Re-Calibrate

Life is in need of continual adjustment. At least my life. I am busy moving my life around work and family, at times leaving little space for me to "be".

As a result, it is easy for my life to become over-run by the tyranny of the urgent; taking my focus away from what is important to what "has to get done". It is here that life becomes about survival, not true living. When I find myself merely "surviving life" I am in need of some adjustment, something greater to which I re-calibrate my life.

To re-calibrate to an ever expanding life is what Jesus talked about when he spoke of the Kingdom of God. It is when we let go of our self, our priority, our story and insert ourselves into the unfolding narrative of God that life is fully lived. This requires a constant re-calibration of our way to God's way; our story to God's story. It is here where we realize that God is not our priority, but simply he is the priority.

Emptying our selves in surrender compels us to see our life, humanity, and creation with a new set of lenses. I am finding that re-calibrating my life to the way of God is never complete. Yet each adjustment, each calibration moves us further into the story of God and propels us into a life engulfed with exploration, discovery, creation, and beauty.

Bouncing Lilly

Lilly had gymnastics this evening. Usually Misty takes her and waits the hour with the other parents however tonight it was my turn. I planned to read a book while my daughter worked on her cartwheels and walked the balance beam.

It didn't take long for me to realize that I wouldn't be turning many pages in my book...Lilly was making sure I was watching every one of her moves through the glass that separates the parent's holding area from the young Olympic hopefuls.

These kids were having all sorts of fun; running, tumbling, and of course giggling. One exercise involved these large bouncy balls with a handle, allowing kids to sit on them and bounce anywhere they pleased. I'm not sure what element of the gymnastics art this exercise was teaching, but I do know that it was a moment of uncontained silliness.

As Lilly gets older, bouncing on a ball will not be her main mode of transportation. There will even come a day when gymnastics is no longer a part of her life. My prayer for her (and my two boys) is they grow in the beauty and creativity of life...and that silliness is always close by.

Early Polling

I voted today, Tuesday, November 4th. I hope you did too. More than voting today I hope you will be voting tomorrow. Each one of us has been entrusted with incredible opportunity, wealth (in comparison with the global community), influence, and power. We have to use those things we've been given to bring about hope, peace, and possibility for all people. No human canidate will be the "last hope" for this world, nor will any nation (even ours). Instead the hope of the world is the Body of Christ as it moves in tandum with the Spirit to bring about lasting peace and harmony for all. So tomorrow, and each day after, may you use all that you've been given to pursue life in all things, for all people, and all of creation for the sake of God's Kingdom come.

Star Wars Monopoly

So far I have starports on Tatoine and Yavin Four. Luke has starports on the Dagobah system. And while Caleb owns some quality realestate (Cloud City and the Death Star), he has yet to colonize. Lilly plays on "Daddy's team" and instead of the "shoe" we get to be Princess Lea.

Tonight marks night 4 of me playing Star Wars Monopoly with my kids. They like rolling the dice, moving their pewter figurines around the board, and collecting rent from people that happen to land on their corner of the galaxy. I like it because it's easy. Really, playing monoply with kids 8 and under is like....what's the expression... "taking candy from a baby".

Okay, so it is a little mean spirited, but they are having fun. Plus in makes me feal like I've got sweet Jedi mind tricks as I wave my hand and make just about any deal go through (deals that would make Jabba the Hut look generous).

Agenda

I just re-printed out the agenda for a meeting I have tonight. It is a full agenda with several key elements we are working through. When I originally printed out the agenda I noticed that while it had every key area of our "important meeting" covered it was missing one crucial thing.

On every publication we do (whether it's a mailer or an agenda for a meeting) I print the words: "Love God; Love People". The first printing of this agenda was missing these key words.

For us the call to Love God and Love People is the filter by which all we do is funneled through. Loving God and loving others is essential for how we operate.

Some may say it's a waste to re-print the agenda (don't worry, I recycled it). However, it would be a far greater waste if we had a full meeting, talked about a lot of great "church stuff", and planned out "intentional ministry", yet forgot why we are doing all of this in the first place.

Keeping the call to Love God and Love People close to our hearts helps keep us in check as to why we do what we do. We always need to be communicating, re-communicating, and over-communicating this unique call whether it's through our Sunday gatherings, care for the poor, or the decisions we make in a meeting.

Spontaneous Play

My kids went outside today and said that they were bored because there was "nothing to do". As I looked around at the beautiful blue sky I saw trees to climb, bikes to ride, and balls to kick.

My kids are so used to having things structured for them outside that they've lost the art of spontaneous play. Decades ago you could see kids playing pick up basketball, pick up baseball, pick up soccer, etc. When suburban life kicked in, there came rec leagues and organization. Now when you ask a kid if they play soccer they'll refer to whether or not they "signed up this year", not whether or not they kicked a ball with their buddy. This has stunted their ability to go outside and play "pick-up games".

The church early on was a movement of people that lived out "spontaneous play"; they moved where the Spirit moved, didn't wait for a board or a committee to approve a master plan of assimilation...they simply loved people in tangible and practical ways.

I hope that the church can once again capture the art of spontaneous play. I hope that people won't rely on the church's "rec league" programs for their spiritual formation. Instead of people asking if there is a small group that meets their needs, they would listen to their own longings as well as the longings of others and see how they might be able to best serve others.

I want to see a church that isn't looking to sign up for rec-league sports, but is instead creating pick-games wherever they find themselves.

Formation, Growth, and So On

As healthy organisms grow and take shape how do the structures around them best serve the growth that is taking place? I am always looking for ways in which we can help people deepen their relationship with God in such a way that they live a life that is re-oriented to the Kingdom of God. How does that work? In the past the church legislated one's spiritual formation via programs: Sunday School, Confirmation, Small Groups, etc. While these elements are not bad I'm striving for ways to help people develop a heart of God without throwing more programs at them.

The difficult thing is that the church institution cannot be the sole forming component in one's spiritual life. In other words...we can have all of the best programs and have people insert themselves into those program and still not become the "product" that we think those programs should churn out.

Instead of "churning out" product-disciples we need to create spaces in which people can connect to God in a way that is spiritually forming.