Friendship

Got a "special delivery" from a long-time friend yesterday. (It could truthfully be said that we are 'old' friends too.) It was such an encouragement and when I saw her handwriting (which became familiar to me while studying from her chemistry notes in High School) a smile immediately came to my face. Friendship is a funny thing. It was just about a week ago that I saw another High School friend from across the store (in our local mega everything you can imagine at a bargain price store) and rather than engage in a conversation, I turned around and walked down anther aisle.

Sometimes seeing a friend for long ago can warm and lift your spirit like the March breeze pulling ever-upwards on a kite.

Sometimes the sight of a friend with whom you are at odds can constrict your heart and weigh on your mind like a crushing ball at wrecking yard.

Friendship can both bother and bewilder us. It can encourage and entertain us. Sometimes it is work an other times it is play. Sometimes it is the most exciting thing about life and sometimes it is the most discouraging thing about life.

Why is friendship so important? Why does friendship have such power over us? How can a wound from a friend be so deadly? Why do small hurts from a friend fester over time until they become grotesque wounds? Why is it that a well-placed compliment from a long time friend can make the difference in an all around cruddy day? And when that affirmation is withheld, an otherwise average day can turn ugly in a heartbeat.

I find it interesting that the book of Proverbs has so much to say about friendship. I mean, sometimes I look a friendship simply in selfish terms. I look at it in temporary earthly terms as if it is not spiritual, but part of this physical world. And yet God gives a good amount of attention to this subject in His book, while leaving some spiritual questions that I have completely unanswered. Or worse, God leaves so much room for theological debate over some topics that are thoroughly spiritual. (Debate that has cost a friendship with one of those friends I once enjoyed deeply.)

It must be that friendship is spiritual. It is spiritual and it is essential. Friendship is necessary to life and to faith. Friendship is godly and good. And it is most Christ-like to be good at being a friend, and being a good friend.

Part of our divine image is to be relational as God is relational. He is relational within Himself -
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is relational in His creation: the human, in His image, at the center of the creative order. There is no God without relationship...

Jesus, friend of sinners.
What an amazing title. What a heavy responsibility. What an incredible God. I wonder if He experiences feelings about friend and friendship as I do. I wonder if He is troubled by friends and friendships as I sometimes am. I wonder if pain and joy are mixed in His heart over friends and friendships as they are in my heart. I wonder if I am a friend he gets thrilled to see because my life and conversation brings Him joy; or if I'm such a downer that He would rather walk down another aisle at the local Cheezy-Mart.

Become a better friend. Become a better Christ-follower.

My Kids' Mom

Some day, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight.

You're lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fears apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
Touches my foolish heart.

Yes you're lovely, never, ever change
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it?
'Cause I love you
Just the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fears apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
Touches my foolish heart.

Yes you're lovely, never, ever change
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it?
'Cause I love youJust the way you look tonight.
Just the way you look tonight.
Darling... Just the way you look tonight.


I LOVE YOU.
THANKS FOR ALL YOU ARE AND ALL YOU DO.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Conference Response 4 Revisited

Hey there,
I am loving this conversation and thanks so much to all of you who have participated. (see below)

Here is the context for the statement. Scott hit one aspect of the context when he commented about churches trying to recreate the formula of another ministry. But also when churches and individuals endeavor to keep returning to a thing, or an event that the Holy Spirit has done in their life in the past.

Here is a thumbnail sketch of how I remember Francis making his point in this message.
1. If the Holy Spirit is not doing a thing, then
a. the thing is not going to get done (assuming it is a spiritual thing),
b. the thing is not worth doing (assuming it is anything), or
c. the thing is not going to last (same assumption as in b).
2. Therefore as we look for what the Holy Spirit is doing, we cannot simply rely on what He has done in the past, expecting Him to repeat himself.

His point was that we can't expect God to repetitively present Himself in the ways we have become comfortable experiencing Him. And that just because He did it once, doesn't mean that He wants to do it again. The point is that the Holy Spirit does what works for the purpose He is working out in our lives, our culture, our situations.

The original statement that I quoted ["The Holy Spirit is a creator, not a duplicator... He is doing something new and not the same old thing" - new paraphrase I'm sure], fit in the context of that second point. The phrase really stuck with me for all of the reasons that you all noted in your comments and I had conflicting responses.

On one hand, I thought of all the verses that seemed to contradict the statement, most obviously the Ecclesiastes passage which notes that there is nothing new under the sun... Then my mind followed the argument that technically the Holy Spirit is not under sun, He created the sun... and so went the argument in my head.

But, on the other hand, I felt a real and genuine sense of freedom. I am the product of a pentecostal upbringing. I call myself a pentecostal believer. But, I have always defined pentecostal differently than the classic definition which seems TO ME to have an unbalanced focus on the gifts of tongues and interpretation. And since I have struggled with the church's implementation of those gifts (in my personal history - maybe not yours) my practice of pentecostalism comes out looking different than the predictable practice of it. SO, the freedom I felt was a sense of relief from the guilt I struggle with in terms of being genuine with my own experience of the Holy Spirit, the expectations of my peer pastors, and the under the surface kind of haunting sense that I will only really be successful as a pastor when those classic expressions of pentecostal experience happen robustly in my congregation.

OK, before some of you get worried about that last sentence, take note of my history with you and take a deep breath. Relax. I was describing a feeling that I inherited from my personal history and some educational experiences.

What I felt from Francis was a certain relief of that sense to simply look for what the Holy Spirit is doing now. And if that doesn't match my experience and expectations - or anyone elses for that matter - I'm really OK with that.

In and of itself, the statement is TOO broad. In its context, it was powerful and helpful to me.

Tell me more of what you think! I hope this helps.

Conference Response 4 - The Holy Spirit

I really have a lot to say about this. But I want to hear more input before I just list all of my thoughts. Here is a statement that has really stuck with me since my participation in the Catalyst West Conference for Christian Leaders.

I'm going to quote Francis Chan and I would like you to comment your responses. What do you think about the statement? How does it affect you and how you think and what you do?

Here it is.

"THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A CREATOR NOT A DUPLICATOR. HE DOES NEW THINGS AND DOESN'T DUPLICATE THE THINGS HE HAS ALREADY DONE." (That's a loose translation. This disclaimer on the off chance that Francis may randomly happen upon this post, or more likely that one of you readers may have been there and remember this differently than I remember it.)

Comment your thoughts!

Conference Response 3

I'm not sure I have spent enough time ruminating on Andy Stanley's statements. And I have been following him on twitter hoping he would tweet out some more profound, life-changing, 140 character eternal truths. I don't want to say that Andy has let me down or anything... but ummmm. I guess Twitter might not be the place to look for that stuff huh?

The next thing that is really alive to me from the conference is what Francis Chan said. He said (in a nutshell of course, and in my own paraphrase - so don't call Francis and accuse of anything I notate here) that "if the Holy Spirit doesn't do something, it won't get done, even if we can make it look like it is getting done."

Salvation, spirituality, personal worship, discipleship, Christian service, integrity, character, mission... None of them can be created by our efforts. We cannot manufacture them. No matter how much I want them for myself or for my children, or for the friends I serve in my church, I can not cause them to happen.

I wish that were some kind of relief to me. I wish that somehow that took some kind of weight from my shoulders. I wish that I felt like my job description somehow just shrunk. What I feel is discouraged. (I typed in the word 'forlorn' but decided that it sounded pompous and out of date.) I fee discouraged not because I doubt the power of the HS to deliver on his job description, or because I have a small picture of God and His power. I'm discouraged because I'm not sure I trust people to respond to the Holy Spirit as He does his job. I'm discouraged by MY unresponsiveness to the HS.

I respond to my desires, my comfort, my 'happiness' (to confess to the dilemma of my most recent sermon) much more readily than I respond to the Holy Spirit. I WANT TO ONLY CHOOSE GOD.

I MUST PRAY. I have taught many times that prayer is the most effective thing a Christ-follower can ever do. I MUST PRAY MORE. I must pray that the HS do in me, and in my family, and in my congregation all that He desires of us AND that we respond to Him above all else.

PRAY WITH ME
Dear Lord Jesus,
Have your way in me. Teach me to love like you love, to live like you lived, to give with your generosity, to serve with your humility, to think with your wisdom, to see others through your grace, to live out your mission with the determination that compelled you to hang on my cross. And move mightily in me and through me to act according to your perfect will.
Amen.