HCLM BLOG

Cheryl and dad and I had a great conversation the other day. It went in a couple of directions, but one of them was around that tree from psalm 1 that we read about last Sunday. We talked about how producing fruit is not a labor or work for a tree. It’s just the product of being a tree. That’s why the psalmist compares a follower of God to a fruit tree, we decided. See, when you’re connected to God through Jesus so much happens. It’s not work…it’s just the product of being his kid. God’s kids have love, peace, joy, etc. They just do. This is huge for when we find ourselves without these things. It means we don’t have to work for them. We reconnect with Jesus: remember and relive the story. More on that Sunday, but until then check out this paragraph Cheryl found:

we talked about 2verses this morning for about 45min. I love that about scripture. See it’s not that it’s so dense; it doesn’t take 45min to understand the 2verses. It’s just that the verses are rich; there is 45min of depth behind the 2verses. The scriptures are rich not dense.

and…
the more you learn about the whole story, the more you realize that the depth is all relevant. I mean it’s not some academic exercise. It all has the potential to affect who I am and how I see the world.

a few things we gathered this morning:

    God doesn’t always keep bad things from happening
    “I believe in one holy christian and apostolic church” means we’re continuing the church that began with the 12guys Jesus himself sent to carry on his teaching. a tribe of people unbroken have preserved that teaching for two thousand years, and we’re a part of it.
    we already are everything we want to be
    God will rename some folks…

Do with that whatever you want, I’m just excited remembering that it’s true: we’re never done learning about theStory.

What do you do for work?
this is a great question.
Your mind probably goes to what you do that makes you money; quick, redirect. Think on what you do that tires your body out and leaves you feeling satisfied. I’ll ask again, now that you’re thinking in the right direction…

What do you do for work?

The coffee shop is getting busier. My time behind the counter is starting to feel more like work: I’m on my feet more, making more drinks, and washing more dishes. Half way through my shift now my body is already tired. But this feels like a life-giving sort of tired, not life-sucking. It is satisfying to know I’m working toward the success of something. It’s the same sort of thing as when I work in the yard at home, or wear myself out playing with the kids. I walk away feeling satisfied.

When you know the story, you realize that’s not a coincidence. Humanity was made to work. I have gifts, abilities, talents, skills that are made to be leveraged to accomplish stuff. The genius application comes when you start to be able to differentiate occupation from work. You may have an occupation that doesn’t require your gifts, abilities, talents and skills. Or worse, isn’t worth them. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have work that is satisfying. It takes my creativity and patience to play with my kids, and it is super satisfying when I use them for that work. It’s what I was made to do.

There are all kinds of benefits to learning the story of scripture, but one is definitely realizing we were made for work and it is waiting for us all around…not just at work.

I really enjoyed our Labor day, but it totally threw me off.
Today is thursday but it’s hard to feel like it is. It sort of feels like Tuesday, which really makes no sense.
I like having rhythm to my week. I don’t want each week to feel the same but I like knowing where I am, that I’m getting everything done and that each week accomplished something.

The older I get, the more I get a larger sense of rhythm. I’ve just started to notice annual rhythms. I prune plants in my yard at certain times of the year. The grass grows different in each season, I can feel the changes coming; I’m starting to look at years more like weeks, hoping to accomplish things and planning out the flow.

It all reminds me that the world was not put together by accident, and that I was made as a part of it. There is an order to things and to my life not by accident, on purpose. The more I recognize that, the better I enjoy the life I’m living. When I realize I’m made to love people well, honor and respect my relationships, invest in tasks and accomplish goals, serve the people around me genuinely, I find that my life falls into a rhythm that I really enjoy.

thinking of that, my mind goes here.

I’ve found myself quoting a passage from Scripture lately even though I really have no idea where it is. I knew it went something like this, “he who is faithful with a few things will be faithful with much.”

I’ve quoted it enough times and the T.V. tonight was bad enough that I decided to look up where it comes from. Turns out it’s a saying of Jesus (I figured that much). Matthew and Luke both record it. The phrase actually goes “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” It comes in the context of a story that Jesus is using to describe how the Kingdom of God works. (I could retell the whole story, but why bother. You can read it here… I’ll wait til you’re done.)

Interesting huh?
So Jesus taught that in his kingdom as you demonstrate faithfulness with small amounts of responsibility, you get greater responsibility. This truth has helped me move forward in life.

If I wanted the large responsibility of impacting a city, I need to demonstrate faithfulness in serving it with the small responsibility jobs available to me. In the same way, if I want the large responsibility of long lasting relationships, I need to demonstrate faithfulness in the small things as they develop. See, the kingdom of God operates more on who you are than who you know.

I wonder, where are you demonstrating faithfulness?
Start thinking small.
Where do you tell the truth? Where do you serve? Where do you love well?
It’s in those places you can expect your influence and responsibility to increase.
hmm…

I’m getting pretty pumped for this weekend’s gathering for a whole bunch of reasons. I will now share just a few with you…

1. it’s not nothing to have been gathering for a year and exploring the story that animates the world and our lives. that is something folks. When the New Testament encouraged our people to continue meeting together I think he had in mind that we might become like second families for each other, reminding each other who we really are and what we ought to be about. theCross Orlando is becoming that…a family you wanna be a part of.
2. I’ve been thinking about our topic for Sunday a lot and slowly loving it more and more. We’re talking about how people who step into the story of scripture have the opportunity to receive love from God. The more I think about that, the more I realize what an intense and powerful thing that is.
3. I know that Emily W. is making our lunch again and that rarely goes wrong.

that three of a whole bunch of reasons i’m pumped for Sunday’s gathering.
If you’re able to get there you won’t regret it.

psalm eight is pretty great.
if feels true. do you know what I mean?
sometimes poetry can feel true before you’re even sure what it’s saying…

psalm eight is like that for me.
what I read it, the first thing that strikes me is:
beauty.
then, humility.
then, honor.
then I want to read it again…
you try

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

   You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants

   you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

today was a wednesday that felt like a thursday.
I know they’re not that far apart, but they feel different.
Thursday is the day before friday, and we all know what friday is.
But wednesday is just the day before thursday; there’s still a lot of week left.

My weeks are not hard in a traditional sense.
I mean there’s no manual labor, blisters or heavy lifting.
I’m not a soldier, my life is not in danger. I go home at regular times, eat good food and sleep in a comfy bed.
So sometimes it’s hard to believe i have enemies, things to be rescued from, or even really places to heal.

That’s why, at first, this prayer Rob picked out for Sunday didn’t really seem relevant.
The first two verses go…

I will exalt you, LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
LORD my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.  

But just now I was thinking that the ease and constant pace of my life can be my enemies.
Together they pull me into the idea that this world could be enough for me, if I can just get a little more influence or power, a few more things or friends. Tonight I’m letting this ancient psalm be my prayer and asking God to save me from those enemies. I’m asking him to pull me into the truth that this world could never be enough for me; my identity and hope are certain and come from God.

at yesterday’s gathering we started a series of weeks thinking about the question, “Why Pray?”
to get us into the experience we posted prayers around the room and spent some time meditating on them.
I liked it, not enough quiet praying time in my weeks.

this week I’m going to post those prayers and think about them a bit.
Today I’m thinking about one that Rob found in paul’s first letter to timothy

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.

I let that be my prayer yesterday, and this morning.
I do that my thinking on the words, what they mean and how they apply, then allowing them to be my words.
it was sort of heart warming to think on God “appointing me to his service.”

in case you didn’t realize it, God appointed you too.
There’s a section in Romans that affirms that; it says that God not only picked you, but called you. That means called you to a purpose. Not bad, and this prayer reminded me what an honor that is; what confidence God must have in you to give some responsibility.

It might be nice, to let this be your prayer today.

as I drove in to work this morning the sunrise was pretty sweet. bans of pink and orange and blue.

I got out of bed, as I do most mornings, just before 6a. As I did I thought, I don’t know how many more days in a row I can get up before 7. Just let me sleep ’til 7. I’ve found that I’m not eating quite as well lately as I usually do. Before I eat a snack that I usually wouldn’t I’m saying something like, “I’m pushing myself in lots of places and just not going to push myself here.” So you get the picture, I’ve been feeling a little bit sorry for myself lately.

That’s why the view of the sunrise was nice this morning. I had put Pandora on a Shane and Shane station that was singing a song about the “take my yoke upon you, for my burden is light” verse as I looked through our few high rises to see the sun coming up so pretty. It reminded me about reality: There is a steady, beautiful world coming. One day the sun will roll around to our side of the globe for the last time, everything that makes life hard will be put away and the pieces of my life that are so satisfying will explode to fill up my whole existence.

Inside that truth there is another that clicked into my brain during this morning’s drive. I am glimpsing that world all the time. Not just that great sunrise. At about 10:30 this morning Wes burst into the shop announcing, “Dad, we made you lunch!” and Ellie carried it over to me saying “lunch” as best she can. Somewhere, between me and those kids, is an emotion that is real and tied to a relationship that will endure even into that new world. Plus, I am realizing that the fun parts of work are connecting to something in me that is real and will endure. I was made to create and invest and apply my skills. When I step back for a minute I realize, God is leading toward becoming a real person. One that will endure into that new world. Most of the time it is satisfying. It’s then that I realize, my life is not burdensome–I just make it that way sometimes…