Speed

In a church conference several years ago, like a galaxy far away ago, I kept thinking the whole time this particular presenter was speaking; 'what makes me uneasy about what this cat is talking about?' What he was saying was familiar, so that's OK. What he was talking about at least in concert with the way humanity moves, was even logical.

He was talking about how Christians drag their feet, and God has to often wait for us to catch up to Him all the time and how we needed to move faster to keep pace with the dynamic move of God.

So what was my problem?

I started getting edgy, fidgety .. restless. I was having a hard time reconciling my internal ledger about the presenters assertion regarding speed, it wasn't sitting well in the place where the word of God sits in you - for some reason I was having a negative reaction. I should insert here, it's during these times when the familiar voice of my wife internally recorded in my memory bank - and honestly for good reason - will say; 'Dan you don't always have to be you'.

Rightly interpreted, this means I should keep my unrest to my self until further notice or at least until there is more substantiated reason for concern. So, that day I stayed in my seat and took mental note of my disagreement.

By your own experience you know the presenter got it wrong. The tendencies of our humanity, the result of having free will and the way we are wired - by God - is for speed. To move fast. Even the people you judge as moving too slow are moving fast - their just moving in the opposite direction of you.

Please observe:
God moves at a much slower speed than us.
He sees at a much slower speed than us.
He responds at a much slower speed than us.

We would do well to learn and practice at least two vital components to be successful in our followership of God: We must slow our own shutter speed down and we must realize that the significant issues of our lives cannot be solved at the same speed by which they were created.

Slowing the shutter speed down, like in a camera allows you to significantly take in more light, which gives you greater exposure in truly capturing what you're looking at. Slowing the shutter speed down gives you the visual 'speed bump' to take in more of the panorama of what God is really doing in your moments.

Crisis happens like a rogue wave; fast and sudden. The real, I mean the real and true problem with any crisis is not the crisis itself but the speed by which it happens and equally more disastrous the speed by which we attempt to respond to it or worse yet try to solve it.

God is a slow/fast God. Undisciplined followership of Him is fast/slow.

Whatever your facing today that can be under the heading of crisis - slow down. There is something in the landscape of your crisis that God sees as vastly more interesting and important than the crisis itself.

Dan
A Runner

Being Too ...

He was perturbed.

More than upset, which can be an easily gained or lost emotion, on this day something deeper inside him was rumbling … perturbing, making his senses and sensibilities uneasy and hard to reconcile.

His friends became uneasy as well. Not because they knew what was eating at him and not because he was saying much. There is a transference of that kind of perturb from one person to the next without a word spoken … you’ve been there, having walked into a room and knew there was tension.

He became resolute in what must be done and began to ready himself for the task. A few of his friends tried talking him out of it and some of them remained silent because they had never seen this side of him. In either case, his friends who had long been accustomed to ‘this is just the way it is’ kind of living and thinking, weren’t yet qualified to understand the deep side of his trouble.

And so with every movement of his hands he became more perturbed, concentrating now on the task at hand he was past the point of reasonable reason and past the point of what was sensible. On that crisp morning, his sensibilities no longer in tact, the distance between his steps now widening and his heart racing with intention – tables were being flung everywhere, people were screaming in disbelief, running for safety and the money was scattered on the floor of the temple portico.


When it was all over, he stood there like a man stands when he has made a point, and dared anyone to challenge the new status quo.

Jesus was being too ….
… too radical
… too insistent on things holy
… too zealous
… too quick to make a judgment
… too violent
… too perturbed
… too unreasonable
… too Jesus.

We live in the same ‘this is just the way it is’ world Jesus’ disciples were living in. That kind of living, which is the old status quo, puts a think into people’s minds like a heavy wool veil covers a face; its heavy, hard to see through and suffocating.

Before the veil was ripped in the temple on the day of His great sacrifice, He took away the heavy wool veil covering His disciples faces that day in the temple. From that day forward none of them, save one, would ever be the same.

All because Jesus was being too …

Here's today’s question: ‘Could we be accused of being too …?’

Perhaps the smaller questions may be; 'Are our faces yet veiled with the old status quo of 'this is just the way it is'? 'Is it getting hard to see through the heaviness'? 'Are the plans, purposes and intentions of God in us suffocating'?


Find yourself being too ...


Dan
A Runner

Still the Most Powerful Certainty

I'm sitting on my front porch this morning. It's a large expansive porch attached to my wife's house. This particular porch is the reason I chose to live in the Old West End. I often tease Crystal that we bought the porch and the rest of the house came with it.

The porch faces a great neighborhood filled with real interesting people. Just four doors down a fellow minister and good friend Steve North and his wife Jan have a house. These are just a few reasons why this is a great spot for me to reflect, think, plan and blog. In just a few minutes the morning bells from Glenwood Lutheran will start playing old hymns ... calling neighbors to gather as it has done for years in this part of the city.

Even though I'm fully dressed for church this morning, which for my family is New Life Church of God in Christ on Oakwood where Bishop E.T. Cook is the Pastor [I think I've got the lingo down], there's a part of me that would just as soon stay home.

I know I'll not meet God in church this morning much more than I've already met Him on this very porch already today .. so to go to church to receive something isn't very motivational.

So - why go?

My wife Crystal has this great teaching - one I've used more than once - on the difference between journey and migration. The basic premise of her presentation is that a journey with God, while good, is about what He's doing in you. A migration on the other hand is what He's doing through you, because of you and yes ... in spite of you.

If you've hung around me for more than a minute you'll hear me say; 'The Church is The Most Powerful Certainty on This Planet'! The church, just to make sure we're talking about the same thing, is not the place I'm going to this morning - or the place you're going to. The Church, the one God has established through Jesus Christ, is people.

God's people are the most powerful certainty on this planet. YOU are the most powerful certainty on this planet. That's migration.

So - I'm off to New Life in a moment. Off I go, not with obligation. Not with compulsion. Not with a set of expectations or rules.

I go for reasons I don't expect. I go because the mysteries of following God make me curious. I go, hopefully for the same reason you go - I'm on a migration. I believe down to my socks that what God is doing in me will impact the world around me, so if I remain on this porch and enjoy the bountiful pleasure of His provision ... I've kept it to myself. I've become the sum of me, when I could become the exponential of Him.

Gotta go.

Dan
A Runner

A Very Necessary Shout Out!!

What are you going to say to 40 youth and a dozen adult chaperone's who take their summer vacation and serve 15 hours a day for four days straight?

Thank you Westgate Chapel Youth!

Thank you is the most uncomplicated yet complex utterance known to man. In just two simple words gratitude is known by all and the depth of its meaning makes one curious.

Friday morning I stopped by our Bancroft house which is being prepared to open for much needed transitional housing for women at the Sparrow's Nest. The love and dedication of these fine examples of God at work is astounding. All .. I mean All, of them were working. Not one was complaining about the heat or about the amount of work. As a matter of fact, I observed the exact opposite - they were All smiling, laughing and enjoying their service.

The group I saw at the Bancroft house was only a portion of their group. The other half were equally hard at service at our Madison Street facility preparing, cooking and serving meals - well over 2000 in just four days.

It gets better. Westgate also raised their own money to purchase the food they would serve.

What can you say to such a complex love and service?

Thank you!

On another note, the Bancroft facility will open this month .. by the grace of God and will be officially named Abigail's House.

My final Thank you at least for today, goes to Luann whose love of others and dedication to the ideals of Cherry Street have in great part contributed to Abigail's House and it's opening.

Dan
A Runner

He's Still On Fire!

Exodus chapter 3 and 4.


I've always loved the behavior God exhibits in these two chapters. The rhythm of His watchful eye in chapter 3 verse 4 as well as the cadence and manner of His speech toward Moses give us attention to how loving and persistent He is.


As God was burning in the days of Moses, He burns yet today. It was the trouble of people He loved that caused Him to draw Moses' attention away from his daily routine. His people were in bondage, enslaved as a result of past generations, beaten, tormented and far from any hope or better future.


Sound familiar?


It should - this sounds like most people who are within arms distance from us any day of the week .. maybe even twice on Sunday.


Here's today's question: 'Where is God on fire in your life?'


As sure as you're breathing today, God is burning somewhere on your horizon. You know He's burning because there are people He loves who are yet enslaved, broken, beaten, forgotten, prisoners of their past - you remember, because you and I used to be one of them.


His burning will challenge your routine, just like it challenged Moses' routine that day.

Are you available?
Will you turn your feet in God's direction?
Will you be the one who takes one step forward?
Will you be the one 'out of line?'

I think you will.


Dan
A Runner

The Barking Dog

You've had this happen to you, seen it happen or heard of it happening.

The dog in the front yard waiting ... waiting ... waiting - and he's off. Running and barking like his life depended on catching the car speeding by his yard. It's an interesting sight really. A case to be studied for sure.

This dog displays amazing agility. He has impeccable timing. Remarkable Stamina. Disciplined patience. Unflinching resolve. Determined focus. Nerves of steel. Uncompromising in his agenda. He is in fact .. Relentless.

He's the barking dog.


Unfortunately for the dog his focus, patience, stamina and timing don't seem to be connected to a specific outcome. Was this his intended fate? Or is endlessly chasing automobiles what he has been reduced to? Designed to companion in the great out doors, like an animal at the zoo without the cage, he is now confined by his experience and limited by his environment.

I must confess - from time to time I've behaved a lot like the barking dog. With great precision, agility, stamina, determination, focus and unflinching resolve I've chased issues that shouldn't have been chased - needn't have been chased. At least not by me.

To be candid, there are one or two 'cars' I'm chasing right now.


If a measurable impact through social innovation is the goal - and it is. Then I've decided it would be much better to walk quietly if that's what it takes, than to run loudly for the sake of motion or noise. It is in fact the product of purposeful intent to experience the kind of freedom not confined by experience nor limited by environment.


Take the quick barking dog test:

1. Does your today seem a lot like yesterday?
2. Do you believe or behave your experience to date disqualifies you in some way?
3. Do you believe or behave that your present surroundings has confined or limited you in any way?

If you answered yes - you have barking dog syndrome.

Here's the antidote. Stop it! Stop it now! Seriously ... stop!


The behavior of the car told you a long time ago it didn't care you were chasing it. With not so much as a mechanical yawn it just keeps driving by. Unaffected by your diligence, uncaring for your pursuit and untouched by your focus the issue you've been chasing remains unchanged and perfectly intact.


It dawns on me the only lasting impact of the barking dog is the rut left behind from constant chasing and endless pursuit. Here's the lesson. You and I possessing perfect skill, tireless ethic and unwavering focus may still wind up in a rut.

May I suggest the wrong thing is being chased. Instead, let's turn to the open road ourselves - that's where God is waiting. He waits for us to join Him far and away from the familiar motion of things. Clearly His desire is for us to run alright, but be the kind of runner that attains, strengthens, solves and leaves behind better.

Here's today's question: 'What is the internal adjustment you need God to make inside you?'


Dan
A Runner

No Pastel Thinking Allowed!

Pastel; any of various pale or light colors

As I said last week, because we live in a platitude accepting drive-by-conversating world, you and I will have to say something different, and be willing to do something different just to be the one person in the 'row' of lined up public opinion who dares to take one step forward.


Stepping away from the crowd of commonly held opinion is awkward and away from the order of things.

I do like order though, and the positive outcomes of well thought out and executed chain of command. I like the progress and power of agreement and the fruitfulness of unity. I love the 'getting on the same page' moments shared with people in my life. The Bible speaks about agreement and unity repeatedly in an effort that we may understand the depth of greatness acquired when we are together - truly together.

There are times though, when the majority of opinion is not right. There are times when you will be the one who breaks rank to find yourself alone on a topic. Don't be afraid. Remember there's a difference between lonely and being alone. Taking a stand may be a lonely place, but you're never alone. There are those all around you who wait for leadership - they wait for you.

One of the great aspects of Cherry Street Mission Ministries, and certainly one of the many reasons I love serving here, is that we live in a platitude free environment. Here, the phrases of 'kind of'' and 'sort of' have no meaning because they are not resistant to the acidic nature of serving in the river of the human condition.

Lives weighing in the balance of heaven and hell don't respond well to direction that is unclear nor love that has no sharp contrast against the backdrop of trouble.

That's the problem with pastel colors - you're never really sure what the color really is. So we're forced to describe the color as pastel [pale] yellow or pastel blue.

It's also the problem with pastel thinking or pastel leadership - you're never quite sure what the decision really is. 'Not really sure [pastel] thinking' works well when you're looking at a menu or trying to decide what you really want at the ice cream stand.

But - when people are placed into the equation, that's a whole different matter. People in the equation will require decisiveness. These are decisions that stand in stark contrast to the problems of life and decisions that will most often stand in stark contrast to the opinions of those around you - no pastel here.

Decisions of stark contrast are made at Cherry Street Mission Ministries [and I hope where you serve] every day. Whether a meal, a conversation, a prayer or a moment of kindness - all stand in sharp contrast to the 'pastel colors' of life.

Here's today's challenge: Make a decision that stands in stark contrast to____________ (you fill in the blank).

Dan