In The Foyer: A Moment of Reflection on the Words of Francis Chan

Francis Chan spoke at our church tonight.  I stayed after in the foyer for a bit. Watching faces and body language. Watching how people were relating to each other. Listening to the hum of voices and the music still emanating from the stage. And what I ended up thinking about and wondering was… well, several things. Did the words that Francis Chan spoke, the words he felt God was impressing on him, really and truly impact us tonight? Did we resist? Did we ignore? Were we too distracted to think deeply about what God was communicating to us? I wondered if the many conversations in the foyer were about the evening’s message. I considered if our spirits were being shaken and stirred. Will the message change the character and tenor of our walk with Christ? Are we more open to the teaching and working of the Holy Spirit?

Much of what Francis Chan spoke of revolved around the spiritual maturity, lies, brokenness, confession and the Holy Spirit. His words were an echo, a reflection of what seems to be going on in his own heart and life. Both the temporal and spiritual. The ephemeral and the eternal.

What coalesced in my thoughts as I listened to Francis was that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. He teaches us through scriptures what God’s will is and how to have an intimate relationship with God. But, we don’t grow into that relationship because we hide behind masks and are hindered by the lies and unconfessed sin in our lives. Our prayers aren’t answered because we aren’t praying God’s will. When we get rid of the sin and clutter in our lives we are able to experience revival and find ourselves in unique opportunities to live Jesus Christ before men, minister and be the testimony that God uses to bring others to Himself. Take God at His Word. Obey God. Experience the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life. Know the pleasure God has in your obedience.

A lot of what he said resonated. It reflected some of the things I’m dealing with in my own life. I want to know the pleasure that comes of obeying my Father. I want my life to be a cornucopia of the fruits of the spirit. I want revival. Personal, corporate, national and global revival. I’m not going to experience those things or be those things if I don’t seek God’s face. If I don’t listen and obey his Spirit.

What kind of life do you want to live? Who do you want to please. What are you willing to give up, let go of, or receive from God in order to be where God is drawing you to?

If you want to know more about Francis Chan, you can go to FrancisChan.org and learn a bit of who Francis is, his ministry, and his books.

The Signs

The arrow is from the parking lot at the church I attend.  The weather has taken a toll on it.  Once bright yellow against very black asphalt, it is now aged, well seasoned with salt and beaten up by the weather.  But it still does its job.  It tells drivers who just dropped off someone at the entrance to keep going straight around an island.  Another sign over to the left tells you to not turn left.  It’s all intended to keep one from hitting a pedestrian or another vehicle.  I respect that arrow.  It’s functional and consistent.  It doesn’t vary its direction on a whim.  You won’t find it twirling around after a little puff of wind.  It lays there resolute doing its job until someone changes the traffic flow, seal coats over the top of it or reapplies its bright yellow paint.
That sign makes me think of God.  It points me in the right direction.  God’s Word points me in the right direction.  It doesn’t change on a whim.  God doesn’t not change.  We change as we know Him better.  His Word has stood the test of time.  But, it will not be repainted, seal coated or have its orientation changed.  Neither God nor His Word change.  What a comfort that is.
Much of what I know of God’s will for me is there in His Word.  Come to God through Jesus. Love God with all my heart, soul, and mind. Love my neighbor as myself.  I belong in a congregation of believers.  Use my gifts and abilities to build up others.  God gives me direction for the vertical relationship with Him and the horizontal relationships with you.  There is so much about God’s will that is right there in the pages of His Book.
There are other elements of that will that aren’t always so apparent.  It’s not always right there 16 inches from your nose.  I’m searching for the less apparent but no less real signs of God’s direction for me.
Are you seeing God’s will for you?  Are you searching for Him?  Have you found Him.  Are you deep diving into those 66 books and two testaments that are His story in this world and you?  Do you see the signs?

A Walk In The Park

Today I walked a park trail. I walked partly for the challenge. I need to trim some pounds and gain some endurance. But partly, I took it because I was hungry for a forest, for the sights and smells. The heat and shade. The sights and sounds of birds and things rustling around me. It’s an intense few moments of sensory nourishment. It takes me into another state of mind and my mind LIKES it. The part of this little hike that stuck with me the most wasn’t the sights. It wasn’t the effort of walking up and down hills or the sound of the little river the equally small bridge took me across. It was the smells. You heard me. The smells.

A woodland can have so many things going on at once. The heat drying the grasses. In the trail margins flowers and tall grasses blooming and seeding exuding redolence. All spicy and full bodied at the same time. Breezes from the moist and marshy forest interior wafting the smell of decomposing grasses, leaves and trees. The walkway itself dappled in moving patterns of sun and shade with the sneezy scent of dust. Of all those things it is the smells that reach the farthest into my memory. It is the smells that trigger memories of my childhood and teen years. Years when I had intense moments of awareness about what a delightful gift the wilder places in this world are. I remember.

I remember the smell of the swampy woods on the land next to my parents property. The old unhatched duck eggs with their sulphury assault on our noses when we would crack them. A slight mouse smell of the woody trailer interior as we looked out the windows while deer appeared and disappeared like gentle wraiths in the deep early morning fog. The woodsmoke as my uncle drove his car up to our trailer and his family piled out for hamburger and s’mores cooked over our fire ring. And at a certain time of the summer you could lay back in the high field grasses and be treated to the shy and gentle aroma of the tiny wild strawberries mixed with the bouquet of wildflowers. There were smells that welcomed you and there were smells that bid you farewell. The ones that welcomed you were often the wet woodlands as you rolled down the car window as Dad turned down the two track that took us to their property. The one’s that bid you adieu were often the same but with a helping of unwashed laundry Mom packed into the trunk along with the oddly pleasing “perfume” of a farmer’s little cattle herd just as you turned onto the shimmering asphalt county road that marked the beginning of our homeward journey.

I don’t have any important words of wisdom to impart here. I do have a couple of questions for you though. Do you remember what your first child’s diaper smelled like when you changed it for the very first time? What feelings does that elicit? Do you recall what your first glass of wine made you think of when you breathed its vapors in and took your first sip? Do you remember the occasion? Do you remember the perfume or cologne that your beloved had on when you had your first date or kiss? I won’t ask you what train of thought that might have started. How would you describe the sweet “smell” of success? Is it reminiscent of the last roses you stopped to take a smell of?

Monday, August 2, 2010

Happy Monday, August 2, 2010. Today is a gift to you. A gift to be received and a gift to give. Today is the first and last day of its kind. Sure, there will be other Monday, August 2nds. Yes, there will be other Mondays, period. But this Monday, this here and now, is unique. It is unique and different. And it is yours. What will you do with it. Will you ride the wave of moments until it is Tuesday, August 3, 2010. Will you dream some dreams today. Maybe, just maybe, you might execute on some dreams you’ve dreamt some days past. Whatever you decide to do with your August 2, 2010, don’t be a spectator. Don’t just sit by and watch it while and wend its way down the space-time continuum. Be active, purposeful, present, and aware. Like “they” say, “here today and gone tomorrow”

What’s In Your Baggage?

You often hear one person say of another that he or she “definitely has some baggage”.  Its a statement with a lot of negative connotations.  I have a problem with that.  Everyone has baggage.  Everyone carries things in it.  It’s your brain.  Your brain contains the sum of your experiences.  The sum of your memories, desires, hurts and pleasures.

Baggage is where you store stuff for your trip. The trip you started at birth and will end at death.  That “stuff” either affects your ability to enjoy the trip or makes each step a drudgery.  You can travel light or you can walk backwards to your various way-points dragging your stuff with both hands.  Baggage isn’t the issue.  The contents are.

The contents that weigh heaviest are the things in your life that are unresolved or unhealed.  We all struggle with hurt, betrayal, angers and jealousies.  Most people have taken a virtual knife through the back from family or erstwhile friends or colleagues at some point in their lives.  Scars unhealed, memories and emotions unresolved, are the heaviest items in our baggage.  It’s time to lighten the load.

It’s time to;

• forgive (a learned skill)
• ask for forgiveness
• take control of your life
• remember that ultimately only you can control or be responsible for how you deal with things you can’t control
• take counsel from a trustworthy friend or minister or counselor
• love the unlovable (even if the one you don’t love is the one who looks back at you from the mirror)
• resolve to not be satisfied dragging around all that heavy “stuff”
• do something about it.

I know that my perspective won’t change the way we use words. We often use a single word to encapsulate a lot of meaning.  But remember what is in our baggage is more important than what we carry it in.

What do you think?

Joseph Crockett (copyright July 20, 2010. All rights reserved)

Time to Check Your Brakes?

My little blue Subaru always feels a little sluggish during acceleration (compared to other 4 cylinder vehicles I have owned). I was clicking through some diagnostic thought processes when I asked myself about the parking brake. Now, you might think I would have already determined the status of the parking brake when I purchased the vehicle. I didn’t. When I bought the vehicle a couple of months ago I was more concerned with the front and rear brakes. When a vehicle has over 150 thousand miles on it you tend to be concerned about a lot of things. Parking brakes aren’t one of them.

Whether you travel in trains, planes or automobiles, your life depends on brakes. Brakes allow control. Brakes allow maneuverability. Most of all, they allow you to safely stop, then resume forward motion. They allow you to benefit from the velocity achieved through some engine of propulsion without being splattered against hard surfaces. But like practically everything in life, brakes can be misused, abused, and fail.

So, how are your brakes?  The question is applicable to individuals. It’s equally applicable to organizations. We all need brakes. We all need some mechanism or mechanisms built into our lives or corporate processes that allow control and maneuverability. Sometimes we need to apply those brakes so that we can change direction. Sometimes we need to slow down so that we can negotiate a sharp corner. Once in a while we need to come to a full or emergency stop. Then we let off the brakes, give “it” (whatever “it” is) the gas, and accelerate on our way to our chosen destination.

I have a number of braking systems built into my life. My faith, my wife, my friends, my conscience and my memories are just a few. Conversely, the same items are also my methods of propulsion. Funny how that works. Organizations usually have different mechanisms. They tend to rely on steering committees, profit, available capital, legal issues, planning, or an executive board. All of these systems whether personal or organizational can be a great benefit. But some words of caution are in order.

If you misuse those people, processes or things that comprise your braking system, they will wear out. At some point they will fail. If your brakes are not engineered properly for the size and type of the vehicle you are operating and the speed at which you want to operate, they will fail. You won’t be able to stop, maneuver, or control your forward progress. Neither will you be able to accelerate to or sustain, the speed you wish to travel at. The same goes for individuals and organizations. When is the last time you checked the brakes? Have you done any maintenance lately? Do you need to add some extra braking power? Are you aware that you might need to break some habits about braking?  Have you recently thought through the checks and balances that help move you progress in a forward direction and yet make sure you won’t crash?

The little blue Subaru works a little better now. I found that the parking brake was on just enough to impede the car’s rate of acceleration. That’s the good news. The bad news, the brake is now worn. The engine is probably worn a bit more than it should be even for the miles it has on it. What is done is done.  But in the future? I’m definitely going to pay more attention to the brakes.
_

Joseph Crockett (copyright July 20, 2010. All rights reserved)

A Passing Storm

Wind bends back the tips of trees like fingers combed through heads of hair,

Rain drips from the sky in stops and starts ‘tween the windy push and pulls of air,

Bluish bruises of an electric battle, emanate opaquely from behind the clouds, then quickly disappear with a rattled bang,

The wind & rain & noisy battles reach a brooding uneasy concord. The muted roars blend with steady rains,

The air is cleansed, the ground sips its drink, then it dawns on us that we’ve been pulled back from the stormy brink.

- Joe Crockett

An Old Blue Subaru

I had fun this weekend.  My wife and I did a lot of wandering around.  We like to wander.  We enjoy long drives where we just point the car in a direction and follow the radiator grille.  Those types of road trips were a major component in our courtship.  It is amazing how much easier it is to talk deeply when family aren’t busting in on your conversation or invading your privacy.
We bought ourselves a little 1996 Subaru wagon a couple of weeks ago.  That’s what we are wandering around in.  The impetus for this purchase was that we have to turn in our Buick Rendezvous at the end of the month and without a job I am no position to lease again.  A used car allows us to stop making payments and drop our insurance costs for a little while.  I have leased for 12 years straight.  A Chevrolet, a couple of Pontiacs and a Buick.  My favorite out of the bunch was our Maple Red Aztek.  It is so much easier to get and keep a job when you have something dependable to rely on.  For us, that was the main point of leasing. 
This little station wagon we bought is pretty neat (but it doesn’t look neat being a 14 year old Michigan car).  The exterior is rough and the interior is worn.  It has a lot of miles on it.  But is very usable.  It’s kind of meant to wander in.  I don’t worry if I am going to get a scratch in it that has to be fixed before turning it in.  Or if the upholstery needs some extra detailing in order to avoid a post-lease cleanup charge.  We can just toss an easel, some books, a cooler and whatever, into the back and see where the day takes us.  It’s relaxing.  It’s spontaneous.  It’s fun.
Long term unemployment is very disruptive.  You find yourself making changes and decisions that you normally would not.  You often find yourself at the mercy of situations that you wish very much to avoid.  But sometimes change is good.  Sometimes “disruptive” shakes up your perspective.  We don’t know the future.  We aren’t even sure about the next 3 or 4 months.  But our little wagon, our wandering around, and our sense of enjoyment about those two things were unlooked for and welcome.  Who knows where we will wander next.  If you look out the window one day and see an old blue Subaru station wagon drive by, wave!  It might just be us.

Counting My Days

I turned 49 today. 

It’s 49 years longer than my birth mother was expected to live.  I was troublesome even at day one.
43 years ago my birth mother died.
Approximately 39 years ago my new parents, the ones who loved me and my sibling enough to allow us to invade their lives and subject them to joys, pains and vagaries of raising an 11 year old and 9 year old, adopted us.  For them it was like going from 0 to 60 in the time it took to sign the adoption papers.
Today I have been married 24 years, 10 months and 19 days.  That is 24 years, 10 months and 19 days longer than I expected to be married.  I still can’t believe that she said “yes”. I often ask myself why anyone would say “yes”.
Today I have lived 6 years and 1 month longer than I had a right to.  God is gracious to me.  Kind and merciful. His mercies are everlasting.
Today my wife and I have owned our first house for 5 years, 9 months, 19 days after waiting 19 years.  I pray we will get to own the house until it is time to move to another.
Today I have been jobless for 10 months and 25 days. 

Today is important.  Well, to me it’s important.  There is not one day in a life that isn’t important.  Count your days.  Sure, the number will keep going up but so will the experiences, the opportunities to serve, the magic moments when you are used to bring good things into other’s lives.  And yes there is another number that goes up.  It’s the number of events you wish you could erase.  It’s the number of moments that you wish you could go back, rewind, and redo.  The number of words that you wish did not leave scars and bruises on your heart and mind or that you left on someone else’s.
You have to face up to those days, those hours and those moments.  You can’t escape them.  They are your days and your moments and your life.  Live them with intent.  Live them with purpose.  Live them to love.  Count your days.

I think I want to play

I think I want to play,
a day or two,
where earth is girdled round in heat,
and sun,
and daily rains,
and the cold really isn’t the daily rule.

Or better yet on heaven’s plain,
where the fiery,
wild heat,
of God’s love,
gently warms us through and through,
and cold hearts and ill winds,
will never be allowed to rule.