What Matters Most

Happy April Fool's Day

No one really knows how April Fool's day got started.  Some think it began back in the 1500's when the Gregorian calendar took over from the Julian.  Those who forgot to change or didn't know about the change would celebrate New Year's day on April 1st and were called April fools.

In 1957 the BBC aired a hilarious April Fool's Day joke.  You can view it at here.

While we all like practical jokes, no one wants to be a fool.  The wise sayings in that ancient book of Proverbs lists over 80 proverbs about a fool.  You can find the list here.

Some of them include:

• The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces.
• Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool.
• Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.
• A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted.
• Wise people think before they act; fools don’t—and even brag about their foolishness.
• Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.
• The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness.
• Only a fool despises a parent’s discipline; whoever learns from correction is wise.
• A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.
• It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than to confront a fool caught in foolishness.
• It is senseless to pay tuition to educate a fool, since he has no heart for learning.
• Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.
• Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.
• Trusting a fool to convey a message is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison!
• As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.

So even though you might be the brunt of an April Fool's Day joke or you might play one on someone, let's all heed these wise sayings and try not to live like a fool today!

Theology of Suffering

Have you ever wondered why Jesus waited 4 days to go see Mary and Martha when Lazarus was dead (John 11)?  Have you ever wondered why he didn't go when Lazarus was sick and keep him from dying?  Ever wondered why a God would have a man born blind just so He could heal him and get the credit (see John 9)?  Ever wondered why a baby is born into this world just to die a few weeks later by a horrible disease?

It seems from these examples, examples all through Scripture, and many from my life and the lives of my friends that suffering happens for reasons we cannot comprehend.  My thoughts are not so much as to why things happen but how our "American Christianity" upbringing affects how we react.

When tragedy strikes, I hear people say things like:

 "When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade."
"There is a silver lining behind every cloud."
"Some day you will understand why God allowed this"
"All things work together for God"
... and many more positive statements like these.

But what about when you can't make anything from the lemon, and it doesn't work out for good, and you never understand or know why?  Many times I wish that the last chapter of the book of Job in the Bible was never written.

As Americans, we do not like pain.  As Americans, our belief in God requires God to make things work out or make sense.  As I think through my theology of suffering I am struck with the fact that my trust or belief in God must be grounded on his sovereignty to do what he wants without owing me an explanation.  Perhaps the only things I can really expect is his strength, peace, and in the end He wins (and so do I).

How is your theology of suffering affected by your church or culture?

2009 - Good or Great?

What do i want out of 2009? I know that sounds hedonistic, but what do i want to accomplish or remember about this year?  Here is what I do not want. 
1)  I do not want to have nothing memorable happen and I prefer to have it be a positive memorable thing.
2) I do not want to stay the same in my personal life, relationships, and achievements
3) I do not want God to only use me in mediocre ways.

When I think of great people, I think of great ambitions, great dreams, and great sacrifice.  If I am going to be honest with myself, I want great things to happen this year. I want great things to happen with me, through me, and in me.  I do not want it to be a good year. I want it to be a great year.  As the old cartoon says “What are we going to do today boss.  The same thing we do every day Pinky.  We are going to try to take over the world.”

How can I take over the world this year? Without preaching a sermon, I will sum it up in just three things. First, I need to pray more effectively.  Second, I need to plan more diligently.  Third, I need to keep perspective more often.

What I know is that 2009 will be over before I know it.  What I do not know is how it will be remembered.  Or do I?

Four Simple Words

It is Thanksgiving Day.  Soon our home will be filled with family, friends, lots of food and football games.  We will discuss religion, politics, weather, swap stories and solve all the world’s problems.  I like this day because it makes me feel like I am part of a bigger story.  it is a chance for my journey to intersect for one brief day with the journey of some of those I love and hold dear.

As i sit here sipping some ginger bread coffee i am contemplating how my life has changed over the years. As I think about all the trials and blessings I am struck with the words of an old maverick of the Christian faith who walked this earth over 1900 years ago.  His name was Paul.  His words spoken to a group of his friends still echoes in my mind.  These words were, “In everything give thanks”.

Four simple words conjure up so many things in my mind.  In everything give thanks?  This is difficult to do.  It requires me to believe that there is a bigger purpose in life than just my purpose.  It requires me to give up the belief that life should treat me fair.  Worse yet, it requires me to see that both trials and blessings are fair.  It requires me to release the notion that my goal in life is not just for my life, my liberty, and my pursuit of happiness.  Most of all, it forces me to pry my hands off the control center of my life and release the reins to a God who knows what is best and promises never to give me more than I can bear.  This is huge!

Therefore, this day, I decide to embrace  the philosophy of that ancient writer, Paul of Tarsus.  I embrace my blessings and I embrace my trials.  I surrender myself to the reality that both are needed in order for me to be complete.  I can do it.  In everything, I can, give thanks.  In everything, I will, give thanks.

Postthought:  I just had a thought.  Giving thanks in everything allows me to focus less on me and more on others.  It views my trials and blessings as training.  It allows me to turn back in my journey and comfort those who are further back in the path of life.  It allows me to tell stories next year of my journey and intersect for a brief time with the journey of others that I will love and hold dear.

Chuck Holt

sunflowe

so beautiful i wanted to share it with the world.

The Sounds of Quietness

Have you ever sat in the quiet stillness of the evening and listened to all the meoldious noises? Sitting on the back deck with my wonderful wife and a small fire is the ultimate in relaxation. While we gaze mezmorized at the flames God is conducting an orchestra of sounds with all his little creatures. I wonder if my life plays such a majestic and beautiful tribute to our creator as these creatures do!

I Shouldn't Be Alive

Last night I sat on my couch captivated by the show on the Discovery Channel called "I Shouldn't be Alive".  Four men were flying over the ocean when their plane crashed at sea.  They spent 18 hours at sea surviving sickness, sheer fatigue, stormy waves, squid, and jelly fish before they were rescued.  What amazed me most about this show was how it showed the men praying to God for help but when they were rescued, God wasn't given the credit.  The one man who swam to shore for 12 hours to get help was the hero.

I wonder how often you and I do that?  When God shows up to help us, we take the credit.  How often have we been guilty of using God as a magic 8 ball and when he delivers we fail to give him the credit.

Why don't you take some time right now and reflect on how God has helped you recently.  Take time to thank him and acknowledge that you cannot do anything without his intervention.  Find someone that you can share with so that you can credit God with the working and not bask in the glory which isn't yours.  In fact, why not respond to this blog and give God credit for what he is doing in your life.

For without the grace and mercy of all-mighty God in our lives, we shouldn't be alive.

Chuck

Joe's 22nd Birthday - spent in Prison

Well, today my son Joe is 22 years old. We have had him for 16 years. We got Joe when he was 5 years old . He was a timid kid who was afraid of everything. I remember when we got him and took him to the park. He was afraid to jump off the park bench. Joe had been sexually, physically, and emotionally abused by his birth parents and gparents (they are not worthy to be called “grand” parents). This trauma was very evident to us early on. However, Joe seemed to thrive in a home where he was loved and cared for. Eventually, four of his other siblings joined our home and were adopted as well by my wife and me.

While he never had many friends, Joe seemed to hold his own in public school. He graduated with fairly decent grades and enrolled in a business school. His desire was always to be in business. From the time he was a kid he would play Monopoly by himself. The joke was always who would win!

Then when Joe enrolled into business school we began to discover that he didn’t have the ability to make wise decisions — mostly in the financial area. He left business school and enrolled in bible college for a year. During this time we had Joe tested by a psychologist and discovered that Joe had some post traumatic stress disorder. We also discovered that due to Joe’s abuse as a child, his brain never fully developed (he had shaking baby syndrome and had Dandy Walker’s syndrome). Therefore we found out that he reasoned at a 4th grade level. He had no real ability to do deductive reasoning.

About this same time, Joe’s world collapsed. He got himself in legal trouble and was found guilty by a jury and was given 20 years probation. He had exposed himself to two minor girls and was found guilty of attempted rape. Less than a year after this probation Joe made another poor choice and found himself guilty of another crime. He has tried to steal a car from a lady. Because of his first offense, he was charged with attempted rape again. This was based on what the detective coerced out him and not based on anything he did or said to the woman. Joe pleaded no contest and today he is in prison with a 20-50 year sentence.

Today, our son, turns 22 years old and is “celebrating” his birthday. It is also his one year anniversary of his going to prison for it happened last year the eve of his birthday. Today, we grieve with him because he is alone struggling with the lack of ability to process all this and struggling emotionally knowing that, except for a few who see Joe as we see Joe, he is alone and seen this day as scary monster who will most likely be locked up the rest of his life.

Today I am reminded of how God felt when Jesus was ridiculed and beaten as he journeyed to the cross. There is nothing I can do but to sit back and watch it all unfold. Joe has been nailed to his cross and nothing will take him down from it. Of course, unlike Jesus, Joe will not be delivered in three days, three years, or even three decades.

And for those of you who think it is blasphemes for me to equate me with God and Joe with Jesus, get over it. I am tired of people, especially Christians, who allow judgement to triumph over mercy. Go read James 2:13.

It is a sad day. God is good and I will enjoy my sadness knowing that it could always be worse. Even this day, Diane and her children might lose their father to this battle with cancer and a failing heart.

Successful Christ-followers?

Our society measures progress by more money, prestige, position and control. Unfortunately, God doesn’t measure success that way. So how are we to measure our spiritual progress? Are we successful Christ-followers?

Peter Scazzero, in his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, gives us 4 characteristics to consider in measuring our progress spiritually. Below is an adaptation of his information sprinkled with my own thoughts.

1. A Greater Level of Brokenness. Instead of exercising the right to determine good and evil in others, we leave this to God. We become free from judging others. One way to measure this is to consider how often we are offended. When criticized, judged, or insulted our response should be “It is far worse than you think!” Our daily prayer ought to be “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)
2. A Greater Appreciation for Holy Unknowing (Mystery). We like to know what God is doing, where He is going and what He is up to. It is part of our controlling nature. However, God is beyond every concept we have of Him. He is incomprehensible. The more we know Him, the less we know Him. God is not ours to figure out nor is what we are going through. We can rest easy knowing that God is in charge and worthy of our trust. We must stop trying to figure our what is going on, why it is going on and what to do about it. Instead, enjoy the unknown and let God work it all out.
3. A Deeper Ability to Wait for God. An outgrowth of brokenness and holy unknowing is a great capacity to just wait on God. We must break that driving desire to make something happen and to get it done. We must embrace the notion that less is more. Abraham learned to wait. Moses learned to wait. David learned to wait. Hannah learned to wait. Jesus learned to wait. You and I must learn to wait.
4. A Greater Detachment. The real question we must ask is not “Am I happy?” but “Am I free? We must live as if the things of this world, our material possessions, our achievements, our relationships - these things in themselves are not our lives. We are to be marked by eternity, free from the dominating power of things. In fact, detachment is the great secret of true peace. We don’t need these things, we need God. To really detachment from things means to be able to believe these statements:
⁃ Life is hard
⁃ I am not that important
⁃ My life is not about me
⁃ I am not in control
⁃ I am going to die

I pray that you will ponder these thoughts and embrace them in your life. It is part of pursuing Christ-like living and will help us all be able to ”render the sinful nature powerless“. (Romans 6:6)

Life Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism. As followers of Jesus Christ, each of us ought to be metamorphosizing (new word!) daily into more like Christ. However, I am amazed at how little most people know about themselves and why they do what they do, think what they think, and what motivates them.

Over the past few months, I have been going through a metamorphosis of sorts. God has been teaching me more of who I am, who He is and who I am in Him. What a freedom it has been for me to re-discover myself - my strengths (how I am wired) and my weaknesses (how that wiring gets short circuited!). This self-discovery has been liberatingly challenging, simply profound, and comfortingly scary.

There have been a number of circumstances that have all played a role in this life change for me. These external circumstances have been the catalysts for true internal change.

These events include:
- Working in a Para-church ministry after 19 years of local church ministry
- A wife who battles daily with the strength to function
- An autistic daughter
- A son in prison for the next 20-50 years
- The death of Caleb and Lynne Ott – dear friends who dealt with a son/brother and a mom/wife going home to be with the Lord less than two weeks apart.
- The book 25 hard lessons in the art of getting things done
- The book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
- The book Messy Spirituality
- My pastor Tim Rogers (particularly his Easter sermon on forgiveness.
- A broken bone in my foot
- Emotionally “losing it” on my family one unforgettable night

You cannot go through trauma or trials and come out the same. At least you should not. There are still recesses of my mind and soul I have yet to explore and I will spend the rest of my life doing so. However, I have learned some very hard lessons that I want to pass on to you in the hopes that it sparks a desire in you to engage your God in order to fully know yourself.

I have learned that I am a change agent. I never see things as status quo. My mind has the ability to see what needs to be changed and I am never content with the present. I live in the future and seldom accept the present as good enough. If it isn’t broken, I think of how I can break it. If it is working, I think of how it can work better. I run away from the lure of contentment and sameness and I find safety in instability. Change is my friend. I need to be in environments where I can question, challenge, dream, pioneer, make mistakes and try the unimaginable. Of course all this is done through the lenses of reason and accountability. However, I am destined to see life through glasses seldom worn and through a perspective seldom appreciated or valued in Christian circles.

I have learned that I need to heal from past failures and relationships. People-pleasing has been my motto and I have found great pride and comfort in knowing that I have done what is expected of me. In my striving to become a God-pleaser, I have become a people-pleaser. Rather than chasing God-size dreams, I often find myself embracing man-size realities. My fears have become insurmountable obstacles crippling my mind in order to keep me hostage from what God has released me to become. I am tired of telling the stories of hurt and pain to myself. I choose to forgive. I am now committed to emotional health just as much as I am with spiritual health. You cannot pursue one without pursuing the other. I embrace the emotional side of me seeing it as just important as the intellect. Not being afraid of my feelings, I welcome them and seek to understand their origin and place in shaping me for God’s Kingdom. Guess what? God felt and feels deeply.

I have learned that time to dream, rest, think and be silent is just as important has completing a “to do list”. Rest is the engine of productivity and silence is the predecessor of invention. Prayer is not an exercise but a way of life. Walking with Christ is not as much of “doing” something as it is in “being” someone. Margin is not as much about making time for rest as it is in making time for activity. The less I do, the more productive I will become. The paradoxical oxymoronic juxtaposition of life is that less is indeed more. Hey, maybe Relient K had it right after all. I want to be able to model Mark 1:35-39 and John 17:4

I have learned that with all my trials and crosses to bear I am blessed beyond most people. God has given me so much more than I can imagine or am worthy of having. He has blessed me with the best wife and children on the planet. Through my job, He has given me a taste of what really matters and I want to gulp down James 1:27.

The journey from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly has begun. I have spent so much time in my cocoon that it will take a lifetime to be transformed. Let the journey begin. Romans 12:1-2.

So what about you? How are you wired? What did God cerate you to become? What is holding you back from boldly embracing your strengths and confidently welcoming your weaknesses?

Let’s meet for coffee and discuss it together. When are you free?