Even if He Doesn't

 by  robynejay 

Everybody loves the underdog. There is something about a good story that appeals to each of us, struggling through our daily lives. It is attractive to believe against all odds that someone or something is going to come through. We've taught an entire generation that God wants nothing better than to answer their prayers and give them everything they could ever want.

Anyone else see a problem with that?

For all that it appeals to our wounded selves, there is nothing Biblical about what many people believe. It would be incredibly nice to have our own personal lottery where we win each time we enter, God has revealed Himself as a far wiser, complex and long-sighted God... and we are better off because of it.

What would happen if two people wanted separate things? Who would God choose to answer and who to deny? Would our entire faith life be turned into a game of piety where the most 'holy' person wins?

Clearly there is a different way.

My faith is present, but hardly tested in the good times. It is in those moments when my patience is worn thin, my faith stretched and I start to ask the uncomfortable questions that God teaches me the most. It is in these moments that I have learned to pray, "Lord, no matter what happens, I believe." He teaches me to mean that prayer as well.

Perhaps no story in Scripture lays this out for us better than the Fiery Furnace. Three young men, separated from their family and friends and enslaved in a foreign culture find themselves in a deadly situation. It is a moral conundrum that you could pour out millions of words upon and it would still have nuances undiscovered.

In his hubris, the king had built a massive gold plated statue in his likeness -- and then called together everyone in his kingdom to come worship it. -- Sounds like the kind of guy you would like to go to dinner with, eh? -- All these three young men had to do was bow down along with everyone else when the music started to play and the morning would have carried on with no further problems.

But they were unwilling to do the easy thing.

Their (and my) God had commanded a higher standard, You will have no other gods before me. These words must have played through their heads hundreds of times as they shuffled uncomfortably whispering to one another if they were going to let it slide this one time. Then the music started to play, and people began to bow around them until they were the sole stacks standing amidst a sea of worshippers.

It did not go unnoticed.

The king called them in front of him directly, threatened their lives and gave them one more chance to turn from their ways and worship his gods. This is where things get sticky. These obstinate, inflexible and bullheaded youths looked right at the king and said something that you simply do not say to the world's most powerful man -- no.

“Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king."

This would be commendable all on its own if the story had stopped there. God would send down the angels to protect these three and everyone would bow down before Yahweh because of His greatness and faithfulness to His servants. But that is not the whole story.

"But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”

Even if he doesn't.

Their faith standing before the king was not dependant on whether God would deliver them. They had made their stand and went all in no matter the outcome. They were not asking God to do anything for them, but willing to give everything for Him.

As the story plays out, they refuse to bow down even standing before the king, the icy tension palpable in the midst of the desert heat. His anger stoked by their unwavering stubbornness, they stoke the furnace to its' hottest temperature and order them thrown in. So hot, in fact that the guards throwing them into the furnace die from the heat wave.

Even if he doesn't.

Would that be your attitude when faced with certain death? What breaks down when we're put under pressure? What gets polished away to reveal your true character?

Faith is not dependant on the outcome, and God is not a slave to our desires. Can you say in times of stress that you trust God, but even if He doesn't nothing changes?

... But There is Light

  by  VinothChandar 

Hope. The one thing that stands resolutely against all odds. When the fight grows long, and our muscles begin to quiver from overuse, there is hope. When the armies lay siege to our final city, completely encompassing us leaving us with no escape route and few rations, there is hope. When the ground shakes as they charge towards our crumbling walls, and we make a final stand to protect those who we hold dear, there is hope.

There is hope.

Many times through my life I have surveyed the battlefield in front of me, observing the ebb and flow of my own personal struggles laid out in carnage before me. In those moments I often am overwhelmed with the grief of it all, an utter despondence washing over me as it becomes immediately apparent that the fight may have been in vain, that there is no way to move forward. I stand a broken man, solitary before an endless army that constantly assaults my faculties.

But we are never alone.

When my mother was called home, I remember facing that old foe wondering how I could ever move forward. When I packed my car after college to leave the comfort of my friends and community to follow God's calling with no place to stay and no job, the enemy besieged my fortifications. When I moved to Abbotsford into a new community unsure of what would come before me, they scaled the walls and we skirmished on the battlement. When I handed in my resignation unsure of what was to come next, it felt as though the front gates were blown inward and fighting was amidst the courtyard.

We each fight our own battles. Some of them are all our own, fully internal: self-image, self-doubt, an existential crisis, family conflict, job struggles. Some play out where everyone can see: a debilitating sickness, miscarriage, divorce, bankruptcy.

Life is full of conflicts that threaten to overwhelm us, so who do you have fighting for you?

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
     whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
     of whom shall I be afraid?
-Psalm 27

 We do not fight these battles, the outcomes have already been won. Often when I find myself weary amidst the army, I discover that I am fighting with my own strength. I am attempting to win victory for myself, claim the glory for myself. In my strength, I have found myself weak.

God has already won my victory.

Our focus changes then, from fighting our own battles to allowing God to work His purpose in our lives. His heavenly army is in control of the situation, and like Daniel our duty is only to wait and listen upon Him.

If you find yourself today struggling in the darkness, come towards the Light. Your eyes will strain and your mind cringe at the overexposure, but it is the only way to freedom. If you find yourself weary from the battle, run to He who watches over you and let Him protect you. The battle is already won. It can get dark... but there is light.

In our weakness, He makes us strong.

It Can Get Dark...

If there is one thing in life we can count on, an impending sense of doom fits the bill. There is never enough money, never enough time, never enough... whatever to satisfy our desires. Your job is expendable, you can be easily replaced, no one is truly special. The sun has set, and morning can seem so far away.

Fear can be a strong motivator.

As a child, I can remember a very real fear when it was time for bed. Climbing under the covers meant that it was time for the lights to be turned off and for me to be left alone to the machinations of my imagination. Those machinations never failed to impress, from creepy crawly things in my closet to hulking beasts beneath my bed. The only respite was found through light.

Children are funny that way. They have so much to learn, yet are really true reflections of us in so many ways. When individuals share their hearts with me, there is often a real trend of fear guiding decisions and a lack of hope to accompany it.

It can get really dark in our lives.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- John 8:12

 While we struggle through our own fears, wondering where God is in our plight, He invites us out of the cellars we have built. You may not even be aware of it, but many of us construct our own solitary confinement cells. We hunker down inside of them, shutting out the light and any who might want to help us all while wondering why no one will help us. We live in our own prisons.

Each time someone approaches Jesus, his invitation is simple -- unlock the door, give me the key and follow. It is the only decision we need to make, because He has everything else. A sense of doom is an opportunity to trust. We no longer have to worry about having enough, because God is our provider. Running dry is not a worry, because we have a living spring.

It has taken many years for me to begin to understand this, because it is a journey, but the only decision I have to make is whether I trust Jesus. If I do, then following him is my only pursuit and that changes my entire world.

He breaks down my walls, crumbling the concrete that I have poured around myself. The light begins to pour in as he gently tickles light into my darkness. He massages my atrophied limbs as I relearn how to walk.

It can get dark in the world, but we never belonged here anyway. 

Great Leaders Follow

  by  Jose Téllez 

Leadership is such a tricky thing. Everyone knows how it 'should' be done, but the reality leaves us wanting so much more. Browsing through the news gives you no shortage of leadership failures -- abuse, harassment, mismanagement and more. Piling onto the weight of leadership, these failures are only compounded by the open wounds left in all of the people who were following in trust.

There must be a better way.

This is always a hard topic to talk about, because if you speak to anyone who I have worked with, I am sure they could disclose countless stories about my own failures. I am not a perfect leader, far from it. I am who is becoming more like Jesus... I am a disciple. As a disciple there are times when I feel like Peter, who stood before Jesus and had his faults laid out before him -- stupid questions, obstinate attitudes and more.

Jesus has called us to be disciples.

He did not call us to be perfect, or to pretend as though we are free from all sin. He called us to depend wholly on him, and showed us a better way to lead inside of our own communities. If you think about it, he called twelve men who were anything but perfect. They were on the very outskirts of society, some even shunned from the mainstream. These are the people Jesus chose to pour into for the years he was in ministry. It is telling.

Perhaps Christian leadership is not about gathering power, gaining influence and then seeing how big we can build the empire before it collapses around us. Maybe Jesus has already shown us a different way of leadership in God's Kingdom and we have merely neglected to follow sound advice. We have been seduced by the callings of power, losing our path over centuries and decades without a real restoration in our leadership.

What then needs to be thrown out?

1. A leader is not judged by the number of people who follow them.

By this metric alone, Jesus was a colossal failure. Oh, he had the numbers, the crowds and the influence -- and then he threw it all out. He purposefully sought to weed out the many, many people who were attracted to his fame rather than his message.

What if a modern Christian leader focussed on their local community? Loving, nurturing, journeying with them authentically? If it was never about what is the 'next big thing' on the horizon or the 'rising star' of their abilities? What if we re-framed that conversation to be about rooting yourself in God's family, listening for what the Lord has to say, rather than what will attract more people?

2. A leader is not there only to encourage.

There are tough calls that need to be made along the way. Moses had a petulant group of children on his hands, and there were times that he had to lead out of his calling rather than popular opinion. These are moments that Joshua, Aaron and others played significant roles in Moses' own life to affirm what he was hearing from God.

In the same way, Jesus had some hard rebukes for his disciples at times. They were blunt, even harsh, but true. He had to do some pruning in order to help the vine grow healthy in the long run.

3. A leader does not lead alone.

Jesus showed us what it looks like to live in community. He regularly communed with God and the Holy Spirit to discern what was next. He did not pick one person to be the heroic leader in the days of Pentecost, he instead chose to form a group who could discern together what was next for the Church.

How many leaders today do you see as being 'above' accountability? Some have built palaces that they insist are made of glass, but are anything but. No one in God's Kingdom is above accountability, just the opposite. We submit to one another in brotherly love, listening to the rebukes and advice of others so that each of us can grow more like Jesus.

4. A leader is tested by their absence.

It is not the work that is done when a leader is present that is the test of their work. Instead, it is the building that has been constructed and must stand the test of time. We are quick to focus on the short-term results, rather than the long-term benefits.

You can throw up a quick house in a week, but you won't want to live in it for decades to come. Ministry is much the same, it takes time and gentle corrections over the long haul to see something that is long lasting. We must stop judging leaders by the immediate and instead look at the long-term results of their work. Speaking in decades instead of years or months.

The real test comes when they are gone.

5. A leader serves.

In the Kingdom of God, leading is one of the least glorious things you can do. It involves washing feet, late nights, tears, sweat and pain. Many lead through times of great troubles to bear the weight of the turmoil and never receive the thanks when the journey is complete.

There is nothing glorious about leading in the Kingdom of Heaven, because Jesus made it clear that if earthly glory was all you were wanting -- you would get it. But if you wanted something that would last, there would be little thanks here on earth. It is not about who will sit at the right hand of God, but who will listen and serve here on earth.

Too many young leaders that I have met think it is about a huge group, recognition or glory. They are not prepared for the long months of pain, broken relationships and hard (but loving) calls that need to be made in ministry.

Perhaps it is time to throw away the notion that our leaders need to be charismatic, bombastic and great speakers. This is a time when the Kingdom of God needs people, not personalities.

What have you seen from the leaders in your life? How has someone been Jesus to you?

When God Asks You To Do Something Difficult

My journey of faith has interwoven with some incredible people, God using our threads to weave a grand tapestry. Some of those threads have been exotic, attractive while others were the cotton -- the backbone. He has used each of these people to change and mould me into the person that He is creating. Each of us is merely one thread in the whole garment, with our own roles to play.

There have been times on these journey's when the road has been spectacular. This past New Years I was given a great gift by my parents-in-law of a family trip to Maui, Hawaii. It was a fantastic week with everything that you would expect from a tropical trip. Beautiful weather, long stretches of white sand and exotic snorkelling.

We took one of those days to make the trip around the Island to Hana, a small fishing village in the middle of nowhere. It is the kind of trip that they talk up to be an adventure for people who do not usually undertake adventures. As if driving on a well-paved highway was one of the most dangerous things you could do with your vacation.

While the trip did not fully live up to its advertised danger, the road was incredibly curvy, as we weaved with the shape God carved into the landscape. The pay-off was not in the destination, but in the journey you take to get there. Stunning vista's, open ocean, lush tropical fauna and more await you on the trip. It was a highlight, especially the sunset that awaited us on our way home.

These journeys are not always smooth -- especially if you want an adventure. On the way home, my Father-in-law decided he wanted to drive the 'forbidden' route on the way home. The place where insurance companies will not cover you, and where tourists do not dare tread. Now this is an adventure.

The road on the back of the Island is distance-wise similar to the normal road, but memory-wise significantly more exciting. There are large parts of the 'highway' that are unpaved, leaving you at the mercy of erosion as the tropical rain clawing away the road as the land drags it down the slope to the ocean. Instead of a tourist-friendly two-lane highway, you are left with a nerve racking two, but sometimes one, lane road with oncoming traffic on the face of a steep, mountainous cliff.

Bouncing around like cowboys holding on for dear life, we traversed the back of Maui taking in sights that far less eyes get to see. As we wisened up to the multitude of warnings along the way, there were more than a few moments where we were debating turning back, because the road seemed impassible. Yet those moments, in hindsight were a minority of the overall journey home, a mere fifth of the journey.

Coming out the other side of the forbidden zone, God greeted us with this:

Immediately the sore bottoms, and shaken stomachs were worth it.

You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
-Matthew 7:13-14

Take that lesser road. Life will be dangerous, your knuckles will be white with stress at times, and there may be times when you wonder if you will see the comfort of home again. It will be an adventure, and not in the mass-produced tourist-friendly pamphlet way. You will gain scars, wounds and memories along the way. Change is an expected part of the journey as you learn about yourself and others. This is not the easy road.

It is the right road.

Remember, the next time God asks you to do something difficult, the views are so worth it.

Called to Be Different

 by  Cayusa 

You were never meant to belong. You are an alien in this world. So why does it feel so much like home?

I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

- John 17:14-19

We are sent into this world as ambassadors, people who once belonged but who have since renounced their citizenship and transferred their allegiances to a new home. We are the worst sort -- traitors to the old, and family of the new. Having turned our backs on all that was offered to us, we abandoned it all so that we could be truly free.

But have we?

So often I have sat with people over a meal where they have confessed that their relationship with God is not where they would like it to be. They struggle with what they feel they want, and what reality shapes up to be. Inevitably, the discussion turns towards actions. Are they living what they know to be true? Are they building their relationship with God, or expecting Him to overwhelm them with His pursuit?

Do our actions testify to the God we claim lives inside of us?

Francis of Assisi is commonly attributed with the phrase, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words." We so often use our mouths to testify to the greatness of God through song, testimony and sermon, yet our lives leave something lacking. We are big talkers.

Hypocrite.

People want to see something different. In community, in life, in work. If I claim to be a brother or sister of Christ, am I any different than the rest of the world? It should take very few words to tell the world of the change our Lord brings, because our lives are a testament to His changing power already.

This may mean giving us what is comfortable and familiar to us. It may mean offending people as you realign your priorities to what will be, rather than what is today. It means living a life full of radical, dangerous love. It may mean taking up your cross and carrying it while the crowds mock and jeer you.

Out of the twelve disciples, eleven died from martyrdom.

Radical faith brings radical results -- so why do we act like the world and wonder why no one sees anything different?

We were called for so much more.

Lessons are Learned in the Journey

Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 

-2 Corinthians 5:14-17

  by  gmark1 

 "Are we there yet?" -- a common half-joke amongst families as they undertake a long journey and one that is not unfamiliar to me. As the youngest of three children, I was often put in the middle seat, smack dab on top of the hot, sticky, uncomfortable fake leather. Elbows on one side, shoulders on the other, those journeys could be excruciating. That was if we were all in a good mood!

Let us not pretend I was an angel, however. Far from it.

One trip in particular my siblings take great glee in retelling that only comes with years of distance from an event because being there was far less glamorous. We had travelled out to Brandon, Manitoba to visit my Uncle and Aunt and spend some time with them before both of our families journeyed south of the border to Great Falls, Montana. Not a spot that you would normally call 'vacation' but I remember a large Target and a mother who was thrilled at cheap prices. The journey itself is a patience testing twelve hours in the best of conditions.

As any young boy is prone to do, I had always wanted a pet to call my own. A friend who would be loyal to me when the bullies at school were particularly nasty, or my brother would not share the Sega Genesis. It was an admittedly romanticized fantasy, devoid of poop, early mornings or any other inconveniences pet owners can attest to. While in Brandon, one of my older cousins had such a dog, a droopy eyed, floppy skinned old mutt who was happy to put up with a ecstatic young boy petting him, walking him and spending copious amounts of time lavishing in his brilliance. For a short time, I had a summer fling... with Elfie.

But as with any summer fling, it must come to an end. A long, excruciating end filled with highways, and desperate parents. Nearly a solid twelve hours of crying that I wanted a puppy, that I wanted Elfie. To my parents credit, they never promised me that I would get a pet to shut me up... but they tried anything else! Games on the highway, food, music, video games... anything to get their youngest son to be quiet. I'm amazed in hindsight they did not through me out the window and keep driving.

How often do we cry out to God begging Him to let us be there already? We are tired of our lives, afraid of what is going to happen next, beaten down from the perpetual waves of despair beating against our shores. We are weak, constantly struggling with sin and broken relationships from a world that lives in the corrupt state of sin.

We want to be free.

Yet God looks at us and He sees a creation in process. Something that is lives in a state of in-between. We are new creations because of Christ, redeemed by His sacrifice on the cross. We are sinful beings, unable to restore ourselves to the state we willingly walked away from. We struggle against ourselves, caught in a perpetual tangle that wounds us as we attempt to extract our limbs. We are wounded.

I cannot speak for you, but it is from this reality that I often find myself wounding others. I succumb to the trauma of life and lash out at others -- judging, hurting and attempting to exert power over them. Thank Jesus for grace in these times, both for myself and for others.

I am a new person. Seeing with God's eyes means offering God's grace to those around me. It may mean showing grace where my heart wants to wound or offering a hard word where I would rather let it go. My family has travelled thousands of miles together, and we arrived mostly in one piece thanks to love.

How are we treating others? Are we learning from the lessons we learn in our own journey, or are we using those moments to wound others?

Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.

I want to live this out in my own life.