Going too fast?

The other night, I read the following from Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli. I found it challenging:

"We are moving as fast as we can, living life at a dizzying speed, and God is nowhere to be found. We're not rejecting God' we just don't have time for him. We've lost him in the blurred landscape as we rush to church. We don't struggle with the Bible, but with the clock. It's not that we're too decadent, we're too busy. We don'tfeelguilty because we sin, but because we have no time for our spouses, our children,or our God. It's not sinning too much that is killing our souls, it's our schedule that's annihilating us. Most of us don't come home at night staggering drunk. Instead we come home staggering tired, worn out, exhausted and drained because we live too fast.
Speed is not neutral. Fast living used to mean a life of debauchery; now it just means fast, but the consequences are even more serious. Speeding through life endangers our relationships and our souls....
...Too many of us are running as fast as we can, and an alarming number of us are running much faster than we can sustain."

He finishes by pointing to the scripture below.

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
(Mat 11:28-30)

Now hurry up and go slow.

A Corinthian Chruch Service

We went to Birmingham this weekend and celebrated recent family birthdays with relatives. It was an enjoyable visit. Even got to see a few friends too.

On Sunday we visited Disciples Fellowship. It was a bit of a homecoming as we had attended Homewood Church of Christ with many of the members. DF is an emerging type church in Bham. I am always caused to think when I am with them because so much of what they do is outside my comfort zone.

Sunday their worship planners decided to do a service that was based on I. Corinthians 14. Basically it was a time of testimony and praise. It ranged from the youth group wanting to sing a song they knew to the sharing of a "Psalm" a member had written to a powerpoint presentation put to a Contemporay Christian song, to a 90 year old lady talking about how "sweet" the name of Jesus is to her. I didn't agree with everything that was said or done but nothing was done that I thought was wrong.

I was impressed with two things that I would like to increase in my life personally and in my church life. 1. They were real. They talked about business problems, they talked about members who were in rehab (who was requesting prayers for his new roommate). They talked about being failures at being disciplined in their spiritual walk. 2. They were vocal about their agreement. When someone said something others agreed with, they made their agreement known.

It was encouraging and challenging. It wouldn't be what I would want every Sunday but every now and then it would be refreshing.

On a sidenote: When we were told it would be a Corinthian service, I asked "Who was getting drunk before communion?" and Shannon asked "who was sleeping with their fathers wife?". Isn't it interesting that the negatives of any church often make it hard to see the positives.

Sandra Dee = White Washed Tombs?

Today I heard the news that Sandra Dee had died. Her star had faded before my time. I was introduced to her through the movie Grease and the lyric of the song "Look at me I'm Sandra Dee". This song was making fun of Sandy's good girl image. Sandra Dee was always percieved as the "good girl" and was the perfect teen girl idol of her day. We now know it was a facade. She alledges her stepfather sexually abused her. She was treated for anorexia and depression and struggled with drug and alcohol additions. Some perfect life huh.

How many of our churches are Sandra Dee churches. Things look great on the outside but the secret side is aweful. I would venture to guess that most churches have at least one family struggleing with the things Sandra Dee struggled with. DO we want to know about it? If so why, so that we can feel better about our own failures or so that we can minister to them?

How many of us Christians are Sandra Dee Christians? Jesus could have used Sandra Dee in his discussion with the pharisees. Remember the cup looks good on the outside but the inside has the moldy crud still clinging to it. You look like pretty whitewashed tombs full of rotting dead people. Maybe if Jesus were teaching today he would say "Woe to you churches that look like Sandra Dee to everyone but are hiding the real pain and dousing it with drugs and alcohol.

Being more real scares me. I am a coward. I admit it. People who really know me can really reject me. That gives everyone more power.

Yet, before I can be real with others I have to be real with God. I know he will accept me regardless of the inner content. Look at me I am Sandra Dee - trying to look good on the outside while hiding all my pain and fears.

God, grant me the courage to be more real without being a whiner.

What a Valentines Day

On Valentines Day, I was honored to be a part of an Adoption service where a couple in their early 50's exchanged vow with a sibling group of 5 children ranging in age from 7 to 12. It was a great picture of true love. The local newspaper ran the story on the front page yesterday. . It has a great picture of the family along with the "rest of the story".

The service encluded the following reading from Eph 1:

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[c] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

I have a date tonight

Tonight, I get to take my 8 year old daughter Grace on a date. It is the Girl Scout "Sweetheart" dance. I have to corsage ordered. We will go out to eat - probably at the fine Wendy's on the 11-E by pass here in Greeneville. (And ya'll thought cheap mexican and the Biltmore was an odd combo). We will then go to the dance. It is alot like a 7th grade dance. The dad's sit around and talk while the girls dance with each other. Some are hip to the latest moves. Some replicate their dance and tumbling class moves. Still others must have found a Time Life compulation of Solid Gold. Luckily most of those girls mothers had dressed them in tights!

Last year my Grace danced every dance with me. She loves to twirl and spin. I will dance as many dances as she wants to tonight. I don't care what the other dad's think!

Summary of Biltmore Trip

Shannon At The Biltmore 

These are some shots of our trip to Ashville last Saturday. This place his huge! It is situated on 8000 acres of land. Shannon and I both agreed that we would have felt more comfortable in the servents quarters than in the family quarters.


Shannon & Steve at the entrance of the Biltmore 

This is a lion at the entrance of the house. It was taller than me so it gives you an idea of the size of the place.


Clock tower with one side painted 

Above is the clocktower that was over the dairy building. That building has been converted into a winery. The tower had a working clock on 3 sides but the one side that faced the pasture had a painted clock. They had decided the "cows didn't need to know what time it was."


Family Picture 

The picture above was taken at the Bowlins on Monday night. This family has been so kind to us. Their son, Chuck, who lives in Greeneville is trying to raise sheep. He is out of town and Ken is caring for the sheep for him. One of the sheep gave birth two lambs on Monday. Ken is so fond of Shannon he named one of the lambs after her! I hope to get a picture of the two Shannons posted soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANNON

Today is my lovely wife's birthday. We celebrated this weekend by travelling to Ashville NC to see the Biltmore Estate and eat some good cheap mexican food. Both were very enjoyable. Tonight we are going to Ken & Melinda Bowlin's house to celebrate further. Anyone wanting to wish her happy bithday feel free to email at steve-shannon@juno.com.

Ch ch change.....

I think change can be very exciting! Especially if it is change I want! When it's not something I want it can be a very different experience. We were discussing change last Wednesday night at church. We are going through a time of change as we are looking to build a building.

It hit me that there has to be some stuff in the Bible about change and the stress that goes along with it. I landed in the first chapter of Joshua. Here we find that Moses is dead. He had been the leader of the children of Isreal for over 40 years. They are going into the promised land that they had been terrified to enter 40 years prior. Remember Josua was one of the 2 spies who had said, "God will take care of us, let's take the land" 40 years ago.

Can't you imagine some of the children of Isreal were likely to be saying. "Great, now Joshua is in control. I bet he'll shove that promised land stuff down our throat. He'll say it's God but I bet he just wants to show us he was right. He's had that smug 'I told you so' look on his face for the last 40 years."

Joshua was going to be dealing with great change related anxiety. Notice what God says to him:

6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Next time you feel overwhelmed by change think about Joshua. Think about God's message to him.

Be strong and courageous (he said it three times, I think that makes it important).
Don't be terrified.
Don't be discouraged.
God is with us.

That is reassuring to me and I hope it is to you too.