Ducks, Faith & Other Stories

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:31-32

My favorite Kierkegaardian story is his parable of the ducks.  He describes a town where only ducks live:
  Every Sunday the ducks waddle out of their houses and waddle down Main Street to their church.  They waddle into the sanctuary and squat in their proper duck pews.  The duck choir waddles in and takes it place, and then the duck minister comes forward and opens the duck Bible (Ducks, like all other creatures on earth, seem to have their own special version of the Scriptures.).  He reads to them:  ‘Ducks!  God has given you wings!  With these wings you can fly!  With these wings you can mount up and soar like eagles!  No walls can confine you!  No fences can hold you!  You have wings!  God has given you wings and you can fly like eagles!’  All the ducks shouted ‘Amen!’ together.  …….. And then they all waddled home……”
From “Let Me Tell You a Story”…
 
We hear of our unlimited potential in Christ but in the end, few of us actually act boldly upon what we have heard and claim to believe.  We are afraid of heights and we are worried that our “wings” are not up to the task.  All too often we simply say - ‘Amen!’ - and continue on in life, satisfied that we are now better informed.

Our friends, our family and our churches will see and be transformed by our faith in action well before they see our faith in heaven. What we believe is not what we say we believe, what we believe is what we do and how we live.

Don’t look at me

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.”  Psalm 139:1-4  

Of all the prayers that are ever prayed, one of the most common, one of the quiet, private ones that I will rarely admit praying is  - “Don’t look at me God”.   This was the first “prayer” in Eden after our fall.  God was in the Garden and asked - Where are you - and the answer - I heard you in the garden and I was afraid so I hid - and we have been hiding ever since - “Don’t look at me God”.  

The business man on the road checks into the hotel room in Las Vegas and is reminded - whatever happens here stays here.  A frustrated mom stressed from work comes home and unleashes her anger on her unsuspecting children.  The man who knows he has a problem with those pills or with that “first” drink but goes ahead anyway must first say a prayer -  Don’t look at me God.   The husband, who instead of letting it go and loving his wife, choses to make his point and be “right”.   An employee feeling as though she was treated unfairly deliberately makes a co-worker look bad.  A man knowing how harmful it can be, reasons that pornography, after all, really hurts no one must first say the prayer - Don’t look at me God.   

Anyone and everyone that is confronted by some stupid temptation and you’re thinking, well that’s dumb but then you do it anyway, must first say the prayer …….  Don’t look at me God.

“Man (and woman) will do in the presence of God what he (or she) will never do in the presence of men (and women).” W. Henrichsen

Maybe it’s just me but have you ever noticed that you don’t have to spend time justifying doing the right thing, rather it’s the bad choices that require creative “story telling”.   Whenever I start to feel as though God has gone into hiding, I am reminded that every choice that I make to sin, no matter how small, makes it harder for me to “find” God, that I must be careful what I pray for, and that it is not He who has gone into hiding.  

Sacred Errands and Finishing Strong

I have not written for quite a while. Somewhere between changing servers, a lot of “noise” at the day job, summer, and looking at the ominous - 5 0 - birthday heading my way, I guess I kind of gave up. And in doing so I forgot that writing for me is more than hoping that the readers of my writing get value and are moved to action, writing for me is a sacred conversation between God and I, it is something that I must do to be fully alive. Christ tells us that He came to testify to the truth and so that we may have life to the full and yet somehow I confuse that with - I came to say some stuff that maybe applies, maybe doesn’t well, heck you go ahead and pick what works for you and oh yes, Andre, have a mediocore, what’s it matter any way, sort of life.

So, with a new webserver and software in place, and on this extended Labor Day weekend, I thank you for your listening, thank you for sharing in this journey called life. I hope that you enjoy the extended Labor Day weekend and may you never, ever “give up” on being fully alive.

For those that have played sports, who have been a leader on any sort of team - please take the time to view this clip below. It reminded me powerfully that when it hurts, I too often short change myself, my family and my ‘teams’ as I lose sight of who God created me to be and what I am truly capable of, as the difficulties of my life, and more importantly, my response to them define me daily .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyPkUXGq1S0

“When is a (wo)man free? Not when (s)he is merely driftwood on the stream of life, free of all cares or worries or ambitions. … To be free in actions, in struggle, in undiverted and purposeful achievement, to move forward towards a worthy objective across a fierce terrain of resistance, to be vital and aglow in the exercise of a great and noble enterprise — that is to be free, and to know the joy and exhilaration of true freedom. A (wo)man is free only when (s)he has accepted (her)his sacred errand here on earth.”
- Abba Hillel Silver

It is not my circumstances, but my choices, that define me. It is not how I start but how I finish. Here’s to every man and woman on this list accepting our sacred errand, to giving God our very best, to finishing strong!

Happy Labor Day 2007!