Golf, Gratitude, and Humility
Yesterday I played my first round of golf in fifteen years. I played once about a year and a half ago but I don't count that 18 holes. It resulted in a hernia repair surgery and, as such, I'd just as soon forget it. The whole story may also have something to do with me busting up an outdoor concrete staircase and sidewalk with a 15 pound sledgehammer the day before... But I digress... Yard work is yard work and the whole experience was unpleasant and costly. As Gilda Radner of Saturday Night Live fame remarked, "nevermind, then..."
So, I repeat: yesterday, I played my first round of golf in fifteen years. My early morning team was completed by my son, Keeton, my law associate, Drew, and his father, Jim. It was good company. And we played the area's easiest course: the Bicknell country club. It's not really a country club. In actuality, it has more in common with a cow pasture than a premier course. Flat, wide open and forgiving: it was the perfect place to begin again. A new birth of sorts.
Like riding a bike or remembering how to swim when thrown into deep waters, I didn't play as bad as expected. Somewhere between bogey golf and whatnot, I found my sea legs again. I need some time at the driving range and I need a whole lot of weekly golf... But I remembered the fun of companionship and the feel of familiar clubs. I remembered the joy of the scenery. And I remembered the peace of simply being in the moment. A cold, wet morning with slow greens that gives way to a later warmth and a slight breeze; a slow start and a good finish; time with friends and, as Mark Twain opined, "a good walk spoiled."
But most of all, I remembered a friend.
I miss him.
You see, the Bicknell county club is where we decided we would learn to play golf together. Years ago. I would drive to his house and we would take his red truck through the country. Winding round the bends, past the old dilapidated mine, and over 15 miles of corn, beans and dirt, we would journey to this beginner's course together. No one would know us. We learned to play in anonymity and without embarrassment. We learned together; he was my friend.
I've thought about him a number of times throughout the years and I've talked to him once and again... But our paths separated and we travelled different roads. I know now, in my mid-forties, what I did not know in my early thirties. Had I known then what I know now, I would have used a different iron and I might have laid up instead of clubbing through. While I don't regret certain decisions I earlier made, I do mourn the loss of a relationship or two. And his is one of them.
He made a significant contribution to my life. Today, I am trying to pay it forward to another friend of mine and, as such, I hope his legacy lives on. He was my law partner, my friend, and a good man. I want to be for my legal associate everything and more that my friend was to me. My former golf partner took a flyer on me when few else would. He invested his time and learning in me when friends were hard to find. And he was long suffering when I routinely tried his patience. I want to be that man for others. I learned more than a few lessons from him. In a word, I am grateful for his contribution, friendship, experience and legacy. I still look up to him.
It occurs to me that I am now the age he was when we first began our adventure together. That seems significant. In fact, it is downright humbling. I am reminded of both my friend and what the Lord my God has spoken:
"[I]n humility count others more significant than yourselves." Phil. 2:3(b)
"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." I Cor. 13:11
And
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8
Lessons in humility are valuable; they are life changing. And they hurt. What is most valuable comes with a cost. Treasures are not free.
If our paths ever cross, I will buy a round of golf and once again enjoy his witty company. We are now states apart, but even chance meetings are not so chance. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Like I earlier said, I have remembered the joy and peace of the slow start that finishes well. Perhaps there is humility to be found there as well...
My hope and prayer is that he, you and I finish well.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Draw Like a Boy
Draw Like a Boy (or We are Moved by the Spirit)
Dr. Leonard Sax and his important, influential work, "Why Gender Matters," first came to my attention as a result of listening to lectures given by Andrew Pudewa. The former is an American psychologist and practicing family physician and the later founded the Institute for Excellence in writing. Both have had an impact on the education of my children.
In his opus magnus, Sax details the myriad of gender differences between boys and girls and how the same affects education and behavior. For instance, attention is given to the difference between male/female vision: boys have more rods than cones and girls have more cones than rods. This genetic structure causes a difference in visual perception. He also dedicates a large number of pages to diversity in hearing and mathematics instructions. However, for purposes of this short article, the most profound dissimilarity he discusses is the manner in which vision affects perception.
Sax explains, "The reality I was trying to understand...is the fact that when you give young children a blank sheet of paper and a box of crayons, most girls draw people, pets, flowers and/or trees. Most boys try to draw a scene of action at a moment of dynamic change. That's a robust empirical finding, valid across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. That doesn't mean that ALL boys try to draw a scene of action; some boys draw exactly what the girls draw. But boys are more likely to draw a scene of action, such as a monster attacking an alien; girls are more likely to draw people, pets, flowers, or trees, with lots of colors. The people in the girls' pictures usually have faces, eyes, hair, and clothes; the people in the boys' pictures (if there are any people) often are lacking hair, clothes, often the boys draw mere stick figures in one color. How come? The usual answer "Because that's what we teach them to do" is unpersuasive, as I explain in Why Gender Matters. On the contrary, many of these boys insist on drawing these pictures not because teachers tell them to draw such pictures, but in spite of the teacher's repeated pleas, 'Why do you have to draw such violent pictures? Why can't you draw something nice - like what Emily drew?'"
Andrew Pudewa, at a recent event, summarized this particular portion of Sax's research as follows: "Boys like to draw verbs while girls like to draw nouns." This statement was perfectly illustrated by the young family sitting directly in front of my wife and me. Two well behaved and quiet little girls were drawing pictures of sunshine, houses, horses and family. They used multiple crayons and barely stirred as they drew. Their brother, however, used one dark blue crayon to color the entirety of his car-crashing, fire-exploding, chaotic attack of a picture. And he was much more animated as he drew with arms waving and flailing!
I'm certain that we could all find an exception to this rule. There is always an exception. But that's not the point. The point here is to find the rule, not the variation to it. Why?
Because God is asking us to draw like boys. To be fair, He is also asking us to appreciate beauty and detail as illustrated by a young girl's picture of her family and horse. But He is asking us to draw, with our lives, like a boy. He is asking for the use of verbs, not just an appreciation of nouns. He makes this request via the Holy Spirit and it is indeed the Spirit that empowers us to live a life of verbs.
Scripture repeatedly pronounces that we are filled with or full of His Spirit in order to act. We are provided His Spirit to draw like a boy; to engage in verbs! Let's look at just a few of the biblical mentions where individuals were filled with God's Spirit:
Exodus 28:3 "You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood."
Micah 3:8 "But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin."
Luke 1:67 "And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying..."
And
Acts 4:8 "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders..."
There is a pattern. A purposeful pattern. In each verse we see that we are first filled or full of the Holy Spirit and then action (verbs!) result: filling then making, filling then declaring, filling then prophesying, and filling then speaking. Even a halfhearted attempt to further review the scripture will yield dozens of additional examples in this vein.
This pattern, principle, and truth was hammered home as I recently studied Exodus. Verse after verse, chapter after chapter details tabernacle instruction revealed from God to Moses. Specifics are provided for curtains and clasps, coverings and corners, bars and bowls. And there is artistry: gold carvings, cherubim woven into the tapestry, the mercy seat to cover the ark, and more. This is not hodge podge. This is excellence. And, after an intimate level of detail is provided, what does the Lord do? He fills His people with His Spirit to accomplish all that He has intructed. Look again at the first verse listed above, Exodus 28:3. There are more verses just like that -- the Lord filling so that we are empowered to act in obedience to all that He has proclaimed. (See Exodus 31:3 and 35:31).
Unfortunately, like a non-action, stayed scene resembling only a portrait, "The church has sought to guide the spiritual lives of its members in very practical, reasonable ways. That sounds like a compliment. It’s not. Contrary to Western thought, spirituality is anything but reasonable and practical". -- Jeff Woods
We need to start drawing like boys.
Let's pick a crayon.
Let's start using verbs to advance His kingdom.
The Spirit is provided, we simply need to act.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Dr. Leonard Sax and his important, influential work, "Why Gender Matters," first came to my attention as a result of listening to lectures given by Andrew Pudewa. The former is an American psychologist and practicing family physician and the later founded the Institute for Excellence in writing. Both have had an impact on the education of my children.
In his opus magnus, Sax details the myriad of gender differences between boys and girls and how the same affects education and behavior. For instance, attention is given to the difference between male/female vision: boys have more rods than cones and girls have more cones than rods. This genetic structure causes a difference in visual perception. He also dedicates a large number of pages to diversity in hearing and mathematics instructions. However, for purposes of this short article, the most profound dissimilarity he discusses is the manner in which vision affects perception.
Sax explains, "The reality I was trying to understand...is the fact that when you give young children a blank sheet of paper and a box of crayons, most girls draw people, pets, flowers and/or trees. Most boys try to draw a scene of action at a moment of dynamic change. That's a robust empirical finding, valid across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. That doesn't mean that ALL boys try to draw a scene of action; some boys draw exactly what the girls draw. But boys are more likely to draw a scene of action, such as a monster attacking an alien; girls are more likely to draw people, pets, flowers, or trees, with lots of colors. The people in the girls' pictures usually have faces, eyes, hair, and clothes; the people in the boys' pictures (if there are any people) often are lacking hair, clothes, often the boys draw mere stick figures in one color. How come? The usual answer "Because that's what we teach them to do" is unpersuasive, as I explain in Why Gender Matters. On the contrary, many of these boys insist on drawing these pictures not because teachers tell them to draw such pictures, but in spite of the teacher's repeated pleas, 'Why do you have to draw such violent pictures? Why can't you draw something nice - like what Emily drew?'"
Andrew Pudewa, at a recent event, summarized this particular portion of Sax's research as follows: "Boys like to draw verbs while girls like to draw nouns." This statement was perfectly illustrated by the young family sitting directly in front of my wife and me. Two well behaved and quiet little girls were drawing pictures of sunshine, houses, horses and family. They used multiple crayons and barely stirred as they drew. Their brother, however, used one dark blue crayon to color the entirety of his car-crashing, fire-exploding, chaotic attack of a picture. And he was much more animated as he drew with arms waving and flailing!
I'm certain that we could all find an exception to this rule. There is always an exception. But that's not the point. The point here is to find the rule, not the variation to it. Why?
Because God is asking us to draw like boys. To be fair, He is also asking us to appreciate beauty and detail as illustrated by a young girl's picture of her family and horse. But He is asking us to draw, with our lives, like a boy. He is asking for the use of verbs, not just an appreciation of nouns. He makes this request via the Holy Spirit and it is indeed the Spirit that empowers us to live a life of verbs.
Scripture repeatedly pronounces that we are filled with or full of His Spirit in order to act. We are provided His Spirit to draw like a boy; to engage in verbs! Let's look at just a few of the biblical mentions where individuals were filled with God's Spirit:
Exodus 28:3 "You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood."
Micah 3:8 "But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin."
Luke 1:67 "And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying..."
And
Acts 4:8 "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders..."
There is a pattern. A purposeful pattern. In each verse we see that we are first filled or full of the Holy Spirit and then action (verbs!) result: filling then making, filling then declaring, filling then prophesying, and filling then speaking. Even a halfhearted attempt to further review the scripture will yield dozens of additional examples in this vein.
This pattern, principle, and truth was hammered home as I recently studied Exodus. Verse after verse, chapter after chapter details tabernacle instruction revealed from God to Moses. Specifics are provided for curtains and clasps, coverings and corners, bars and bowls. And there is artistry: gold carvings, cherubim woven into the tapestry, the mercy seat to cover the ark, and more. This is not hodge podge. This is excellence. And, after an intimate level of detail is provided, what does the Lord do? He fills His people with His Spirit to accomplish all that He has intructed. Look again at the first verse listed above, Exodus 28:3. There are more verses just like that -- the Lord filling so that we are empowered to act in obedience to all that He has proclaimed. (See Exodus 31:3 and 35:31).
Unfortunately, like a non-action, stayed scene resembling only a portrait, "The church has sought to guide the spiritual lives of its members in very practical, reasonable ways. That sounds like a compliment. It’s not. Contrary to Western thought, spirituality is anything but reasonable and practical". -- Jeff Woods
We need to start drawing like boys.
Let's pick a crayon.
Let's start using verbs to advance His kingdom.
The Spirit is provided, we simply need to act.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Walking it Out
Walking it Out
“We don’t need to add “spiritual” activities to our life as much as we need to make our actual, everyday life spiritual. . . .” Alan Hirsch "Right Here, Right Now.”
Some thoughts show up on the front porch of your mind with bags packed to stay. At times, you may think they have gone, but they're only hiding. When you least expect it, there they are again at the kitchen table. Always wanting to talk about the same thing. They are similar to a reoccurring dream in the broad daylight.
I've recently had such a visitor.
It's been in the basement of my mind for quite some time. It's now found the steps. I've been wrestling with ideas of missionality and ministry; the "modern" church and all that is entailed in what we think of as Christianity. A conclusion has gradually arrested my attention: if an individual is not already engaged in mission with God, there is no programing or posturing, meeting or leadership group that will work to organize what is not already organically happening.
In other words, it is the responsibility of the individual believer to join God on His mission. Once folks are engaged, they can be "organized." However, the organization cannot and will not ever create a mission for or in the individual. The mission is God's, the obedience is ours and the organization belongs to...well...the organizations. Think about it this way, the Father has declared the mission through His word and His Son. As a result, we can choose to be sub-missive. We can operate under (sub-) His active mission (missio/mission/missive). When we are already engaged, we can be organized. But organization does not create direction, it channels it.
Mission is defined and determined by God and organically occurs in the life of the redeemed. It is obedience and it happens where the Logos, the Word, takes root in good soil. It does not happen as the result of organization, leadership or clever meetings. We join God on His mission when we become obedient to and through the Holy Spirit. He is the Missio Dei, the sending God. He is already engaged in His mission of redemption and are to join him in the family business.
And, really, this drives us back to the need for spiritual reproduction: disciples begetting disciples as opposed to disciples attempting to create a discipleship strategy! This is the Word in action in the life of the Believer. As illustrated by Jesus Christ, there is mission and action prior to organization or "strategy".
This is the principle illustrated in a simple cup of water.
Matt. 10:42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Mark 9:41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
Matt. 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
The disciple acts missionally simply because he or she is is a disciple. The cup of water is extended to the least of these not because a focus group on local outreach determined the best action plan but because disciples are already busy about their Father's work. The folks in Matthew 25 didn't even know there was an organization option, they simply acted in obedience and were pleased by the results! This, of course, is always the major hat trick; a life engaged in the Father's family business. Personally, I continue to struggle with the push and pull of professional conflict and aggression within what is to be a missional life of peace in Christ. It's not easy. There are days I would like someone else to be sub-missive for me. And there are days where I would like to put off my mission onto the organization.
But there is no shortcut to the resolution of this tension. It is only answered by a life of obedience to the Holy Spirit; walking in the Spirit as opposed to the flesh.
Without a doubt, it is much harder to walk than it is to write.
Nonetheless, we are call to obedience. We are called to work with our Father. And we are called to mission. We would do well to remember that our mission is a calling and our organization is a preference. One comes before the other. Mission first then organization.
God speed us on His way and to do His work.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
“We don’t need to add “spiritual” activities to our life as much as we need to make our actual, everyday life spiritual. . . .” Alan Hirsch "Right Here, Right Now.”
Some thoughts show up on the front porch of your mind with bags packed to stay. At times, you may think they have gone, but they're only hiding. When you least expect it, there they are again at the kitchen table. Always wanting to talk about the same thing. They are similar to a reoccurring dream in the broad daylight.
I've recently had such a visitor.
It's been in the basement of my mind for quite some time. It's now found the steps. I've been wrestling with ideas of missionality and ministry; the "modern" church and all that is entailed in what we think of as Christianity. A conclusion has gradually arrested my attention: if an individual is not already engaged in mission with God, there is no programing or posturing, meeting or leadership group that will work to organize what is not already organically happening.
In other words, it is the responsibility of the individual believer to join God on His mission. Once folks are engaged, they can be "organized." However, the organization cannot and will not ever create a mission for or in the individual. The mission is God's, the obedience is ours and the organization belongs to...well...the organizations. Think about it this way, the Father has declared the mission through His word and His Son. As a result, we can choose to be sub-missive. We can operate under (sub-) His active mission (missio/mission/missive). When we are already engaged, we can be organized. But organization does not create direction, it channels it.
Mission is defined and determined by God and organically occurs in the life of the redeemed. It is obedience and it happens where the Logos, the Word, takes root in good soil. It does not happen as the result of organization, leadership or clever meetings. We join God on His mission when we become obedient to and through the Holy Spirit. He is the Missio Dei, the sending God. He is already engaged in His mission of redemption and are to join him in the family business.
And, really, this drives us back to the need for spiritual reproduction: disciples begetting disciples as opposed to disciples attempting to create a discipleship strategy! This is the Word in action in the life of the Believer. As illustrated by Jesus Christ, there is mission and action prior to organization or "strategy".
This is the principle illustrated in a simple cup of water.
Matt. 10:42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Mark 9:41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
Matt. 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
The disciple acts missionally simply because he or she is is a disciple. The cup of water is extended to the least of these not because a focus group on local outreach determined the best action plan but because disciples are already busy about their Father's work. The folks in Matthew 25 didn't even know there was an organization option, they simply acted in obedience and were pleased by the results! This, of course, is always the major hat trick; a life engaged in the Father's family business. Personally, I continue to struggle with the push and pull of professional conflict and aggression within what is to be a missional life of peace in Christ. It's not easy. There are days I would like someone else to be sub-missive for me. And there are days where I would like to put off my mission onto the organization.
But there is no shortcut to the resolution of this tension. It is only answered by a life of obedience to the Holy Spirit; walking in the Spirit as opposed to the flesh.
Without a doubt, it is much harder to walk than it is to write.
Nonetheless, we are call to obedience. We are called to work with our Father. And we are called to mission. We would do well to remember that our mission is a calling and our organization is a preference. One comes before the other. Mission first then organization.
God speed us on His way and to do His work.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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