death wish

My dad sent me this video of bike couriers in NY. In another life I would love to do this but I am afraid that life would be pretty short.

calling

There are a few questions that I get on a regular basis because of the job that I have working at a church. One of those questions goes something like this, “When were you called into ministry?” or “How did you know this was your calling?” I never know what to say to this since the honest answers would be ‘never’ and ‘I have no idea’ but that never goes over well. The hard part for me about calling is that I have always had the miraculous in mind when people say that. I picture someone sitting and reading the Bible when all of a sudden they fall into a trance and a voice says to them, ‘you are my man (or woman) to reach the world by…’ and then the voice fills them in on what they need to know. Another option is that someone with the gift of prophesy prays over me and shares a vision of the future from God. No matter how it happens, being called is unique and has hints of the supernatural. Also it has always bugged me that people only seem to ask those who are paid to be part of a faith based community the question of being called. No one ever asked me about being called to work with children with autism when I had that job.

Because I have never had an obvious miraculous experience related to my job I have never felt called to do what I do until a couple weeks ago.

I recently took a weekend class that was all about examining how God has made each of us and God’s sovereign work in our lives to bring us to where we now are. The professor shared a helpful definition of calling that included the following 6-7 possible elements.

1. Providence – As you look back life events come together to send a person in a certain direction.

2. Special guidance: There have been nudges in certain directions or you can’t seem to get away from it.

3. Opportunity – Are their options to actually be able to do what you feel like you maybe should do or really want to do?

4. Gifts and Talents – Do we have the basic talents to be able to do a given task?

5. Need – Is there a need for a given task and/or ministry?

6. Community affirmation – Do those around me and those closest to me affirm vocational direction?

7. Miraculous – Has there been a time where God moved in a special way to communicate a direction for my life?

My professor went on to explain that he defines calling as a mix of many but not all the above. This was a refreshing perspective for me as I can look at my life and observe most of the above 7 elements. The above definition of calling also provides for a more universal understanding that all Christians are called to something and that their jobs can play a part in fulfilling that calling.

book excerpt

Check out this interesting article from a former head of Bush’s faith based initiative.

two i can do but all three?

I have had a lot going through my head the last couple of weeks and I only wish I could have been better about writing some of it down because now as I sit here I can’t remember much.

Here is one thing. Our church has starting going through the book of Acts and although we are only a couple weeks in I have been struck by the character of the Holy Spirit and His central role in the history of the early church. I have been trained well and fully believe in the Trinity but as I have been reading Acts I have realized that my theology and way that I live are not congruent. I spend a significant amount of time talking, thinking and writing about the Father and the Son but if I am honest I don’t really pay much attention to the Holy Spirit.

I think it goes back to my evangelical roots that feared being too charismatic and since those crazy out there Christians were so into the Spirit then we would talk about it more in whispers or in passing. I should say that in all fairness I don’t think my church community growing up actually believed that nor do I think those more charismatic then me are of a strain of Christendom that strange or somehow worse. It is just that I somehow came to a place where the Holy Spirit was left out.

And to be honest I feel I am at the very beginning of having any sort of understanding of how the Spirit fits into my faith in a practical day to day way. But I know He should and from my understanding of scripture it is a good thing He is here and in fact it is better then if Jesus was here in person.

Also and maybe this should be another whole blog but I love the picture of Jesus followers in Acts 2 who are acting in obedience and the Spirit is doing crazy cool things in their midst. The challenging take away I believe is that we should obey God with that sort of abandonment but not necessarily expect the same results. Rather we should obey and then with excited and open expectations see what the Spirit does.

I have always wanted revival or wild transformation but what if instead we had the change to be part of a community that wanted to be obedient and somehow found joy in whatever resulted from that obedience whether it was wild growth, persecution or nearly unperceivable change?