding of what pleases God if we don’t have the ability to carry out these things?

So that we can know God’s heart, and so we can ask him for strength and ability to walk obediently in specific ways. In and of myself I know I can’t muster up the ability to forgive people who have deeply wounded me. But God is clear in the Bible that we are to forgive one another as many times as the person offends us.

So, when I read the passages in Scripture about forgiveness, it becomes easy to see that forgiveness pleases the Father, that relational reconciliation matters to Him in His carefully crafted system of living.

Therefore, I am compelled to humbly pray and ask God to soften my heart toward the person who has wounded me, and ask for the supernatural ability to genuinely forgive this person.

This progression in Paul’s prayer has a built-in means of making us see our absolute need, our utter reliance on God to do anything remotely pleasing to Him.

As we “walk worthy of the Lord” by relying on Him to live the Christian life through us, a special spiritual intimacy cannot help but develop before our very eyes!

Next post: “Fully Pleasing To Him…”

Don’t Forget to Fly

Last night I went with several friends to see the high school production of Peter Pan. The students performed remarkably, and I found myself thoroughly entertained. The ending of Peter Pan, though, always bothers me a little bit.

At the end of the story, Wendy the “mother” to all the lost boys, ends up growing into an adult, marrying, and having a child of her own. Peter Pan, as promised, comes to visit years later to get Wendy to help with spring cleaning. Well, Wendy sates, “I have forgotten how to fly.” She simply cannot leave her life of responsibility to return to Neverland.

This is reminiscent of at least two other stories. I love the Chronicles of Narnia, but one melancholy moment that strikes me deeply is when the ever-so-logical Susan is no longer able to return to Narnia because she’s become so serious-minded, she can’t bring herself to believe in Aslan anymore. I am also reminded of the more recent Polar Express, where those who don’t believe in Santa cannot hear the jingling of the Christmas bell from Santa’s sleigh.

Where’s the balance? As a youth minister, I have the privilege of using my spiritual gift of goofiness to build bridges with young adults. I thoroughly enjoy laughing heartily, being silly, and subjecting myself to plenty of jokes and pranks. These things are a part of my joie de vivre, the joy of living.

Another part of my life, though, is the day-to-day responsibility. The bills, the meetings, sometimes having to wear a necktie, setting a good example, taking care of my health, etc. Peter Pan wouldn’t approve of many of these adult-level necessities.

Yet –
I still want to fly.
I still want to enter Narnia.
I still want to ride the Polar Express.

I am not about to abandon the things that I’ve committed to as an adult. I’m still working on making my “yes be yes, and my no be no.” However –

The other day I was speaking with a teenage friend of mine. She is an enthusiastic supporter of Compassion International, and is involved with a few international kids’ lives. She had recently received some new pictures of one of “her” children. We both noticed as we perused the photo was the lack of smiles on the faces in the picture. Many children and a few adults were at a birthday party. Not one person was smiling. Now, I would bet that before and after that camera flash flashed, most everyone was having an enjoyable time at the celebration. But some cultures (including American culture in previous generations), for some reason, do not think it’s necessary or proper to smile for a photo.

I don’t want my life to reflect these anti-smile photographic cultures. I don’t want to be so wrapped up in the seriousness of life that I forget to smile. Or laugh. Or fly.

Crossroads of Joy
That leads me to my goal, then. I have two goals that must, somehow, mesh. As I mentioned before, I won’t give up my adult responsibilities. That would be foolish. But I also do not want to trade in my smile for a scowl, my laugh for a grunt. Then I must look to constantly protect the culture of Brandon. What does that look like?

The Value of Humor
One of my business clients, a corporation that plans large-scale governmental and amateur sporting events, lists as one of their corporate values as “humor.” How refreshing is that?! They clearly take their business seriously, or else they would not have had the success they’ve enjoyed for a quarter of a century. But they haven’t forgotten to laugh. Or smile. Or, dare I say, “fly.”

As I approach my life, then, with all the meetings, bills, etc., I want to list as one of my values “humor.” I’m not talking about a superficial, fake laughter that comes at awkward moments. I’m not speaking of a pretend smile that is as detectable as generic macaroni and cheese (the stuff does not compare to Kraft!). I am talking about a genuine life, full of joy, laughter, smiles, and humor, infused by the joy that comes from a thankful heart. God is the giver of all good things, and when I’ve recognized His goodness toward me in small things and in big, I can’t help but smile.

I find myself
flying –
living in Narnia –
and believing in the giver of all good gifts.