Soul Song

I just recently finished Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, and in the last pages there was a question that was interesting. I’ll get to that in a second, but first a comment or two for those that haven’t read this book.

If you get a chance, Blue Like Jazz is worth “giving a go” (as they say here in Australia). If you are thinking “not practical enough”, ok you are right. If it’s not theological enough, this is probably true too. But, the purpose to pick this one up (it’s a quick read, unless your heart really gets caught up in reflecting on what is going on in your life) is because I think that Miller is earthing out some thoughts/feelings that are often in my head/heart (and possibly yours too) that are often too hard to vocalize. If you think that you won’t get ANYTHING out of this, you than are probably one who needs to read it, and let yourself at least listen to the voice of a man that I think is opening up with some interesting thoughts.

So, as for this question. In the last chapter Miller wraps things up in a few ways (though I don’t know if all of his lose ends are tied-up here). Don, as I have been calling him the last few days, explains the idea of the Christian Spirituality being like Jazz, it is something we feel. While, I am not totally sold on the analogy and still processing through it (there is a whole lot of fact and thought in our faith as well), I must admit that there is a whole lot of feeling in our faith that we often don’t think about. Things like love, isolation (emotionally and physically); faith, church, etc. are all things that emotionally I don’t know that I check in with enough. Or with these emotions, as I did a lot of learning last summer, and as see Don pointing out a lot, we oppress them often with our minds. I’m not talking about getting rid of fact, but when we have a strong emotion towards something does our mind say “that’s bad, shameful, embarrassing, don’t talk about it, and for sure don’t embrace it!” That can often be the case for me. So that’s where Don’s other wrap-up, his question got me to really think.

The very last paragraph of the book, Don asks the question: “What song will you sing when your soul gets set free?” There is a lot of the book that needs to be read in order to fully understand this question. Much of it has to do with Jazz and how he and his friends are all singing a song, not the same exact song, but songs that are about knowing Jesus. But it has really made me ask a further question, a question that I want to be honest in, not artificial, not superficial, and one that will at some points sound like the blues. The question is: What is the song my soul from Jesus, what is it singing right now? Often times I go though the hours of the day, and I don’t even think about this. I need to; hopefully tomorrow this question will resound in me that I might look to my heart for the answer.

What about you? What is the song in your soul from Jesus, what is it singing right now?

Motivation?…a question for evey situation!

So here is God calling me on something. In the last week, I have been talked to by two of my teammates on my affirmation of people, or lack there of. And then there is Tim Keller’s second morning talk at Campus Crusade’s CSU ’09, which God spoke some questions to me about.

This is not an easy blog to think through and write out, but I have the desire to write while things are still fresh in my mind, and heck, I am joyful to share that God is working and convicting. Amen to that…

The question: “what is my motivation?” is one that I am seeing I will need to continue to look at, work on, trust God with, etc. With my teammates, both asked the question “Why is it that, after someone says something, [I] am so quick to share another story or say something else that does not affirm what the person says?” It’s true, I know I do this, its something I have thought about and don’t care for. But, this has really made me think about, what is my motivation for anything that comes from my mouth? With family, friends, teammates, or how about people I share the gospel with (oh, now there is a big one!…and did Keller hit a heart string in his CSU talk).

Keller spoke from Luke 10, with the idea that this chapter describes our: mission, message, motivation, and method, as Christ followers. Jesus sends out the 72, then they come back. What is it that they say: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (verse 17, NASB). If you emphasize the word “us” Jesus response takes on new meaning (at least for me). Jesus says in verse 19-20 “Behold, I have given you authority…over all powers of the enemy…(19). Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (emphisis added). Pertaining to motivation, Keller talks about how we make it about US, and while this was in reference to sharing the gospel, I had to listen and apply it across the board in my life.

What is my motivation in saying: “Here is MY story…”, “This is what I think…”, “Guess what happened to ME…”, and so many others. Is my desire to look at me, or is the desire to care about people? This applies, I believe, because in the next part of Luke 10 Jesus talks about the Good Samaritan, and being a good neighbor. When someone shares their story with me. Am I being a good neighbor? If motivation is a driving force behind being a good neighbor, in that split-second between their story and my response (whatever it will be), I need to ask WHAT IS MY MOTIVATION HERE???

I know that I will have to work on this tons in the days, weeks, lifetime ahead. And I know there are some people that are already doing much better than I am at this. But, what if we asked about our motivation a little more? What if we thought about it, and decided (as Jesus tells us to), to rejoice that our “names are recorded in heaven, as opposed to responding about US?

***Thank you to those of you in my life who have been bold enough in my life to trust the Lord and lovingly discuss this with me.

Microwave vs. Crock-Pot

I was listening to a talk from my favorite guys in finances: Dave Ramsey (again, I thank my mom for steering my in Dave’s direction! I recommend his stuff all the time). His talk was from a church he preached at, and while much of the stuff he shared was “old hat” for a regular Dave listener like myself (though I enjoy even the old words of funny wisdom Dave presents), one quote stood out as new to me. Dave in talking about the fact that finances takes time, and is hard work, said:

“We don’t sell microwaves here, we sell crock-pots! It going to take a while. You’ve got to cook it awhile. But it will taste better!”

He continued on to talking about how most things in our spiritual life are like that.

Crock-pots, not microwaves…interesting! I guess this is one of those things that I should have known. In fact, I probably did know the under-riding principle here, but more so in my head. I guess I never had a catchy analogy like this.

I have never made anything in a crock-pot before, and well I have gone to the microwave tons (that is probably not a good sign!). The crock-pot takes to long…all day often times! And I guess when it comes to culinary stuff, I am not willing to put the time in for a meal that usually ends up tasting amazing.

But what about life… Am I willing to let it cook? Am I willing to be patient, as opposed to putting the “frozen dinner” in the microwave (which never tastes as good!)? AM I WILLING TO DO THE WORK NOW, FOR A DINNER LATER???

Paul in the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 7, says: “…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” In, his book Discipline’s of a Godly Man, Kent Hughes talks about this verse in the idea of TRAINING yourself for Godliness. This disciplining and training stuff doesn’t seem like very “microwavable” terminology.

Money, relationships, building movements on campus, etc., etc., etc. How often I want it done now. I want to put something in my life in the microwave and “ZAP, ZAP…Ding! Done!” And wow, how it doesn’t work.

What are the things today that I am trying to “microwave” that I need to move over to the crock-pot? Besides money, what other crock-pot recipes does the Bible have in it?

The Forgotten People of Church History

Nerd Alert!

I am starting to work through a seminary class online on church history. Why? Because i am a nerd, and I find it fun. There is no other primary reason, even though I am sure I’ll get more out of it than that.

Today, I worked through the first class lesson (yeah, huge nerd, listening to mp3 of seminary lectures…that’s WAY beyond podcasted sermons!), and something really hit me when the prof started to talk about the problems in defining church history. One of the key difficulties in looking at this history is the difficulty in selection. Selection of persons, places, events that are considered important. When it comes to church history, we choose. “We” – as in sinful people, “choose” – as in select things and don’t select other things.

The prof went into wanting to not forget the “forgotten people” of church history, which I would say includes every person sitting in a pew for a Spurgeon, or Edwards sermon. These people are just as much of a player in church history as the man in the pulpit, arn’t they? Possibly. Maybe. When I started thinking about doing this class, my thoughts of course were “maybe I can learn more about the great preachers, martyrs, revivalists, etc.” But did I ever thing about these “forgotten people,” or course not.

To take this into another place, I really even started to think about how I, and we (those who like to think about the church now and before), like to so often ask questions like: Who was/is the “most important” Christian in the world? I know i have done my share of putting people on that pedistal, and this is even in talking about people that come after the times of the Bible. This prof stated that Edith Schaeffer (wife of Francis Schaeffer) was asked this question once, and stated “I don’t know, you do not either, and probably no one does.” If He ranks them (which I don’t know that He does, only God knows. As this prof made note, we may be suprised by what events and people are listed as “most strategic” by God in His working out of the Great Commission. It just makes me wonder, when people years from now look back at today, who will they see as “most important” and will that be truthful?

Who are the “forgotten people” of today, and should this have anything to do with our life and ministry in playing a role in God’s kingdom building?

Books, books, books… and everything…

So, I like to read… I have no idea why this is, how it happened, or why it would matter to you (if there is any “you’s” out there actually reading this). Just now my roommate and I just got done joking about the amount of books I have started, how many I have bounced between just today alone, and how if I get frustrated with a book by this afternoon, than I will probably just start reading another book.

So, what is this point… what do I gain from these books? Am I gaining anything?

One of my few books that I am reading right now is Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. It’s been on my list to read for a while and the main reason is solely for the hype that has surrounded the book (at least the hype that surrounded it a few years ago when I put the book on my list). It’s such a strange book, and totally contradicts everything I am reading in another book I am reading (Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book). But Don’s thoughts, or ways of thinking are interesting, and I guess that is the point. Most of the book seems to have no rational process (I tried to “systematically skim” as Adler instructs and this proved to be impossible, to me at least), I mean the last chapter I read was Miller’s brain on why penguin’s way of laying eggs and the birth of babies makes him think of Jesus. Weird.

But, will Blue Like Jazz get me thinking about God? Will it increase my knowledge of anything? I don’t know. I guess we will wait and see. Does this book, which seems to be a comocozy at times, look to better me in some way? What will I pull away from it? I guess I have to ask this about every book. Apparently, to a guy like Miller and what he learned from a documentary on the penguins, we should be looking to pull something away from everything. This seems to add to the “everything is spiritual” idea. Is this truthful? Does it honor God?

I don’t know. Much of this is probably useless blabber, and well, I am probably contributing to the thing about blogs that sort of annoys me and so many people. But maybe I will be come refined in time. Maybe I will look back and say “what was I thinking when I blogged that?” Or, maybe not. Maybe this will encourage me to add other, random, yet more benificial thoughts on here. But, maybe not. We will see.