Making Waves

I saw the waves this weekend. I went to the ocean. It was amazing and awe inspiring. The sound was loud. I've lived by the ocean my whole life. I've seen the ocean in so many parts of the world. But this weekend I saw the ocean. I mean the waves were so powerful. I looked at them crashing against the shore and thought that if I ever was caught in them, I could easily be killed. Those waves could end me.

But God is more powerful than those waves. He commands the ocean. So God can do miraculous things. God can heal the sick and cure the sadness and pacify the frustration.

Read this passage below from Jeremiah. God LOVES us. He loves me and he loves you. He chose you and has called you beloved. You are forgiven and He cannot see your sins. The Lord Almighty is his name.

How cool is that?


Jeremiah 31:33-35 (New International Version)

33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."

35 This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name:

In times of distress

Not too long after Kevin and I moved to Savannah, I experienced a time of extreme loneliness. Kevin was at school and studying all the time and I hadn't made good friends yet. I had just started a new job, not making enough money to pay bills and had months before been in El Salvador, then WA, then GA. I felt alone. Loneliness is how the devil gets to me. He tells me lies and I struggle, reminding myself that I shouldn't believe them.

During that time I began a Beth Moore study and she mentioned Psalm 20 and that it was perfect for times of distress. So I wrote it up on the wall and stuck it on the inside door of my closet. Often I would cry and I would go into the closet and shut the door and read this psalm. I would read it often and I would recite it aloud until I began to believe it.

God's word is powerful. It has transformed my life on many occasions. This is one time I needed His word and clung to it tightly. I was alone and felt desperate, but God was always there and clinging closely to me.

I hope this may help you in times of distress.

-Rachelle


Psalm 20

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.

3 May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
Selah

4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.

5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

8 They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.

9 O LORD, save the king!
Answer us when we call!

God's strength

It's only 4pm and yet I've had one of the best days and one of the worst days in a while, all rolled into one.

This morning, when I arrived at work, I was able to see and hear Coblie Caillat and Five For Fighting live. At work. That was cool. They are so extremly talented that I am in awe of how God has created such beauty in a human voice. I was elated.

After that, I returned to the real world of work at my desk and received the final straw that broke the camel's back (in this story I am the camel and that back is mine). I was furios and contemplated what it would feel like to yell, "That's it! I've had it!" and storm out the door. But I didn't.

How is it that God has created me to have so many emotions all in one day? I know he is at work here, but I'm having a hard time hanging on to just that. I need more grace and more hope here. Father, help me.

So often, when God places a call on one of His children, it requires a separation between the old life and the new life. There is a time of being away from the old in order to prepare the heart for what is coming. It can be a painful and difficult separation. Joseph was separated from his family. Jacob was sent to live with his uncle Laban. Moses was sent to the desert.
- OS Hillman

I am hanging onto the hope that God has placed a special calling on my life. That he has a plan for me and this is just a tiny spec on the map that will be my life. In order to make it through this desert time, I must press into him. That is the key.

Psalm 105:4 - Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

Freckles

Yet another detail I wouldn't have thought to include if I were in charge of creating the universe

What are your overheads?

You know how the grocery stores rearrange their stock every now and then, just to make you wander around and look at things? It's so disorienting, walking down the aisle to exactly where the shredded wheat lives, to suddenly come face-to-face with nothing but creamed corn and that soft, over-salted asparagus in the skinny cans. Certainly this isn't a customer-friendly practice, but they keep doing it, so I assume it generates some revenue.

I wonder if God doesn't do the same thing with us sometimes, when we start heading for the cereal aisle every time we walk in the door, because he knows that if he doesn't shake things up, we'll completely miss a lot of the great things he's made available for us.

This is not to say you should buy the creamed corn; it's just a reminder to be aware of God's bottom line as we attend to our routines, because he has so much more in store for us than we realize.

God transforming my attitude

I just read this and thought it was an AMAZING story. God is so powerful and is always working around me. I believe I have the job that I have because God has a purpose in it. Maybe that's why you have the job you have.

I hope it inspires you.

-Rachelle


Transforming Your Workplace By Os Hillman
November 4

This, then, is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9-10).

What would your workplace look like if this prayer were answered today where you work?

"Transformation" is a powerful word. Just hearing it, you almost automatically think of radical conversions and incredible change. But is it possible to transform your workplace into something Christ-like? Jesus thinks so.

One example involves a story told in Ed Silvoso's book, Anointed for Business, about a Filipino business man who owned a hotel chain. God saved this man and began an amazing transformation in his life and his large scale hotel.

The man owned a 1600-room hotel that covered three buildings. Because of its rates and location, the hotel had become a haven for prostitution, with the rooms being used as much as five times a day. There were over 2000 employees, and the primary clientele were more than 3000 prostitutes.
One of Silvoso's associates shared with the owner a formula for winning the lost, so he hired 40 pastors and told them to follow these instructions: a. Speak peace to the wolves. Bless those who curse you. b. Eat and drink with the sinners. Become their friends. c. Pray for them and their needs. The pastors were not to share the gospel until they'd met these three requirements for two years. What an investment. But ultimately, it paid off.

The pastors followed these three rules and saw every single one of the 2,000 employees become saved. The hotel was upgraded to an executive level, raising the rates and forcing the prostitutes out because they could no longer afford it. They even added a prayer chapel with 24/7 prayer available to anyone by dialing '7' on the telephone. Two years later, 10,000 guests had received the Lord on the property.*

That's transformation! And that's the kind of transformation we can see in our workplaces. We just have to find the vision and the willingness to ask God, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?"

*Adapted from story in Anointed for Business, Ed Silvoso, Regal Books, Ventura, CA 2006.

Contact Os Hillman at marketplaceleaders.org

On listening

As anyone in the Facebook generation knows, losing your phone is tragic. No more numbers, no more ringtones, no more texting, no more contact with the outside world. It can be quite a nice thing to be without a phone -- it's like fasting, but with technology -- but that's not always the easiest thing to remind yourself in the moment.

I bring this up because my phone was gone, gone, gone the other day. I went through the classic thought process: where was the last time I saw it, did it ever leave my room, etc. I knew it was in my bedroom somewhere. I flung the covers off my bed. Nothing. I checked the insides of shoes. Nothing. I checked places it couldn't possibly be, just to feel like I'd done a thorough search. No dice.

Then I heard the phone vibrate. Is there a moment in my life where you listen as intently as when you're listening for your phone? I bent over, my chest parallel to the ground, contorting my head so as to move my ears as close to the ground as possible. Then it hit me --

If I really want to hear God's Word in everyday life, if I really want to hear Him give instructions on my life, I need to listen intently for Him...not for the vibration of an incoming text message.

Darn it.

It's snowing in Portland again

As people in Portland aren’t used to the snow, they tend to not like it (note: using this logic, they wouldn’t like deodorant, either). Being from the Northeast, with childhood memories steeped in snowball fights, sledding and cold, I love it. It’s pretty much the most beautiful thing in the world.

So as I sat on I-405 this AM, traffic snarled, I didn’t really mind. In the distance…well, I couldn’t really see in the distance. There was just whiteness around me – the whiteness of snow, the whiteness of snow-fog (pretty sure that’s the technical term for it). Stuck on 405, nothing to do but look out the windows, I was reminded how God wants us to live our lives slower, trusting in Him, resting in Him, not trying to control everything, not trying to mentally coerce the other cars to get out of the way. That’s a reminder I need pretty much every day.

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” – Isaiah 30:15

End of year ramblings

• Walking by cell phone talkers, I can’t help but notice the drama in their voices. Or maybe I should say in our voices. Person A is always talking about Person B, or Boyfriend A and wondering why they can’t act differently, why does he say this, etc. I wonder if we create our own drama so we don’t have to focus on True Importance: our relationship with the Lord.
  
• One of the traps into which I continue to fall is the one where I feel badly about my life because of something that happened in high school, because I wish I had handled a situation differently, haven’t been able to lead friend X to the Lord, etc. These are not bad things to notice. The fact of the matter, though, is that none of my past alters that which is truly important: I am loved by the Lord.
  
• The more I learn about the Lord, the less I care about other things. I never thought I’d reach a point in my life where I went five weeks without watching football.
  
• With that said, there’s a lot of life to enjoy that isn’t explicitly a “Christian” activity. But I do think you should be seeking the Lord in most everything you do.
  
• Pretty much everything that happens in your life is a miracle, not a coincidence. I’ll probably (maybe) expand on that at another time.
  
• The moments where my instincts scream at me to control are the moments when I most need to be still.
  
• The longer I’ve been a Christian, the more I realize I had no idea what I was getting in to. At an especially overwhelming moment last week, I remembered a quote I’d once heard: being a Christian isn’t just hard. It’s impossible. Thankfully, all things are possible with Him who gives me strength. Sorry it took me so long to understand this.

"Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus"

In my day job, I work with students. Something I try to communicate is that you're always interviewing. So, even though you might not be in a constant state of answering a direct "why should we hire you?" question, you are in a constant state of preparing for the interview. That might mean you're doing an internship or volunteer work. That might mean you're struggling with a personal issue which will later turn into an interview answer. Or it could just mean you're maturing as a person; this maturity will be reflected in an interview. Whether you're aware of it or not, you're always interviewing.

I was thinking about this in terms of being a Christian. It occurred to me that we should always be witnessing (note: feel free to include similar Christian buzzword). Whether we're overtly talking about Jesus or simply being thankful in all circumstances, we need to be aware that we're always representing our Lord and Savior (scary as that may be). Again we turn to Colossians 3:17 for our reference:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Beauty

Greetings from Portland, Oregon!

...Where two inches of snow has effectively shut down the city. I love days like this, not just because they allow for all sorts of self-indulgent "you call this a storm? Why it snowed 33 inches overnight when I lived in Boston" type comments, but also because if you wake up early enough you can see the snow before anyone else does.

In some slow, peaceful way, being the first one out the door, making the first snow print makes me inch closer to understanding Creation. Looking out the window, the snowflakes slowly descending on trees, the wind gently making me feel more alive, I'm inspired to think of how beautiful Heaven must look.



"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good." - Genesis 1:31

The gospel is everywhere, part 1000

One of my all-time favorite books is Michael Lewis' Moneyball (pictured above). While nominally about baseball, in reading the book you'll realize it's actually about being efficient in life.

One of the themes that stuck with me is that of a decision being evaluated not on the result, but on the process involved in making the decision. So, if you trade for a bad player who coincidentally sets the world on fire upon his acquisition, that does not mean the trade decision was a good one. To use a real world example: my friend Wesley once survived a car accident only because she wasn't wearing a seat belt. Just because she survived, however, does not validate the decision to drive without wearing the seat belt*.

I always thought this "the value of the decision is not in its result" philosophy extended to the gospel as well. Like, if I talk about the Lord with a stranger but it does not result in the stranger coming to the Lord, I shouldn't feel like I made a bad decision**.

Reading Luke 4, I found my scriptural reference. Here, Jesus is tempted by Satan, who offers Jesus authority and splendor over all the kingdoms in the world. One problem: while the result would make a certain amount of sense, the process by which He got there would be, well, a bit troubling.

I think Christians can be similarly tempted by the allure of a seemingly positive result. What I think we need to remember, though, is that the result we ought to always be seeking is not one of worldly pleasure, or even one which looks good to other Christians. The result we should simply, unequivocally be seeking is the approval of the Lord. After all, it is He, not men, who ultimately judges us.

* = I know this sentence is a double negative. If you have a better idea of how to phrase it, please do let me know

** = same thing

Phone calls with God

Every few months, the CEO of my company will open up an hour from his schedule to host calls from employees from throughout the country. If your request is received early enough, he’ll spend five minutes on the phone only with you. This is seen as an impressive gesture from someone who presides over 37 different branches of the company.

Now let’s think about God: the Creator and presider over all the universe. The one who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us. Must be a busy guy, right? Yet we have access to him not every few months for five minutes, but all the time.

Think about that for a moment. All we have to do is talk to Him. The thought absolutely blows my mind. Wow.

Keep the faith

Several months back, I used the 2004 Red Sox as a metaphor to illustrate my point that "the fun is in the faith." The point was that, as the Sox began their incredible, never-been-done-before comeback from a 3-0 deficit, I couldn't be bothered to believe it possible. Same thing happened in 2007 when they came back from 3-1. It's like I believed I'd somehow be rewarded for dropping my faith. Instead, in each case, I ran from my faith. In each case I wound up feeling silly. The Red Sox came back from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back and I found myself wondering why I'd bothered doubting them in the first place.

This behavior also surfaced in my walk with the Lord, of course -- those times where I really wanted to believe, but found it somehow too risky to believe in the improbable, in His power.

* * *

Probably the biggest thing I learned in the past year was a corollary to that last bit: if I'm going to say I believe in an all-powerful God, I need to act like it. I need to believe it. For the past several months, I did that. Even if things didn't wind up the way I wanted them to, I believed they could. I believed that all things were possible through the Lord.

Earlier today I was thinking about the 3-1 series deficit the Sox were facing this year. I was tired of reading the pundits talk about past Sox comebacks. As far as I was concerned, they were cooked. Everyone on the team looks tired and the difference between this year's situation and past years, I was quick to point out, is that this year's team is less talented than their competition (unlike 2007 vs. Cleveland and 2004 against the Yankees). Between injuries to several key players and generally being not as good as Tampa Bay, I figured this season was over. I didn't even plan to watch the game.

But Mike, I internally dialogued, doesn't this contradict your newfound belief, in, well, belief? If you believe all the crazy, improbable things in the Bible, if you truly believe that all things are possible through Christ...I mean, is it so hard to believe a baseball team can win three games in a row, even with inferior talent?

For more than two hours, there looked to be no reason to believe. Through six innings, the Sox were down 7-0 and had two (2) hits. My friend Meg and I just wanted the game to end early enough to be able to see The Office. Then, despite my lack of faith, I was rewarded: the Sox, down to their last seven outs, scored eight runs to win game 5 and complete the greatest postseason single game comeback in 79 years (!)

Winding down afterwards, I couldn't help but think about how this again mirrors my walk with the Lord. After the 2007 baseball season, I promised I would never again stop believing. Obviously that didn't happen. Again, I feel silly for ever doubting. It will, I'm sure, be the same thing with my relationship with God. I'm sitting here, trying to convince myself that I'll never stop believing in Him. Thing is, someday I will doubt him again. It might not be an overt thing where I actually say aloud "I doubt you, God," but my actions, my inner beliefs will say those words.

But you know what the greatest thing is? Even when I have trouble believing, God loves me, and cares for me and prays for me. I'd love to be able to say "I will always believe, with all my heart," but it's probably not true. Even when it's not true, though, I know He is there for me. In my absolute weakness, when I have lost all belief, when I cannot find even a glimmer of hope, that's when He is strongest. And for that, my friends, I am more thankful than anything else.

Beware the friend collectors

So it may seem like I’m just universally unaccepting of anything mainstream. I won’t deny having that as a portion of my personality (though I promise I’m not always countercultural). With that said, my hesitance towards Facebook (and before that, My Space) had legit foundation:

1. I never wanted my students to be able to see too much into my personal life; and
2. I was always a little worried about friend collecting.

Here’s what I mean about that last part:

One of the most important sermons I ever heard was one wherein the pastor talked about how “every human you pass on the street is someone for whom your savior died.” I loved that not just because of its impressive grammar (notice for whom) but also because it put into words what appealed to me about Jesus. To Him, every person on this earth – friend or foe – was someone who could be saved. Everyone was someone of value.

Meanwhile, my whole thought about Facebook is that it causes us to devalue other people. One of my favorite series at Imago was about the core idols. Specifically, I remember how someone with the power idol was described: someone who uses other people as commodities. That, in my opinion, is exactly what Facebook promotes. Accept friends just to bolster your friend count. Invite others for the same reason. Post a note on someone’s page so that someone else sees it. And so on. This is not how we’re meant to live. Jesus had twelve people he directly influenced (and from what I understand, you can argue that number is more like three). Now it’s two thousand years later and we’re meant to believe that we – mere humans, mind you – are intended to have 367 friends?

(Note: Don't get me wrong, there are benefits to the site as well. I'd hate to sound like one of those Christians who decried the advent of TV as the devil's work. I'm just saying is all. I'm just saying)

It's not that I particularly like the Olympic announcing, but...

For whatever reason I'm really into the Olympics this year. Maybe it's a good year, maybe I've changed, maybe I'm just looking for a reason to not write my thesis. Point is, I've been watching as much China '08 as possible. For the first time ever, this includes gymnastics.

The thing about watching gymnastics is that it all looks amazing to me. Were it not for an announcer telling me about degree of difficulty, deductions, et al, I wouldn't have any idea what's going on. Not surprisingly, this reminded me of my walk with the Lord. I'd like to think I know a bit more about life than I do about, say, the parallel bars, but the fact remains: I have to look to him to guide me. He has to be the one telling me what's right, what's wrong and what path I should go down.

It's hardly a novel thought...but it is one I should always keep in mind.

Also, it's like 127 degrees in my house.

"These are not the droids you're looking for"

My roommate Dane says that all of creativity originates somewhere in the Bible. I'm certainly not going to be the one to tell him otherwise.

It's funny because on some level I've always thought of the gospel in terms of Star Wars. Like, "the force" is the holy spirit, that invisible current of power running through God's chosen people. Then there's the way Obi-Wan Kenobi died but warned Darth Vader that his death would only make him stronger. In my (admittedly warped) mind, this parallels Jesus dying and coming back stronger in resurrection.

Then there's the famous jedi mind trick Obi Wan uses in the first/fourth Star Wars (those stupid prequels make it difficult to reference the right movie. I'm talking about the very first Star Wars ever in a theater, from like 1977). Remember it? Guards all over the Tattoine Desert are told to be on the lookout for two droids. As they venture over to inspect R2 and 3PO, Obi Wan waves his hand in front of them and tells them "these are not the droids you're looking for."

I was thinking about this as I read 2 Kings 6, where Elisha plays the role of Obi Wan:
As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria.

Do you hear what I hear? Jedi mind tricks in the Old Testament? As Dane said, all creativity originates from Scripture. Makes sense to me.

What asthma has taught me

Sometimes I think my whole life was ruined by growing up with an inhaler. I mean this not because the inhaler is representative of asthma, asthma has made me weaker, etc, but because the inhaler works so darn well. Two puffs of medicine and my breathing problems are gone. It’s an instant fix.

Problem is, I’ve been using an inhaler since I was eight and somewhere along the lines I think I expect all results to be so instant. All medication should work that fast, I should be able to prepare for a marathon in a third of the time it takes everyone else and why do I have to keep waiting for this job promotion?

Plus, what takes my prayers so long to work? Will they ever work? Can’t God just snap his fingers and make things happen? What is taking so long?

Look, it’s hardly news that Christians can be impatient. We’re not immune to that problem (or any earthly problem, for that matter). But as I’ve written before (and I will doubtlessly write again), we need to think of things in God’s time. He’s the God of patience, who wants everyone to come to repentance. We just need to remember it happens on his time, not ours…which is a good thing. Sometimes the result of prayer is immediately obvious. Other times it takes a while. Thing is, as impatient as I can be for things to happen right now, I think it’s cooler when it takes a while. Like, I’m praying for growth in a certain facet of life and as I’m seemingly not growing at all, He is building me up. How awesome is that??? Like, I’m sitting at my desk not feeling any growth, but I know He’s working on me. Man, I love that.

All of which is a long way of saying:
1. I need to be more patient;
2. When I’m not patient, I need to remind myself that God is working on it; and
3. I needn’t worry about the result…He has a much better idea of how to do things than I do (smiley face)

What I learned from The Dark Knight (non-spoiler edition)

Like so many others before me, I thought of the Jersey shore during Batman: The Dark Knight. One of the movie’s major themes is that evil fights hardest after it’s been challenged. The moment you try to bury it, evil shifts into a new gear that’s more intense than ever. Noticing this, I thought of the Jersey shore –

See, I was at my parents’ beach house in Brigantine a couple weeks back. Rinsing the sand off my feet, I for the millionth time noticed the difference between the white sand (which comes off really easy) and the black sand (which has to be scrubbed off and sometimes doesn’t rinse off at all). Something hit more during this rinse off: the sand was like sin. The white sand is the sin you can clean up just by adding a little focus and prayer to your life. But the black sand…this is the sin that cuts deep. This is the stubborn sin, the kind to which you have to pay complete attention. You have to meditate on it, pray about it, work with your Christian brothers and sisters to hold you accountable. It’s not going to easily go away.

I think that’s what I saw in Batman. Without giving much away, I’ll tell you that the good guys thought evil would vanish away like white sand: it’s gone after a light brushing or a quick rinse. Turns out it they were dealing with black sand, that deep-seeded stuff that won’t go away without extreme effort. Oh, but when it does disappear…that’s the best thing ever. Evil can fight back harder than ever but what’s worth noting is that good is stronger than evil. You just have to be obedient and have faith in that. As it says in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Let’s make that devil flee today!

Another dog/person comparison

My dog Foster was a restless puppy. Actually, “restless” doesn’t cover it. He regularly jumped on the dinner table. He attacked lawn mowers, slippers and vacuum cleaners as if they were satanic objects. He was probably the only dog ever banned from the Springfield Township Dog Hotel. Eventually it reached the point where we had to take him to a trainer.

From the beginning, I felt badly for Foster. Whereas he’d had free reign over the house, the second the obedience trainer opened the door it was a brand new ballgame. The second he jumped on the table, a Coke can filled with coins went flying his direction. Attempted vacuum cleaner murder resulted in him being yanked backwards by his choke chain. Watching “obedience school” was like watching torture.

My family expressed concern about this torture effect. What the trainer said stuck with me. Left pseudo-trained, Foster was going to be restless for the rest of his life. Providing him with training, calling him towards obedience – this was the only way he would ever be at peace.

You can probably see where I’m going with this.

It strikes me that this same advice applies to our relationship with the Lord. He will allow us to thrash around and waste energy fighting unimportant battles. Some of us will go our whole lives doing that sort of thing. The only way we’ll ever reach a genuine level of peace – of freedom from disturbance – is to be obedient to what He tells us to do. After all, “The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace.”