Sold Into Slavery

This mother of four from Missouri had me crying yesterday. Her inspirational story was told on The Oprah Winfrey Show of how she helped rescue seven kids from slavery in Ghana. To read more - Click Here

Paris Hilton is Free!

Paris Hilton is free! Almost two hours on CNN was dedicated to the release of Paris from jail last night. While it sounds like the time alone did her some good (I watched a little of Larry King), I have to ask, why do we care? Why do we allow ourselves to get so caught up in the drama of other people’s lives? Doesn’t getting caught up in this stuff just add to “the swirl?” Don’t we have enough problems of our own?

Now, I live in a house with two teen age girls and a wife who is a natural evangelist. We also have female boarders most of the year, so talk about the potential for drama – we’ve got it! One of the ways to escape the swirl that our lives sometime become, is to not take on the drama of other peoples lives. This doesn’t mean we don’t care – we do – but we do what we can, and we leave the rest up to God.

Again, I have to return to recovery programs on how to avoid getting caught up in the drama of other people’s lives. In recovery Sponsors deal with some of the biggest human tragedy possible. People who will do anything to get high, and in the process leave a trail of pain and human suffering; so why don’t Recovery Sponsors get burnt out?

There are several reasons why, but one of the ways sponsors avoid losing themselves in the drama of the lives of the people they sponsor is: sponsors are encouraged to never lose site of the fact that they are recovering too, and that their own recovery comes first before all else. If they get too caught up in the recovery of the people they sponsor they risk losing their own sobriety.

You could substitute the word “recovery” for the words, “relationship with God.”

Our own relationship with God has to come first before we are ready to go out and save the world. Losing our relationship with God, even in circumstances where we are helping others, means losing “the pearl of great price.” Staying aware of how we are feeling, and our connectedness to God is essential. We need to keep asking, what am I feeling? Am I feeling connected to God? Am I getting enough rest? When was the last time I had a good talk with my wife, kids, or best friend? And then not relaxing our boundries when it comes to our spiritual disciplines in favor of relieving other people’s pain, is essential too.

Through prayer and experience (doing it wrong!) we can develop a healthy detachment to the drama of others. Prayer and meditation helps us focus on your own relationship with God first, before the junk of others.

Prayer and mediation helps us to “let go” - the foundation of all true spirituality.

A final key is trusting the drama – ALL OF IT – our own, our family’s, our friend’s, the world’s, to God.

learning to pray: "Do what you can, and leave the rest up to God." - a recovery saying.

Yes - I Have a Blackberry

From within reach from where I am sitting right now I have a cell phone, a land line, a fax machine and color printer, a black and white laser printer, stereo, MP3 recorder, and of course, a computer. My cell phone alone, has the internet, e-mail, calendar, games, note pad, and oh ya – a phone. Talk about plugged in and over-stimulated; I’ve got it all and it makes me wonder sometimes – if God tried to reach me, would I hear the call?

This week I wanted to talk about healthy ways to escape "the swirl" that life can become so we leave room for God. One very simple way to make room for God, to hear the “whisper” (1 Kings 19:12), is to unplug.

“The desert is a place where we are deliberately under stimulated” - Richard Rohr, “Everything Belongs.”

A while back we got a new Sports Radio station in town and I got hooked. I LOVE sports, and now I could listen 24-7 in my car, and even on the Internet at work, if I wanted too. And then there was a hockey strike. Now Vancouver, BC, CANADA, where I live is a hockey town, and this town without hockey is like Boston without the Red Sox – a lot of people were going nuts.

I began to get a little depressed. Not because I missed hockey so much, but because the end of the strike was like the proverbial dangling carrot, and the talk was so negative. Several times it looked as if the strike might end and all the fans hopes would rise, and then another deadline would pass, or promise would go unfulfilled, and everyone would be down again. Unfortunately, because of my attachment to the local team and to talk radio in general, I rode this rollercoaster of emotion along with all of the other fans.

Eventually, I just had to turn the radio off. I didn’t switch to another station, I didn’t start listening to CD’s; I just unplugged and sat in a silent car wherever I drove.

A funny thing happened. I began to pray whenever I was in the car, I began to feel better about life in general, and I began to feel more, and more at peace.

There’s a spiritual desert that people sometimes go through, I’m not talking about that here, per se, but what I am talking about is intentionally unplugging, so we can hear God and abide in his loving presence. We could go a lot deeper than this with the desert principle, but let’s leave it there for now.

learning to pray: What can you unplug?

A Homeless Ballerina by Lisa Borden

I'm guessing she was three years old. She was wearing dirty grey sweat pants and a sweatshirt of similar description. I think the reason she caught my eye was the fact that there was an unlikely ...

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Cab Ride

About 2 years ago around this time of year I was driving to the Denver airport in a taxi cab. My cab driver – let’s call him Fred - started to tell me how he became a Christian back in his native African country (I can’t remember the country). A friend of his had basically gone crazy and disappeared for about a year. One day his friend showed up, cleaned up, and in sound mind. His friend had become a Christian and his sanity was restored. I’m thinking there was a lot more to it than that, but we’ll leave it at that!

His friend invited Fred to church and Fred reluctantly went. The pastor seeing Fred was pretty nervous about entering the church asked him to go and talk with him in another room. The pastor shared the Bible story of God's love and forgiveness, and eventually Fred accepted the invitation to follow Christ. The pastor encouraged Fred to silently confess every sin he could think of and said that God would forgive him on the spot. Fred said that when he was done he felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and that he’s been happy ever since! Fred said he shares his conversion story as often as he can to anyone who will listen.

I could tell story after story about people who have felt depressed, and weighed down by all the burdens they feel, who made the decision to follow Christ, and the weight was lifted off, just like it was for Fred. If you have never made the decision to follow Christ and accept God's love and fogiveness, why don't you do it now?

Even as Christians we tend to get weighed down once and a while and I think prayer can help relieve us of this weight, or whatever our individual burden might be. I for one get chronically weighed down by everyday life, and it’s one of the reasons I spend so much time praying. Through prayer I’m reminded that I am a forgiven child of God. I’m free, the burden and weight of sin is lifted off. Through prayer I simply rest in what God has done for me, and you can too.

learning to pray: My friend Jesse, the hot rod preacher, said something on Sunday that I thought was great. He said we don’t always have to experience something for it to be true, sometimes we just need to know, and that’s enough. Today KNOW that you are forgiven. KNOW that Jesus paid the price for your sin and that you are free! If you need a little further help, meditate on Romans 8:1, Colossians 3, or Psalm 103. Here’s a bit of Psalm 103 to get you started:

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

The Tea Cup Ride

Have you ever been on a carnival ride and wanted to get off because it was making you sick? When I was 11 or 12 my sister and I were on a Tea Cup ride in Bellingham, Washington that went on, and on, and on. It started out fun, but soon made us sick. Admittedly, the Tea Cup is a very tame ride (I can hear my friends – and wife - mocking me now :), but by the time we got off the ride we were both feeling so sick we were considering sticking our fingers down our throats to try end the misery!

Have you ever felt that way about life? Have you ever said “I can’t stand the swirl that my life is right now, and I want to get off, but can’t?” I sure have. There have been times in my life when I have been so miserable, and busy, and feeling trapped, that I have asked God to let me get rich, check out, and go live in a secluded log cabin near Whistler, or a condo in Hawaii, or both! For the next few days I want to talk about escaping the “swirl” that life can sometimes be, in healthy life enhancing ways, and how to find peace through prayer, and Jesus Christ.

I want to start with some of the lessons I’ve learnt through the 12 Step Program because some of the core teachings of the program involve taking care of oneself and ending the “swirl.” Most addicts are caught in a destructive cycle that doesn’t seem to have an end, and by the time they darken the door of a 12 Step Meeting they are desperate to find a way to end the madness that their life has become.

If you are reading this right now, your life may not be at this depth of insanity, but there are things we can all learn from the 12 Steps about prayer and taking care of ourselves. I think, addict or not, and in today’s society it’s hard to find someone who isn’t addicted in some way to one thing or another, we all desperately need to practice this step.

Did you know that the 11th Step is about prayer and meditation? Here it is:

“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out.”1

The 11th Step is what people in the 12 Step Program call a “maintenance step.” In other words, you usually get to this step when you have some sobriety, although under the care and guidance of a sponsor, you can start this particular step as soon as you feel comfortable doing it.

People in the 12 steps have discovered, through the 72 years or so that the program has been around, that prayer and meditation, and improving ones conscious contact with God, are powerful ways to maintain lifesaving sobriety and transforming lives.

If it works for the addict, shouldn't it work for everyone else as well?

I’ve never met a sober addict who doesn’t practice this step to one degree, or another. For example, I have a friend in the program and his way of praying and meditating involves walking his dog for an hour or two each day. As he’s out walking he thinks about his life, monitors his feelings and thoughts, presents his problems to God, and prays for other addicts in the program. You wouldn’t have wanted to know this guy in his active addiction days, however, after years of struggle, pain, and practice, he is now one of the most humble, and wise people you could ever meet.

In a way, I think addicts who embrace this step are almost at an advantage. They have been to the bottom and they KNOW they need this step to stay and grow their relationship with God. Prayer and meditation, improving their conscious contact with God, have become almost a matter of life or death. They know that unless they do this step there is a chance that they will slip back into addiction, which literally could mean an early death, and on their way to the grave, considerable pain for themselves, and those they love. After a certain period of time, the peace and the deepening relationship with God that one experiences through this step, becomes the internal motivating factor: something the addict never wants to compromise again.

learning to pray: what can you do today to improve your conscious contact with God?

1_Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program

return - again and again

Aren’t we humans funny creatures? God offers love, strength, and salvation, and what do we typically do? WE RUN FROM HIM. Sometimes we even run as far away as we possibly can.

I have thought about our tendency to run from God on numerous occasions - usually while I am in full flight! I was reminded recently in a Devotional from Richard Rohr where he asks, did you notice God had to close the ark to keep the animals and the humans from running away from their salvation?

Earlier this year I spoke at our church regarding Isaiah 30:15-18:

13 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.

16 You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'
Therefore you will flee!
You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!

17 A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill."

18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!

This is an often quoted passage and a favorite amongst contemplative people, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” We tend to leave out the part about “but you would have none of it.” I had to chuckle when I was preparing my talk for church. Here is this nice little passage about quietness and rest and then BAM - rejection! God is offering the Israelites salvation and strength, but they reject it, and he knows that they are going to “flee.”

The good news is, God knows us, and our salvation isn’t up to us. He knows our propensity to rely on our own strength instead of his, and “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you” Do we get the picture? God is NOT like some jilted lover who "goes postal” because we reject him. He is the exact opposite. God is so gracious and compassionate. He "longs" for us to return to him. We may say no to God a hundred times a day, and yet, AND YET, he still longs for us to trust him and rises in compassion as soon as we turn the slightest bit in his direction.

learning to pray: Our part is to discover and practice the prayer(s), or the spiritual disciplines that will help us to return to God again and again. It doesn't have to be something major that takes a lot of time - simply return, simply remember. The key is who God is: He is waiting with open arms, longing for us to return to him.