“Age is a cumulative event.”

I guess you could say that about every aspect of our lives, couldn’t you? Fitness? Knowledge? Relationships? Wisdom? Essentially…

Life is a cumulative event.

Our lives, in a sense, are unending tapestry that we weave day by day, even hour by hour. The people that intersect our lives and the events that mark time add color, texture and interest. As do our attitudes and actions and our perspectives and prejudices. We don’t get to determine every strand that goes into our tapestry, but we do decide how each strand will be woven into a pattern. And that’s good news.

God has given us the privilege of adding vibrant colors when we use the good that comes to us to bless others. He lets us determine the “feel” of the weave by how we interact with those around us. Perhaps the greatest opportunity He gives us is to use the dark, rough times as a base for an overlay of grace and goodness to braid the most vibrant and radiant parts of our tapestry. These are often the most interesting parts of art that is our life.

What will you weave today?

What is the deepest craving you have?

What need, if satisfied, would remedy every other need and want?

Say you ran across a genie granting only 1 wish and it had to be for you, personally. Besides wishing for unlimited wishes, what would you be inclined to ask for? If I stop and think about it, I wouldn’t ask for wealth or fame – they seem to have troubles of their own. Probably not even a vacation, though I do want to get to Israel someday. Maybe joy? No. Maybe love? Then, presumably, I’d have joy.

No, I think I would ask for peace. Isn’t peace the real desire that is at the core of every other desire? Think about it.  If you had peace, real peace, what else would you need? Who could upset you if they couldn’t take away your peace? Who could hurt you? Who could insult you? No one! And you’d be at a place where you could selflessly love everyone. No need to buy things you didn’t really need. No need to pretend – ever. No need to shade the truth.

With abiding Peace, you would need nothing else.

Jesus promised HHe would give us peace if we embraced Him. In John 16:33 He said, “I have said these things to you, that in me, you may have peace.” Sometimes we interpret that as the absence of trouble. We think that peace = everything is going smoothly in all areas of life. But in the middle of that verse, Jesus tells us, “In the world you will have tribulation.”  Clearly, peace is not the absence of conflict; it is promised in the midst of conflict. Then Jesus ends that verse with,

“But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

The pastor of a wonderful church recently asked me to speak to his staff. Their most recent addition was a gentleman leaving the marketplace – at a significant cut in salary – to join the staff at the church. He was born in Vietnam but never knew his father, who was an American GI. His mother died of cancer when he was young and sometime later he was adopted by a family in the States. That’s where he came to faith and grew in his faith. And now he’ll be full time on the church staff. Cool story, huh? But, I told them…

You can’t celebrate that.

Initially they thought I was crazy (which is not entirely untrue but for other reasons). Then I reminded them that God calls us all to be fulltime pastors, we just all don’t draw a paycheck from a church. If you celebrate this story, then you give the impression that the only way to serve God 100% is to officially be part of a church staff. What they need are 9 other stories of people serving Jesus fulltime but not leaving the marketplace. Maybe someone that turned down a promotion to continue to minister to the people in her current department. Or someone that turned down a higher paying job in another city in order to serve their current neighborhood. Find 9 other people that remain in the marketplace to serve Jesus fulltime along with the story above.

Now that you can celebrate!

You see, what we celebrate gets repeated.  People will imitate the examples we hold up as ideal. If it’s out of reach or unrealistic, we get discouraged and give up. (That’s why authenticity is so important). And this works in your family and at work, too. So be cognizant of the message you really want to send and…

 Celebrate what you want repeated!

“Music is one area of modern life where we have been able to retain much of the experience of time as a gift.  We can think of a song as a collection of pleasing sounds, harmonies and word pictures.  Each of these elements contributes to our enjoyment of the song.  However, what really makes the song work is how these things are presented to us in time.  The melody consists not only of the various notes in the song, but also in their sequence and in their timing.  The song has a dramatic shape involving tension and resolution.

In our music, unlike much of the rest of our lives, we are not tempted to gain efficiency by rationalizing these flows.  We would not take kindly to a suggestion that we should group all of the like notes together in the song.  If we have a favorite part of the song, we wouldn’t want to listen just to that moment in the song without the parts of the song that lead up to it, as well as follow it.  We would not appreciate the offer to gain time by doubling or tripling the speed of the song.  The way a song presents itself to us in time is an inescapable aspect of our enjoyment of that song. In a similar fashion,

“we would do well to think about our creaturely existence as being lived in the context of a beautiful song.”

I like that way of thinking about the (sometimes) seemingly unrelated facets of our lives. It comes from the book, The Space Between  by Eric Jacobsen which is a sort of theology of space. I had an opportunity to spend some time with Pastor Jacobsen recently when I was in Tacoma. It was a privilege to explore the role of space & place - and the spaces between, as well as the ability to personally thank him for his work.

In both the midst and the wake of the recent tragedy in Boston, we have witnessed reasons to rejoice:

o Return – The immediate reaction of many (professional and civilian) was to return to harm's way to help the injured.

o Redemption – Between the bombing and the arrest, people looked for ways to redeem the moment leading to the best Star Spangled Banner in the Garden, ever.

o Resilience – #BostonStrong. Need I say more?

These moments grab our hearts, because they stand in stark contrast with the expression of evil that killed 4 and injured nearly 200 others. The good that we saw in Boston, and in the reactions across the nation reflect the nature of God. It resonates with us because we were created in God's image. When we experience a characteristic of God, it reignites our heart.

However, we are only an image of the One:

o Return – He gave up His glory to live among us to provide a way of redemption and resilience. Philippians 2:5-11

o Redemption – He provided the only complete redemption. Ephesians 1:7

o Resilience – He is the key to our resilience because He promised to be with us, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20

I was walking to dinner with a couple of friends recently in San Antonio. As we headed to dinner on the north end of the River Walk, we were approached by a gentleman that described himself as homeless and hungry. Frank looked the part except for an overstuffed case that I later learned carried Christian books. Since we were on our way to dinner, I invited him to come along.

You see, I learned that from my brother. A while back in Atlanta, I gave my dessert to a homeless man. I was feeling pretty smug and self-righteous (it was bread pudding after all) when I found out my brother had taken a homeless man to dinner. I had given away something I was too full to eat. My brother honored a man with his time, as well as buying him food.

It was a good lesson for me and I wasn’t going to miss my opportunity in San Antonio.

As we walked, I invited my new friend to share his story - a demanding and exacting father; brothers he’d lost contact with; active Military Service and the Reserves; and a wife that left when he accepted Jesus decades ago. The longer we walked, the more nervous he seemed to get. Then he shared with me that this was prime time to sell his books (I don’t think he realized how far we were walking to dinner). I gave him some money for which he seemed genuinely grateful, and he was on his way to peddle his books.

It wasn’t until the next day I realized I missed another opportunity. What if I would have asked him how much money he made on his best night selling books? How much could that have been - probably not that much. I could have given him enough cash to equal his best night selling books. Then, maybe, he could have enjoyed a meal that wasn’t on the run - a meal with a new friend that was truly interested in him.

I’m amazed at how wimpy my compassion is sometimes.

I have always regretted a time in a grocery store when the lady in front of me had to decide which of her items to keep because she couldn’t afford them all. I had the opportunity to cover what she couldn’t afford… another missed opportunity. But, the next time the same opportunity presented itself at another grocery store, I was able to act immediately.

I don’t reveal this to belittle myself, but to encourage you. I’m learning. And if I can learn to have a heart that overflows with compassion in an instant - anyone can.

We have the privilege, as Christ-followers, to be a blessing to those around us. We faithfully live out a gospel of restoration when we strive to add value to every life we intersect with.  For some, we’re called to engage more deeply so the intersections more resemble parallel journeys. These can become vital mentoring or discipling opportunities that need to be intentional, though not necessarily formal.

I once wrote a blog that assumed mentoring and discipling were the same, or at least very similar. Now, I’m beginning to see the benefit of making a distinction. Here are common uses of the words:

• Mentoring – We typically hear this term in a vocational context. An experienced mentor sharing pertinent knowledge with a pupil eager to improve his/her skills. Sometimes, it can take the form of a coach/player relationship.

• Discipling – We most often see discipling as life-on-life teaching, because it touches all aspects of life. Discipling isn’t simply concerned with a single set of skills, but rather the sum of the parts working together – wholeness.

Both can add value and both are important, but there’s a distinction. Consider that real Transformation happens when three facets of our being are impacted:

1. Knowledge (Head)
2. Thoughts (Heart)
3. Actions (Hands)

Mentoring involves the transfer of knowledge (Head) in order to improve actions (Hands), however, Discipling involves all three.

This doesn’t make mentoring bad. In fact, a mentoring opportunity could lead into Discipleship and another place for transformation. But, unlike mentoring, discipling can’t take place in a classroom alone. It requires journeying together so that, when the garbage and goodness of life surfaces, you can communicate what the Gospel has to say in those circumstances. It’s an opportunity to get to know God together through prayer, and to invite the Holy Spirit into the situation.

That’s where knowledge impacts the Heart.

When you think back over the course of your life, is there a particular place that holds an abundance of memories?

I passed a house the other day lying in rubble. I guess I should say a “former house” because it will no longer be used to house a family. Apparently, the property has been deemed more valuable for some use other than residential. I couldn’t help feeling sad for the people that once shared their lives in that place.

I guess I’m especially sensitive to that because we’re putting our house up for sale to move back to the state where my wife and I met and married. We’re excited about the move, and it’s something we’ve been planning for some time, but it will be difficult. The house we’re selling has been a home to my wife and me longer than any other house in either of our lives. We raised two of our kids here, so the same is true for them. Every nook and cranny of the house is filled with great memories – layer upon layer. The idea of being in a new home – without those memories – feels a little sterile.

Place is important to all of us. If you don’t think so, ask yourself if you have a favorite place to be. A favorite room? A favorite coffee shop? A favorite sacred space?

The cool thing is that you get to shape the memories of the places that make up your life and people in your life. If you’re intentional, you can create memories today that will be cherished forever. Some of the best memories aren’t just major events, but rather an accumulation of hope, encouragement and joy.

Make your spaces rich with memories, for you and everyone around you.

Have you noticed that some churches resemble orphanages?  They have lots and lots of babies in the faith with only a couple of adults around to watch over the flock. And year after year no one seems to grow up. They continue to wrestle with the same issues over and over again, never seeming to gain any substantive ground. The writer of Hebrews warns us that remaining an infant opens us up to great peril:

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”  Hebrews 5:11-14

Now, imagine a church that resembles a fully formed family of missionary servants instead of an orphanage. Imagine a place where people are apprenticing others to grow deep, not just in the head knowledge of the scriptures, but in the transformational experience of living out the Gospel. Imagine people experiencing an increasing love for each other that becomes a distinction from other groups (John 13:35). Imagine living out the Gospel in a way that impacts your community in a powerful way.

Does your church more resemble an orphanage or a fully formed family of missionary servants?