We all have to choose
Following Jesus is all about submitting our will and choosing Him everyday. Our choices reveal what we truly love. Check out some of these posts and follow the blog written weekly by one of our leaders, Jeff Herringshaw, discipler, mentor, and coach.
CHOOSING STRANGE STRENGTH
My desire as a boy was to be strong. Being verbally and physically picked on in elementary school, I became fascinated with the idea of becoming powerful. The longing to prove my strength led to a few fights and endless daydreaming of what that day would feel like when I could show the bullies what I had inside me. And there were also the models of “manliness” I was exposed to. Athletic coaches were the most influential. They taught me that to get ahead in sports and in the world, I needed to push harder and do whatever necessary to be better than the person in front of me. Success would come to those who could overpower the next guy. My cumulative adolescent understanding was that strength was proportional to aggression and
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CHOOSING TO NOT CURSE THE WILDERNESS
The Sahara can be a lonely and disheartening place. I’ve been to this endless North African sandbox several times. Its beauty, overshadowed by the harshness and potential for disaster, was often not seen till after I returned home and reviewed my photos. On one trip, I hunkered down in a house with my team, riding out a sandstorm in which the air remained a hazy dark brown with little visibility for almost three weeks. During another, I nearly froze under the stars in my sleeping bag in the sand, anxiously wondering if a group of nearby camels would trample me. But the most disheartening experience was running out of gas along a barren stretch of road, miles from any village. We never saw another car. Our vehicle had a second fuel reservoir,
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CHOOSING TO CLAIM NOTHING AS MY OWN
A few years back, some friends asked if I would keep their car while they spent a few months working in Asia. I could use it as a second vehicle if I took care of it. It ended up being a great deal for us as a family who had only one vehicle. It was sportier than our minivan, a stick-shift, and a lot of fun to drive. Ironically, I was accused of giving it more tender loving care than our own vehicle – checking the oil at each fill-up, regular car washes, vacuuming the inside. Why? Though I enjoyed it for the season as if it was my own, I knew it was not really mine. I wanted my friends to continue to trust me and think of me whenever they had something else of importance that needed watching. The old-fashioned word for such a role is “steward.”
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CHOOSING A GOD WHO KNOWS HOW TO LOVE
I was attending college in Southern California when I had my first discussion with a Muslim about the nature of God. He was from Iran, highly intelligent and very polite. After listening to my stumbling words trying to explain the Holy Trinity, using my Sunday-school knowledge, he asked a one-word question: “Why?” I had learned the quaint analogy of the Trinity being like the three components of shell, yoke and white making one egg. There was also the one compound of water expressed in its three forms of liquid, steam, and ice. But no one had ever explained to me WHY the Trinity was important for my understanding of God. Was it? Or did it merely operate as a theoretical abstraction that needlessly divided people? I was speechless. My friend smiled but was kind and let the matter drop.
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CHOOSING LASTING SATISFACTION
As a Follower of Jesus, is it wrong to ask God to fulfill my desires? I have been asked this question more than once. There are two extreme responses that are often associated with Christianity. One comes out of the God-wants-you-to-be-happy theology and therefore, of course, wants to satisfy every desire. The other is more related to Eastern asceticism, labeling the pursuit of fulfilled desires as a distraction that leads to suffering and deceitfully draws us away from God. I usually offer a short (and unsatisfying) answer: it depends. So, maybe a more helpful question is, how do I decide if the desire I have is a good one? And how do I go about truly fulfilling it? The Bible talks a lot about desires, and I have written before on the topic (read “Choosing to Desire Well”). Here I am writing about it again. I never seem to get away from thinking about how
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CHOOSING TO RELEASE MY PAIN
As a kid, I avoided certain people. They were the kind that didn’t seem to have the capacity to endure the messiness and clumsiness of children. They couldn’t see the intentions of little ones when something got spilt or broken. They were the kind who yelled or growled when there was a bit too much noise. They complained when kids walked on their lawn, left fingerprints on their windows, created stains on the carpet, or ran through hallways in church. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t always avoid them. At times it felt as if they were stalking me, pointing accusing fingers, wishing aloud for the good ol’ days when children were seen but not heard. In general, they lamented how poorly they were treated by everybody. It wasn’t till I got older that I learned a good descriptor for this type of person: bitter. Getting older myself, I now sometimes wonder what can
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CHOOSING AN ATONING SACRIFICE
I wasn’t more than ten years old when I watched my grandfather butcher a pig. Contrary to what some might imagine, I don’t think I was emotionally damaged by it. Sure, it was gruesome and bloody. But I also remember thinking that this is how we get food. I liked meat. I liked the idea of nourishing my body. And that was enough for my kid’s way of thinking to justify the act and not blame my grandfather for any cruelty. Years later I learned that there was a lifestyle called vegetarianism. A classmate confronted me with the horrors of murdering living creatures for human consumption. I was troubled. Was it wrong to kill an animal for food? And then I read the novel When the Legends Die in one of my high-school English classes.
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CHOOSING TO LOVE WHAT IS TRUE
I have been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work for quite a while. Not only do I enjoy reading and rereading his stories of Middle Earth Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves, but I find snatches of insight about his personal life, faith, and philosophy intriguing and inspiring as well. Recently I read on an online site the following statement: “JRR Tolkien refused to let his books be read out loud to people until after his death, preferring to keep his words ‘on the page.’” This fascinated me. Since he was a philologist (someone who studies the history of languages), I knew from other reading that Tolkien had picked up some quirks from his studies, particularly from Medieval Norse languages and their accompanying myths. He was fluent in the Anglo-Saxon language, also known as Old English, and studied ancient Finnish. He also
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CHOOSING TO DROP THE MASK
Who wouldn’t want an opportunity like Bilbo the Hobbit? The thrills of having a magic ring. Oh, the mischievous things that could be done! In addition, there would be the tantalizing comfort that comes with the ability to turn invisible, hiding from the prying eyes of goblins, evil wizards, and judgmental or annoying people.
And there is Harry Potter with his invisibility cloak. Without it he would have been terribly vulnerable, unable to fool Lord Voldemort or slip away unseen from those dangerous predicaments. The idea of being able to become invisible simply by putting on a piece of clothing or jewelry is more than mere childish fantasy or silly imaginations. Many adults would happily embrace such a power.
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CHOOSING TO LET DESPERATION WORK
Not too long ago I had a conversation with a person who struggles with addiction. He told me how he has a goal of developing more self discipline in his life. But he finds that he always fails in his efforts. He feels that he can’t stick with anything for very long. I affirmed this desire to develop a more disciplined life and then probed a bit into how he has pursued this goal in the past. We talked about what he might do differently going forward. I then asked him how faith might be helpful. He visibly bristled and his tone became sharper. “I’ve tried Christianity,” he spat. “But I just can’t meet all the expectations that are put on me. And of course, the Bible says that God will love me only if I can meet all of His perfect expectations.” All this was said while rolling his eyes and shaking his head. I didn’t get a chance to adequately respond to his
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CHOOSING TO TRUST GOD’S WAY
We have just finished Holy Week, and I am still reflecting on what it all means. Resurrection Sunday morning provides some hearty food for thought, considering that the followers of Christ are promised to one day experience being resurrected with new incorruptible bodies themselves. Good Friday is a bit more challenging. The Cross tends to stir offense or ridicule. But each one of Jesus’ followers have to wrestle with why he had to die a bloody death. What does it mean that Christ died for me? Christ’s death and resurrection have been and always will be the core of the Christian faith. How one responds to them determines what kind of Christ follower a person really is. But what about that first day of Holy Week? We call it Palm Sunday. It has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Even as a child, I noticed the incongruence of Jesus being hailed the
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CHOOSING THE RIGHT MEMORY
I forgot a friend’s name the other day. For a few moments I couldn’t recall that word that represents someone I care about. It should be so familiar to me. I felt ashamed. Fortunately, the lapse didn’t last long. But moments like these make me wonder if this means age is catching up with me. Or am I just not thinking about that person enough to keep his name fresh and alive in my memory? Whatever the reason, forgetfulness is becoming more common. Besides people’s names, there are those book or movie titles that stay on the tip of my tongue, but I cannot bring them fully up from my memory. Jokes or stories I start to tell but then realize I can’t recall the details. It’s often a matter of focus. I can be intent on one subject while being asked about another and find it difficult to shift efficiently. Sometimes I can feel the memory I’m pursuing swirling
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CHOOSING RISKY LOVE
I was 19 years old working a summer job between college semesters painting our little town’s city hall. It was a season of experiencing new life in my spiritual walk with Jesus. One day, I was overjoyed to have a conversation with a local business owner next to the government building, in which he expressed thanksgiving for all that Jesus had done in his life. I was encouraged and shared a bit of my spiritual journey. He seemed encouraged as well. The next day, as I was high up on some scaffolding, I overheard the businessman’s conversation with a customer below in his shop. The windows were open. The exchange got heated. The businessman’s volume increased, and his language became abusive, calling the customer many foul things. I was devastated over the
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CHOOSING TO GO BACK TO KINDERGARTEN
As a child, I remember when my Sunday school knowledge about God and the Bible became too simple and dull. I was a jaded 12-year-old, having grown up saturated with what felt like dry, moralistic lessons drawn from the pages of scripture. The words faith, hope, love, sin, humility, heaven, the cross, and resurrection stirred yawns. I had heard it all a million times. Was there anything about this Christian stuff that was fresh and exciting? New information that could capture my imagination? As a young adolescent, I began to doubt that there was anything more about Jesus worth pursuing or knowing. Fortunately, I encountered the real presence of Jesus through some fellow high school students who experienced radical transformation when they
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CHOOSING TO FOLLOW WONDER
Sometimes we hear words over and over and yet never really think about the depth of their significance. Words such as faith, hope, and love are examples of ideas we talk about often as Jesus followers. They’re in the Bible, yet sometimes we need to ask ourselves what we mean by each of these. What would happen if we embraced a fuller meaning found in each of these words? The Bible also talks about wonders. Typically, the word is used to refer to supernatural miracles. Yet, “wonder” is also an expression we use to describe experiences we do not necessarily associate with a Sunday-morning sermon. We have the Seven Wonders of the World, the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (I’m not sure why it’s always
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