Archive for March 2008

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Dreaming about Lions and Elders

March 26, 2008

I had a dream that I was walking in a crowd, kind of like a crowd of people leaving an athletic event, and I was with my family, and I think other people I love, and we were aware of a pride of lions in the area – that is we could see them and watch them and we were very wary of them. Somehow I knew that they were hungry, so I knew they were dangerous. As we walked, I was very attentive to the people who were with me, and I made sure they stayed in the middle of the crowd. I was wanting to avoid any of my people being stragglers, and therefore being taken by the lions.

At first, the dream troubled me, because when I think of lions, I immediately think of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Could I have been dreaming about Jesus? Why would I be running and hiding from him? But then I did a quick word study and looked at every instance of ‘lion’ used in the Bible (check out my links on the side bar and click on ‘download bible’ and you can easily do the same!). By far, most of the instances of ‘lion’ refer to an enemy seeking to devour. How could I forget this verse???

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Also, before facing Goliath, David described the faith building experiences he had when the Lord delivered him from lions who would come and attack the lambs he was given to care for. The parallel for us to see is that David perceived Israel to be like sheep, and the Philistines (esp. Goliath) to be like lions. David saw himself as a protector of the sheep (God’s people). Now we’re talking.

Both Paul and David had a commission to watch over a flock of people and to protect them from lions and other enemies.

Sometimes in the midst of various struggles and distractions, it is SO easy to focus on my own difficulties. You know how it is. Everything is about me. I lose focus on my call to watch over my sheep. I need to keep them pulled in and connected. I know that I need to be particularly watchful for who may be in danger of slipping out to the edge of the crowd where they are more vulnerable. Right?

Then my friend Berry sent me this video.

Berry’s comment was “The water buffalo is a great picture of the elders of the church.” What? I don’t have to be a solo prayer and overseer? That sounds encouraging. I can tell you this, the elders at our church have been focused on some clanging issues, and I think we ALL need to make sure we’re paying attention to the sheep and the lurking lions.

What a cool image. So what do you think? Can we consider this a warning? A wake-up call? Do we have a watchman on the wall sounding the alarm, to watch and pray?

You think we can get Berry to comment and add to our understanding??

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Shopping at Bloomingdales

March 24, 2008

I want some of this. 

I’ve never shopped at Bloomingdales, and I guess I still won’t.  Twenty bucks???  I don’t think so.

Hmmmmmmm, my birthday is in April.  Maybe someone will buy me some Juicy Couture Dirty English For Men De-Funk Deodorant.

Sweet!

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I’m Loving this

March 24, 2008

This video is a song from a movie I recently downloaded called ‘Once’ (language warning. must be French or something). This song makes me think.

On one hand (men), it’s an offer to be there for someone when they need you.

So, if you ever want something
And you call, call
Then I’ll come running.

On the other hand (de), it seems to scream at people for being so dang stubborn that they won’t listen.

When your mind’s made up
When your mind’s made up
There’s no point trying to change it
When your mind’s made up
When your mind’s made up
There’s no point even talking
When your mind’s made up
When your mind’s made up
There’s no point trying to fight it

But in the end, the offer is still there to come if they’ll call.

Dare I dedicate this song to my men’s group?

God, I love ’em.

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Finally, Science Helps Us Believe in Generosity.

March 21, 2008

I drove up to the window at Captain D’s and waited for my food.  (A slab of grilled salmon on a bed of iceberg, mmmm) Through the speaker, I could hear the a woman ordering from the car behind me, so I asked the attendant how much she owed.  I handed her some cash and paid for her lunch.

I love doing that.  It’s a simple, practical way of showing God’s love.  As I drove away, I felt good inside.  Somehow, in my tendencies toward selfishness and hoarding, I feel like I’m being a little bit like Jesus.  You know, Jesus said it’s better to give than to receive.  I believe that truth because I’ve learned to trust what Jesus says.  He’s proven his word to me again and again.  He’ll prove himself even when we don’t believe him.  It’s how he teaches us faith.  What he said would be true whether I believed him or not, but in his school of faith, he lets us experience his truth over and over so we learn to trust him.

Well, now science has proven the principle to be true, and we’re all sure to be relieved.  Once again, science has proven Jesus to be right.  I write that tongue in cheek (is that the same as saying something tongue in cheek??).  Our world view has taught us well to trust science as the real discoverer of truth.  We could believe Jesus, but we really don’t.  But now that some university did a study and polled people after they had given money to others, and compared their feelings with people who spent the money on themselves, they’ve concluded that the old adage is true.  God’s command to his people is good, but now science has enabled us to have proof.  Now, it really is true that it’s better to give than to receive (at least it is if ‘feeling good’ is also the true meaning of ‘better’, but that topic can wait for another day).  But can we believe that without science proving it?  Our acceptance of the scientific evidence at face value reveals our world view, which is biased toward science as more reliable than God’s revelation to us.  Similar to what Paul Spears has said, theological truths cannot be arbitrated by the methodology of modern science. Science is an amazing tool by which we come to understand the empirical world, but it is ineffective at explaining Biblical concepts like giving and how that is better than receiving.

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Discipline

March 20, 2008

Everyone’s favorite word. Discipline. But we do like being disciples, though. Can’t be a disciple without discipline.

Hebrews talks about being disciplined by God. Apparently, if we’re his, then we can expect to be disciplined. Goes with the territory. But what someone just pointed out to me an angle to this passage that I hadn’t really thought about. God expects us to interpret times of hardship as God’s discipline.

The way that translates to me, these days, is that God is using some difficult times at church to purify my heart. We have more people coming to the Vineyard now than ever before, yet we are struggling with finances like never before, as well. He began speaking to me as I drove today, about some things he wants to root out of me. I find it amazing how he has already purified me in ways I never thought he could. And now, I find myself excited to see him pushing me even more.

So here are the key verses for me:

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:11-13)

Could it really be that my issues could be the cause of our church’s difficulty? Well, yes, but not just me, you know. All of us at the Vineyard are being purified. It’s not like God is punishing the church for some hidden sin! Don’t worry, I don’t have any Gov. Spitzer skeletons in the closet. But all of our hardships must be interpreted in light of what God is wanting to do in us. So, yes, he does use the hardship to get our attention, and call us to holiness!!

I’m ready. I’ve had drooping hands and weak knees. I know what he’s calling me to do. I know exactly the paths he wants to make straight in my life. I’m ready. I want the fruit to come.

Pray for us. God has called us to a work, and He will provide. And aren’t you glad he doesn’t make us get perfect before he calls us and uses us? It does feel awkward to ask people to walk life out with me and to accept me with all my faults. But that’s just what he does. For you AND me.

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Vineyard Outreach

March 14, 2008

We had a new person at our home group this week. Our church is doing a service project at our local Sexual Assault Center, and this young woman had volunteered to help with the service event. Although we were rained out for our service, she met another young woman in our church who told her about our group, so we all got to meet her Wednesday night.

It’s really encouraging to me. I really believe God is providing some fruit for our obedience to him. And he is showing that it’s his hand causing the fruit, not ours. We didn’t strategize a clever church growth plan and implement it. Instead, we obeyed what we believe we have been hearing from God, and even though the event was rained out, he gave us a blessing.

Want a little break down of what God has been speaking to us? (Quotations do NOT mean that I think I am directly quoting God. It’s how I would relate what I believe we are hearing collectively.)

  1. “Reach out to your community.” We know we are called to reach out to our community, but we have struggled with how to do it. Standard evangelism techniques seem increasingly ineffective in our culture, so we have been asking God how he wants to impact our community through us.
  2. “Don’t re-invent the wheel.” Sometimes Christians see a need, and there are already community organizations working to meet those needs, but the Christians feel compelled to start a Christian version of said work. We specifically feel called NOT to do that.
  3. “Serve those organizations working in your community.” This may mean coming alongside them and working hand in hand with them. It may mean doing something for them, honoring them, or serving them in a helpful or encouraging way.
  4. “Invite others in the community to serve with you.” We use the HandsOn organization to achieve this. We post our service event on their site, and other local volunteers sign up for our project (which doesn’t emphasize our church, btw).
  5. “Serve/love the people who serve with you.” Pray and strategize how we can show God’s love in practical ways to people we meet in the community who are out volunteering.

All along, we’re trying to make meaningful relationships with people in our community. We want them to experience us Jesus followers as servers and lovers rather than judgers (?!?) and condemners. Honest, real, authentic, and caring.

So that’s what we are trying to do, and why we were serving the Sexual Assault Center. We scheduled 2 Saturdays to do landscaping and carpentry/painting work for them. And we are going to give nice little gifts to the staff. All without tooting the Vineyard horn, lest we appear to have an ulterior motive of building our church.

And in the middle of trying to serve them, we get rained out, and God gives us nice little bit of encouragement through a young woman who is plugging in an getting (re)acquainted with Jesus.

Shows how Jesus wins even when the enemy seems to win.

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