Being Still for 100 miles

I finished a 100-mile bicycle ride yesterday, and learned a few things along the way.  The ride was to raise money to support the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, in honor of my good friend Darryl, who was diagnosed with lung cancer last year.  All the lessons I learned from riding 100 miles also apply to fighting cancer and – even more importantly, to being still.

I wasn’t prepared for this ride, but I had committed to riding it.  I figured the only way I might make it was to take it slow but steady, and rely on God’s grace to overcome my failings.  I first witnessed this technique by watching my friend, CC, run the Big Sur marathon at Monterey.  She intentionally took her time – walking, talking, taking pictures, stretching every minute out of the race.  It reminded me of Thoreau “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die discover that I had not lived.”  It seemed to me that CC ran in such a way that when she “came to the finish line” she would not discover that she had not lived along the way.  She sucked the marrow out of every mile she ran, and she loved it!

So, I adopted this approach, and started off with the goal of riding 100 miles in 9 ½ hours, or run out of time trying.  I took pictures, I talked with people, I stopped and stretched.  Here’s what I learned along the way:

1. You see some beautiful scenery during the journey.  Sunrise, sunset, hawks, blooming ocotillo, badland desert.  It’s even better when you stop, take a minute to truly appreciate it and become part of it.  In the process, I generated experiences and memories that I would have otherwise missed had I been focused on the finish line or on how much I was hurting.  So often in life we seem to be focused on other things.  We focus on out goals.  We focus on our pain and hurting.  In the process, we miss God’s creation.
2. You meet some amazing people along the way.  There’s something awesome about being at the “back of the pack”.  You develop a camaraderie that comes from knowing what the other fellow is going through – knowing that what YOU are going through you are not going through alone.  Robert is an amazing man I met along the road.  He’s been bicycling for only 4 months (compared to my 20+ years) and was riding in tennis shoes and on flat pedals (not even toe-clips) compared to my “latest” equipment.  He made it – what an inspiration.  If I hadn’t slowed down and said “hi”, I’d be a poorer man because of it.  The same is true in life.  We are not alone, unless we choose to be.  And if we take the time to look around us, we’ll find that there are many others sharing the journey.  We’ll find that we share the same hurts and the same dreams.  We’ll find that they come from different backgrounds and that their stories can inspire us (and God willing, maybe our story will inspire them).
3. Use the rest-stops.  Every rest-stop was a blessing.  A chance to eat, stretch, rest, and be served.  To go 100 miles, most of us need to rest along the way, and all of us – even the most seasoned athlete – need to take care of ourselves.  Seems like more and more there’s no “margin” in our lives.  We cram every minute with something to do.  God made a Sabbath day and told us to observe it.  He didn’t design it as a day to “not do anything”, but as a “rest-stop” along the way.  A chance to eat, stretch, rest.  I tend to get “weepy” when I hit “the wall”.  So at the 90 mile rest-stop I found myself choking back tears as a young lady filled my water bottle for me.  There’s something incredibly humbling and grace-filled about allowing someone to serve you.   It is a blessing to you, but also a blessing to them that you would accept their service with thanksgiving, recognizing it for what it is.  There is no sin in needing someone’s help, or even allowing them to serve you.  There is sin in expecting it, and there is also sin in refusing it.  In both cases that sin is pride.
4. Riding on the painted white line is easiest.  Basically, there’s less friction so it’s easier to pedal.  Now, that’s a pretty narrow line.  And as I’ve said in other blogs, what you focus on is where you go.  That means you need to look ahead and follow the line.  If you get off it, it’s harder going.  If you get too far off, you’re in the sand and not going anywhere.  Life is like that, too.  There is a path of least resistance.  It is the one that God has set out for you, and if you stray you’ll find yourself working harder than you need to.  I think that’s what happens when we try to make our own way.  We might still be going in the general direction God intends for us to go, but we’re doing it on our own strength instead of relying on His grace and mercy.  And of course, you can get completely off the path – for there is, really, only one way to the finish line.
5. Don't leave anyone behind.  One potential downside to this method is you can get focused on time.  "Do I have enough time to get to the finish line before the cut-off?"  I was 1 mile from the finish line, with 45 minutes to go.  No problem.  But there was a rider by the side of the road.  As I rode by, I asked if everything was alright.  He called out he had a flat.  Now past him, I asked "Do you need any help?"  And he replied....yes.  I was tempted to go on.  I was worried that if I stopped and helped, I wouldn't make it to the finish on time.  But I stopped.  We chatted while I changed his tire.  Someone else stopped, too.  We finished changing the tire.  All three of us finished the race, when only two would have made the cut-off had we not stopped.  In life, we need to ask the people on the roadside if they need help, and we need to be willing to give it.  More importantly, we need to take as many people with us to the finish line - and let me be perfectly clear I'm talking about heaven - as we can.  We do that by stopping along the way and sharing Jesus, for He is "our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in the times of trouble" (Psalm 46:1.  While you're there, check out verse 10....)
6. Finishing is great, but finishing well is better.  There are some people that crossed the finish line 5 hours before I did.  I can’t know for sure that they didn’t enjoy the ride, but I can say for sure that I got to enjoy 5 more hours of it than they did.  I think Paul understood this when he said to the Hebrews “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” (Hebrews 12:1).

So, how to sum this up?  Sometimes being still is more about being content with the journey than with worrying about getting to the finish.  It is in that journey learn how to overcome pain, focus beyond ourselves, accept help, form new relationships, and stay on the path.  In short, it is in the journey that we live.

God bless.

Christmas Presence

Over the past many years I’ve had my share of Christmas presents.  It seems like they fall into 3 broad groups.

The first group is the largest – these are the gifts that I thought I really, really, really, wanted (or needed) only to have their novelty wear off after a short time.  I wish I could say that this occurred only when I was a child but that isn’t so.  These gifts end up in closets, or garage sales, or garbage cans within a few years or months.  The pleasure and satisfaction associated with these gifts is even more fleeting than they are and they were cast aside as I grew bored with them.

The second group is the present, often from a distant relative, that is useful but certainly not exciting.  I remember these gifts in my childhood as consisting of clothes – sweaters, socks, and so on.  For a young boy, these were anything but fun.  Although I wanted these gifts to “disappear”, they usually stayed around because of their practicality.  But certainly there was no pleasure or satisfaction associated with them, and I would get rid of them as soon as I could.

I have only had about two gifts that fit into the last group. These are the gifts that have continued to give me joy over many years of use.  While I don’t use them daily, I use them at least once a week on average.  They are the “Best Gifts Ever”.  I would never give them away.

Advent is now over, and Christmas is here.  It is the time when we celebrate God’s “Best Gift Ever” to us.  That gift is, of course, Jesus Christ.  But I think the miracle of Christmas – the miracle of the gift – is best summed up in one word – Immanuel.  God promised this gift through his prophets in the Old Testament…”Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).  Immanuel means “God with us”.  This is the scandalous gift of Christmas.  It is not just that God freed us from our bondage.  It is not just that God found a way for us to be with Him in heaven.  It is that God came down to be with us while we were still sinners.  God set aside everything He is entitled to and dwelt among us as a baby in a barn.  Born to lowly parents, not Kings.  Greeted by shepherds, not priests.  Sought out by foreigners, not by the people He came to.  This is the Christmas present that God gave to us 2000 years ago.  This is what separates Christianity from all other religions, for no other religion’s god sets aside his godhead to enter into relationship with his creation.  Allah does not do this.  Vishna does not do this.  Buddha does not do this.  Only Jesus does this.

So, what to do with this gift?  How to treat it?  We could initially accept it with joy, but not grow into it, eventually casting it off like so many presents of Christmases past.  We could accept it as a “necessity” without finding any joy in it and getting rid of it at the first opportunity.  Or, we could accept it as the Best Gift Ever and use it monthly, weekly, daily – even minute by minute. 

The gift has been given.  God give me the grace to accept it with the excitement, joy, honor, and reverence it is due.

Anticipation part 2

At a recent church planting conference, one statement that really got me thinking was this:  “God doesn’t have a people with a mission.  He has a mission with a people”.  This has several implications:

1)      This takes the focus off of you, and puts it on God.  It’s not about what you want, or what God can do for you.  It’s about what God wants, and what you can do for God.  This is the vertical relationship in our lives.  This means focusing on God, and directing others toward God.  The Bible is full of details about how we should approach God – with fear, with reverence, with worship, with love.

2)      This takes the focus off of you, and puts it on the people that are God’s mission field.  It’s not about you, it’s about others.  This is the horizontal relationship in our lives.  The Bible is full of details about who God’s mission field is.  It seems to deal a lot with widows, orphans, the poor, the sick, the lame, the prisoners – the “lost, the least, and the last”.

3)      You’re not really God’s person unless you’re on God’s mission.  And that mission is crystallized in the junction of a vertical relationship and a horizontal relationship – represented by the cross.

4)      So, the cross should be the center of our focus.  When our eyes are focused on the cross, we are drawn into God’s mission.

So, what does this have to do with being still?  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  Because sometimes we’re NOT called to be still.  Last time we talked about the anticipation that comes with being pregnant, and how it is a time of expectation.  It is not really a time of “being still” because there is a lot going on.  That includes telling the world about the pregnancy!  “We’re gonna have a baby!”  Family is told, friends are told, co-workers are told, face-book is told….anyone and everyone is told.  It is also a time of celebration – baby showers with games and gifts and laughter.  So it is a time of anticipation, of proclamation, and of celebration.  Sounds kind of like how we should be approaching the whole “focus on God” thing, doesn’t it?  This advent season, as we celebrate God’s work already done, and anticipate His work yet to come, shouldn’t we also be proclaiming this?  I’m not talking about the “Jesus is the reason for the season” buttons, or the “Let’s put Christ back in CHRISTmas”.  I’m talking about actually sitting down and telling a family member, a friend, a co-worker about what Jesus has done in your life and what Jesus could do in theirs.  I’m talking about inviting someone to join you in relationship with Jesus.  I’m talking about getting out this season and actually touching some of those people that Jesus talks about in Matthew 11:2-5.  Touch them by meeting their needs – money, food, clothing, shelter, freedom from drugs or human trafficking.  And LOVE them.  Hold their hand.  Brush their hair.  Wash their feet.  Hug them.  Walk alongside them.  And most of all, tell them about Jesus as you do it.

There is one more implication in our saying about God’s people and God’s mission…

            5)  If you don’t do the mission, God will find someone else.  In Luke 19:39-40 God makes this abundantly clear – God’s mission (both proclamation and action) will be done.  The fact is, God doesn’t need us to do it…but He does invite us.  That is the wonder of the Christian God – that He invites us into relationship with Him.  Let’s take some time this advent season to anticipate, celebrate, and proclaim that wonder.

God bless,

John

Anticipation

If you’re my age, you probably remember the old Heinz ketchup commercials that dealt with waiting?  First there was the song “Anticipation is making me wait”, but my favorite was this one.  Or, if you’re not my age, you may remember one of the best lines from the Rocky Horror Picture Show:  “I see you shiver with antici…………………………………………………………………pation. (Tim Curry did a great job on that line!)  Anyway, anticipation is definitely the word of the season.  What season you ask?  Glad you asked.  Advent.  Occurring between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it lasts only 4 weeks making it the shortest season of the Christian calendar.  Unfortunately, because of the timing, it is also one of the most overlooked seasons as well.  Between the rush of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, black Friday, Cyber Monday, all the other Christmas shopping, cleaning the house, getting ready for relatives, studying for finals (put that one in there just for you, Becky) and who knows what else, there is little time left to….anticipate.  Yup, that’s what advent is all about.  Anticipation.  Some would say it’s about waiting, but it’s more than that.  It’s about waiting with hope.  But it’s more than that, it’s waiting with a hope of certainty.  Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”.  THAT’S the kind of anticipation I’m talkin’ about!

So what does that anticipation look like?  Well, I’ve seen something like it several times in my life, but I think one of the best examples is pregnancy (no wonder we say the mother is “expecting”!)  The thing about pregnancy is we all know it’s going to end – it is just a brief time before “the big event”.  There are several characteristics of that time:  first (as most moms will tell you) even though it’s a “short time”, it doesn’t always seem that way.  In fact, it can seem to go on forever!  Second, this isn’t just a time of waiting.  Parents spend the time of pregnancy getting ready for the baby.  Building a nursery, choosing a name, buying clothes, etc.  That time also involves keeping the mother healthy – eating a good diet, taking prenatal vitamins, and so on.

This brings us back to Advent, at several levels.  First, Advent sets our minds back to the time “between” the Old and New Testament – the time of waiting for the Messiah, Jesus.  Second, it sets our minds forward to Jesus’ second coming.  In the first instance, we know it was a limited time.  In the second instance, we must rely on that faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.  In the first instance, the Israelites weren’t ready for Jesus.  In the second….?

So…..here’s my question about this advent.  How do I practice the discipline of anticipation?  What can I do over the next 3 weeks (yup, already one week behind!) to anticipate Christmas and everything it represents (past and present)?  I’m still working on that, but I suspect (looking at past blog entries) it has something to do with 1) being deliberate, 2) focusing on Jesus, 3) spending time in God’s presence, and 4) being still (not just physically, but mentally and emotionally).

shivering with anticipation,

John

Barefoot

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”  Hebrews 2:1

Whether in stillness or in movement, I think God wants us to be deliberate in what we do.  This requires a focus – an intensity – about our actions.  This occurred to me the other day while I was doing my chores.  Specifically, scooping up the dog mess in our back yard.  Barefoot.  Now normally, I would be out there with shoes on, moving quickly along on my business of getting rid of “dog business” and not worrying too much about where I was stepping.  But doing this chore barefoot suddenly gave a whole new importance to making sure I didn’t miss anything!  It was not a good time for ADHD to kick in.  I guarantee that I picked up every bit of doggie-doo in that yard.  I was focused, intent, deliberate.  Because it made a difference to me.  Any neglect or daydreaming could result in direct unpleasantness happening to my feet.

So I got to thinking about this.  What if I applied the same philosophy in my spiritual life?  What if I went about in the world with focus and intent, knowing that if I lose my focus, I could end up “stepping in it” so to speak?  After all, the world is full of evil, pain, and suffering.  One wrong step, and that stuff could be on me.  What if I were focused and deliberate in the words that I choose to use?  The thoughts I choose to think?  The places I choose to look?  Reminds me of a song from Sunday School:

O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

There's a Father up above

And He's looking down in love

So, be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little ears what you hear….

O be careful little hands what you do….

O be careful little feet where you go…

O be careful little mouth what you say…

Even in our stillness we need to be focused and deliberate.  Otherwise, we’re just daydreaming and wasting time.  Let’s look at the day we tend to associate with “stillness”, the Sabbath day.  In the 10 commandments, God tells us to “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”.  There are two parts to this – memory and action.  We are to remember the Sabbath day.  It is a time of reflection, of memorial.  That sounds pretty focused to me.  We remember it by making it holy.  Literally, we are to “set it apart” from the other days.  Now, unfortunately, we often do that by watching more football on Sunday than on other days, or going golfing, or just sleeping in.  Nice things, but more often than not, they are things that don’t really help us in being still before the Lord and “remembering”.  What about that other time we associate with stillness?  “Quiet time”.  Ahh, yes.  The time that we so often spend listening to music, or telling God what’s on our mind.  When was the last time you actually just sat still in the presence of the Lord, waiting upon Him?  I gotta tell you, I find that very difficult to do.  My daydreaming kicks in overtime!  It seems like quiet time is the perfect time to “take my shoes off” in the presence of the Lord and become focused.

One last thought.  Fortunately, I survived my barefoot expedition in the backyard without any soilage.  But that doesn’t always happen when I go out in the real world.  Sometimes my eyes do wander.  Sometimes I say the wrong thing.  Sometimes I act without thinking.  That’s where that second part of the song comes in:  “There’s a Father up above and He’s looking down in….Love”.  Not anger.  Not hatred.  Not disgust.  Love.  And it is His love that washes me clean from all the doo-doo I step in.

God bless,

John

Watch where you're going

In mountain biking, you learn a simple rule, very quickly.  You will go in the direction you are looking.  You generally learn this rule the hard way – there is a rock in the trail.  You want to avoid it.  You keep looking at it.  You hit it.  Gradually you learn that if you look to the side of the rock, you’ll go by it.  You can use this to your advantage – say you want to run over a mud puddle.  Look at it, you’ll hit it.  Or maybe you want to keep a straight line over a narrow bridge.  Watch your line, and you’ll keep on it.

It seems to me that this applies in how we live out our lives, as well.  Whatever we focus on, we can be sure we’re going to “hit it”.  If we focus on things we shouldn’t be focusing on – sex/lust, money/greed, self/pride – then we can be sure that they will take up major parts of our lives, and they will ultimately change not just our behaviors, but our very character.  I don’t remember who said it (I think I heard Chuck Swindoll talking about it), but the thought goes something like “whatever it is that we think about all the time, we will do.  Whatever we do all the time, we will become”.  Some of us are, perhaps, a little “stronger” in this personality type.  Cynthia Tobias talks about the “concrete random” personality style.  When faced with a broken machine and a sign saying “Please do not attempt to fix the machine, the repair company has been called”, the concrete random person tries to fix the machine.  I know for me a “no trespassing” sign is sure to make me want to see what’s on the other side of the fence.  A big red button with a warning sign is a big temptation to push.

So how does this relate to living the Christian life (and specifically to being still)?  How often have you heard that the Bible is a big list of “don’ts”?  Don’t do this, don’t do that.  Well, that’s true, there are a lot of don’ts in the Bible.  On the other hand, there are also a whole lot of “do’s”.  Do love your neighbor as yourself.  Do love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Do care for the widows and the orphans.  So how much time do we spend focusing on all the don’ts, and how much time don’t we spend focusing on all the do’s?  And what is the result of that?  Fallen, judgmental Christians who lack joy and love and are focused on others only to the extent that they can persecute them in order to feel better about themselves.  It seems to me that if we focused on the “do’s” of the Bible, we would be spending so much time bringing the Kingdom of Heaven about here and now that we wouldn’t have time to do the “don’ts” anyway.  Talk about  a change in worldview.  And not just a change in worldview, but a change in world behavior and, ultimately a change in world character.  Ultimately, the only thing we need to focus on is God.  Peter learned that the hard way.  As soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus, and focused on the hazards in his way, he hit the hazards in a big way.  This is where being still comes in.  If I’m focused on God, then I can be still because I’m not focused on all the hazards and turmoil around me.  If I focus on stress, I become stressed.  If I become stressed, I lose faith, and try to act on my own.  If I focus on God, I have the peace that passes all understanding.  If I have peace, then I have faith, and I can let God act.

God bless,

John

Drowning

Well, it’s been a very hectic week.  Just when we thought we might actually have some quiet time, my mother-in-law fell on Halloween night and broke her arm.  We spent all night in the ER, only to have them give us some pain pills, a splint, and send us home.  Now, mom is 80-something.  We brought her down to our area 2 years ago and put her in an assisted living facility so we could better help her during times just like this.  And that’s what we’ve spent the last week doing, my wife and I trading off day and night shift, taking mom to the bathroom, helping her stand up, transporting her to meals and to the doctor, etc.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love my mother-in-law, and not just because I love my wife.  And I believe that what I am doing is blessed by God.  I believe it gives my mother-in-law a chance to see God’s grace and love. 

And I believe it gives me the same chance.  Because it’s been a very hectic week.  I spent much of last night (in-between trips with mom to the bathroom) praying.  I started out lamenting the fact that all I had hoped for was a little peace, and feeling put upon by God that I wasn’t getting that.  The image I put forward to God in my prayers was that I was drowning.  God answered back…..  In my (very) early days, I was a lifeguard.  During lifeguard training, they teach you how to deal with people who are drowning.  Drowning people usually are pretty darn active.  They’re thrashing in the water.  They’re trying (literally) to grab you and stand on you to stay afloat.  This generally doesn’t help the life-saving process.  So they teach us how to keep the person still and quiet.  They teach us how to subdue the person thrashing around.  When we begin carrying them to shore, if they thrash, we roll them underwater to get them to calm down again.  In other words, we want them to be still.

My thought to God’s reply was “Wow, God, really?”  And he answered back…..also during that training they teach you that if you are alone in the water, you will quickly get tired and drown if you try to swim like you normally would.  Instead, they teach you the “dead man’s float”.  It involves….being still.  Using as little energy as possible, you can stay afloat – and even travel long distances – in the water over a long period of time.

So I finally accepted the fact that, in the midst of “drowning” in life’s circumstances (whatever it is that the world is throwing at me at the time), I need to be still.  It is then that God can approach me in the water, rescue me, and carry me to safety.  He is right beside me the whole time, if I quit thrashing around long enough to realize it.  It also occurred to me that, like most training, once you have mastered something at a simple level, you learn to do it at a more complex level.  It is easy to be still in the shallow end.  But then you move on to the deep end of the pool and master the disciplines there.

God bless,

John