Friday Findings

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement. – Golda Meir

Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish. – Barbara Smith

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit. – Emmanuel Teney 

Put It In A Coin Purse

Luke 12:32-40

In 2009 my wife came with me to my seminary's summer sessions. It was a great trip for us as we were able to be with one another for our 10th wedding anniversary.

The seminary program I attended was the Native Ministries Program at the Vancouver School of Theology in Vancouver, Canada. The program focuses on working within the different cultures of indigenous peoples from across the world. The summer school community in which I spent 6 summers comprised of First Nation People of Canada, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Marshall Islanders, and people from Korea, Africa, Australia, and more. It is a vibrant program which allowed for each person to voice their individual concerns of being Christian in a world of cultural duality (Native or Christian, you can't be both).

As one might imagine, families were abundant and welcomed. There was even a special program for the children and youth who came with their families. This program used arts and crafts to show that it is possible to be both Native and Christian. The arts consisted of cultural dances, playing musical instruments, and learning different languages. The crafts included mask making, clothes painting, and jewelry making.

My wife wasn't there to attend classes, but she wanted to be a part of the program so she helped with the youth and children's program. She jumped right in and made things like leather bracelets, beaded necklaces, sequined handkerchiefs, and leather medicine pouches. As an anniversary gift she gave me one of those medicine pouches, but since I don't have medicine to carry around I use it as a coin purse.

I keep it in a secure place and try my best to ensure it doesn't get damaged or lost. Sure, it's a little beat up, but there are no holes in it so that nothing can fall out. I want to be sure that whatever I put in there can be held safely until the time it's needed.

My coin purse is kept in the same place so that it's very easy to get to and I am always ready to use a penny when needed or put away a penny for future use. The place I keep my coin purse doesn't really allow for it to be stolen unless the thief decides to take a lot more than just the coin purse; a lot more.

I tell this story because I want you to know that I will forever hold this anniversary gift made for me by my wife and given to me with all the love a life-partner possesses in a place that no harm can come to it. I also tell this story to point out that this is the same way we should keep that which is most entrusted to us - God's kingdom.

God has entrusted to us the care of his creation and all that dwells in it. Every blade of grass and trunk of a tree has been entrusted to us. Every drop of rain and every teaspoon of the ocean has been entrusted to us. Every bird of the air and beast of the ground and fish in the sea has been entrusted to us. Most importantly, every human being that lives within God's creation has been entrusted to us.

What does the coin purse you keep God's gifts in look like?

Faith Is...Leaping Off A Cliff

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Last night I attended a memorial service for the husband of a friend and colleague. I had met him, but never had the opportunity to actually sit and talk with him. As I listened to the stories being told about his love for God and his zeal to share that love with everyone he met, I found myself wishing I had known him better.

The eulogy was given by a good friend of this man who had shared in many adventures to far-reaching places of this earth in order to share the Gospel with the people who lived there. One of the stories he shared really had me thinking, "This man had faith."

Rob, the man who had passed, thoroughly enjoyed traveling to the most remote parts of the world. He loved it so much that he had a long-standing request to volunteer to go to the places that nobody else would consider going. On one such occasion he was asked to go to a corner of Africa where people still practiced cannibalism. Never mind the absence of electricity, running water, shelter, or any of the other amenities we've been trained to expect as a modern society - these people will eat you. Rob was excited to be there and find a way to share God's love.

We were told that the only way to get to this particular village was to fly to a close runway with a small plane then hike a day to the village. The runway was literally built on a hillside at the edge of a cliff. We were told that as the plane landed it went up the hillside at about a 45-degree angle and that the runway was just long enough for the plane to land, stop, and turn around. The speaker went on to tell us that the plane then takes off by going down this hill, propellers at full speed, and leaps off the cliff-side to get enough wind under its wings to fly.

I ask you, which part of that trip sounds the most appealing. Is it the landing on the hillside, hiking through the jungle-habitat of local cannibals, living with no amenities, or sitting in the plane as it takes off to come home? Whatever the choice you make is, you're going to need a lot of faith.

This passage in Hebrews gives us a great definition of faith: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. It's through Rob's faith that God would bring him through whatever might happen in that jungle that Rob was able to accept this mission and go to one of the furthest corners of our world to share the love of God.

That story really made me think how deep my faith went. Am I really at the mercies of God in accepting everything God will give me? Am I willing to go the corners of our earth in order to share God's love? Would I be able to take a leap off a cliff in order for one person to come to God through Christ?

My hope is that when the time comes I will be able to do whatever it is God asks of me. My faith tells me I will.

Really! God Said That

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

Yesterday my co-workers and I met the new students who will be coming to our classes. These are juniors and seniors who have transferred in from another school. It was an eclectic group with a couple of them coming from a small private school on our island, one coming from Japan, and the rest coming from various states within the US.

We sat and talked about who they were and where they were from. We gave them an insight as to what we expected as teachers and asked them what they expected as students. We didn't get too deep into these expectations because today, when we meet all of the juniors and seniors who will be in our classes, we plan to go over all of the rules and regulations more in depth.

Our rules are not over-bearing. As a group of teachers we don't believe in pomp and circumstance. We say the same thing every year to every group of young people we meet - "Just do your work to the best of your ability, striving to become better as the year progresses." You see, it's not so much how you do it, it's why you do it. This is something the people of Judah had forgotten.

Within the first chapter of Isaiah we are told exactly what the rest of the book will be about. We are introduced to the themes of "death and destruction if you, as a people, don't change" and "yet, in the end, everything will be okay." Isaiah gives the people of Judah, and to an extent us, the message that things are going to get bad because you aren't doing the right things for the right reasons, but if you start doing the right things for the right reasons, life will be good again. The message continues, however, to tell us that either way, God is with us and hope lives eternal.

I find it interesting that in the middle of today's passage is an invitation by God to "argue it out." The presence of God is eternal. God never leaves our side. Ever since the stories of God walking with humankind in the garden at the very beginning of the bible we find that what God really wants is to be in relationship with us. All God wants is to walk with us and talk about the things that are going on in our lives; good and bad.

God isn't interested in our personal gifts to God. God isn't interested in how large or ornate our churches are. God isn't interested in what we give to God in the name of God. God is interested in how we "seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow." In other words, God wants us to take care of each other and to allow God to be there along the way.

In the next few weeks my job at the high school will become more focused on helping students fill the gap between where they should be and where they are academically. I will build relationships and hope that the students will come to understand that I'm there to help, not to condemn. I hope I can consistently remember that God wants to be along the journey with me.

Shhhh, God Is Talking.

Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23

Today we meet the Freshmen who will be attending the high school I work at. This will be my fourth time at a new student assembly, and if history has anything to teach me it's that the gym will be hot, crowded, and loud, very loud.

While most attending teachers and staff complain about the noise level, I will feel the wonderful energy those kids give off. They're excited to begin their high school journey. They're seeing friends they may not have seen in a couple of months. They want to show off their new clothes and talk about what they did over the summer.

Of course all of this exuberant behavior comes at the expense of listening to whoever may be trying to speak to them at the moment.  One year our Assistant Principal was talking about how, as Freshmen, they were beginning school with a clean slate. He was telling them that none of their past records or grades followed them into high school and so they should take this chance to start new.

Three minutes into his speech it was obvious the kids weren't listening as the chatter in the gym was louder than him. So, he did what every good administrator should do in that situation; he yelled. That got their attention and for the rest of his talk the gym was quiet.

The subject of his talk went from "you have a clean slate" to, "you're going to quickly learn that high school isn't a joke and you will get from your high school experience exactly what you put in." The tone in his voice went from gentle and understanding to stern and authoritative. I simply stood on the sidelines and smiled at the new and improved attention of our youth.

That year I was blessed to work with those same freshmen for 2 or 3 months. It really was a joy. This year I once again get to work with those freshmen as they become juniors. It'll be interesting to see how many of them took note and followed what they were being taught that day.

Either way, I will be another reminder that their rewards in high school come directly from the work they put in - just as it will be for everything they do the rest of their life.

Friday Findings

Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. – P. J. O'Rourke

We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet. – Stephen Hawking

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. – Benjamin Disraeli

"Stop And Listen" – Song by Bethany Dillon

I wake up

Start the rush and pour some coffee

Things to do pile up

Oh so quickly

Too many days I feel like

I run on empty

Does anyone else out there feel like me?

But I’d be a fool to forfeit....

The chance to take a moment....

For You to rise like the dawn....

Over my cold, tired heart....

What I thought I had lost....

Finds me when I stop....

Stop and listen....

It’s the same slowing down lesson we all learn

But I don’t pay much attention

Till I crash and burn

So all together....

Let’s stop and sit at His feet....

My sisters and brothers....

How Much?

Luke 12:13-21

(Note: I'm going to try and do this without giving up the name of the organization I'm going to talk about. However, if anyone from Honolulu reads this they'll know who the organization is. I'm also fully aware that a simple Google search will reveal any information I might be trying to hide. I want to be as respectful as I can to this organization, so I will use words like "that church", or "the church" as I tell this story. I also want to ask that you take the story at its face value and not look for who the church is. That's not important.)

There's a church in Honolulu who has proclaimed that it's God's vision for them to spend 10.5 million dollars to expand their ministries. Apparently this church has outgrown its current space and they now want to go to a place that is permanent and where they can build a bigger church, a bigger school, an auditorium, and more such buildings that can house all of the people God is sending to them.

The church has even found a piece of land it's calling "The Promised Land". They know, absolutely know, that's where God wants them to be. No matter that the land is zoned for agricultural use only - the church says it'll start a farm on some of the land in order to keep the land's agricultural status.

"And he said to them"...for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

Please, don't misunderstand me. I know this church is growing and they are in serious need of a new place. Their current building is being sold to another business, so they have to move out. They currently have  4 services to try and accommodate all of their attendees and their school has a very long waiting list. This church is successful in all aspects of its ministries and they really do need a bigger space in which to serve all of their people.

But that's my point; they're serving their people.

What if, just what if, they spent half of their money looking for half the land (because that's truly all they need, they don't need a farm alongside their church, they really don't) and used the rest of their money on, ohhh, I don't know, the needy.

Here's an idea: coordinate with the city as well as public and private businesses and look for a parcel of land to build 12 or 15 units of affordable homes. Better yet, build a high-functioning shelter for the houseless. The land can be sold by the city for a minimum amount, the church can build the building with discounted or donated materials, and a non-profit organization can staff it.

In other words, instead of building a storage space for your personal goods, build storage spaces for as many people as you can. We are not called to eat, drink, and be merry. We are called to take care of one another. Our ministries are not measured in how big our buildings are or how many people attend our services and schools. Our ministry is measured by how many people we help beyond the walls of our churches.

By all means, this church should find a permanent home and build a place large enough to do the work of their church. But, seriously, how much do they need?

Along that same line of thinking, how much do any of us need? If you have so much stuff that you have to rent storage space to keep it all, I know of a few people who can make good use of it. The clothes and furniture and other miscellaneous items you might be holding on to just might be what another family has been doing without because they simply can't afford it.

I'm not saying give up all your stuff. I am saying we need to decide how much is enough, and if we have extra stuff find others to give it to. In Hawaii we have a saying: "Share the Aloha!" It means to treat people the way you would like to be treated, especially looking for those who may need a little more aloha. It's time we start sharing the aloha, don't you think?