August 2nd - Active Verbs for Living a Good Life?

The story...

Assuming we've an idea as to what a "good life" is; then, how do we live it out?  What active verbs might best describe how to "learn to live?"  My brainstorming exercise resulted in the following twenty-four active verbs: Abide, Ask, Be, Blog, Build, Encourage, Enjoy, Forgive, Imagine, Invest, Leave, Listen, Love, Plant, Pray, Read, Receive, Sense, Sing, Stretch, Thank, Trust, Wail, and Water.  It took awhile to build a longer list and then reduce it down to 24 - my favorite number.  Yes, living can be overwhelmingly complex or as simple as...

Somebody asked me to volunteer to help out with a youth mentoring organization in July 2023.   A good friend of mind encouraged me to say yes.  I entered too much information on the application and met with the program director.  Their mission is to mentor at-risk kids to increase the likelihood of them living a good life.  It's a worthy mission, I'm available, it seems like it'd be part of a good life, so I said yes.  Is my decision part of  God's Will?  Yes, saying yes was a reasonable and good response - good life building results seem likely.

People will have opportunities, within the only church in town, to engage in a life that's bigger than self.  Yes, there'll be opportunities to exercise all twenty-four active verbs.  God's Will is certainly worked out beyond the boundaries of the church so I expect that our opportunities to apply these active verbs are endless.

Just for today...

"When my thoughts are centered on learning to live, I will be less tempted to involve my mind with the thoughts of how others live."  One Day at a Time (p. 215)

June 26th - What does a good day look like?

The story...

These are my first ten thoughts regarding what I think a good day might find me doing:

• Trusting in God's will and His provision
• Living in present reality
• Engaging in the world
• Eating, exercising, working and sleeping well
• Loving and being loved
• Imagining the good future
• Resting peacefully
• Laughing with friends
• Learning something new
• Being true to who I am in Christ

What ten things might happen to derail my plans for a good day?

• Financial loss
• Criticism from someone I respect
• Rejection
• Laziness
• Focus on myself and attempts to please me
• Efforts to try to fit in or be like the group
• No or nonchalant prayer
• Forced to perform a role that I'm not capable in
• Change of plans
• Suffering - me or those I care for

The only church in town would teach people to trust in God's revealed truth about who we are, what we might expect, how God has provided for us, and how we might find peace in all life circumstances.  (Phil. 4:11-13)

Just for today...

"It's as if I don't know how to handle happiness, so I start searching for difficulties to draw on." Hope for Today (p. 178)

"I will not allow old resentments to drag me down any longer.  I am building a better and more loving life today."   Courage to Change (p. 178)

May 4th - Mansion on the Hill

The story...

Are you okay with your character within the epic story of life?  I expect it's good to want to improve our condition yet it's probably more important to appreciate the good in what we got.

I remember imagining how great it would be to be a professor.  Graduate students working real projects alongside me and even stopping by my house to talk about their ideas and lives too.  I'd live in a one-story-brick house with a big front porch.  It'd never be winter on that tree-lined street where everybody felt welcomed.  We'd share our lives as we worked through the reality of this world and what might be.  I'd attend lectures, plays, and concerts.  Life would be bigger, wiser, and more fulfilling. 

The idea was compelling enough that I worked long and hard to earn my PhD and find that university job.  It was good, yet it wasn't as I imagined it would be.  I was tired at the end of a work day and looked forward to returning to my condo - away from campus, fellow professors, and the students too. 

Most people aren't alive and their time under the sun is over.  Biology, astronomy and the science leave me in awe of this "miracle" of life.  Wow, you and I are both alive if you're reading this sentence.  That's a big wow!

We can waste our life dreaming of a better reality, the "mansion on the hill," and miss the wonderful reality of what truly is.  Bruce Springsteen's album "Nebraska" does a good job of delving into the hopes, dreams, and the struggles of being human - the lyrics, guitar, harmonica and his comfortable voice resonated with my soul during a couple phases of my life.

We can look at life good or we can look at life bad.  Suffering breaks some people yet leads others to trust in God and His Word for their past, present and future.  I hope that the only church in town will be a place of joy and hope in the midst of suffering.  Their countenances and talk would speak of overflowing thankfulness for journeying though a life in Christ.   I hope we wouldn't find people commiserating in their futility - hoping for a mansion on a hill for fulfillment.

Just for today...

"If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life."  James Michener

"When a man of good-will is troubled or tempted or afflicted with evil thoughts, then he can better understand how great a need he has of faith in God."  Thomas à Kempis

April 22nd - Sophomore Year

The story...

I moved my stuff into a new dorm room for my Sophomore year of college.  My new room and roommate were better.  I greatly valued the dorm floor community - especially the upper classmen that I'd looked up to and learned from.  They left - I felt an ache and missed them.  Yet, there were the excitable new Freshman who were ready to be treated as "adults" yet not ready, or able, to behave that way.

I was walking to lunch and I noticed a friends new roommate's name on his door.  I thought it said his last name was "Lordy" so I made a quick joke and we all laughed about it.  This new Freshman's nickname was "Lordy" thereafter.

Lordy was different from any person I'd known.  He was raised without the boundaries of a moral code that I was use to.  He did what he wanted to do.  His good looks, fun personality, lack of boundaries, and interest in almost everyone, led him into destructive "radical" patterns - his future seemed risky at best. 

For example, he'd read trade journals, that my dad gave me, rather than studying for tomorrow's exam - I didn't read the trade journals.  He rode home laying on the roof of a car, gazing at the stars, to feel something new.  He experienced deep short-term relationships with the girls that most guys dreamed of just being noticed by.  He tried things that were illegal without concern of risk.  He seemed to be a shooting star that'd burn out too soon.  I'm told that he later became an evangelist - a preacher!

"That Than Which there is No Greater" is in control and His will will be worked out whether we like it or not.  The story of Jonah and his call for the big city of Nineveh to turn from evil, so that God would relent from His planned destruction, is a great example.  Jonah didn't want God to save any from this enemy city.  Yet, God directed Jonah to proclaim that He would save them and He did - He saved all of them.  Why wouldn't God do the same thing for Jonah's people in Israel?  God's ways are not our ways nor His thoughts our thoughts.

The only church in town would be God's called out group of people.  They'd listen to God's revealed Word, believe it, and trust Him.

Just for today...

Consider reading the book of Jonah.  And, following up with Matthew 12:38-41.  Whoa!

"... we neither love nor hate those in whom we have no interest  . . . Love has a chance to flower in a shared life; hate is love twisted and warped by disillusionment and despair."  One Day at a Time (p. 113)

"We decide to place our will and our life in the hands of God.  We let go of burdens that were never ours to carry.  And we begin to treat ourselves more kindly and more realistically."  Courage to Change (p. 113)

April 13th - Renewal

The story...

The epic human story is about creation, curse, toil, patience, love, mercy, grace, warnings, repentance, relenting, judgment, and renewal.   Retelling the story must include the Author and Creator - "That than Which There is No Greater."  It seems that the question of the fairness of reality must be paired with the question as to whether God's thoughts can be our thoughts - they can't.

The Old Testament and New Testament speak of renewal.  The renewal of all things.  There will be an all knowing, loving, ruler who will administer perfect justice.  All people offered the safe and blessed hope of renewal.

Spring is a time that shouts renewal.  The annual growth plan awaits the earth's tilt on it's axis so that the sun shines more on our hemisphere - warms us up.  New life and beauty will surely "pop"- renewal!

The only church in town will have parts of the Easter renewal message preached frequently.   All men will hear about our renewal in Christ - freedom from the bondage of self rule and condemnation.  Then they might walk peacefully and joyfully among the tulips - no need to tip toe.  Even the inevitable sufferings of life will bring them closer to their Savior and Redeemer.  Praise God for springtime and renewal.

Just for today...

"Whether I accept or turn down a request, agree or disagree with someone's point of view, I can still treat the other person with respect and courtesy.  I can say, 'No,' as gently an lovingly as I can say, 'Yes'."  Courage to Change (p. 104)

"I always acted on my anxiety, and I was forever reacting.  Most times my reactions came in the form of blaming, running, or freezing.  When I blamed others, I didn't have to feel my deep sense of shame."  Hope for Today (p. 104)

"Keep in mind that we can live only in the present and that all the rest of life is either past or uncertain." One Day at a Time (p. 104)

February 29th: Be free in Christ - unshackled from self bondage

The story...

I can't get no satisfaction trying to please me - it's impossible.  Worse yet, on my own, my efforts to be a good boy leave me insecure when facing rejection, inevitable suffering, and death.  I can't get no satisfaction on my own - it's like tugging around a ball and chain made out of self.

Life would be better if I was okay with me, more openly and honestly relating to other people, and bearing the type of fruit that comes from abiding in Christ - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Scripture says that happens as we trust in Christ and abide in Him too.

Abiding in Christ means a transforming, metamorphosized, relationship that includes communication.  We can never fully understand the trinity of God yet we do know, from the gospel of John, that God the Father speaks messages to the Son of God; the Son speaks the messages to the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit indwells and speaks the messages to those in Christ; and those in Christ pray to the Father in the Son's name.  Prayer and meditation keeps us close to God in a right relationship that can free us from the bondage of self today.

February 29th, we'll see you in another four years if God so wills.  Let's keep the communication flowing - we need each other.

February 17th - A place to pray

 The story...

Do you have a place to pray?  What triggers your prayer habit?  In the past, my knees hurt due to bursitis.  I ordered my kneeling pad one day, from Amazon, and received it on my door step the next day - the delivery speed continues to amaze me.  It was comfortable, I could slide it under my bed, and it worked.  It surprised me that both seeing the pad and thinking about the pad triggered my prayer response - that's a good thing.

How would a place to pray work out in the only church in town?  I expect that the doors would be open often for those who are prompted to kneel in the quietness of a sanctuary.  Scriptures says that we can live a life of continuous prayer without going into the church building - remaining in a sort of constant communication.  Yet, we know there are times when we need to shut out the cares of the world and go to a place where we can kneel down and be quiet.   A place that's separate from the cares and noise of the world - a place that triggers a restorative experience of worship, praise, thanking, asking, receiving and listening.  That's a good place to be.

Just for today...

"Faith takes practice.  Fears can loom large and I can get lost in my limited thinking.  When I can't see any way out and I doubt that even God can help me, that's when I most need to pray."    Courage to Change (p. 48)

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NASB)