Across the country, early November is soon upon us. The time to vote. The time to participate 'community' like at no other time of the year.
I'm sure where you live is similar to what we face here in the Toledo region; a tough economy, mortgage failure, foreclosure increases, families in trouble like never before ... and the list goes on.
All of this, mind you, on top of what has been a steady disintegration of hope and trust within our community emotion regarding most sectors including church and government.
And so, during this time of year as early November approaches and the voting booths fire up, all manner of men and women clamor for our attention; 'elect me' 'I'm the answer' 'I'm the leader you're looking for' ... most of us are tired before we get tired. A particular fatigue comes on us in the daily grind and exposure to the cry for our vote from someone we've never heard of.
Everyone knows, whether we use the exact language or not, that most towns, cities and regions are experiencing on various levels a leadership vacuum. The pull of that vacuum is intense. So intense that it can, and will, pull anyone into it - and I mean anyone.
At no other time in our history is there more impetus and opportunity for a people who live in a country where the statement 'for the people, by the people' can be capitalized on. We seem to have distilled that statement to participation in government ... which it certainly is. But what about the behavior of 'for the people, by the people'?
There is, at least in our town, a serious leadership vacuum at many levels of government. So, you may certainly view yourself as someone who may participate in filling that vacuum with yourself as a candidate or as a voter of a candidate.
But what about you, the behavioral citizen in your neighborhood, community, workplace and family? Where does the behavior of for the people, by the people behave in your spheres of influence apart from government? Is there a tangible responsibility you've discovered for yourself in filling the leadership vacuum around you?
While a belief in being governed by proper leadership from people we respect and honor is critical, a for the people by the people mindset stimulates a certain behavior of ownership.
Here's today's question; Are you the leader that fills the leadership vacuum around you?
Early November will come and go. Perhaps the citizenry will establish in government through this round of elections the kind of leaders we can be proud of and serve. Perhaps the citizenry will elect leaders that will continue taking our communities down the wrong path.
Either way, you and I living in a for the people by the people and as a behavioral citizen will continue to stand ... and filling the vacuum establish for ourselves and on behalf of others the healthy and whole of God
Dan
A Runner
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Time
My last entry entitled 'Speed' ended with this statement:
Whatever you're 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.
Hopefully you're thinking more dynamically about the trouble you may be in or the crisis you may be facing. Hopefully you've not contacted the prayer line to get you out of the crisis, but for God to show Himself strong in the crisis. By now hopefully you've contacted your pastor as an FYI to what God is revealing, rather than sending an SOS signaling to him or her they had better get involved quickly.
Congratulations ... you've begun to 'think God'!
Recently our family took a vacation which included a major theme park. It's one of those places where the park has come up with a convenience called 'fast pass'. When the park is really full, fast pass works very well. With fast pass you basically reserve your place in line for a later time which is usually 60 to 90 minutes later.
This allows you two things; time to go see other attractions and upon your return an immediate jump to the front of the line. Of course fast pass is dependent on two unspoken rules; your familiarity with the park and fairly decent planning on your part. So if you're not that familiar or not a good planner, potentially you could miss your reserved place in line and if you miss it well ... you've missed it.
However, and this is a big however, when the park is not full or busy, as on the day we were there, I overheard interesting revelations. People taking the fast pass option realized after awhile, they didn't really need it. With the average wait time being only 15 minutes, you could actually see more attractions by consistently waiting in line rather than bouncing back and forth from one reservation to the next.
Here's today's point: Time is a fluid concept.
Time behaves like its creator. Not that God is a concept but God is indeed fluid. Like an ever changing river God is constant in that He's always there, but He is never there the same way ... He's never there the same way ... never.
As a matter of note, because we seem to have an endless penchant for the static we end up being the only one in the picture not moving. Too many times we end up looking like the boulder in the middle of God's flow, unmoving and marking time. Like the boulder in the river, the flow of God moves all around us, steadily eroding the outer edges and making us so smooth He seems to flow around us effortlessly.
Here's today's question: 'When you received Jesus as the way to God, did you see your self ending up like the boulder?'
Perhaps the single most schizophrenic part of following God, for me personally, has been in regards to time. I believe in and receive the timeless [the fluid] nature of God and behave in return like the boulder, marking time and looking at my watch.
I know God doesn't wear a watch - I know this. And yet my behavior would suggest otherwise; constantly marking time and looking for a 'fast pass' solution in an effort to reserve my place in line while trotting off to other attractions.
There are bright days for all of us. The best day in my followership of Him is when I'm consumed by Him rather than consuming Him with the marking of time. When instead of flowing around me we flow together. Seamless and invisible is our flow like when a glass of water is poured into a river ... still there but seen no more.
This requires taking the watch off though.
Here may be some things for you to ponder:
Do I believe and receive the timeless [fluid] nature of God?
Do I freely and habitually give to others timeless relationship?
When was the last time I cut myself a break as big as the one God cut for me?
Am I the boulder?
What would happen if I flowed, truly flowed with God?
Now that you're learning to slow down, learn how to take time out of the conversation you're having with God, yourself and with others. We'll be amazed together what the combination of slow and timeless will accomplish.
Dan
A Runner
Whatever you're 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.
Hopefully you're thinking more dynamically about the trouble you may be in or the crisis you may be facing. Hopefully you've not contacted the prayer line to get you out of the crisis, but for God to show Himself strong in the crisis. By now hopefully you've contacted your pastor as an FYI to what God is revealing, rather than sending an SOS signaling to him or her they had better get involved quickly.
Congratulations ... you've begun to 'think God'!
Recently our family took a vacation which included a major theme park. It's one of those places where the park has come up with a convenience called 'fast pass'. When the park is really full, fast pass works very well. With fast pass you basically reserve your place in line for a later time which is usually 60 to 90 minutes later.
This allows you two things; time to go see other attractions and upon your return an immediate jump to the front of the line. Of course fast pass is dependent on two unspoken rules; your familiarity with the park and fairly decent planning on your part. So if you're not that familiar or not a good planner, potentially you could miss your reserved place in line and if you miss it well ... you've missed it.
However, and this is a big however, when the park is not full or busy, as on the day we were there, I overheard interesting revelations. People taking the fast pass option realized after awhile, they didn't really need it. With the average wait time being only 15 minutes, you could actually see more attractions by consistently waiting in line rather than bouncing back and forth from one reservation to the next.
Here's today's point: Time is a fluid concept.
Time behaves like its creator. Not that God is a concept but God is indeed fluid. Like an ever changing river God is constant in that He's always there, but He is never there the same way ... He's never there the same way ... never.
As a matter of note, because we seem to have an endless penchant for the static we end up being the only one in the picture not moving. Too many times we end up looking like the boulder in the middle of God's flow, unmoving and marking time. Like the boulder in the river, the flow of God moves all around us, steadily eroding the outer edges and making us so smooth He seems to flow around us effortlessly.
Here's today's question: 'When you received Jesus as the way to God, did you see your self ending up like the boulder?'
Perhaps the single most schizophrenic part of following God, for me personally, has been in regards to time. I believe in and receive the timeless [the fluid] nature of God and behave in return like the boulder, marking time and looking at my watch.
I know God doesn't wear a watch - I know this. And yet my behavior would suggest otherwise; constantly marking time and looking for a 'fast pass' solution in an effort to reserve my place in line while trotting off to other attractions.
There are bright days for all of us. The best day in my followership of Him is when I'm consumed by Him rather than consuming Him with the marking of time. When instead of flowing around me we flow together. Seamless and invisible is our flow like when a glass of water is poured into a river ... still there but seen no more.
This requires taking the watch off though.
Here may be some things for you to ponder:
Do I believe and receive the timeless [fluid] nature of God?
Do I freely and habitually give to others timeless relationship?
When was the last time I cut myself a break as big as the one God cut for me?
Am I the boulder?
What would happen if I flowed, truly flowed with God?
Now that you're learning to slow down, learn how to take time out of the conversation you're having with God, yourself and with others. We'll be amazed together what the combination of slow and timeless will accomplish.
Dan
A Runner
Sunday, August 23, 2009
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
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
Friday, August 14, 2009
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
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
Sunday, August 9, 2009
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
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
Thursday, July 30, 2009
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
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
Saturday, July 18, 2009
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
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
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