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Archive for the ‘Community’ Category

He Threw a Wide Loop

Posted in Church, Community on November 16, 2009| 2 Comments »

Yesterday, as I was settling into my Sunday morning routine at the office, my phone rang.  The news I got in that phone call took me a while to process (in fact, I am still processing it).  The news came that Danny Williams had passed away.  Danny was the pastor of the High Plains Cowboy Church here in town and a great friend.

I made arrangements for my duties and then headed to the Cowboy Church.  What I found there was a group of people hurting but doing just as God intended, leaning on one another.  One of the first people I spoke to made the statement, “Danny sure threw a wide loop.”  I have not been able to get that image out of my mind – he threw a wide loop.  His circle included a lot of people.

As I looked around the room, I realized the truth of that statement.  There were people there from multiple generations, multiple races and multiple socio-economic backgrounds – all walks of life.  They all felt welcome there – it is home.

Danny threw a wide loop because he knew that the Gospel includes every body.  It is meant for everyone – all people no matter who you are.

I know Danny is checking out the pastures in heaven today, but he leaves a posse behind that would not exist had he not understood the Gospel and had he not thrown such a wide loop.

Danny, happy trails!

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No Solo Journey

Posted in Community, Leadership, Motivational on November 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »

“We are not on a solo journey.  We are on a journey of souls in relationship with one another.” LaPinsky Phillips

I have talked about LaPinsky before.  He is one of the most profound thinkers I know personally.  I love being around him and every time I am, I come away a better person.  This quote from LaPinsky reminds me that we are not alone.  God is always with us and God created us for community – relationships with one another.  We are designed to experience life together – to love each other and to seek to serve one another.

Have you ever gone through the process of listing people who have impacted you throughout your life?  It is a humbling exercise.  If you have never done it, or haven’t done it recently, I encourage you to take a few minutes right now to do it.

Now that you have done that exercise, here is an even more sobering task for you.  Of the people who know you, whose list would you be on?

Would you appear on anyone else’s list?  What can you do today to ensure that you will?

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Prayer in a Taxi

Posted in Community, Grace, Missions on November 10, 2009| 1 Comment »

It was a short 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the San Diego airport on Sunday.  It was early and I was more than ready to be home.  But I felt compelled to get to know the driver.  So I asked him how long he had been in the beautiful city of San Diego, to which he replied, “Five years.”  So I asked the next sensical question, “Where were you before that?”  He told me that he grew up in Africa and had been in the US for only five years.  He asked if I had ever been to Africa and I told him I had not but it is one of the places I want to visit some day.  He asked what I do for a living and so I told him that I am a minister in a church.

He began a conversation about Christianity and his Muslim faith of Islam.  I asked if he was able to practice his religion here and he explained that it is hard to be faithful when the strict practice requires all men to attend the mosque five times per day to pray.  I explained that Christians believe that we should pray regularly throughout the day as well but that we can do it anywhere.  We discussed the similarities in our heritage and in the difficulty of being faithful to our beliefs.

As we pulled onto the airport property, I knew our time together was drawing to an end so I asked his name.  As we parked, I asked him if it would offend him if I prayed for him.  He said it wouldn’t, so we sat in the car near the curb at the Southwest check-in and I prayed for my driver, Mohammed.  It was a very brief prayer, but when I raised my head to look at him, he was smiling.

That was it, I retrieved my bags from his trunk, shook his hand and paid the fare.  I am not so pious to think that my effort and concern made a huge impact in Mohammed’s life – maybe it did.  But I can tell you that my eyes and heart were opened to the fact that we are all human beings with similar desires and interests – with real convictions and beliefs.  Now please understand, I do not subscribe to the doctrine of Islam and I certainly don’t condone the actions of the extremists.  But I do believe that Jesus calls us to love everyone – no matter who they are or what they believe.

Is there room in your heart to love someone who doesn’t see things as you do today?

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A Triangle Has Three Sides

Posted in Church, Community, Formation, Missions on November 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I just finished Brian McLaren’s book, Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the  Ancient Practices.  I have read other works by McLaren and have never been disappointed in what he says or the impact of what his words have on my spiritual walk.  I encourage you to look into his books.

This particular book is one in a series published by Thomas Nelson covering spiritual practices.  I have mentioned spiritual practices or disciplines here before.  While the thought may be foreign to some of us, the use of different spiritual practices to draw us closer to God is as old as Christianity itself.  At any rate, in this book, McLaren focuses on three categories of practices that he suggests (and I agree) are inseparable – using a diagram of a triangle to illustrate the connection.  On one corner of the triangle we find the contemplative elements (meditation, prayer, etc.).  On another corner we find communal elements (worship, communion, fellowship, etc.).  And on the third corner we find the missional elements (service, outward focus, etc.).  The point that McLaren makes is that we cannot be complete without all three areas.

The tendency for most Christians is to strive in one or two areas to the detriment of the others.  We have to be balanced.  Contemplative elements without missional elements becomes pharisaical introversion but missional elements without the contemplative and communal elements become secular socialism.

God called each of us to a relationship with God.  The result of that growing relationship will have dramatic effects on everyone around us.  McLaren says that if we don’t have all three elements, we are incomplete and “sub-Christian.”

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be sub-Christian.  I want my devotional, contemplative life to flow into my communal life in relating to and serving along side other believers.  These two elements should then naturally flow into service or missional efforts in the world around me.

Just remember – God did not call us out of boredom – God has a plan.  God expects us to seek to grow spiritually, grow closer to other followers of the way and to be light in a dark world.  It all goes together.

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How Will They Ever Hear?

Posted in Church, Community, Formation, Missions on October 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

I have been working through the book of Romans for quite some time during my prayer time.  I have been camping out in chapter 10 for weeks.  I think God is trying to tell me something.  Maybe God will use this to tell you something as well.

Romans 10:14 is a very logical illustration of how God’s plan to spread the Good News should work.  You can look at it here.

Paul, in the previous verse, has explained that anyone who cries out to God will be rescued.  Then Paul moves into a very logically explanation of what this should look like by asking some questions.  People can’t cry out to someone they don’t believe in or trust.  And they certainly can’t trust in someone of whom they have never heard.  And they will never hear about God’s love and trustworthiness if no one tells them about God.

All very logical.  We know this is true – but what do we do about it?  How does this verse, this logical explanation of God’s plan, play out in your life everyday?

God could have chosen to redeem the world in any number of ways, but this is the plan chosen.  Be the hands, feet and voice of God today.

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It Takes More Than 140 Characters

Posted in Community, Motivational on October 8, 2009| 3 Comments »

In our tech savy world, we have become quite efficient.  We have learned to do more with less – or have we?  We have developed technology that helps us communicate with others in all kinds of new and creative ways – efficient ways.  I can email someone in another city or even country and in seconds, get an answer to my question.

I can send a text message to a friend and get a response without the wasted time of all the normal pleasantries of a personal conversation.  We have become very efficient in many ways.  But what is this doing to our relationships?  (You know it might be an issue for you if you text message your child to come to dinner and he or she is just in the other room).

We have become proficient in communicating in 140 characters or less thanks to Twitter, but what can we really communicate in 140 characters?

Don’t get me wrong, I have adapted to the way we communicate right along side the rest of you, but every once in a while, maybe, just maybe we ought to stop long enough to really have a conversation – invest in each other’s lives.

My challenge to you today is this:  Think of someone you have not talked to in a while – then pick up the phone and call them – maybe even go to lunch and really build a relationship.

God created us for community, one with another.  It is hard to grow a community in 140 characters.

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The Mystery of God

Posted in Community, Formation, Hope on October 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Here are a couple of questions to start your week off in the right direction:  “Is your religion big enough for God?  Does your belief system allow for mystery and faith?”

The history of the church is such that mankind has worked very hard to define beliefs and answer life questions.  This is not a bad thing at all.  God gave us brains to process our life experiences and then try and understand them.  But what has happened over time (hundreds of years) is that we have developed a belief system that seems to have an answer for everything.  Man has worked for years to put God in a box.

Is it possible that over time, some very important aspects of our understanding of God and our relation to God have been left out or even worse, maybe things that have no real relevance to our relationship with God have been added to the belief system?

I believe we do a real disservice to ourselves and others when we strive to downplay or even deny the mystery of God.  We can never truly understand God.  At the end of the day we can only hope that we partially understand the parts of God that God has chosen to reveal to us.

For me, my religion is not big enough for God and knowing that, I think, puts things in perspective.  God is full of mystery and it is that mystery that draws me continuously toward God – seeking a relationship with my creator whom I can never fully understand on this side of death.

What about you?  Do you embrace the mystery?  Or does it make you uncomfortable?

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For Ruben

Posted in Church, Community, Grace on September 25, 2009| 2 Comments »

We buried Ruben yesterday.  He was 51 but looked much older.  I have known Ruben for most of the time I have lived in this town.  He always had a very long and scraggly beard.  He couldn’t work anymore due to disability, but he worked before his accident.  He liked to grow things and he liked people.  He loved to walk around town and visit with people.  He rarely turned down food and on occasion would ask for money.  But when he would ask, he would always commit to pay it back – and he often did.

In the church business, Ruben was considered a “benevolence case.”  We helped him from time to time.  The world might call him one of the “forgotten.”  But standing at that graveside yesterday, I was reminded that Ruben was so much more.  Jesus died for him, just like he died for me – and that fact puts us all on the same playing field.  I was reminded that Ruben was loved absolutely by God.

My mind then began to remember times that Ruben and I talked (looking back, it was not nearly frequent enough).  I also remembered a time or two that I helped Ruben with a little money – again, not often enough.  But in each of those times of interacting with Ruben, I don’t remember thinking, “This is a child of God.”  And for that, I am regretful.

Ruben has taught me that every single person in this world, regardless of status, capacity or any other measure we can apply, is loved by God.  As such, we are called to love them as well.  I don’t have all the answers as to how to go about it, but I believe it starts with caring enough to know their stories.  From there, I believe God will lead.

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Eternity Is A Mighty Long Time

Posted in Community, Hope, Missions, Uncategorized on September 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I did a lot of driving yesterday, about 8 hours in the car.  But somewhere between Waco and Levelland I saw a billboard that said, “Eternity is a long time.”  As I drove, I thought a lot about that statement.  Of course, on the surface it is somewhat comical in the sense that, of course it is a long time – eternity means forever.

But I began to the think about the meaning behind the statement – the idea that eternity is forever, so we better make sure we know where we are going to spend it.  I also began to think about the assumption that this statement puts out there.  We tend to think of eternity as a place, or at least period that begins after we die.  Honestly, when you hear the question, “Where are you going to spend eternity?”  what is the first thing you think of?  For me, my mind automatically jumps to where I will go when I die.

But here is something I want to challenge you with:  as Jesus followers, eternity has already begun (in all honesty, eternity has already begun for all others as well).  So maybe we need to think more along the lines that what we are doing today is part of that eternity.

More concretely, think of it this way:  we don’t need to think of a separation between this life and the next – we simply change addresses when we die.  When we choose to follow Jesus and bend our will to his, we have already begun our eternity.  And what we do here and now not only carries with us, it also affects the eternity of others.

So since you are already living in eternity, what are you going to do today to live like you will live forever?

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The Reason for These Ramblings

Posted in Community, Formation, Motivational on September 23, 2009| 5 Comments »

Today marks 100 posts to this blog.  In all honesty, when I started this back in April, I did not know where or even if it would go.  I just knew that I needed to be involved in this avenue of connecting with people.  So I began with honesty and transparency and have tried to stay true to that format.

The website is “Clay In The Hands.”  I chose that title because it describes all of us.  If you are a follower of the Jesus way, then you realize that all of us are in the process of being shaped and molded into the person God wants us to become just as clay is shaped by a sculptor.  If you are a skeptic of the Jesus way of life, then I hope you realize that you too are being shaped and molded as well – that is a reality of life.  The issue really is not whether or not we are being shaped and molded, but rather, who and what do we allow to mold us?

My prayer in all of this is that we all grow together, being molded into the likeness of Jesus.

This blog has served as a sort of journal of my progression or journey on this Jesus way.  My intention has been, and continues to be, to share with all who will stop by and read, what God is teaching me along this journey in hopes that God will use my musings and ramblings to inspire, encourage or touch someone else.  My prayer is that through this simple connection point, a new layer of community can be formed – a community of Jesus followers on the same path, all being molded similarly.

My commitment to you is that I will continue to share my thoughts, my struggles, my joys and the simple revelations God bestows on me.  My challenge to you is to join in the dialogue.  If you have never left a comment, that is ok – don’t feel pressure to do so.  But the sharing of life together is how relationships – true community – are formed so I encourage you to join in.  Share your thoughts and we all grow.

May God’s unfathomable grace fall on you today in a way unlike anything you have ever experienced.

Thanks for reading – I look forward to the growth we will all share in the next 100 posts!

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