Finding Meaning

I'm reading the latest Ravi Zacharius book, "Dissappointment With God". In the personal interview in the back of the book he comments,

"Ultimately, meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain but from being weary of pleasure. Now if this is true, pain and suffering are not the problem. The problem is finding meaning in a world in which so much is available and yet where true meaning is still so difficult to find."

Interestingly, in the mail came my recently new subscription to Psychology Today. This month's edition has an articale on the failed American Dream. It sites a survey from the "World Values and General Social Survey on the National Opinion Research Center". They found that amidst the successful headlong pursuit of fat incomes, 2 kids, 2 car garages (occupied), 2 master bathroom, etc. equalling satisfied adulthood....in acuality, the equation doesn't add up. The survey showed that North Americans have become more miserable over the last 1/2 century.

I don't believe P.T.'s analysis of the cause and solution of this mis-fired equation are correct as they typically don't leave any room for God into the equation. Furthermore, I find Ravi's quote interesting. It was made more as a comment on the problem many religious sceptics have concerning the problem of rectifying a good God with all the obvious pain in the world.

Perhaps we're looking at this issue wrongly. People in areas of the world that suffer the most tend to be the most religious. They don't seem to be blaming God for pain. Why would those in far less painful countries do so?

Maybe those in less developed countries, many of whom confront more harsh living than us westerners would, don't put their hope in the false materialistic promises of the so called North American dream. Behavioral researchers say much of the discontent in the west seems linked to the unrealistic expectations of this American Dream.

In the midst of all this, we might be wise to go back to the simple words of Jesus.

"These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full." John 15:5

I Lost in Jeopardy....Baby

(The above title is to be sung to the tune of "Our love's in Jeopardy..." If you're a classic rocker, you'll know the tune)

So I'm watching Jeopardy last night and man was I ever impressed with the contestants. They were rattling off British authors, spouses and children of movie and TV stars and all kinds of obscure trivia....until they asked to complete this Bible verse:

"Lo though I walk through the..."

If you recognize it, it's the 23rd Psalm. One of the most (formerly) well known verses in the Bible. I was amazed all 3 contestants were absolutely stumped. In many cases they at least take a stab at it. However they couldn't even get into the ballpark to make a wild guess.

Is that the state of Bible literacy these days? I wonder how many Christians can get it? I"ll bet they could've gotten the verse, "Judge not lest..."

No wonder our world seems so lost and aimless these days. In another Psalm, the same guy that wrote our 23rd "mystery" Psalm also wrote, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light onto my path". No light or lamp can lead one to stumbling around in the dark!!

Wisdom When You Need It

Yesterday while driving home from my weekly monday b-fast date with my 2 daughters a really cool though popped into my head. As the chaplain for the Nat'l sport centre in Calgary, for some time I'd been pondering what faith based services have to offer that's different from sport psychs and other centre offerings. The thought I had was, "A coach develops the body, the sport psychologist the head, but a chaplain...the heart."

As I pondered this, I realized how significant this thought was. True drive and motivation can only come from out of the heart. Superficial goals like medals, teams, etc. have limited benefit to motivation, but a true heart felt drive can effectively move an athlete beyond comfort zones into new areas of success.

A sport psychologist can help with various mental coping systems (relaxation, visualization, etc.), but how many have ever asked, "why are you doing what you're doing?" If you think about it it's a pretty important question! All the hours, sacrifices and effort....and you've never even pondered why?

When you discover why, hopefully it'll be a compelling enought reason to produce a true fire within. One that gives meaning and purpse to every workout and race. Granted..you may not like what you see. It could be vanity and selfishness. It could be a weak self concept that is in a desperate search for love and acceptance. Maybe the question "why?" never gets asked because of what might truly be found deep down there.

A Christian athlete will hopefully find their meaning...the answer to "why?" in their love and gratitude for their Saviour. When you realize it's about Him, not yourself. Bringing attention to Him and not yourself...it's at this point you've entered into a whole new realm of heart felt purpose and meaning.

Of course it's easy to say this...and many athletes may try to include it in their playbook either because they think it's the right thing to do, or it'll help them perform better. But to truly tap into this higher reason for living and competing the most important training activity you can do is spend time with God, developing a love relationship. From there the true purpose will flow out of the heart and into a passionate performance.

Interestingly, later that day I found myself riding alongside 4 friends as they bike tripped from Calgary to L.A. One of them an old friend, one an aquiantence and 2 others new. One was a retired bobsled Olympian (as were the other 2). She asked me what I'd tell her if we'd met earlier in her career. What would I tell her about the chaplaincy and why it's there. No brainer now...God already told me that morning what I was suppossed to say-just didn't know to whom, but now I did. We're there for the heart!

Recently I read an interesting article on the merits of small church. It was interesting as the author shared that despite the trend the last several years towards mega-churches, he contended (and put forth some really good research findings) that small churches are better positioned to reach out to the 21^st century mind.

Here’s some reasons:

1) Authenticity. This trait has become an important value. In a best selling book, the secular authors claim that people more and more today are buying products and services based not on hi-quality and value, but increasingly on how real or fake they perceive the offerings. One church study found that the number one reason people returned to churches after an initial visit is because they think the church is "authentic"...(Pastor’s preaching was #2..... church programs were only 5% of the reason). Other research turned up that the most effective churches reaching out to young people in the 20's and 30's had authenticity as one of their highest values. This was true in 100% of these churches.

Large churches often struggle with authenticity and genuiness simply because their size necessitate that they be run like a business. Worship and programs become professionalized and struggle to function like a family (with a family’s blessings and short comings!). This doesn't mean that they can't be genuine, but it's hard for them.

2) Focused. Face it...life is getting more and more complicated. Because of this people may yearn for more focus and intention in their church experience. Sure, large churches have a plethora of programs and some people are attracted to this, but increasingly I’m meeting people who are burned out on church. There were so many ministries and programs demanding attention in their church that they had no time for community involvement or finding personal emotional space. Small churches need to find just a few programs to which they can be truly committed and get everyone on board. In doing so everyone can get involved and really take ownership as they work together and provide a quality program. The energy, sense of mission and momentum generated by this is exciting and contagious!

More coming in the next post!

THE MOST TRUSTED PEOPLE IIN CANADA

This week a popular Canadian magazine revealed the 50 mosts trusted people in Canada. At the top of the list was David Suzuki. Now, I love his show, "The Nature of Things". It highlights the wonders of God's creation. Of course Mr Suzuki's evolutionary bias never mentions the Creator that real scientists like Einstein believed in. Interestingly, years ago I read a piece by the first phd. in climatology in Canada. You know, the guys that actually study the climate for their life's work....the people that really understand what's going on with the climate. Scientists that tell us that global warming peaked in 1998 and it's been getting cooler ever since. The people that don't fudge the data (a.l.a. United Nations) for their own nefarious purposes. He claimed that Suzuki hired a full time spin meister to present misleading climate data to Canadians with the purpose of perpetuating the global warming myth that provides the Suzuki foundation with loads of research cash and grants. He off handedly accused Suzuki of exploiting the environment more than oil companies.

So, this is the most trusted man in Canada. Did any religious or spiritual figures make the list? Nope. Wayne Gretzky came in a #14. I like Wayne. Even met him in the Nagano Olympics in '98. He seemed like a decent guy. But still I wonder...how come no religious figures? I guess too many clergy sex scandals along with the marginalizing of God in our society.

So who in Canadian society lights the path for us? Who shows us a higher road to live our lives on? 2000 years ago Jesus said the He was the light of the world and that whowever follows him will not walk in darkness. I can't help but believe that the answers for our world are in that light. And it sure seems like a lot of people have been walking in the dark groping around, looking for something.

Years ago Canadian music icon Neil Young sang, "I don't know who trust anymore, there's a shadow running through my veins like a beggar going from door to door."

Maybe God guys have something to say after all. Perhaps this light that Jesus talked about can be explained by pastors. Perhaps we should take a chance and trust them to bring us to this light. It couldn't be any darker around here anyway.

An Encouraging Pastor

After 18 years in para-church ministry, with a heavy emphasis on evangelism and discipleship I began a pastor position in my mountain community. One of the questions that I’d often ask myself was, "What kind of church are we going to be?" A seeker church, a bible teaching church, an outreach oriented church? The parallel question I really had to ask of myself was, "what kind of pastor am I going to be?" A hell-fire-brimstone preacher, grand fatherly affirming pastor, truth evading-but culturally relevant preacher, etc. You can imagine many categories and probably know of popular examples of each.

In the midst of this self evaluation a wise friend with whom I’d pastored said, "go with your strengths." During our conversation I’d already revealed to him what kind of preacher/pastor I wanted to be. But an additional driving desire burned within me.....to be an encouraging pastor. The greek word for encouragement is para-kaleo....literally meaning to call one alongside. That’s a great description of what a pastor...an encouraging pastor, should be doing. Calling people alongside. Of course this presumes that as a spiritual leader you’re already close to God, and as such you are then calling others alongside the both of you.

What does this look like? I thought about this long and hard, as this was something I really wanted to be....an encourager both in my personal interactions and the flavor of my Bible messages. I think it means to share the revealed truths from God in His Word, the Bible....but to do it in a way that draw people into a desire to obey and a hopeful expectation that they are capable of obeying. To hear examples of faith in action and think and trust that they too, with God’s empowerment could have similar faith and perform similar actions.

Remember when Jesus said in John 14, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater {works} than these he will do; because I go to the Father."? Wow! What a promise! What a concept! I realized that Jesus was an encouraging pastor! He was telling His guys that with God’s power-assistance they were going to do more than even the Son of God Himself! Sometimes when we dream things all we need is someone to come alongside us and believe in that dream for us. To say, "You can do it, I believe in you." How many people have gone on to fulfill great things simply because one person said, "I believe in you."?

This is a great power that each of us possess. The power of encouragement. How many people have you been the person that said, "I believe in you. You can do it."? Do you have someone in your life that regularly tells you this? If not, find someone. If you can’t, at least be that person for someone else and get the chain going.

So that’s it. That’s the kind of person.....and pastor I want to be....an encouraging one. With every message I prepare I want to ask myself if I’m presenting these Godly truths in a way that people will feel encouraged and hopeful.

"Lord, thank you for the gift of encouragement that even your Son modeled to us during His time on earth. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that wisely leads us in dispensing these words. Amen"

Horticulture in the Millenium

Last week as we ended our family summer vacation we drove homeward from Southern California back to our cool mountain home in Canmore Alberta. As we motored along I-5 streaming past mile upon mile of fruit and nut orchards I found myself in wonder and amazement. My course of study while at the University of MN was horticulture. Seeing these absolutely spotless orchards with absolutely no cluttering weeds on the ground (the opposite of my families apple orchard in MN) made me daydream somewhat longingly at what my life would have been like had I continued on a horticultural path.

It wasn’t until a few days later that I had an interesting realization. It came as we were watching Lindsey Lohan’s first movie, The Parent Trap, which setting took place in one of these Northern California orchards. As I longingly looked at the beautiful vineyards on the screen I remembered what I’d recently been reading about the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. That the Earth would grow tremendous crops. We’d seemingly all be capable gardeners and because the soil would produce such a bounty, we’d easily be able to be self sufficient in growing our own food. So this means that even though my career choice went from harvesting fruit to harvesting souls via ministry...my days as a horticulturist most certainly aren’t over! It was also good news to know how easily the crops would grow. The last couple of years I’ve been a little embarrassed to let people know what my undergrad degree was in if they knew how brutal the turf in my small front yard looked!

There are some other interesting features about this 1000 year reign that comes immediately after the 7 year tribulation period. One of them is that scripture seems to indicate that the final earthquake of the tribulation levels all the mountains. That and the probable eradication of winter would surely end our skiing! Another is that the animals all live peacefully together...which likely means that they revert to an all plant diet as in the days before the flood. Does this mean that humans also will be vegetarians?

There are many fascinating aspects to this time, but the best for sure is that Jesus will be physically present and will be our ruler. Finally...face to face with our Saviour!!!