pioneers and settlers

One hurdle of trying to make your mark is once you feel you've made it you may let it mark you into retirement.

What if the point of life isn't arrival or competency?

What if the point of life is Life?

I'm reminded of the late Henri Nouwen who once asked, "Did becoming older bring me closer to Jesus?"

Once upon a time, we lived this way. 

Before skyscrapers and cities there was simply "the open range."

Before experts and consultants there were simply "immigrants."

What if this tension still exists - 

are you a settler or a pioneer?

• Settlers see stopping points.
• Pioneers see starting points.

• Settlers see life as a possession.
• Pioneers see life as an adventure.

• Settlers see home being four borders wide.
• Pioneers see home being a wagon train. 

• Settlers see God as the Sheriff who maintains law and order.
• Pioneers see God as the ultimate Scout who knows where new territory can be claimed.

We all want to self-actualize ourselves to be correct, assuming we know whichever one is "correct."

But do we truly risk and fail forward?

Do you try things that don't work? Do you innovate?

It's been said “Pioneers take the most arrows but also get the best land.”

"Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there." (Genesis 11:31)

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you." So Abram went. (Genesis 12:1,4)

your fourth chapter

I'm sharing the following not for your comments but for your ownership.

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Chapter One:

Today at the local library, I walked into our teen area and heard a conversation happening between a mom who was in it and a group of teens who were sitting around being sassy. One of the teens, a girl, was scrolling down her phone and telling everyone around her what she was seeing on Snapchat. She and her friends were apparently commenting on it, going into detail about how "crazy" it all was. "Look, there are two people in the shower together doing..." she'd share.

I'm not sure how long it had been happening, as the mom spoke up about 60 seconds after I walked in. "Come on, guys. There are kids up here." She was waiting on her 12-ish looking son, along with her 15-ish looking son. The girl sort of nodded and quieted down for just a bit before furthering her dialogue with slight tweaks.

The mom eventually left, and the girl then began mocking her. "comeonguystherearekidsuphere-hehehehe" she told her friends.

I had enough.

"I like how you waited until she left to mock her," I said walking over.

"Oh, well," the girl stammered.

"Really, that must take A LOT of courage."

"Well, I, uh... didn't want to make a big deal about it and cause a scene in the library."

"And yet you're doing it now that she's gone. Kind of seems hypocritical, huh?"

She blushed with silence. The boys around her buried their heads into their comics and phones.

I smiled. "No, don't worry if you don't have anything to say. I'm about to leave and so then you can talk about me, too. Have fun with that. I'm so glad we just got it all out on the table right now so we all know what you're really doing and choosing to be like right now. See ya."

End of Chapter One.
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Chapter Two:

I walked downstairs to check out my materials and noticed the mom and sons were getting ready to check out, too. She was flustered and trying to share with them how wrong it was. I don't know her or her boys, but could tell they were having an awkward teen moment of silence where they weren't sure if they agreed with her or not.

"Hi, can I tell you what happened after you left?" I asked.

She nodded, and I did.

"Thank you for sticking up for me," she offered after hearing me tell the story.

"Absolutely. I also mentioned something to the librarians." I looked at her boys and then back at her. "You know, you did the right thing. We should all stick up for what's right, right?"

She... and her boys... nodded.

End of Chapter Two.
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Chapter Three:

I shared the story at home with my family during dinner. My hope was that we might all realize we don't have to tolerate what's off in this world nor assume the weirdness has to become commonplace.

Whether we're drawing a line ourselves or highlighting a line someone else drew, we can be pointed in the right direction and help point others that way, too.

Because the real solution would be to reach out to that girl and those guys around her somehow and help them be transformed by God from the inside out. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to do that, which I regret. Sometimes all you can do is speak into the situation somehow as best as you know how. Maybe I was one leg in their journey... which is better than not being any leg and hiding out behind the stacks of books.

Perhaps next time I'll be one or two legs... or three or four.

End of Chapter Three.
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Chapter Four: 

(your turn - go live these values out where you live this week)

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)

how (ordinary/super) heroes are made

Some people grow up reading the Bible. Others grow up reading Harry Potter. I happened to grow up reading comic books.

Yep, I said it out loud.

Back then it wasn't a big deal. Then some time after that it became a big deal - you were a geek for doing this. And then now it's not quite a big deal again.

Super heroes are popular - so much so that Captain America's movie release weekend bumped Harry Potter down to second place in its second week. (Although Harry Potter probably isn't too worried, given its opening weekend)

I've always known that following these fictional adventures - Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Captain America - brought into the focus of my life the reality that I am here for a reason.

We all are, actually - it involves living in a much larger Story than "me, me, me."

This week at a large convention called "Comic Con" the star of the upcoming movie "The Amazing Spider Man" put it rather profoundly and personally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wemtXS4Zx9o




Good fiction wakes us up to the hidden truths of this world. There is a reason we all cheer on the "good guy" because deep down inside we know that there is a "good" underneath the "bad" in our world. There is also a reason why we ache over tragedy, for we know that tragedy shouldn't exist in the first place - as if hidden within us there is an awareness that this world shouldn't have been broken by humanity in the first place.... it started out good and should be that way again.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

I'm not sure what you grew up with, but I hope it was something that awakened a calling inside of you to be the hero that this world needs. Perhaps you jumped too quickly into horror movies and haven't gotten past that sense of feeling scared around every corner of life, or maybe you were exposed to sex and nudity in ways that have always made you feel like your body is nothing more than a biological toy.

Unfortunately today's comics have turned in those directions, so with rare exception do I support them. There are still some solid "younger kids" comics that keep the adventure and the innocence alive.

Maybe that's why I started writing this post in the first place. Perhaps we are now the rare heroes who need to not only join into the pages of the Story - God's Story - and likewise be the very pages of Truth in a world of fiction. The people around you need to know what is worth fighting for, and if you know... if you truly know the values of the Reality that exist in the thought bubbles of our thought bubbles... then it's time to start sharing it and living it.

With great power comes great responsibility.

(You knew that was coming, didn't you?)

"Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it." (2 Corinthians 3:2-3, MSG)

a glimpse at hope via the next generation

I really, really, really, really like it when the Church lives up to its name and makes a real difference in the world.

If you have ever felt that sense of "Yeah, this is right, and I don't know I know it, but I know it" when you give of yourself, check out this post and see what a bunch of Ramen-noodle eating young adults sacrificed and gave in just a few days this past weekend:

http://268generation.com/blog/2011/01/together-we-are-a-force-for-good-2/ 

By the way, you may want to know this isn't just a good deed. It came about as a response to several sessions of biblical teaching and worship that they couldn't help but respond to. This is a part of what Jesus teaches us to do... take care of those who are unable to take care of themselves.

So if you're a Christian, don't just nod your head and smile when you read this. Bring your own version of this into the world through your local church.

And if you aren't yet a Christian, find a local church who "gets it" and join on in.

parachuting with your kids in matters of faith

My friend Matthew McNutt had a great post in response to the topic of different approaches churches take it their services around Christmas. He had this gem of a quote toward the end that I want to highlight:

Children ultimately emulate the faith of their parents.  As a youth pastor, it’s always tragic to me when a parent voices the frustration that their child, now in college, doesn’t seem interested in church. 

I have to bite my tongue because often times I want to ask how they can be surprised.  For eighteen years they taught them that church is at the bottom of the priority list; skipping for vacation, bad weather, good weather, sports, concerts, work… everything comes ahead of it.  When a teen is allowed to miss church for a job that is for spending money… they’ve learned that the pursuit of possessions, entertainment, social activities – all of those are more important than church.

There are different schools of thought among all of us on the "best way" to bring kids up in the faith, but many are often rooted in negative reactions. Here are top ones I've heard:

• "I don't want to shove God down my kids throat, so I'll let them bring it up."
• "I don't make my kids go to church like I was forced to and bored out of their minds." 
• "I don't think you need to go to church to be a Christian, so it's just not big on the family priority list."
• "I don't want to miss out on the time I have with them, so we do other things on Sunday."

Obviously, we can debate these... but instead, let's look at how each sentence begins. Notice the phrase, "I don't..." - which simply reveals something you may be overlooking... a large part of what you may presume in your kids is more an issue of yours than theirs.

Think about it - how much of your presumably neutral offense is more of a defense that is rooted in your past?

We all know that no church is perfect, even though God is. You may have been hurt by a congregation or clergy member in the past, or pushed out instead of pulled in. Trust me, I have as well... so much so that I have the emotional scars to prove it.

But I'd like to offer you that you may not be as objective on this as you think. And you may, in fact, be rejecting an experience of church that you've applied to all churches. Perhaps what you grew up with actually was quite "shoved down your throat" or "boring." Maybe this has made you more argumentative against church being "necessary" or "something that competes with other fun things you want to do."

Again, I'm not debating your experience... I'm attempting to point out that you may be letting your past impact your kid's present, future, and possibly their eternity.

I'd also offer you that there are people like myself who understand this and are working hard to help the churches we're a part of get back to the heart of what God wants for our lives. Religion is an empty human exercise to find a connection with God; Christianity, on the other hand, is a passionate endeavor by God to develop a connection with us.  It's a big difference, and even within my own family we spend a lot of time thinking through more than the concept of "Just believe," but "Is there credibility to what we put our lives into?"

What if this was the year that you owned up to the journey you're on and the way it may be affecting your family? If you don't have a church home, find one... go on that journey. And do it with your family - I'll even help you if you want.

You won't find a church that has all the answers, but you can find many who will more effectively reveal the Answer to you in ways you've never dreamed.

But you have to do more than put it off until next week, or Easter, or Christmas. If and when your kids bring up the big questions about God, will you only want them to taste your bitterness or will you give them a fresh opportunity to be consistently around teaching and a community that can complement your efforts?

After all, saying you have a belief in God is like saying that you believe a parachute works. It's a whole other thing to jump out of a plane and pull the ripcord, isn't it?

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children." (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

discussing the hurdle of faith after high school

A number of people advocate that we shouldn't guide kids anything at all when it comes to their faith.  The theory is that when kids want to know they'll ask.  Until then we should keep our hands off.

Others, though, see this issue through the same lens as they do other things kids need to know about the world.  It's why they say, "Do your homework, even if it's a struggle" or "Let me teach you something about life you don't know even know to ask about."  By bringing it to the young person, he/she has a chance to dialogue about faith and its alternatives growing up versus not having this experience at all.

What's intriguing is that in both cases there comes a point in adulthood when an emerging adult needs to decide what they will do with what they have or haven't been offered from their parents and other adults.

I had a great chat with a number of great thinkers and question-askers recently about the hurdle of faith after high school. It was all apart of an online talk forum I hosted for Tim Schmoyer of Life In Student Ministry. It even tracked back to how we invest into kids all the way up to teenagers.

Some key thoughts from the show:

• Churches face a temptation to “throw a college” ministry at emerging adults. Perhaps because it’s easier to push large group environments that feel like candy versus mentoring that isn’t quite as glamorous and marketable.
• Emerging adults are finding community elsewhere – in drinking a beer or a fraternity/sorority. We need to ask “Why?” Is it because these environments are more appealing to “let them be where they are today?”
• Our trend as a church is to draw people to a maturity level they aren’t at. Do emerging adults struggle with this?
• We need to destroy the idea of a finish line that ends at high school and move it at least four years further. Even then, it’s not a true finish line but more of a point where we have helped shape an understand of what self-feeding Christianity looks like and how they can contribute into the state of the church (and it’s plans for ministry).
• Success is perhaps best defined in terms of identity – a young person finishing high school or college and knowing with conviction how they are a son or daughter of God.
• Some of the greatest stories of us doing this well almost always involve a person or two who checked in on emerging adults semi-regularly to remind them who they were and wanted to become.
• We need to see church as a family and not as a program.
• One idea: Start to paint a picture of this early on during elementary years – what it looks like to become an adult who is walking with Christ in a healthy way and turning around to invest into the next generation; utilizing “identity based” curriculum during the last two years of high school; helping the church know “who” has graduated and what is next for them so that they don’t become a statistic; and so on.

Check out the full audio here:
http://www.studentministry.org/the-hurdle-of-faith-after-high-school-podcast/