Swimming with the Sharks

They say a shark will only grow size proportionately to the aquarium it is put in. That means a mature shark in a small aquarium might never grow bigger than several inches.

For us, we might therefore consider aquariums a wonderful place to swim if it weren’t for the following small details…

1. We were made for bigger things: There is no way this 190lb man is going to fit in a little fish tank, but many times I find myself trying to live in the safe box I create. Why? Because that's where there is no danger…. no risk. The sharks are small and can’t really hurt me there. The problem is we were never made to live in little aquariums. We were made for a life of adventure and risk. When we don’t take risks, we can’t exercise our faith. Without faith, we can’t please God.

2. Aquariums are fake worlds: Treasure chests, plastic seaweed, even the way in which the water receives oxygen is contrived. When we submerge ourselves in a world of fake surroundings, we don’t face the realities of life, which essentially cause us to grow. It takes resistance to build muscle just as the hard realities of life in this world cause us to grow spiritually. Look at all the great men and women who became great through their struggle, not by pretending it didn't exist.

3. There’s no room for anyone else: When we live a life of safety, we are become concerned with ourselves as numero uno. We are always looking out for our own best interest. What do fish in an aquarium seem to look forward to most… food! Feed me, feed me! All the while, they are probably looking over at the fish stuck on the glass saying, “Thank you Lord, I don’t have to suck algae and stare out that glass!” In actuality, at least the algae sucker is looking out instead of in.

4. The outside world looks distorted from inside the aquarium: Just how sometimes we see fish distorted from certain angles, I imagine they look out and see some pretty intimidating things. I think of Joshua, Caleb and the other spies checking out the Promised Land. When the other spies came back, they said they saw giants and they felt like grasshoppers in comparison. Typical safe, selfish, aquarium living. Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, saw the same thing, but they were living a life of risk. They had a different perspective and realized things aren't what they appear. They weren’t going to let their lives be ruled by what things looked like from inside the aquarium.

The deep calls.
Tony Morgan wraps it up in one powerful quote. Read it here.

Deathbed Regrets: Part 5/5

#1 "I wish I had written that book or put in that extra effort that would have helped more people or sung that song that I was created to sing. I wish I had lived my purpose and gone after my dreams."


Allow me for a moment to throw some caution to the wind... Yes, it is important to go after these things and by all means one needs to put in the extra effort in order to die with no regrets. Regret will come in a different shape, though, if all we savor is the destination. The journey of life and faith holds many things along the way that make life interesting.

In the infamous words of Ferris Bueller, "If you don't stop to look around once and awhile, you could miss it!"

This one I already know I am on the right path. Not there yet, but enjoying every second of it.

A Strange Sight

A few years ago I saw something uncanny. I was at a local warehouse store when I saw an elderly man running across the parking lot. It struck me as strange and to this day it begs an answer,

“What would make an old man run?”

It isn’t that common to see someone of years trucking full speed. It could almost make a bystander winch as brittle bones hit the pavement. Yet something DROVE this man to defy the norm and risk injury to RUN?

I am not sure in this specific case, but one answer to the question "what would make an old man run" is love. Love causes people to run at airports for homecomings, after cars during an outgoing, to catch a falling child, or even risk life in a war zone to save a friend. Love is truly a powerful force.

There is a beautiful story in the Bible of an old man that ran to his son who had just come home from a deeply shameful and humiliating situation. His father was old. His father was dignified. His father RAN! Too many times we can skip over that powerful imagery. Picture it…

"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.' But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.” Luke 15:20-24 (MSG)

If the power of love could make an old man run to embrace his wayward son, I wonder what it could do for us today… in our relationships. There are many emotions that cover and cloud the object of our love on any given day. Maybe it is an argument with a spouse, the disobedience of a child, or the pain of the past. Maybe you just can’t forgive that one thing they did.

If you allow these things to outweigh your love, then as you age you will find yourself becoming less able to show it.

Take a moment today to look past the present circumstances in your relationships and show love to someone who needs you most. Maybe they need to see you run to know it's true.

The Water and the Wind

So I was walking during my lunch break the other day. It was one of those hot and humid days, an up-side of the bi-polar weather moods Chicago seems to have. Anyway, I passed a sprinkler watering some bushes in front of a condo building and I couldn't resist putting my hand in the cool spray. The water was incredibly refreshing.

After I passed by, I decided to wipe my wet hand on my forehead. Then, surprisingly, a breeze began to blow across the beads of water and I felt this cooling sensation run through my entire body. Nice.

Basking in the breeze, refreshed by the water and wind, I felt God whisper to my heart that the water was like the water of the Word. The wind was like the wind of the Spirit. Coupled togther they equaled refreshment and peace from the toil of the journey.

I realized the Lord was challenging me to saturate my mind even more with the Word so that when the wind of the Spirit blows in my life I will have peace and refreshment that only He can give.

Scripture says that a wise son labors during the harvest. The harvest can be a hot, humid place to work. As you labor in the Lord this season, take some time to just meditate on the scriptures and allow the Spirit of God to cool and refresh your soul.

The Present

The smell of “grandma’s” house, the sight of a previously owned home, the voice of an old friend. These things can bring a person back to a place in the distant past and rip it open like a present (no pun intended).

Now that “present of past” could be wanted such as the new iPhone or unwanted like finding out you just experienced identity theft for the third time. When the emotional floodgates open though, how will you fare? Will it sweep you away or will you be grounded with a strong foundation?

Today I had a chance to look back over the past year. I realized I am essentially in the same place that I was one year ago... sort of. Let me explain…

One year ago…
I lived in Kansas City, I was making plans to move, house was for sale, and I was on the verge of starting a church as soon as we moved.

Today….
I live in Chicago, I moved from Kansas City when our home sold, and the church opened its’ doors in January 2007 through a home bible study we began.

Although time has past and much has transpired, and things have changed - I find myself anxious at the gate again, waiting on God. You see, a year ago things were not going as planned. Our house was on the market for over two years. Two separate times we had contracts fall through (not on our side). Once the house sold, I couldn’t seem to find employment in Chicago. I think the distance made it difficult to interview. After a few months of living with someone else, I secured a job and was whisked off without having a chance to officially say goodbye to any friends because we were under the assumption that we would shortly return for a weekend that never happened for one reason or another. Having arrived a few months later than anticipated in Chicago, the weather was extremely cold which made church planting efforts really slow. The contacts that we had previously made prior to moving (you know, the “call me when you get there” people) never came through. About half of the mailer we sent out to people in the community came back a few months later as undeliverable (I’ve heard Chicago mail is the worst in the nation). We, by the grace of God, have some really great college students that have joined our church community, but have gone back to their homes for the summer leaving our living room quite empty. We recently started an outreach campaign and are anxiously awaiting the fruit.

So here I am. Waiting on God. Depending on God. Maybe things haven’t always gone as planned, but I know God is with me. Maybe the point is not what God is going to do, but what is God doing. I know he’s building the man I am to be, a man of patience and endurance, a man that can trust God when things don’t go according to plan, a man after God’s heart not his own, a man God can use.

Maybe waiting is actually “the present” from God (no pun intended) and “the present” is something I should enjoy because it’s from God. Enjoy the wait… the payoff is worth it.

< Letting Go of Church >

I've decided to let go of church...

My mind drifts to Jonah, who ran from God because he feared telling the people about God's judgement less they repent and and God relents his anger. Jonah's pride would have been hurt. So he ran. God is so cool though, because after getting Jonah's attention (through a whale of a story) the very thing Jonah thought would happen... happened.

Jonah declared, "The judgement!" > the people repented > God relented > Jonah gets mad and pouts up on a hill. God then turns the tables on Jonah and sends a plant that covers Jonah.

Jonah 4:5-11...But Jonah just left. He went out of the city to the east and sat down in a sulk. He put together a makeshift shelter of leafy branches and sat there in the shade to see what would happen to the city. 6God arranged for a broad-leafed tree to spring up. It grew over Jonah to cool him off and get him out of his angry sulk. Jonah was pleased and enjoyed the shade. Life was looking up. 7-8But then God sent a worm. By dawn of the next day, the worm had bored into the shade tree and it withered away. The sun came up and God sent a hot, blistering wind from the east. The sun beat down on Jonah's head and he started to faint. He prayed to die: "I'm better off dead!" 9Then God said to Jonah, "What right do you have to get angry about this shade tree?" Jonah said, "Plenty of right. It's made me angry enough to die!" 10-11God said, "What's this? How is it that you can change your feelings from pleasure to anger overnight about a mere shade tree that you did nothing to get? You neither planted nor watered it. It grew up one night and died the next night. So, why can't I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure, this big city of more than 120,000 childlike people who don't yet know right from wrong, to say nothing of all the innocent animals?" (The Message)

Why do I think about this? Because for me, maybe you too, there is plenty of opportunity to get mad at God or despair because things don't "go my way" or even the "way that seems right" in church planting.

Trusting in the love of God releases me from building the church upon myself and allows it to really be His. If it is really HIS, He can open or close any door He chooses.

It's not my job to open the door, but to turn the handle and see if it is open. This is faithfulness. This is trust.

Sometimes it's easy to imagine what's behind "door #1" and think of all the prizes that await, but if the door is locked by God, then maybe it isn't all that great and glorious.

Maybe it isn't a trip to Bermuda... or a new car... or a new crockpot. Maybe it's destruction.

The Bible says, "there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is destruction". (Proverbs 14:12 & Proverbs 16:25 BAM-double whammy)

So, I've decieded to let go of church. It's God's anyways, not mine. Besides, the church God is building is not a building... the church He is building is a PEOPLE.

[ zack ]

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"The man invited to pray is asked to open his tightly clenched fists and to give up his last coin. But who wants to do that? A first prayer, therefore, is often a painful prayer, because you discover you don't want to let go. You hold fast to what is familiar, even if you aren't proud of it. You find yourself saying :"that's just how it is with me. I would like it to be different, but it can't be now. That's just the way it is and that's the way I'll have to leave it." once you talk like that you've already given up the believe that your life might be otherwise, you've already let the hope for a new life float by. Since you wouldn't dare to put a question mark behind a bit of your own experience with all it's attachments, you have wrapped yourself up in the destiny of the facts. You feel it is safer to cling to a sorry past than to trust in a new future. So you fill your hands with small clammy coins which you don't want to surrender."

~Henri Nouwen "With Open Hands"

400 Years

So I was reading yesterday in the Bible and this one instance jumped out at me. I was reading in Luke 1 where Zacharias the Priest is doing his duties. As he enters the Holy place, an angel of God named Gabriel encounters him. Now what struck me as why this might be a powerful moment was not just the fact that angels don't typically appear to people and talk (unless of course you are a regular on daytime talk shows,) but that it had been four hundred years since God even spoke at all to his people.

400 YEARS! Now after that you might say that God has gone mute, or silent or just gave up on humanity... but in that moment God again steps on the scene right where he left off in the book of Malachi -full of power, love and faithfulness.

He was not mad. He wasn't holding a grudge. He actually was closer than ever as He was about to put on some dust and dwell among us. His love was full and oozing on humanity at that moment.

In our life, sometimes we find that God is silent.
"What have we done wrong?"
"Why does God reject me?"

But maybe, just maybe if we believe in the bleakest moment when it seems like 400 years have gone by and NOTHING... GOD will charge the space around us with His oozing love and say,
"I AM... HERE."