Ben Bit the Big One?

About three years ago, a stray cat- barely a year old herself- took up residence in our back yard.  We had gotten rid of our indoor cat due to my youngest son being dreadfully allergic to cats.  Unfortunately, he loves cats very much and seems to be sort of a cat magnet in our neighborhood.  So anyway, it became obvious before long that this stray was pregnant.  Now, I’m not sure what the gestational period for a feline is, but it seemed like only days from the time she started showing before there were five little kittens running through our back yard and she was true to form for a momma cat- off and gone leaving the kittens to fend for themselves.  They all made it through the summer, but as fall approached the most loved one, Beautiful (I didn’t name them), was hit by a car and we found her lying along side of the road with that familiar smushed look.  Several months thereafter, Muffin Berry (I didn’t name the cats) was found frozen along side of our car parked in front of the house, leaving Tuff, Benny, and Shylow (you know!). Shylow went to the pound as a consequence to my kids because they followed her out of the yard and into the alley behind the houses and crossed the street in an unabashed violation of our don’t leave the yard rule.  This leaving Benny and Tuff.  I discovered in the spring that Tuff, much like her mother before her, was starting to show, and because I didn't want to relive this saga over again with a fresh litter of kittens, I took her to the pound as well.  That left Benny.

Benny was the runt of the litter, smaller than all of the rest, one ear bent down and the other sticking up in an almost permanent unbalanced look.  His voice was always scratchy, like he was sickly and about to die, and his naturally smooth stride was interrupted with a limp from a crooked leg that had been broken because my son fell on him while carrying him when he was a kitten.  We have all grown very fond of the scratchy meow he makes while trying to sneak into the house as you open the door to leave.  He has made it through two winters, many a turf defending fight, and a whole lot of tough love from my sons.  As I left for work today, I noticed in the middle of 3^rd Street just off of Topeka Blvd the familiar look of road kill, but this road kill had gray colored long fur and a white belly just as Benny did.  I circled back around to make certain, and even though it is difficult to tell when you can’t see the face, I was pretty sure my fears had been realized. I called my wife to give her the bad news and both of our hearts sank.  Our kids will be very sad. While walking through the Home Depot getting some bids for my window business, I began to think of life lessons from Benny’s short life, and I would like to convey just a couple here.

First off, there is the obvious lesson that the most popular, the fastest, and the best looking  are not necessarily the ones chosen to live the longest, most fulfilled existence.  Even King David was chosen to rule the nation of Israel after all of his other brothers who were stronger, better looking and bigger had been passed over.  God loves to use the foolish things by this world’s standard to confound the wise.  

Secondly, there is the unconditional love factor.  Benny was proof to me that my kids had the capacity to love unconditionally even when they played too rough with him, and he would bite one of them in self defense, they still didn’t get mad. 

Thirdly, he had been to me an example of loyalty.  Every time I came home, almost without fail, he would be there on the porch to meow at me as I would recite to him our own personal catch phrase, “How you been, Ben?”

But the most serious lesson to me was the one the Lord whispered to my heart- that people are far more important than animals.  He lovingly encouraged me to remember to have compassion and empathy for the hurting, abused and broken that cross my path each and every day in our great city. Because He died for them, too. 

After leaving the store I decided to take some time off to bury Benny with my kids' help and use the moment as a teachable moment for my kids regarding the brevity of life.  As I drove toward home, I received a call from my wife, whom I expected to break this horrible news to my kids because moms are just good at that sort of thing.  She said that she had looked out the window towards the smushed gray mass in the street and couldn’t tell for sure if it was Benny when she noticed Benny sitting on the rail of the front porch, guarding his turf and looking all noble.  The last lesson God showed me was be careful not to make assumptions before having all of the facts.  The road kill, on closer inspection, seems to be a rabbit. If you know any one missing a large gray and white rabbit around the 3rd and Topeka area you might forward this blog to them.  Have a blessed day.               

Worry, The Anti-Faith

One of my favorite passages of scripture is found in Proverbs chapter 3.  It tells us to trust God with all our Hearts and not to lean merely on our own understanding.  It promises that if we do this that God will make our paths straight.  I have once again been wrestling with the tendency to worry about where my next paycheck will come from. It's comforting in these times to read what the apostle Paul wrote when he said "why do I keep doing the things that I know I should not do".  In some ways my being self employed has a hidden blessing of helping me not to worry about getting laid off because it happens to me several times a month.  Once I complete a bid for someone my job is finished and in essence they lay me off.  I get more pink slips that most people I know. But once again I have found myself falling into the tendency to worry when I reach the point of not having more work lined up.  It is as if I have to be the one to provide instead of trusting God to do so.  Now I believe it is a fine line we need to do our part to be open to pursuing ideas we have and taking steps of faith when the path is not as clear as we would like it, but we need to remember no matter how straight the path may be we do still have ups and downs.    One of these downs happened to me yesterday as I completed the last know work I had lined up.  I got home and went to the computer looking through want ads regarding income opportunities, trying to make something work if you will.  As I was finding nothing, I was gripped with the fear of how am I going to pay these bills.  Almost as a counter to that thought my phone rang and it was a local number that I did not recognize.  I answered to find it being a new potential customer who was looking at an advertisement that I had placed on the internet over a month ago.  I had pursued the idea to place that ad a month ago with no response since posting it I assumed it was all for not, but just when I needed a new income lead to follow, BAM! the phone rings.  I am going to do my best to keep from acting in anti-faith (worry) for it doesn't benefit me one bit, and seeing my good and loving god come through for me in the ;last minute way builds my faith and beats back my fears.,  He is Good and, He is for me, and I am getting to know Him better with each circumstance I find myself in.

The Friends I call Church

I shared yesterday afternoon with several friends who I call church.  We enjoyed a meal, laughed at life, and eventually began to open our hearts and talk about the things which affect us most deeply for both the good and bad.  Our struggles laid bare, our insecurities confessed, and our shortcomings revealed, we began to notice something.  There was no condemnation, no posturing, or jockeying for control or attention.  We just were!  It never ceases to amaze me at this point when after one bears all, the response form others in the group is supportive and encouraging.  One may relate by sharing a time when they dealt with a similar thing and Jesus helped them through it.  Another may share a truth from scripture, or correct a misapplication of some popular Christian cliché.  Tears are shared, hugs exchanged and prayers entered into.  We all leave changed for the better, more focused on Christ than when we came, and looking forward with faith and expectancy to the next opportunity to be the church, whether at an official gathering, or just through e-mail, text, phone conversation, or a coffee shared on the town.  I can’t help but feel that the Lord is smiling and I can’t help but feel excited about what He is doing in the lives of each of us that are opening ourselves up to be His church.     

Destiny, mediocrity, and the future unwritten

The enemy has forces at play that will try to lull and seduce you into mediocrity,  traps and snares that won’t necessarily kill you or pull you down, but they will hold you back. He will use anyone and everything to accomplish his task. So let's "not be unaware of the enemies schemes". Instead let’s rise to the occasion, rise to the possibilities, and rise toward our full potential. 

I once heard it said that the location with the greatest untapped potential is the cemetery.  As followers of Jesus we don’t need permission or an invitation to pursue the destiny that God has written on our hearts.  We just need to take a step.  Because good ideas don’t make you a visionary- they may you a day dreamer.  Being a visionary is about taking steps- little steps every day that move you from complacency toward becoming a world changer.  Each of us has world changing written right into our DNA; it’s called the desires of your heart. When you discover and follow them, you help to create a future that touches others and brings God glory. That is what destiny is all about. 


What will you do with your day? Will you invest it or just spend it?
It really does matter.  Why not take a step into your destiny today?

Doing vs Being

I just finished reading an article on innovative church movements in North America.  Unfortunately from almost the first sentence it was apparent that I was in different place than the author.  As with anything I read, I eat the meat and spit out the bones, and this article certainly had plenty of meat, but it just surprised me how even the most cutting edge of innovators in the church world still often miss some of the most basic of innovations .  It may have been simply semantics, but the article started out by saying “in our postmodern culture finding innovative ways to do church is essential” While I agree with the point being made, I think it reflects a bit of skewed doctrine regarding the church, for If we are “doing” church, it will inevitably end up just being one of the things on our ever increasing list of things “to do”.  I understand this now more than ever, for I have just ended a 40 year run at doing church.  It involved membership in and association with nine different organizations of people that were all doing church. At each location whether I was an “attender, member, or pastor” each organization had its membership rules and expectations, its organizational structures, and systems.  In the best of scenarios these things were set in place to move people through the system in the most efficient way so that the people could accomplish the purpose of the organization.    In the worst of scenarios they reflected the shortcomings and weaknesses of the leader who put them in place, often a leader who has been gone for some time, but whose influence still permeates the organization because change is the most resisted thing in the lives of virtually everyone I know.  

One of the primary things that I am trying to keep at the forefront of the work that I oversee is that we don’t do church we are The Church.  Things we do are temporary.  They have a starting point and ending point.  Whether events, services, or ministries, we do them for a period of time (Sundays, or Wednesdays) and then go back to the rest of our lives.  But we as Christians are the Church not merely members of a church but the composition of The Church itself.  We, who have come to Christ, are a house made up of living stones being built by the Lord as we grow in maturity and in our numbers.   The “modern” church for the most part has shed the false doctrine of the building being the church, so we no longer go “to the church”, but we have adopted an almost as problematic doctrine of “doing church” which will have to be shed in order for us to truly accomplish what the Lord had in mind for us in the beginning.  As I mentioned before it may just be semantics, people may just be used to using certain terms, and the structures of their organizations may well reflect the living communal nature of the church, but I have always been a proponent of the concept that you can tell what we believe by what we say, not what we say we believe but by what we say,  so take a few minutes as you read this to ask the Lord, The Head of the church if your actions reflect a life of doing church, or being the church.  As the head of the Church, He will be faithful to answer and to guide you to the take steps to assume your true identity as The Church.