Teleo

It’s the end of the semester! The final stretch. I was watching TV this past Saturday as I was resting from the mission trip and caught one of my favorite funny movies Office Space. Thinking about this last stretch of the semester reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the movie. The main character engages in a conversation with Jennifer Anniston that goes like this:
Joanna: So, where do you work, Peter?
Peter Gibbons: Initech.
Joanna: In... yeah, what do you do there?
Peter Gibbons: I sit in a cubicle and I update bank software for the 2000 switch.
Joanna: What's that?
Peter Gibbons: Well see, they wrote all this bank software, and, uh, to save space, they used two digits instead of four. So, like, 98 instead of 1998? Uh, so I go through these thousands of lines of code and, uh... it doesn't really matter. I uh, I don't like my job, and, uh, I don't think I'm gonna go anymore.
Joanna: You're just not gonna go?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Joanna: Won't you get fired?
Peter Gibbons: I don't know, but I really don't like it, and, uh, I'm not gonna go.
Joanna: So you're gonna quit?
Peter Gibbons: Nuh-uh. Not really. Uh... I'm just gonna stop going.
Joanna: When did you decide all that?
Peter Gibbons: About an hour ago.
Joanna: An hour ago... so you're gonna get another job?
Peter Gibbons: I don't think I'd like another job.
Joanna: Well, what are you going to do about money and bills and...
Peter Gibbons: You know, I've never really liked paying bills. I don't think I'm gonna do that, either.

Sounds tempting doesn’t it!! Now I don’t want to get too “churchy” here and don’t want to invalidate those end of the school year feelings, but when I begin feeling this way I remember the Greek word teleo. The word means “end”, “finish”. Ironically enough, this is not a word that I learned in seminary. I actually learned it from one of the Kanakuk counselors while I was a camper there. Matt Houston (still at Kanakuk every summer) had twenty red shirts with the word teleo in white block letter made before the summer so that he could wear them every day. The shirts were a reminder to him to not grow weary, to finish strong, and the finish was as important if not more important than the beginning. Most importantly, however, was the fact that Jesus finished strong to the point of death. So, when he didn’t feel like he had the strength to go on, that he was sacrificing too much he remembered that God gave Jesus the strength to finish strong, even enduring death.

In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Paul writes, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

The author of Hebrews 12:1-3 states, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

I know you are probably thinking to yourself, “OK aren’t those verses a little intense or overstated in light of finishing out a school year?” That may be half true, but how are we to apply those verses to our lives and to the “bigger, more important things” if we can’t live them in the day to day, semester to semester parts of our lives? Our lifetimes won’t reflect this way of living if our semesters, days, hours and even moments don't.

Be encouraged! Persevere! Be strong! Teleo!

Storms

Seeing the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in pictures and images on a page or a screen is one thing, seeing them in person is another, and seeing them through a spiritual lens is another thing altogether.

As I have stated in a previous post, God's grace shows up in ways that we often don't recognize. Too often we place I place my hope in things and people other than God. It is incredibly painful when those are taken away from us, and at the same time is the best thing that can happen for us. Does this make those experiences easy? No! But in hindsight if we are able to let go of those things and allow Jesus to be Lord in our lives again then we can take delight in those life-storms.

Caedmon's Call has a great song that was on their first independent release titled My Calm/Your Storm. If you don't own the CD, buy it! In the meantime, check out these lyrics.

A scary and dangerous prayer to pray if we want to remain in control of our lives and are willing to settle for the life that we would choose over the life that God has planned for us! But, if our desire is to live in the abundance of life that God promises, then it is a prayer that we will pray without reluctance and we will rejoice when God destroys the "comfortable", complacent life that we have created!

Seen and Unseen

About a month ago I wrote about the word compelled. That was born out of reading 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The idea of seen and unseen comes from chapter 4.

I am in the midst of a week following a mission trip to Mobile, Alabama. This usually means two things. First, I am in the process of returning from the trip in practical way. Spending time with my family, getting my feet back on the ground at the church, etc. On the other hand, I am working to be intentional about not returning as well. I left a dry spiritual life when I left for Mobile and I don't have any desire to return. Clearly, there will be other dry times in my life, but I don't need to go there intentionally or end up there passively!

This past week was probably one of the richest weeks for me spiritually (at least in a long time). I will clarify that statement in a moment, but for now just let it stand. Rather than outline everything our team did last week (too many inside jokes anyway) let me share some of the things that I learned and I am learning as a result of my experience:

I said earlier that this was one of the richest weeks for me spiritually; I would like to qualify that statement. I am intellectually fully aware that God is present with us always and is always at work in, around and through us. So, was this week really more rich, or was I just more aware of what is unseen? On one of the first nights of our trip our team read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. In this passage Paul states that he fixes his eyes not on what is seen (temporary) but on what is unseen (eternal). This set the perspective for the rest of the week for all of us. We were intentionally looking for ways that God was at work during the week in and through each of the team members and those we were serving. It was amazing to see the fingerprints of God's grace all around us. My hope and prayer is that we live the same way in our daily lives! Be actively aware of the unseen that is going on around you!

I was also reminded of how powerful it can be to simply be obedient to the call and life of Jesus! We live in a culture that thrives itself on experience. Consequently we show up to worship services, Bible studies, etc. In the hope of experiencing God (we even have curriculum with that title). The beauty of God is that he desires that we experience him in relationship. However, we often leave worship services (or experiences as some like to call them) and Bible studies disappointed. The experience that we are looking for seems to have alluded us. I don't think that should surprise us! We can "know" Christ in an intellectual way by reading his word, but we must live the word to "know" Christ in an experiential way. To know the experience of Christ is to follow him (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23).

I have been thinking and praying a lot about how to understand natural disasters in light of the past couple of years. I am not arrogant enough to think that I will ever fully understand it, but here is where I am right now. I think we have forgotten that the consequences of sin were not and are not felt just by the human race (Romans 8:18-20). So are natural disasters a form of judgment? I am not sure I am ready to say that, but I do think they are a consequence of sin. I don't mean to say that New Orleans was a sinful city so God sent a hurricane to destroy it. I think the hurricane was a consequence of sin in a general way (just like pains in childbirth, etc.). However, I also want to be clear that I think the consequences of sin are founded on God's grace. If we are able to sin (or if Adam and Eve were able to sin) without consequence, then we would all be sinning with no reason to stop. Because God wants to be in relationship with us freely and because sin separates us from that, God created the world in such a way that we would be aware of the destruction of sin. The consequences of sin (ultimately death) remind us that we need God, that we cannot sustain life on our own. Everywhere we looked we were reminded of the fact that we are not in control, that we need God. All the comforts that we build for ourselves are temporary! God alone is eternal! So often, we treat the comforts that we are able to build for ourselves as our rights, and we think that they are permanent (even though they are not). What a blessing, and how gracious that we can be reminded of that before it is too late!

In light of this perspective, it was fascinating to hear Ron and Jean (a couple whose house was four feet underwater) share about the new beginning they were experiencing (not just with a new physical home, but spiritually as well). Jean kept commenting about how dark her house had been, and how much brighter and open it was with the new paint (the metaphor was not lost on her). Again the importance of not just focusing on what we can see, but on what is unseen!

Katrina, FEMA

Wanted to share about a recent experience that I have had in Alabama, but needed to get this out of the way first!

First, I am amazed at the fact that hurricane Katrina was more organized than FEMA! (and at the same time, I think there is a theological lesson to be learned here).

Second, I am really annoyed at the way the media has portrayed this whole story (what's new)! So much coverage of how poorly FEMA has handled this, but no reports of the incredible impact that the church is having on recovery (again there is a theological lesson here)! Additionally, we have all found reason to be judgmental of those that are taking advantage of the help they are getting (free loaders). However, our team saw the immense need, the appreciation of the help, and the willingness to work alongside us. (Some argue about the liberal media (networks) vs. the conservative (Rush, et. al.). Let me tell you, they have all jacked up this story!) Wouldn't it be nice if our news looked more like Extreme Home Makeover?

Third, I am always amazed at how easy it is for us to sit back and criticize without getting involved! Sitting on the sidelines we think we have a full view of what is going on. In some ways I think we might, but we certainly don't have a full feel of what is going on! As I stated earlier I fell into this category, and fall into this category.