Tiger Woods

I'm watching the Arnold Palmer Invitational as I drift in and out of post-preaching consciousness. It's fun. Tiger is back. For me, golf is interesting again. Golf is great again. I wonder why this guy is so compelling. He just pulled ahead. The coverage is upstaging other programming at the top of the hour. I'm not sure a Tigerless tournament would do this. 

So how is this helpful? Well, I can ask, "How can I preach like Tiger Woods plays golf?" or, maybe better, "How can I live for Christ like Tiger Woods plays golf?" He's focused, serious, unflappable, and always seeking improvement. 

Also, the secret of Tiger Woods' success is really his dad. His dad, who passed away a few years ago, trained him to play golf well from the age of 3! Tiger Woods is in no way an overnight success or a "miracle" story. And we're just talking about golf: a game. There's a lesson here for Christian parents. 

The So-Called Ordinary

It's an ordinary day. 

Today I'm preparing for an interview with The Bridge radio network. I wrote a little blurb for their newsletter too. It's all about Easter, ministry, and a book by Wayne Cordeiro I'll be featuring this month titled: "Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion." Easter is the big month for pastors and the tough month for pastors. Flames fanned higher nearly always lead to burnout or symptoms of burnout. 

Later today, Shannon and I go to a hospital in or near NYC to visit a young friend and ministry partner who has succumbed to cancer. Apparently, she'll be gone soon. We heard she's already in a coma. Her husband, family, and other friends will be there. Her daughter is a year older than mine. We went to Africa together twice, in 2004 and in 2007. Dear friends.

For all the emotions I'm feeling concerning all of this, I realize that everything I'm going through or talking about today is ... ordinary. This is ordinary human life and ordinary ministry. So-called ordinary life involves death, so-called ordinary ministry involves burnout, and redemption can only be redemption through Jesus' death on the cross. 

I guess that last one's not so ordinary ...  

Pondering Paroxyms

I was talking with someone today about bitterness at work. One of the teams at one of the places I work is in the midst of experiencing little blow-ups, always putting the ones loosing their tempers at great disadvantage. People loose it for many different reasons, but the intriguing thing is how inviting such behavior seems to those struggling with bitterness. People always want to say what they shouldn't say, as if this will help them feel better. It never does. Maybe I've blogged on this before. Sorry to be a bore if I have, but here's a few observations on this beautiful spring afternoon:

1) If someone gets in your face over something, they will do it again over something else. If you want your present relationship with this person to continue, decide that you are going to take it when the person goes postal next time, because the one thing you can be sure of is that there will be a next time.

2) If your response is curiosity, you'll still have to shake off the muck from your encounter. If your response is outrage, you'll have a tough time shaking off the muck from your encounter. 

3) If you are in authority or have competency, others may really resent you for it. Don't assume their resentment, but if you discover that it is indeed present, don't be surprised.

4) When someone mistreats you, you don't have the option of returning their mistreatment and keeping your integrity intact. You must remain above the fray. Stand up for yourself, but don't bite back. In war and football, the best defense is a good offense. This is not true, however, in interpersonal relationships.

5) God can use people's embarrassing emotional explosions for His own purposes. See the end of Acts 15. One ministry became two. The word for the "sharp disagreement" between Paul and Barnabas is most closely related to the English word: paroxysm. Paroxysm is a literary term for loosing it.     

The Slow Work of Sunlight

Spring is here, at least per the calendar. It is a time for new life, not in the abstract sense, but in the literal, tangible sense. You can see it. You can see it on the ground in the form of green grass and flowers. You can see it in the trees in the form of green leaves. You can see it. A green world around us becomes lit up by sunshine. In fact, all this new life is powered by sunshine. Photosynthesis is the term we learned in school. Light from the sun causes an organism to come to life. So does the process work in our spiritual lives. Slowly, with sufficient exposure to the warm, nourishing light of God, our souls come to life. It's a good thing too. This last winter was particularly cold and long for some of us. The best thing about it now is that it is over. I'm not just talking about physical winter. I'm talking about inner winter. Hardened, frozen, hostile landscapes aren't just outdoors. Spring, then, is a season to do three things:

1) REACH UP - Just like trees seem to be reaching for the sun, so reach for God. Far from hiding from or apologizing for where life comes from, trees are like visible statements about the sun. Healthy trees let all know that they depend on and derive all their glory from the sun.

2) REACH DOWN - All the sunlight and green that we can see with our eyes tells of something else beyond the reach of our eyes. Trees grow when their roots grow. Trees are healthy and strong when their roots are healthy and strong. The true beauty and life of a tree is invisible to the eye. Roots are a tree's secret life. Our secret life as believers is no less important. Read Matthew 6.

3) REACH OUT - Every healthy tree has new branches and new leaves. Some Christians could use an encouraging reminder of this. The "new" part of new life is forgotten or forsaken by some. What new things are you doing this spring to express and enjoy your new life in Christ? How is the light of God doing new work within you and through you into the lives of others?     

Themes

Days can have themes. So can seasons. One strategy for lifting your thinking above a day's situation is to name the theme of what you're going through. Try it. The theme for the day may be 1) overcoming, 2) relearning an old lesson, 3) dependence on God, 4) playing it cool, or 5) being yourself - to name a few examples. The circumstances will suggest the theme. Finding a theme can help with your sanity. Anytime you can link the things that happen to you in a day or season so they form a coherent narrative, you feel less like you're reacting to everything that happens to you and more like your inside a story written by someone who was trying to make a point. The truth is: you are. That someone is God. Chances are good that He actually does have a theme for your day that lines up with His plans for you. Why not ask Him? 

"I know the plans I have for you ..." He says.

The Blog Abyss

Do you ever hit the "next blog" button on these Google blogs? It can take you anywhere. I've found that only about half of the time the blog is in English. And many blogs are indecipherable. They seem to be half-formed thoughts; something akin to the plots of dreams. Some make no sense and show no potential for ever making any sense. Others are tightly controlled sales blogs that look like they're tended to hourly. They offer stuffed dolls, clothing lines, or innovative products for parents. Every once in a while you stumble across something vile. There's a"flag blog" button for these blogs; we police ourselves in this interesting mental world revealed by the blogosphere.

Still, there are trends. If you click "next blog" twenty times you will consistently pick up on three things:

1) People want to express themselves.

2) People want to be understood on their terms.

3) People want to connect well.

These are important for anyone working with people to understand.  

You need a sabbatical

You need a sabbatical. At the risk of having snowballs thrown at my head in the church parking lot, I recommend a sabbatical. You need the time to think, read, talk, organize, and evaluate. I'm not kidding. I could even go so far as to say this is a word from the Lord. Hmm? Come to think of it, isn't there some stuff in the Bible about this? There's a word in the Bible that's like sabbatical: sabbath. How strange. The words must be related in meaning since they look and sound the same. Imagine actually stopping everything for one whole day every week. Who does this? Who has time? Time. Maybe God is on to something. Imagine the whole world taking a snow-day like today once a week, even through the Spring and Summer. Except, instead of frittering the morning away on Facebook, all would be into another book, a much older one, you know the one. 

Maybe I should describe my sabbatical as our 60-day snow-day with Jesus. Of course, I spent a month of it in warm, sunny, central Florida.

I guess I better wear a helmet as I walk between the church and the CE building next weekend.