Running on Empty

Last week I read Running on Empty: Contemplative Spirituality for Overachievers by Fil Anderson (WaterBrook Press 2004). When I started reading it, I rushed through the first several chapters as I am prone to do. (Sometimes I enjoy finishing a book more than actually reading it.) Anyhow, somewhere towards the end of the book the subject matter started to sink into my brain and I slowed down. Now I'm rereading it and trying to savor the thoughts. The basic premise of the book is that too often we think that we have to be busy to be good Christians, and that God loves us for what we do. So we have to be reprogrammed to slow down, accept God's unconditional love, and simply enjoy His presence.

Anderson writes, "Our relationship with God is not the result of our efforts. Rather, a loving and gracious God acted on our behalf, granting us a most benevolent gift. Coming to see that God has searched me out and found me--and not the other way around--was breathtaking... The truth that God could love me just as I was, without my doing a thing for him, seemed too good to be true" (p. 43). He tells early on in the book how his misconceptions of God and self were physically draining him and led to physical and mental breakdown. I can relate to that. The stress of trying to work for God, yet not knowing how to depend on Him, has taken its toll on me at times. I'm reminded frequently that God only promised our daily bread, not our yearly rations.

One of Anderson's recommendations is planning regular times to be still before God, getting away from all the distractions of life and listening more than listing our requests. The past couple weeks I've been doing a bit of that. I have a path in the woods behind my house, and when I'm not busy riding my bike around it, I have a log where I like to sit or lay back and simply enjoy the creation. Sometimes I read this book or some Scripture, sometimes I think and pray, and sometimes I just sit and listen. I've learned a couple things in the process:

1) My trail illustrates to me our freedom in Christ... Before I cleared the path I had occasionally wandered in the woods, but I was always nervous about either getting lost or going off my property and possibly running into hunters. Now that I have the path I know where the boundaries are and I feel free to wander, knowing that I can't get too far lost. That's a bit like the role of the Law. It provides the boundaries so we know where we are safe. Yeah, we occasionally go outside the lines, but we rarely stay there for long when our heart is at home with God.

2) One day I was pondering how someone like Ray Boltz can openly proclaim his homosexuality and say that "I feel God's love more now than I did when I was living a lie." I'm not going to judge whether he has a real relationship with the Savior or the theological basis for his beliefs. But what I did realize is that we all have some particular sin that we hold onto and perhaps even celebrate. Whether it is sexual sin, or gossip, lying, pride, coveting, etc., it is all sin in God's eyes. We're pretty good at grading sin from 1-10 as far as being forgiveable or unforgiveable. Thankfully God's grace far exceeds our own!

Another quote from Anderson, "Nothing I am capable of doing will ever cause God to love me more, simply because God can't love me any more. And nothing I ever do will cause God to love me less; God can't do that either... God hasn't chosen to love me because of things about me that he finds lovable. God's love has everything to do with what's true about God. It is God's nature to love, and so God loves me naturally" (44-46). That's good news for those of us who are tired of trying to earn God's love and man's respect. Sometimes the best thing we can do is relax!

I'll probably share some other quotes and thoughts later. I'd definitely recommend this book to my fellow Type-A overachievers out there.

Last of Harry Potter

**spoiler alert**

If you haven't yet seen or read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but plan to, you may not want to read further...

The final movie came out today, so I decided to see it in the theatre (something I rarely do for numerous reasons). First off, I have to say that all of the books are better than the movies, but I was pleased at how the movies stayed true to the story.

Besides the fact that I enjoy reading a bit of fantasy now and then, one thing that pulled me into the books was the Christian allegory. From the very beginning you can see that it is a classic good vs. evil narrative. C.S. Lewis wrote somewhere that the best stories are those that reflect the Christian truth. J.K. Rowling also stated that her faith is key in writing (and reading) the Harry Potter books.

The final book and movie complete the Christology with the death and resurrection of Harry. He had to die at the hand of Voldemort in order to save humanity from the ongoing threat of an evil lord. But because Harry had been marked by Voldemort, and indeed was the horcrux Voldemort never intended to make, when Harry was attacked and killed he was able to return to life with his soul intact and unblemished. Then when he finally killed Voldemort, there was no way for V. to return to power as he had in the past.

Obviously no allegory is perfect, and neither was Harry. He made mistakes, lied at times, and didn't always treat people the way he should. But in the end he made the choice to sacrifice himself, and that made all the difference in the wizarding world.

Christians who object to Harry Potter probably also reject the Chronicles of Narnia and all sorts of fiction. In my opinion they are being shortsighted and they are trying to live in a safe, Christian bubble, totally divorced from the world. There are far worse books, movies, and videogames that young people are getting into. Rather than fear that Harry Potter may introduce a child to witchcraft, how about judging the books based on their moral character? Growing up I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, and some of it could and should have been thrown in the trash. So to me the Harry Potter books were a breath of fresh air-- one series that I like to reread about once a year. Now if I could just find out where to buy a wand... (kidding!!)

Music music music...

I got to thinking the other day about the church and music. Where else can you go and join people in singing songs every week? Unless you're in a community choir or sing opera, there aren't many places where you are regularly asked to sing along... maybe the occasional concert. That got me to wondering about other religions. I did a quick search and found only a limited number of websites for Islamic or Buddhist hymns. Granted, there may be a lot more in Asian/Middle Eastern countries. But I doubt that they have the wide range of religious music radio stations that are found in the US-- Christian Rock, Southern Gospel, Bluegrass, etc etc etc. We can even take our pick of CDs or MP3s in stores and online.

That spurs a few thoughts:
1) We sing because we have something worth singing about-- the Almighty God who loves us and has redeemed us.
2) From Bible times onward, God has inspired people to write songs of praise that are then shared in the congregation.
3) We should be thankful that we live in a nation that gives us the freedom to sing about our God almost anywhere we want to.

"I will sing of my Redeemer and His wondrous love for me!"

Resolved Not to Resolve

A few thoughts on resolutions... The only one I've made this year that is measurable and attainable is to switch to 1% milk from 2%. Other than that, I find that most resolutions based on human efforts are doomed before they start. I could plan to exercise more, eat better, etc., but it's unlikely to happen. Ah, I thought of one other resolution I could probably attain-- using all my allotted vacation days this year! I managed it last year for the first time in my employment history.

I was talking with a church member today about the "through the Bible in a year" reading schedules. I'm not sure how these have come into vogue in recent years. I've never made it through in one year, and probably have taken 3-4 years the few times I have made it all the way through the Bible. While I agree that it is good to be familiar with all parts of Scripture since it is God's Word, I'm not sure what value there is in cramming in several chapters per day just to get through it. It very quickly (usually) becomes a matter of the flesh without much spiritual benefit. I once took a college class on the book of Romans where we were required to read through the book once a week for the duration of the class. Even that became a matter of endurance, though it did help that we could change translations from one week to the next.

The resolution I would like to make, but can't, is that I would bear more of the Fruit of the Spirit. But as the name says, that's gotta be God's work, not mine. I'm not even sure there is anything I could do to facilitate that process. Perhaps that bears further consideration.

Anyway, happy new year to all (and to all a good night)!

Stuff!

Yesterday I was observing the proliferation of Self Storage units, which apparently indicates that most of us own far too many things. Of course, at the time I was driving along with my car packed with Christmas presents for my family. I got to wondering what would happen if we all sold or gave away everything we didn't need, like the church in Acts 2. Although, I suspect we'd all think we need a lot more than just food, clothes and shelter. (Car, computer, TV, etc.) I'm not sure why I have three TVs, two VCRs, and three computers myself (four if you count the old VIC 20).

Jesus was born in a borrowed barn, slept in a borrowed manger, depended on the generosity of friends and disciples to provide meals and shelter, and was even buried in a borrowed tomb. It is a challenge to the American way of life.

I can't say that I've decided to downsize greatly, but it does make me feel better about cleaning closets and drawers full of stuff I never get around to wearing. We'll see how I put that into action by the time I get home with my new Christmas and birthday presents!

Faith

In more serious things, as a treasurer it's sometimes a bit stressful to live and work in poor economic times. While most people just worry about their home finances, I have to monitor the finances of a non-profit corporation as well. So this week while wondering how we'll make it through the rest of this year, not to mention next year, I read the following in Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire, talking about Jesus feeding the 5,000:

"...Jesus seizes the moment to test Philip's faith. 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" The disciple puts a sharp pencil to the problem and is quick to calculate the cost. He concludes that the expenditure is beyond their budget. He puts his pencil down. 'Impossible. Can't be done.'... What Philip and Andrew don't see is that impossible situations are not solved by how much we have in our purses or in our baskets. Not by how adequate our bank account or how abundant our assets. Impossibilities are solved by miracles--pennies from heaven. And Jesus had a pocketful. That is where the disciples were to go to get bread. Jesus turns to the boy. He doesn't have much. And what he has isn't the best. It's the food of the poor: Bread made from barley, not wheat; salted-down sardines, not lambchops. But what he has is enough. For the surrender of a child and the compassion of a Savior are all that's needed for this miracle" (pp 169-170).

Jesus delights to provide for the needs of the people, both those who call themselves His disciples and the masses who follow out of curiosity. How many of those people actually realized they were witnessing a miracle? I haven't been in too many crowds of 5,000, but I know that you can't see or hear everything that happens. The disciples certainly saw it, since they recorded the story more than once in Scripture.

How often do we (I) worry about how we'll meet budget, rather than trusting the One who provides for all our needs? But there is a caveat there-- our needs, not necessarily our wants. I remind myself frequently that budgets are just guidelines-- if less money comes in we may have to cut out some things that we want to do; but if God provides more money, we may be able to do more things. Jesus said that if we are faithful in small things, we'll be entrusted with more. So if finances are tight, does that mean we have not been as faithful as we should? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps we need to evaluate our priorities and make sure the things we are doing are the best use of His resources. Or perhaps God is reminding us to trust Him and not ourselves. That is both the challenge and the blessing of working for a Christian organization. On one hand, the funds and the ministry belong to God, so it's up to Him to provide. On the other hand, we're accountable to a higher authority and our actions may have eternal consequences.

I know I don't have all the answers. I tend to waver between worry and trust. When I focus on the numbers I can get worried, but when I focus on God I know that He will provide. As I've quoted for several years, "When you focus on the problem you can't see the solution. Never focus on the problem, look at [M]e." (Patch Adams, though a less than godly context!).

Christmas explained

First, for the record, when I chose the name of this blog I did not intend to imply that I'm more intelligent than anyone else. Actually I was thinking of "mental" in terms of insane.

Anyway, as I was snuggling with the kitty this morning, I realized that Harry Potter reveals the truth about Santa Claus:
1) How does he get around the world in one night? He uses a Time-Turner to go back in time for extra hours.
2) How does he get into houses? He uses Flu Powder. Who needs reindeer when you can just travel from fireplace to fireplace?
3) And speaking of reindeer, no there's no such thing as flying reindeer. But there are Thestrals, which are conveniently invisible to most people.
4) Why don't sneaky kids ever see Santa in the house? He uses a Disillusionment charm to make himself invisible. He could use an Invisibility Cloak, but that might be awkward while delivering packages.
5) How does he fit all the gifts in his sack? He uses an Undetectable Extension charm to make the sack hold far more than seems physically possible.
6) How has Santa lived so long? He has a Sorcerer's Stone with which he can make the Elixer of Life.
7) And finally, those toy-making elves? They are really House Elves, bound to serve Santa for life.

So there you are. And before you ask, yes, I've read the Harry Potter books far too many times! Can't wait for the new movie this week!