Inner Circle Joy

(Photo: dreamstime.com)

Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.—Philippians 3:17, NLT

Reading Romans 16 is not unlike attending your child’s school awards ceremony and clapping for a bunch of people you know nothing about. It can be a little awkward: “I don’t know who these people are, but ‘yay for them’ anyway.” For the first 16 verses, the Apostle Paul encourages the fledgling gathering of believers in Rome, who like us,  “are beloved of God … called to be saints (God’s people) and set apart for a sanctified life; that is, set apart for God and His purpose,” to be sure to “greet” a whole lot of folks who they apparently know or have at least heard of, but who are total strangers to us.

But maybe they shouldn’t be.

These are mostly everyday people, with no special qualifications other than that they all seem to not just talk a good game, but consistently (not perfectly) walk the talk. These are men and women whose lives are marked not just by good deeds but by:

Faithfulness in both sunny and rainy seasons

Perseverance when everything inside screams to quit

Integrity even when compromise is everywhere

Hard work, very hard work, whatever it looks like, for the sake of spreading Good News

For being family to one another...encouraging, building up, loving

For random acts of hospitality

And, especially, whose very lives have been “tested and approved in Christ.”

When Paul says “greet” these folks, he’s implying a whole lot more than “Tell ‘em ‘hi’ for me.” The Greek word implies a very intimate greeting—to hug, to kiss with honor, to embrace. That may all sound rather uncomfortable if you’re not a particularly greeting-demonstrative person, but God chose a strong word for a very good reason:

In this journey on the Great Adventure, with deceptions, lies, and temptations lurking around every corner 24/7, it’s vital that we find and walk with those who have lived like the just-a-regular-guy saints in that Romans 16 list. And not only to find them and walk with them, but to go a bold step further and “embrace” them into a very tight circle of joyful influencers. Not at the exclusion of all others, but as Solomon penned many hundreds of years earlier—perhaps pointing to that early gathering of believers in Rome as well as to we who are called to be salt and light today—

"Walk with the wise and become wise;
    associate with fools and get in trouble."—Proverbs 13:20, NLT

“Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are."

(Author unknown)

[ADAPTED FROM 4-10-16]

Parable of the Unusual Journey

Photo: Jakub Kriz @unsplash.com

Once upon a time not all that long ago, in a land not very far away, a man bent over to lace up his usual sneakers and set out on his usual journey of usual length on the usual road. It usually was enjoyable and beneficial. Nevertheless, it was usual in every way and it had become routine, and safe and predictable. Until one day, his usual sneakers took him on an unusual road that was not of the usual length. It was longer—not by a lot but by enough so that it demanded determination, which produced more perseverance than he thought he had. He no longer thought the usual thoughts but began to wonder, “What if?…” 

This was becoming more common. Apparently, everything within the man had maxed out on usual and wanted something unusual to grow, to strengthen, to be more nimble and enduring even into a headwind. Without even realizing it, he was becoming something unusual, and better, and healthier in body, mind and soul. And somehow he knew that even this road of not the usual length wouldn’t be long enough for much longer. And it was good….

…“Therefore become imitators of God — copy Him and follow His example — as well-beloved children imitate their father.” (Ephesians 5:1-2, Amplified)

…It is easy and comfortable to stay stuck on usual when all the time, God has created us for “become.”

To stretch things out. To “grow to be.” Regardless of age.

And as long as it is called today, it’s a good day to stop standing still, to stop running in circles, to stop doing the same, safe, comfortable thing over and over and wondering why we feel like we’re not making much progress.

Because, truth is, we were made for much more than usual.

Made to become.

More and more like, and walk more and more like... Jesus.

Really.

To become more of a holy person. (What? No way!)

No, not "holier than thou" but as in, like God holy, “set apart” from the ways and thinking of this world that, in the end, go nowhere.

And yet to become more in the world with the light of Who is inside us...but not of it.

Real, and not plastic.

Not finger-pointing and frowning but pointing the better Way and maybe grabbing someone by the arm and helping them get up and look Up.

To live and love better Vertically so we can live and Love better horizontally.

And to realize “become" will take awhile, like our whole life, but to never give up or settle for usual.

To remember: “Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.” (Steve Prefontaine, Olympic runner)

…And on those days when “usual” sounds more appealing, it’s good to remember that “become” is not just for the special, or the weird, or the the intense, or the bold and well-spoken, or for people who have extra time on their hands—it’s for every one of God's kids. 

It’s about keeping the main thing the main thing: simply…sticking …close.

Remember what the religious leaders said about usual guys Peter and John: “they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

They were becoming unusual.

Because it’s not just the usual of what we know about God, but what we do with it:

“Sermons last but an hour or two, but your life preaches all the week.”

—Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Paved with Goodness

"Show me Your ways, O LORD, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long."—Psalm 25:4-5, NIV

A few weeks ago, I was hiking an unfamiliar trail that had very few markers and quickly became difficult to follow in the snow. Lots of meandering and needless circles. I wound up following the sun to get back to my car. I wished it had one of these signs like in the photo, taken along a more familiar trail. Maybe not coincidentally, this morning while standing in the shower and thinking of the day ahead, I sensed something really strong like: "Just stay steadfast." And I thought of this post from long ago. And I guess I am not surprised to learn that it has been one of the most-read over the years, because we all can't be reminded enough that Someone is always cheering us on even when the path of life gets confusing and difficult...

There will be times of level, wide-open spaces with long strides, and times of steep hills shrouded in fog. There will be refreshing forest jogs with the wind at your back, and there will be times when the next step is fraught with sweat, deep breaths, and rocks and roots that trip up. On many days, the view ahead on the horizon is straight and inspiring, but on just as many days, the route ahead twists, turns, and seems to disappear into the landscape known as the Kingdom of Trust. There will be smooth sailing, and there will be detours. There will be incredible vistas and mountaintop experiences, and there will be murky valleys filled with mud.

But the same God who lifts us up out of the muck and mire and sets our feet on solid ground at just the right time, and over and over again, is the same God whose paths are paved with nothing but a gazillion ancient promises fulfilled (or still on their way) even thousands of years later. All built on a bedrock of nothing but faithfulness. They are pathways of pure goodness, even when they are not easy. Stay on them, no matter what, and you cannot get lost.

There are no dead-ends in God's ways either, because even if you wander off-course (it will happen), there will always be signs, and scriptures, and prayers of friends that say...

"C'mon! This way!"

Every day this week on planet Earth, truth and faithfulness will be found lacking in our broken world. Sometimes, in a big way. And if our eyes and ears and heart get stuck gazing here, there will be good reason to think, "I don't know what or who to believe anymore." A better course of action, one that is more easily achieved in the heat of the moment when one or more are in agreement in prayer with you (and you with them), is to take a deep breath, look Up once more, remember God's impeccable resume and track record, and fix our eyes instead on the Author and Finisher of our faith, and the Faithful Guide for every single step we take along the path of this Great Adventure:

Lord, so here's a one-word prayer request: Focus. Help us keep it in the right and only place, because Your paths alone are the plumb line that guide and build our lives perfectly. Your unchanging Words bring order to the chaos that can bubble up, both without and within. You are the peace and safest of harbors in every afternoon squall and three-day storm. Your Word is clarity in the midst of confusion; help us to remember that, to take up our sword, and to use it as a laser beam to bust through the fog when truth and faithfulness all around seems sorely lacking. Thank You that You have "given us two unchanging things: Your promises and Your oath. These prove that it is impossible for You to lie. As a result, we who come to You for refuge might be encouraged to seize that hope that is set before us. That hope is real and true..." And thank You, too, that in every step we take on the good path this week, You won't be off somewhere else—You'll be cheering us on....

"C'mon! This way!"

"If you can trust Him to save you for eternity, you can trust Him to lead you for a lifetime." — David Platt

(Originally published September 2016)

Just Because...

United Methodist Church, Peterborough, NH

I was going to sleep in on that rainy Sunday morning, and the idea of doing a lot of nothing except reading the paper and drinking coffee sounded really appealing. But by mid-morning, what I thought at the time was a guilty conscience had me scrambling to get dressed and heading to church because it wasn’t just Sunday, it was Easter. And not getting 20 questions/comments around the dinner table along the lines of “we missed you in church today, where were you?” became far more comfortable to my flesh than a sweat shirt and sweat pants in my apartment.

I was late. Really late. But the ushers smiled and said hello anyway, so that was a relief. I sat in the way back and settled in. I don’t remember one single thing about the rest of that day, but many years later, I am convinced that it was the beginning of a seismic shift that changed my life, and that I showed up at church that Easter not because of a guilty conscience but because someone(s) was praying…

“I know how much you trust the Lord, just as your mother Eunice and your grandmother Lois do;

and I feel sure you are still trusting Him as much as ever."

—2 Timothy 1:5, Living

...I figured it was my grandmother’s doing, followed closely by mom and dad and a few others.

Growing up, I thought Mamie (that's what we called our grandmother) was one of the wisest, kindest people I knew and yet she was a woman of few words. Her faith in God was just as quiet and yet seemed to be strong. I remember her listening to Tennessee Ernie Ford hymns and faithfully watching evangelist Oral Roberts on her black and white TV. The only time I remember her getting upset was when she was listening to a Red Sox game on the radio while she ironed and she raised her voice at “those Yankees!” for ruining Carl Yastrzemski’s birthday.

Mom picked up a lot of those same traits. And just as Paul pointed out to Timothy, put the two of them together, and I didn’t have a chance.

Thank God.

Several months later, Mamie learned she had terminal cancer. I don’t recall her ever changing her disposition, but it devastated mom and shook what little faith I had at the time. “Why God? Why her? Why?!” Even so, for the most part, I continued life as usual with little interest in church or spending Sunday mornings there regularly. But I did like to sing, and when I was invited to join the choir, I didn’t hesitate, even while singing about a Jesus and salvation and healing and such that was all pretty much foreign to my thinking and way of life.

But, there was this song. Mamie loved it, and so did my grandfather. And my mom, and my dad. And the whole choir. And doggone it, my grandmother and mother and whoever else with them must have been praying because it grabbed me, too, even though it wasn’t rock and roll. And on one Saturday night out with the boys, coming home I swore I heard a voice within my head say something like “you are at a crossroads—which road will you choose?” Going to church the next day was furthest from my mind for most of the night but suddenly became, “I’ve gotta be there. Because we’re singing that song tomorrow.” 

Mamie and mom and somebody else must have been praying some more. Because that Sunday, after we sang that song, and the invitation was given to receive Christ as Lord of my life (and not me—that wasn’t working out too well, anyway), I went all in. Of all the deep things the pastor said that day, the one line I remember that got my attention was “what if you get hit by a truck on the way out the door today?” And all of heaven must have chuckled a little: “Watch this!,” as I found myself moving to the altar.

Several months later, right before Christmas, Mamie went Home. Even though I knew a bit more about Where she was going, I was still a mess about it all. But on her way, she left me something. She left me that song to carry for all those “Why God? Where are You? This world (my world) is a mess!” moments. And many years later, I still cannot think of a Resurrection Sunday morning without singing along:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow

Because He lives, all fear is gone

Because I know He holds the future

And life is worth the living just because He lives*

And I picture Mamie, and mom and dad, and all the others I’ve loved who have gone to glory, nodding their heads: “It’s all true. Keep ‘trusting Him as much as ever.’ And don't forget to pray for someone. You never know.”

* Because He Lives, (C) 1971, William J. Gaither Inc.