Story junk-mail

Dec 6^th (513 words)

We are living in a society that has a glut of stories.  How does that phrase strike you – “A glut of stories”?  Do you think of a huge library – with story books and novels?  Do you think of a shelf of dvd’s?  Do you think of online movie carriers – Itunes, Netflix, Youtube?  Do you think of the Cinema?  We have all the above today.  Someone invented the phrase: videovore.  This is someone who devours stories without end.  There is also the expression: binge watch.  Junk mail crowds out our mailbox and it is hard to separate the garbage that wants to take your time and money from the important stuff.

Stories are powerful!  They shape our image of right and wrong, beautiful and ugly.  They present us with life-goals and dangers to avoid.  They trace out for us a picture of what if…

These orient us in our actions, what we think, what we feel in our heart.

Can a little story do all this?  Yes – and more!  Stories inspire the imagination – a key tool in orienting our life-metaphors.  Stories develop our root metaphors – the bottom line, inner core reality of our lives.  [A root metaphor is the most fundamental assumption you take for granted.]

                Some examples of root metaphors include: Love conquers all, Blood is thicker than water, all is one, this is all there is, God is good, Jesus loves me. 

This is why the stories of Jesus are so essential to my being.  He is the root metaphor of the whole Bible – all of history – I believe.  God’s word was made flesh and dwelt among us to bring us to him and him to us.  He is the true superhero! (John 1)  Imagine him coming against all the other super-villains – all he has to do is unmake them – or throw them in hell (did you see how I am trying to translate Jesus into the story-images of our culture?) .

So what?

Pay attention to the stories you put in.  Filter them, don’t just take them in.  Some stories you should just keep out of your mind because of how they distort the good and beautiful – making bad look good and good look bad… making ugly look beautiful and beautiful look ugly.  Other stories you can confront and attack – revealing the story for what it is.  Still other stories you can judge and critique taking pieces for yourself (I like this… but I don’t agree with that…).  Sometimes you come across a great story that can inspire your pursuit of truth and life abundance.

What are the great stories of humanity?

What are your great stories?

Where do you put the Bible? 

On a dusty shelf – next to the dictionary and encyclopedia – boring resource tools that you never use?

I would say that the Bible is the meta-story – the main story that all other good stories borrow from and are measured by.

It doesn’t need to be a boring book – it’s life-changing.  Invest your life in it – because it opens a more abundant relationship with God!

Happy reading!

Painting with a broken brush

Nov 30^th (394 words)

What is life without faith?  What is life without God?  What is life without faith in God?  What does life look like if you are living it without actively, daily including God in it?

“Bla bla bla…” you may say sarcastically.  “That’s your job David – to talk about God and faith and all that stuff.”  But I speak out of the convictions of my heart – not because it is my job.

I sometimes get discouraged with the brokenness all around me – as well as the brokenness of my own life.  These moments of discouragement are largely because I am looking around me – living without faith – hung up on the depressing state of the world.

A life of faith in God is able to find its encouragement in who God is.  He isn’t broken.  He has us in this broken world for a short season – as we look by faith to a perfect future he is painting.  How is God painting a perfect future in heaven?  With us.  With you and me – all of us broken paint brushes.

Ever seen a paintbrush so broken that only a few bristles are left?  Ever seen a paintbrush so broken that it no longer has a handle – and the painter needs to take hold of it higher up if it is to be used?

God delights in us.  He delights in using us to get eternity ready.  He delights in us because he has delighted in Jesus, his Son – so God the Father delights in us through God the Son. 

Imagine a painter painting with a brush that only has a few bristles… it takes longer – applying less paint with every application, but the finished masterpiece will be exactly what the painter wants.

Even in the sorrow we might feel because of the brokenness of the world be encouraged by the words of Isaiah:  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me… to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion – to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Do you know the Beatles' song: "I want to hold your hand"

Nov 8^th  (342 words)

“I want to hold your hand” (x3).  It’s a Beatles song that makes me think of two teenagers who have a happy-sort-of-like for one another.  We sang it in a nursing home for one of the people there.  It fit in well with our goal of singing familiar songs that bring a little light and happiness to the place. 

This image is also a mental picture I use often in my imagination with God.  I heard a teacher once talk about walking in dependence on God – and teaching that it is like a little child holding the hand of their parent – letting their father lead them and provide for them and protect them.  This is a powerful image when facing uncertain days!

Uncertainty can be a debilitating condition… caught between two possibilities – frozen in the headlights and not knowing whether to go to the right or the left.  And reality rumbles on toward you… threatening and loud.

But we hold the hand of our father who leads us.  This morning God gave me Isaiah 41:13: “For I, the LORD your God hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.’”

We don’t need to fearfully ignore tragedy around us (burying our head in the sand).  I’m not sure how many people in our society can actually do this.

We don’t need to try to find our own salvation – saying: “God helps those who help themselves.”  This can easily be an excuse for independent individuality.

We don’t need to stay stuck in our situation saying: “There is nothing else to do…”  This is another form of independent individuality – where we walk with blinders on, limiting our vision.

Instead, we can walk hand-in-hand with God as he leads us.  This image is good for the mega decisions as well as the mini situations we face every day.

Thanks God.  "I want to hold your ha -  -  - nd" (3x).  Take us by the hand.  Your hands are warm and inviting.

In your best interest?

Oct 31^st (472 words)

A couple thoughts are interconnected in my mind I think… There are some people and some professions that are experts – and because they are the experts they have the “authority” to tell you what you need.  Then because human nature can be so crooked – they find more things wrong than are actually necessary.  Some examples can help illustrate this.  It is in their best interest for mechanics to find more things wrong with your car than actually exist… They get more money for finding more things wrong (green motivation).  A trustworthy mechanic is golden!

Another example I’ve seen are dentists.  They are the teeth experts.  If they tell you what you need – you are stuck listening to them… unless you go find another dentist.  When we did this – 6 or 8 cavities in my daughter’s teeth were actually only 2.  We are presently happy with our dentist…  A good dentist is golden.

I am wondering if this danger will ever apply to our doctors.  Will they ever tell us: you need to die – so take this pill?  Legally they cannot say that right now.  Will there ever come a day when the business side of our free healthcare punch in a mathematical calculation that says: your medical condition is too expensive – so we the experts say that you need to die? 

How much is a life worth?

Has there ever been a time in our history when the doctors said: “There is nothing more we can do...” when in reality, what they should have said is: “The Canadian government doesn’t pay for any more treatments for your condition”?

I have a huge respect for the medical profession.  A good doctor is golden!  I have no doubt that all the doctors I have seen personally were doing their best to care for me and my life.  It isn’t the doctors I’m concerned about – it is the system that surrounds our free healthcare – I am afraid of a day when mathematical calculations replace human care.  Let’s work to make sure this day never comes!

One cannot place a number figure on the value of your life!  Your self-worth isn’t calculated based on what you are able to accomplish.  You are of infinite value!  You are so valuable that Jesus died for you!

I am glad that our God is the great doctor!  He still makes home visits.  When I was a child we had an amazing doctor that once made a home visit for me!  Now my doctor takes care of not just my soul and spirit but my body as well. 

“Thanks, God.  Help me also take care of this temple of the Holy Spirit – your body.  God, keep the human experts of our bodies honest and true.  Give them a bigger sense of the value of each human life!”

WAIT for it... wait for it...

Oct 24^th  (404 words)

Welcome to that time of the year – after the leaves have fallen, the bright colors are replaced with a dirty brown… and before the snow falls – and stays on the ground.  The little bit of snow this morning was a reminder of things to come – and we need to wait patiently for the happiness of winter fun. 

What does it mean to wait on God?

Is it a passive sitting – and doing nothing – waiting for God to do it all?

Is it a meaningless phrase that you say but basically continue to live your life as if you were not waiting on God?

The two questions are only rhetorical of course.  I want to raise the question for myself – how do I wait on God?  Is this more of a heart question than what I do or don’t do?

In Psalm 37 trust is a key reality.  Living in trust is literally over against fretting.  We trust in God instead of working our own salvation.  We are passive as we let God vindicate us against our enemies.  We are not trying to work out our own vengeance.  In this context comes the idea of waiting on God.  He will take care of justice.  The unjust and ungodly will go down in flames while the righteous, children of God will enter their inheritance.  For us our inheritance is eternal – everlasting – an infinity of hours and days and weeks and months and years.  Our inheritance - in Christ - is infinite.

As I type this my eyes widen in a glimpse of amazement – I needed that reminder.

What does it mean for me, here and now, to wait on God? 

There is a heart component of not fretting.  Not being take up with worry.  Not coveting what others have and enjoy. 

But…

The Psalm also involves a walking in and with the Lord.  As we walk with him we can be waiting for him!  We aren’t running ahead.  We aren’t lagging behind.  We aren’t sitting obstinately or with laziness. 

Our walk is a sign of our trust.  Our walk is a waiting in God.  In walking with God it isn’t our responsibility to attack the wolves lurking – we’re with our shepherd.  He is a good shepherd!

Our waiting is passive obedience – faithfully doing what we know to do and not doing what we know we shouldn’t.

Seems simple – let’s work it out in reality.