A Levite

I spoke at a retreat this past weekend. I have done this a few times now and I love the chance to share God's word with students. I spoke on the need for us to be the Good Samaritan to those who we so often find ourselves walking by. It was a great weekend but as often is the case I found that I was the most challenged by the weekend.

I challenged the students to be a reflection of God's love by helping those around them...to understand the risks that the Samaritan took in helping the man on the side of the road...and how so often we find ourselves a the Levite not the Samaritan...

I am the Levite

I have started walking by

I have forgotten why I was so passionate about those who are on the side of the road.

I used to be passionate....I have tried to figure out what that looks like for me in the everyday. I can recognize the need, I know what I can do to help, but I don't.

I see...I recognize...I pause...and walk on.

I am an independent person, and I can accomplish most things on my own. I have forgotten to look beyond myself for the strength, guidance and faith to step out allow the love of God be reflected in the everyday.

Being

I have for the past year or so been wondering if the Church as we know it now is really that effective, and whether the all the time and energy that we put into programing is really what Jesus had in mind.
I have been to a number of different churches in the past few months ranging from the charismatic to the conservative. The more churches I go to, the more I realize that the Church has fallen asleep (sometimes literally). Granted there are a few in each community that are passionate about their faith and living it out day by day, but it seems to me that the Christian community on the whole is falling asleep.

To some extent I have been lulled to sleep myself. I have resigned myself to accept the way things are; maintain the status quo...and it drives me nuts. It is easy to get caught up in doing for the cause of Christ, I do Sunday mornings, I do youth, I do bible studies and the list goes on. We are so busy doing the business of the Church that we have forgotten how to simply be a follower of Christ. I am begining to wonder if it is precisely the doing of church that is in fact lulling the Church to sleep.

Have we become so focused of the next worship service, bible study, outreach project or missions trip that we are have ceased to be a Christian, one who is like Christ.

I have been doing church for a while...maybe it is time for me to stop.

Maybe it is time to be the Church...

To simply be a follower of Christ...

and act in such ways

I need to stop.

catch my breath

bask in His love,

His grace

and His peace.

I needed to Be

Maybe once I stop. I will arise, I will awaken, I will no longer be stuck in my slumber...and as I get up I will follow

Roller Coasters

A little piece that I wrote a year ago...

I remember my first time on a roller coaster. My Dad had taken my family to the amusement park for a day of cotton candy, mini donuts and thrills. Towering over the entire park was a wooden roller coaster, one that my Dad claimed to have ridden when he was a child, and assured me was completely safe... I was certain that it was rotten and was convinced that bolts were falling of with each successive circuit. I was only a matter of time before the whole mass of wood and metal would collapse and spontaneously combust.

My dad seemed to think my fears were unfounded, and suggested that I ride it with him. I had watched enough cartoons to know that rickety wooden objects were never to be trusted. I reluctantly joined the line taking solace in the fact that I my last moments on earth would be spent with my Dad.

As we boarded the train and the safety bar locked in place, I realized that I had made a grievous error and needed to revaluate my decision. Before I could make my escape the train began to slowly roll out of the station. As the train rounded the corner it began its slow deliberate ascent to certain death I prayed that God would change the law of gravity so that I might see my 11^th birthday. As the train clamored its way upwards towards the apex my prayer went unanswered and gravity predictably took control.

My stomach moved upwards, my body moved backwards while at the same time moving upwards as if floating, I was overcome with not fear but exhilaration. I was free, I was flying, I was falling, I was invincible, I was not going to die.

By the time I reached the apex of the second hill I was addicted. With each drop, twist and turn, the exhilaration grew, my fears were left on the first ascent and I wondered what new thrill was around the next bank. As the train rolled into the station I could not stop smiling and wondered what had caused my reluctance to ride the roller coaster in the first place. I rode the coaster countless times that day and I returned to the park year after year to ride the coaster again and again. I couldn’t begin to count the number of time that I have locked myself to a wooden train so that for a few brief seconds I could feel as though I was flying. And it is those brief seconds that make it worth it every time.

I returned to the park recently. It had been a number of years since I had ridden the roller coaster. I remember vividly the feeling I had riding the coaster as a kid and was excited to experience it once again. I was determined to ride that roller coaster until I could no longer walk straight.

I joined the familiar line, the line that was the gateway to my freedom, my freedom from gravity. I was filled not with fear as I once was, but anticipation. The bar clunked into place and the train began its slow march towards freedom. As gravity once again began to pull the train towards a seemingly undeniable collision with the ground I once again felt my stomach rise and body was thrust back and up as if flying. It was all there, the same feelings, the same vibrations, the same thrill, but something was different.

Each successive drop, twist, turn and bank, that had brought me so much joy as a child, left me without the same joy as an adult. I knew the roller coaster well, I knew when it was going to turn, when it was going to drop and the sensations that came along with it. The sensations were all there they were all the same, but the effect was different it was not thrilling, it was smooth it was rhythmic it was almost calming. Instead of opening my eyes to a whole new level of excitement I left the ride merely satisfied with the thrill that was achieved.

I think the creator of the roller coaster would have been disappointed to hear that I had got of the ride merely satisfied. The creator of the roller coaster wants me to ride not knowing what is next because it adds to the excitement. Roller coasters are designed to allow you to experience an entirely foreign sensation, one that can’t be achieved through our own power. Not for the rider to sit knowing what is going to happen next and what the sensations are going to do with them.

The first time I got on a roller coaster I had no idea what to expect, I had seen others ride it, even those close to me had been on it. But they could not explain to me what it truly was like to ride the roller coaster. It is something that has to be experienced as a individual.

That first trip left me in awe of the roller coaster. A seemingly deadly contraption, that allowed me to be scared, joyful and liberated. With each successive trip on the roller coaster I would experience a similar gamete of emotions. Gaining a deeper understanding of how the roller coaster worked and how each element of the ride made me feel. As my understanding grew my wonder began to subside. With a fading wonder came a growing boredom, and with growing boredom came a desire for a new thrill.

I am becoming increasingly aware that I seem too comfortable with the roller coaster I am on. I go to church on Sundays, I read my bible, I sing as a part of the congregation. I do these things not out of obligation but out of appreciation for the creator.

A friend of mine suggested the other day that I start blogging. Admittedly the other day was probably six months...but here I am, way behind the curve putting my thoughts on the internet for all to read and critique. I am not sure what this blog may or may not become, but I have recently begun thinking again. Some of the dominant themes of my thinking has been circling around the ideas of Hope and Despair. First let me start with where I have been and some of my own experiences which will allow you, the reader (assuming that there is one), to understand where I am coming from.

It starts with water. As a child I was always astounded by the amount of water that could fall from the sky and then disappear with no real trace in the matter of a few hours. I wondered where it all went. I soon discovered that the small creek behind my house became a larger creek behind my house when it rained. When I followed that creek I quickly realized that that creek lead to the river running through the valley down the hill from my house, and that river lead to a small inlet, and they inlet lead to the Georgia Strait, which led to to Pacific Ocean, which was attached to all the other oceans around the world, which are attached to other small inlets, rivers, creeks, and rain drops falling in other young boys backyards. One drop. That is all it took to change my perspective as a young boy when I realized where that drop could lead. I recount this story not to prove to you how smart I was as an seven year old, but because I have found it too be true of my own walk with God. As I walk through life drops get added and I begin to understand a little bit more about God, who He is, what He has done, and what that means in my life. In the process I begin to move from a tributary to the ocean.