Get real. Please.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Our world is full of things we don't like. It is also full things God doesn't like. I'm afraid we often confuse the two. You know that guy at work that really bugs you? God loves him so much that He sent His only son to die for him. Remember that girl you knew in school that claimed to be a witch? She was fearfully and wonderfully made, stitched together by the hand of God in her mother's womb. God loves her and knows the pain that she holds so deeply in her heart. That dude with all the tattoos that also has the gauges in his ears? The Muslim lady that dresses strange that you see on the bus? The politicians that are running the country into the ground? All children of God, all loved by God, all wanted by God.

When we build walls between "us" and "them" are we doing the work that God set apart for us? And how do we build those walls? We use bricks of judgement, condemnation, and our own secret codes. Secret codes? Yes. Those of us that have dedicated our lives to the worship and service of the being that imagined the beauty and complexity of our universe and then spoke it into existence have somehow traded in creativity for conformity. In His name, of course.

I wonder who "we" think is listening.

Even as someone that is "on the inside" I frequently read Christian books and articles or listen to Christian radio and come away thinking, "was there any substance in that?" It's hard to find the meat. So many things I see seem to be faded carbon copies of things other people wrote or said. It doesn't seem real. And if it doesn't seem real, it just doesn't ring true. 

Instead of painting a picture of an idyllic life full of inspiration and intimacy with God, how about we just do life together--honestly. Open up to the world and show them the truth. We are still human. We are flawed. The only way we're different from that annoying coworker or that practicing witch is the knowledge and relationship we have with our savior. God sustains us. That doesn't make us perfect, so let's stop acting like it does. Pretending everything in our life is perfect drives outsiders away.

Instead of building walls, can we build bridges instead?

Finding God's will

It is human nature to wrestle with finding God's "will". If we take our beliefs seriously, we'd like to please God, right? For Christians, I realize that in a lot of situations the answers are already made clear in the Bible. For example, I doubt many devout Christians wrestle with the decision of whether they should knock over a bank or shoot a stranger. But what about for the more nuanced questions, particularly the ones to which there isn't necessarily a wrong answer?

Should I go to college in state or out of state? Should I stay at my current job or start looking elsewhere? What area of my church should I volunteer in? Should we have another child or should we stop at two?

A friend of mine was talking about this recently and summarized it pretty well... God's will calls me to trust God, have courageous faith, and set aside my own agenda. Those are great standards to set and I can guarantee they will lead to a life of adventure. When done with a heart set on going deeper with God, this method will get you there. For many of us in the United States, that third point might actually be the most difficult. Trusting God and having courageous faith are no problem if we think God will bend to our whims. We so often want God to conform to our own agenda...we aren't willing to die to ourselves and submit to His will.

When I returned from Brazil in 2011, I was faced with a number of opportunities that seemed to be divine. Want to be a chaplain at the State Fair? How about doing a weekly prayer walk in the neighborhood around the church? Use vacation time to attend a conference about reaching unreached and unengaged people groups? Continue the monthly soup kitchen? I needed a way to find answers.

I discovered that for me it meant to look for the path (or choice) that leads to "more God." More trust in God. More faith in God. More experience with God. More dependence on God. More God. Less me. Less of my own fear. Less of my own doubt. Less of my own agenda. Less of my own need for security. Less of my own need for approval from other people.

A missionary I met in Brazil told me that his goal was that in every situation, his response to God would be: "I'm all in. Whatever you ask." His life reflected it, too. By any American standard, he was living a life that was radical. He knew that nothing in his life mattered if Jesus wasn't the center of it all.

Some people think I'm crazy for flying half way across the world to build a chapel and share the gospel. But that's where God has led me, so that is where I'll go. In every other situation, too, I'm always looking for the path that leads to "more God."