Summit Recap. Bob Mumford (2)

Still recapping recently completed Convergence Summit.  Pretty much doing a “Cliff Notes” version of the teaching we heard during the Summit.  For those who attended you can get all of the audio on the Trinity website HERE.  Click on the “online courses” tab and insert the user name and password you were given during the school.  If you don’t have it call me or the church office.

For information on Bob Mumford, see the post below this one.

Some bullet points from Bob:

• God uses All Things, with nothing excluded, in the inexorable and twisted battle against all that is eros driven(not agape driven) and compulsively repulsive. All is fair in love and war. This is both.
• Works of the flesh are, in Paul’s understanding are the absence of Agape and the failure to allow Christ to deliver us from all that is compulsively reflexive.
• The content of Agape are these seven attributes: Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, mercy, truth, faithful, forgiving. These 7 attributes are God’s own nature and when birthed in us produces Agape. Could it be these 7 are what it means to “put on Christ?”  and we “Fall short of His glory?” when we live without these 7. When we live otherwise is that “exchanging His glory…?”
• Kingdom living is honestly and relentlessly living for the things of Jesus and not ourselves.
• Living to get our own way produces self love not agape. Trying to get our own way produces mindless repetition, loveless, cheap sex, stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness. trinket gods, magic show religion, paranoid loneliness, cutthroat competition, all consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants, brutal temper, an impotence to love or be loved, divided homes and divided lives, small minded and lopsided pursuits, the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival, uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions, ugly parodies of community… (a paraphrase of Galatians 5:19-21)
• For the Kingdom citizen, we are called to change direction from the above to the seven attributes of Agape. The enemy is relentlessly determined to cause you to change direction again through spiritual warfare, temptation and ungoverned desire. Once we change direction we are capable of anything!
• When we choose to change direction and enter the Kingdom our minds, emotions, and will power are flooded with multiple reasons why we made the right choice.
• One hope. Christ in you, the hope of Glory. (Glory being the seven attributes of Agape)
• This Glory is seen in the two most expensive aspects of the Kingdom: Unqualified love and unlimited forgiveness.
• These two, when received, embraced immediately begin to set us free from the compulsive, reflexive self interest that dominates and controls the world system.
• Christ in you is the biblical hope of displaying Glory. Christ in you, is Agape incarnate (7 attributes) will displace the animal demands that is relentlessly forced upon us. We can behave like animals even while quoting Scripture and praying out loud in the church.
• Christ in us releases the fruit of the Kingdom (7 attributes that produce glory) all of which are understood as uncommon concern for others over self.
• Paul knew with certainty and writes the letter to the Galatians to tell us that returning to the Moses law would without question lead back to animal behavior. It is proven, repeatedly.
• The writer of Hebrews knew if they returned to the Old Covenant, they would lose the Kingdom as an inheritance and begin to respond, predictably, as people who are in need of competing, pushing, encroaching and seeking to gain favor.
• Kingdom hope reduces to these simple principles: Receive and follow Jesus. He will take you where your reflexive concerns will make you turn back or, alternatively, allow you to surrender, yield, break. He will, I promise, use All Things with nothing held back. If you follow, you will come to freedom and to the Father (John 8: 29-34)
• Begin to search out Unqualified Love. This becomes so expensive, that the only answer and possible survival is for us to allow the demands of His Love to press us into the reality of Christ. He alone, can impart that which is needed.
• As for courage to experience and give Unlimited Forgiveness. This, He asks us to do, irrespective of how unfair, expensive, or demanding it can be. This is the Cross of which He spoke and asked us to particpate in.
• These two Kingdom principles will again change the world and bring freedom to the entire creation. These principles are what brought the Roman Empire crashing down.
• Our nurturing Father intends to do it again. And the kingdoms of this world system become the Kingdoms of our God and of His Christ

 I haven’t done Bob justice.  He is a man of depth, but more he is a man who knows his days on earth are numbered (whose aren’t?) and so is determined to blow up as much of the religious system and institutional church as he can get to before he dies.  You know he loves you but you also know he doesn’t really care if he messes you up. You cannot listen to Bob without being motivated, unnerved, blessed, made angry, all at the same time.  You are either dead or emotionally “all in” when you listen to him.  There are no other options.  You don’t always like what you hear but your world will always be hammered in some way, that will be good for you.

Next time I will try to “cliff notes” Bob’s discussion of the Father as Kingdom and Mother as the institutional church or religious system and the drastic consequences of Mother being in charge!  Not sure when that will be but it will come and you will be challenged.

Ronnie, cattle, AI, reconciliation or restoration.

Sayre, Oklahoma

I had just sat down at the computer this morning to begin writing a post about the recently completed Convergence Summit when the phone rang and a man from the Trinity family was calling to invite me to ride along as he went to check on some cattle west of Sayre.  Honestly, when he called I didn’t recognize the voice so agreed to go not really knowing who I was going with.  Of course when he arrived it was Ronnie, a friendly man who I have been getting to know at church on Sunday and who, along with his wife Carol, had invited us to a Thanksgiving dinner, we were unable to attend. He is responsible for about 1500 head of cattle spread out on land all over two counties here in Western Oklahoma.

After the usual conversation about family and recent activities, we discussed the cattle business with a fairly lengthy discussion about AI, which stands for artificial insemination. I now know a lot more about cow cycles, bull sperm and utensils needed to AI a cow then I thought I wanted to know.  Ronnie has been involved in it all of his life, and truth be known, he is a self taught cow gynecologist.  It was really fun and the next step is to join him for a day of actually artificially inseminating a few cows!  Fun times here in Western Oklahoma.

But Ronnie is a lot more than just a cattle man.  He is a God-man.  He has been through some really tough days in his business life and his family life and the Father has poured some good stuff into this rancher’s heart and mind.  I asked a lot of questions, heard his story, and mined some really good truth from him and along the way I heard the Father speak clearly to me about some issues that have troubled me for 3 years.

Ronnie’s marriage broke up 10 years or so ago (he has since married a great lady named Carol) and Ronnie stood for that marriage for 7 years.  He had heard the Father tell him that his life and marriage would be restored and so he waited, prayed and passed test after test, believing he and his then wife would be reconciled.  Then his ex-wife remarried, devastating Ronnie and causing him to question whether he heard the Father right when he heard Him promise reconciliation.  Crying out to God he asked “did you not promise me that my marriage would be reconciled?”  The Father said, “I promised restoration not reconciliation, there is a difference.” 

Right then I knew I had heard something really important for my own life.  I have been believing the Father for full reconciliation of my ministry, even to the point of one day standing on the platform of the church left behind and preach again to the people I shared life with for nearly 17 years.  I believed we would one day put all the pain and loss behind us and bring us all back together again to do ministry.  But nothing in my experience or what I could see gave any hope to what I believed God had said.  

What I realized, as I sat conversing with Ronnie, is that I had, like he had, been expecting reconciliation when what God had promised was restoration.  I know there are various ways to define or view these two words but I realized the way I have been viewing them was like this:  I expected, wanted, hoped to be reconciled to the church I had served for so long and the relationships between us truly healed.  Reconciliation as I viewed it was horizontal renewing of broken relationship and returning to the place and position I had once held. 

But what the Father was promising was restoration, a vertical healing of my heart and the restoration of a lost calling to Kingdom leadership.  I was hoping for my lost ministry to be returned to me and a reconciliation of relationships, but what the Father had promised me was personal restoration to wholeness and then to ministry.

In fact restoration is what has taken place.  I am in a place of spiritual and emotional wholeness and serving in a place of ministry where I am trusted, valued and appreciated.  Reconciliation on the other hand has not happened. 

What the Father showed me in Ronnie’s pickup, in a cow pasture in Western Oklahoma this morning, was that restoration has taken place because He is the One in charge of that process, while reconciliation may or may not take place because that process is largely driven by human beings, who can choose it or not.  God does not force His will on people.  There are human decisions that drive reconciliation but restoration is a miracle of a loving Father.

After my visit with Ronnie I know a lot more about AI and a whole lot more about what the Father has been doing the last 3 years.  Interesting what you can learn out in a pasture full of steers and heifers. Thanks Ronnie!

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.59

Sayre, Oklahoma

When we got up this morning it was nearly 70 degrees and now at 1pm it is 50. A little cold front moving through. Guess we will be in this trend for a few days and then back to the beautiful Western Oklahoma weather, 75 and sunny.

Item one. The truck driving part of my life is about the same. I am still in a learning mode. I try to go with a friend as often as possible so I can drive more, load and unload frac tanks and get used to 4 wheelin’ in a semi. (see last meanderings for information on hauling frac tanks) I compared it to log truck driving in virgin forests in the NW. I think it is a fair comparison. It is amazing to me what an oil boom brings to an area. There are literally hundreds of heavy duty trucks, rigs of all kinds, pickups etc that are flying down narrow roads between here and the Texas Panhandle. There is an intersection in the little town of Sweetwater, Oklahoma that is just a four way stop in the middle of nowhere, where, between 7-9 in the morning I would bet, 1500-2000 vehicles pass through on there way to various oil/natural gas wells. I have never seen anything like it. Highway 6 is a very dangerous highway that runs from Oklahoma out into Texas over which much of this traffic flows. It reminds me a lot of Highway 3 in Washington between Shelton and Bremerton because of the amount of traffic and the many accidents, but it is far more isolated and has more big rig traffic driven by people going too fast with too little sleep. Good times!

Item two. The Convergence Summit, our intensive 10 day school which begins November 13, is fast coming together. We asked the Lord to give us 50 people and we are nearing 30. It will be fine with those numbers but I really think we are supposed to have 50. We have people coming from all over the west and midwest and the schedule is packed. We are doing the food service, providing housing, doing some of the teaching and managing the daily schedule. We have good help, of course, great help in fact, but the responsibility falls to us. We are thankful that we were called to this, because that assures the Spirit will carry us. Thanks for your prayers.

Item three. There are some beautiful pics of our beautiful granddaughter Sage Olivia Scandrett on Summer’s blog. I don’t believe there is anything more important you could do with your time than to go HERE and see this beautiful little girl. No, I am not prejudiced, as I think you will see when you go look at the pics, she is all that…

Item four. We are getting close, again, to our son Paul’s birthday. He will be 30 years old. I am sure I will write about it again on the day (24th) but it seems I have been missing that boy more lately. Being away from Traci and Brad and their families might be part of why I miss the little guy more, just more in the “missing” mode, these days. This is year 14 of this… losing a child journey, and while time does heal the gaping wound, there is still that scar, that missing. I wonder how our friends David and Lena are doing in year 15? How about Paul and Margie, who must be in about year 13 of the missing? Or Michael in year 5. Or maybe the new friend Linda made this weekend who is in year 3 or 4 of missing her daughter. How about Bill and Leslee in year 2? My friend Sumi is in year 1 and writes so honestly about the “missing”. You can find her latest HERE.

Item five. I found this burden lifting prayer HERE. May it unburden you as you pray it today.

God who offers abundance and plenty where we expect scarcity,
Provide for all those who are hungry and in need of food today.
God who lives amongst us, hear our prayer
God who promises security and safety when we expect turmoil,
Provide for all those who have lost jobs and are forced into homelessness today.
God who lives amongst us, hear our prayer
God who grants us rest in face of our fears and anxieties
Provide for all those who are anxious about finances today,
God who lives amongst us, hear our prayer
God who provides community for all who are alone and abandoned
Provide for all who feel abandoned and uncared for in these troubled times
God who lives amongst us, hear our prayer
God who is always in control even when nations shake and economies crumble,
Fill all who are empty and rescue those who are enslaved by debt
God who lives amongst us, hear our prayer

May the God who led the people of Israel through the desert
Guard and protect you this day

May the Christ who transforms the worst experiences into the best of God
Comfort and embrace you this day

May the Spirit who draws close and seals you with God’s love in times of need
Reach into your circumstances and fill you with the water of life.

The peace of the Creator of love be yours
The peace of the Christ of hope be yours
The peace of the Spirit of life be yours

The peace of all peace be yours this day and forever.

Amen

So, are you a Charismatic now? Part 2

Thought I might get a little more discussion on my post from yesterday. One of the bigger hit days in a while but only a couple of comments.  That isn’t really unusual. 

As I said yesterday, many of the words we use to describe what we are, are either words that have lost their true meaning or they are words that are loaded up with meaning that is either incorrect or misleading, and so if I give myself a label for where I am on the theological spectrum, right away people make assumptions and jump to conclusions.

There is no question I have drifted out of the stream I was raised in and served in for most of my life.  That stream has a lot of labels attached to it like, cecessionist, dispensationalist, Calvinist, fundamental, Baptist…  These are all good words and when used appropriately they mean some things that are important and valuable in a Kingdom way.  I have good friends and family who would claim many, if not all of those labels, and because I no longer claim those labels, they are pretty sure I have lost my way. 

In the stream I used to swim in the word Charismatic was not held in high esteem and for that and other reasons I don’t like the label because for many it communicates some things that are not true and communicates some other things that are misleading. I do believe that all of the gifts mentioned in the Bible (including the gift of tongues and subsequent baptisms in the Holy Spirit) are very much for today and I believe that our Father speaks to us in ways in addition to the written Word and that there is much greater freedom in the Spirit than I ever knew and that “without faith it is impossible to please Him…” and that the enemy hates us and therefore serious spiritual warfare is absolutely essential to walk out our spiritual journeys, among other things, but for many those beliefs are lumped, along with some other stuff into a stream called Pentecostal or Charismatic and there are things about those labels that leave me as cold as the dispensational label.

While I find myself much more attracted to the Charismatic stream today than I am the dispensational stream, (make that a lot more) there are some things about this stream that concern me, things that I began to notice as I watched the mess that evolved out of Florida and seem to find root in a lot of these places where a claim is made that the “anointing” has come. 

Here are a few concerns:

• Everything the Spirit does, must point to the Father and to the Son.  There is no hierarchy in the Trinity, They are not in competition with each other for attention.  While I love “getting blessed” the Spirit is not here to bless us, or to provide power encounters, He comes to bring us into relationship with the Father and with the Son.  Power and blessing are by-products of entering into relationship with the Father and to make us able to live and act like Jesus.
• Seeking to be blessed and having power encounters tend to send us on an unquenchable search for greater blessings and more power.  Again, I love to be in the center of things when the Spirit comes with power and I will never step out of the way of blessing but that is not all that “walking in the Spirit” is about.  I not only believe in the gifts of the Spirit I believe in the fruit of the Spirit.  What I love about my friends Dennis and Diane, who routinely see the power and the blessing of the Spirit, they are day by day walking in the fruit of the Spirit, especially humility, in relationship with people who know them well.  That’s the kind of place you will always find the anointing.
• One of the most important subjects I learned in seminary was called hermeneutics and I am teaching what I learned about basic, appropriate Bible interpretation to my students here in Convergence.  Why?  Because, while I think my old stream is too tight with interpretation, in general the Charismatic stream is too loose.  The Old Testament and New Testament are not in conflict, one interprets the other.  There is a place for spiritualizing the text and much truth is mined from seeing the Old in light of the New but there is a whole lot of junk that is run out there through over typing and over shadowing that violates every standard principle of Biblical interpretation.  Making the written Word say whatever you want it to is not a good thing.  The Holy Spirit really did intend to make a point with what He caused the writers to put on paper.
• I already touched on this one but I want to write it again, in a little different way.  The Spiritual journey was never intended to be about what we can get.  It has always been a faith that flows outward.  It is about what we can give not what we get.  The greatest weapon of our warfare is not power but weakness, weakness that flows out of giving to others, especially giving to the poor.  The best way I have seen to break the enemies hold over people is to give ourselves to them, in love, no matter how un-lovely, until the enemy has to let go.  Here at Trinity I have watched the enemy’s tactic of meth addiction broken simply through the power of love and acceptance far more than I have seen it broken through a power encounter. If it comes through a power encounter I will take it, but that is not the usual-love, acceptance and forgiveness is what breaks through most of the time.
• While there may be times when travelling to Florida, or Toronto, or wherever to get in on some special move of God is a good thing, it seems to me it should be a rare thing.  Mostly those things are celebrity deals where most of what is worshipped is a person or a happening.  I just don’t get the celebrity attraction, or the idea that the anointing is floating around out there until some person can call it down for a season.  As i said in the previous post.  The real work of the Spirit in healing, blessing, breaking, releasing, setting free, and other wonderful blessings, happens day to day in the place you have been sovereignly placed.  The anointing is on our house and we need to learn to live under it with our neighbors, the poor, the broken, the addicted and those who hate us, right here, right now.  Trying to find out where the anointing has fallen just doesn’t seem like God to me.  Humble walking it out with those who know us best does.

I love where I am today, even though I don’t love everything about it.  What I am contending for is reality, truth and expectation played out in my living room, our gatherings and in all my relationships.  There is no need to manufacture anything, twist anything or long for anything.  We just need to walk it out, everyday in relationship.  The anointing will fall.

So, are you a charismatic now?

When I was in Washington state a few weeks ago, someone close to me asked this question: So, are you a charismatic now?  My answer was something along the line of; if by charismatic you are asking if I believe all the gifts (charis) are for today, then the answer is yes.  If by charismatic you mean do I throw myself on the floor, knock people down, point my finger at people and yell BAM! BAM! Then the answer is probably-no.

If you read this blog much you probably already know where I stand on many of the issues that are often relegated to a stream called Charismatic or Pentacostal so I won’t write more here on the specifics of my convictions related to healing, prayer language, subsequent baptisms in the Holy Spirit.  Those subjects are covered in detail elsewhere in the archives of this blog. It is enough to say I am for anything authentic that arrives via the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  I want it all and I want a lot of it.

But frankly, I don’t really like any of the labels available for those of us who choose to follow Jesus and take our direction from the written Word and the revealed Word.  I don’t really want to be called a Christian, doesn’t really mean anything.  I already know what you think I am if I call myself a charismatic, so that label doesn’t work either.  Fundamentalist, well, don’t even go there, even though almost all of us agree on most fundamentals of the faith.  Baptist, Methodist, Evangelical Free, Presbyterian, Assembly of God, Foursquare, I have good friends and family in all of those denominations but I would rather not be labeled any of those.

The Church is in trouble.  Sure there are some good groups meeting out there and of course, the church you attend is really good but to most of the world church people are crazy, gun toting, homosexual hating, money grubbing, empty headed rascals who abuse women, claim healings and miracles that never happened to increase the offering and other sordid and assorted junk.  Of course if the culture thinks these things about the church, they are probably correct to one degree or another.

Events of the last few months in Florida and other places has raised my concern about these issues to a higher level than normal.  Some of us just don’t want to claim any of the labels preferring to do what we are called to do in relative obscurity so as to impact the most in the most relevant and Kingdom way.

I am afraid, terrified actually that unless some very hard changes take place in our faith communities, whatever you call them, we are going to be totally and completely irrelevant within 5 years.

What follows are a few places to start making changes, whatever label you carry. 

 We must reclaim…

• The priesthood of all believers.  The “church” at it’s very best is a collection of brothers and sisters bound together in a Family of peers.  Any other view than that creates a hierarchy of gifts and levels of leadership that distort the reality that we all have equal access and equal authority in this Family.  While I agree with the Apostle Paul that we need more Fathers and less teachers, just like in the natural family the Spiritual family needs Fathers and Mothers who know that nurturing, affirming, loving, enabling, caring… always gets the job done quicker than anything else. The whole concept of ruling elders is bogus and creates the environment that has destroyed our credibility in the world. 

Hierarchy is always damaging to relationships because it removes the beauty of mutual submission and service which God intends for our relationships. To define our Family relationships through the lens of mutuality rather than by government and hierarchy would change so much of what is wrong with church as we know it today.

We must reclaim…

• The headship of Jesus.  Apostolic leadership of the kind we see so much of today, undermines and usurps the headship and authority of Jesus.  While there are those who seem to want to set themselves up as national and international spokesmen for the rest of us, there is no such assignment in the Family.  Overseeing (a much more accurate and pleasant term than ruling (eldering) always and only occurs within relationships between brothers and sisters in a Family setting.

I am fully on board with the five-fold ministry concept the Apostle Paul gave us in the Ephesian letter but it too is designed to be a grassroots leadership.  Even those apostles, prophets, teachers who travel to equip groups in other locations there must be an authentic, ongoing relationship to a local community of believers with the goal always the release and empowerment of that Family.  Anyone who claims some sort of Apostolic authority abuses it when his or her goal is anything other than Kingdom advancement through relationship. 

We must reclaim…

• Family as the incarnational expression of the life of Jesus in a local setting.  Where is the outpouring now?  Upon whom has the anointing come?  Let’s go to Florida and get in on that, or North Carolina, or Toronto, or wherever the latest and greatest is ongoing.  If Lakeland taught us anything, it taught us that ministry removed from a local context of Family relationships is not grounded in reality and can easily be faked and completely devoid of the Spirit. 

I know when the Spirit moves here and I know when the visible expressions of the Spirit are real because I know the people, I live day today with those who invite us into the Presence.  The purpose of living in a Family relationship that is authentic, open, honest, consistent, day to day is so that the expression of gifts is not centered in one man or woman but flows from the Spirit into the House where it is exercised in the context of relationship.  The practice of spiritual gifts is not a platform event. Rather than the authority of the pulpit or platform, the authority of the Spirit is demonstrated and can be witnessed in the character of the person and the evidence of the fruit of the spirit in the life of not only the person leading the gathering but those who are relating to the needy out of their own authentic and obvious need.  Enough already of the travelling “power” preacher who climbs the platform stairs to strut his or her stuff.

Why is there such a pursuit of special events, special places, and special ministry? Why do we run here and there trying to get in on “some of that”? In the quest for the next great movement, outpouring, revival, or happening, an appreciation for the normal christian life is lost. The unrelenting search for the extraordinary fosters a disdain for the ordinary. There is little or no glamor in the day to day walking it out with brothers and sisters but there is real power, authenticity, and credibility.

We must reclaim..

• Giving to the poor as the test of authenticity.  The abuse of the tithing principles by many Christian ministries and the “sowing the seed” concept that one ups tithing is disgusting if not downright larceny.  The way to decide if a ministry deserves your support is the degree to which that ministry is committed to the poor.  It is a disgrace the way many ministries use spiritualizing techniques and bogus calls for cash to fleece people who live their spiritual lives outside of relationship.  Don’t give money to anyone who does not have a proven record of helping the poor.  Not just talk but real, verifiable ministry to the poor.  If fact I question whether you aught to give any money to any ministry you are not in significant relationship with.  The abuse of money in christian circles is horrible.

We must reclaim…

• The truth that the next outpouring and the next and the next will take place in…  I am pretty sure that the next great revival will not occur very far from my little place in Western Oklahoma and your little spot in Wisconsin, Washington, Texas, California… It will come in the process of sharing life together, praying for one another, encouraging one another, living the spiritual life together, and learning the incredibly abundant potential of the power of the Holy Spirit in the middle of a Family committed to one another and committed not to some man or woman but to the preeminence of Jesus Christ.

The next revival will occur because we have understood the heart of the Father for all of His creation and begin to authentically express His love in our communities, sharing both our spiritual gifts and our possessions with those who don’t yet know Jesus. I am fast coming to the conclusion that the only way to verify the authenticity of signs, wonders, and miracles as a testimony to Christ and His work of redemption and restoration is when it takes place, not half a continent away but in the place I have been called to live.

I really don’t know what label to throw on myself these days.  I don’t like any of them, except one–FAMILY. 

There I finally got that off my chest. I would love to have some good discussion on this stuff.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.57

Sayre, OK

No it is not Monday and yes I am running behind.  The best of intentions and all that… There is something about this blogging deal, that if you write everyday or nearly everyday you do better than if you are just hit and miss.  It seems, to me a little like preaching, preaching all the time is easier than just preaching now and again, because there is always something peculating in your brain.  Seems the less I write or preach the less I have to say.  Does that make sense?

Item one.  The weather here in Western Oklahoma is just terrific!  Highs in the low 80′s and lows in the mid 50′s.  This may be the best weather anywhere in the country but nobody I know moves here for the weather or comes here for vacation.  It really is beautiful out here.  Being back with this good Family is always so refreshing.  They are accepting, glad to have us here and make us feel as if we are the most important link in the chain, while at the same time making everyone else feel the same way.  It is a “peaceful, easy feeling…”  I am still trying to figure out how to best use my time and learning to roll with the way things are done here.  This is a very laid back, “it will get done when it gets done,” kind of approach to life and work.  Sure there are deadlines and we meet most of them but that intense, driven, franetic pace I have experienced elsewhere is not here.  It is frustrating sometimes but it is good for me to learn to take life as it comes, not forcing things or timetables but enjoying the moment with people who I care about and care about me.  It just takes a little getting used to every time we get back in here.

Item two. Found a fun site last night.  It is called the World Names Profiler.  You put in your surname (that’s your last name boys) and then see where people with that surname are congregated all over the world.  The largest concentration of Scandretts is in New Zealand where there are 27.9 Scandretts per million in population.  There are only 1.41 per million in the USA but Brad and Summer are working on that.  You can find the site here.

Item three. I haven’t driven a truck since I graduated from truck driving school and got my CDL until yesterday!  I went out to the yard where our truck is parked when it is in town and drove one of the other trucks.  The truck I drove has it’s best miles way behind it but none the less, I got behind the wheel and soloed for the first time.  That is I drove a semi tractor by myself for the very first time!  After I figured out the shift pattern, things went pretty well.  Our Peterbilt is at the yard today, so I am going to go and drive it.  I am pretty excited about it.  Out here in Western Oklahoma the roads are straight, you can see forever and there is almost no traffic.  Perfect place for me to get comfortable. Did I say I was pretty stoked about driving our truck!

Item four.  Here is another post from Stuff Christians Like.  Find it here.  If you have gone to church most of your life, like I have or have watched the way Christians do “stuff” then you will find this blog a good laugh.  There is a name for those of us who have grown up in church-we are GUBAs, Growing Up Born Again.  Not sure it is totally a good thing to be a GUBA but there are ways to escape it’s clutches and just be a follower of Jesus and one of those ways is to read Stuff Christians Like and laugh at yourself a little.  (read the comments too, they are really good.)

Item five. I started this post writing about the great weather and the beauty of Western Oklahoma and so will conclude it with today’s Nouwen devo.  Trust me, it fits: How do we live in creation? Do we relate to it as a place full of “things” we can use for whatever need we want to fulfill and whatever goal we wish to accomplish? Or do we see creation first of all as a sacramental reality, a sacred space where God reveals to us the immense beauty of the Divine?  As long as we only use creation, we cannot recognise its sacredness because we are approaching it as if we are its owners. But when we relate to all that surrounds us as created by the same God who created us and as the place where God appears to us and calls us to worship and adoration, then we are able to recognise the sacred quality of all God’s handiwork. 

Have a great week and stay in touch!  I am going to get in a groove, I really am.

Long time gone.

Sayre, Oklahoma

Anyone who knows me well, knows that for almost every word or idea, I can come up with a song with that word or idea in it.  For example: we were driving along and saw a street sign with the name Loretta on it and what pops into my head?  The Beatle song “Get Back” that contains this line; Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman…  Then there was the conversation yesterday where someone said something about there being a “harvest moon” last night and I thought …shine on, shine on harvest moon up in the sky…  I am nothing if not an intergenerational song rememberer.

So today as I thought about getting back into the groove of blogging, I thought about how long I had been gone from writing and into my head pops the title of this blog “Long time gone” , the CSNY song of my youth.  (That’s Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to the uninitiated.  Perhaps the greatest band in history.  All great song writers and musicians in their own right but as a group, amazing.)  It has been …along time comin’ and (it was a) long time gone.  Love that song.

But with this post I am back.  I have pretty much taken the summer off even though I managed to meander most of the time and returning to Sayre I hope will put me in a “writing state of mind”.  (New York State of Mind-Billy Joel)

So what is on tap for the next few weeks?  More on the Kingdom.  I think I am on #17?  I want to answer a question I was asked while in Washington- “So are you a charismatic now?”  I also want to keep writing about some of the big issues I think we face as a country, as believers and as the Family.  I hope to bring back the Friday Funny so if you have heard any good ones lately, send them my way.  Monday morning meanderings will still be posted, mainly because it is a way to keep up with our family and friends who seem to be interested in what we are up to. There will be some preaching, some teaching, some ranting and all, I hope done with honesty and clarity.  One new idea I am thinking about is to invite various people I know to be guest bloggers on the Juniper View.  If you want in on that let me know and if you have suggestions for topics I am open to that as well.

The key to blogging and developing a blogging audience is consistent writing on interesting topics, especially “controversial” topics.  Obviously being a long time gone has lost some of the core followers of the Juniper View but I hope it won’t take long to get you back.  Thanks for reading.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.56

Grapeview, Washington

This will no doubt be the last post from Grapeview.  We are so appreciative of Bill and Leslee sharing their driveway with us for the last 2 months.  The time has been full. So full that we have not really spent the kind of time we would have liked with friends in the area.  Truck driving school took a month, Sage Olivia’s birth was the main focus for several days and just getting quality time with our children and grand children was a high priority.  There has been little down time, which was not what we expected, but we have really had some good time with our family.  Linda already has her tickets purchased for a return trip mid October.  Not sure when I will return.  I apologize to all of you who we didn’t get to see, but that does not lessen our love for you and our gratefulness for you being in our lives.

Item one.  So we will pull out of here Thursday morning and frankly, at this point, I do not know what our route back to Oklahoma will be.  We have several options and I guess will choose them as we go.  Traci and family are going to Disneyland tomorrow for a week.  I will drive them to the airport, Linda will go up and spend the day with Summer, Canyon and Sage. I will join them later in the day.  Wednesday will be spent getting things ready to roll.  It will be hard to leave our ever growing family here, but I am anticipating some great days with our family in OK.

Item two.  While we were here we made an offer on a house that is in the process of foreclosure.  While I feel sympathy for the folks who are losing this house and have major concerns, as we all do for the housing market, it is a great time to buy real estate.  This house will be our “residence,” as in our physical address but will only be there a small part of the year, at least for the foreseeable future.  Everything we can do is done, related to the property, we have the loan in place, renters ready to move in and we are just waiting for the bank that owns the property to get to our deal and agree to the terms we have offered.  I am optimistic it will all come together and be a good investment for us, long term.

Item three.  Brad has some great posts on his blog about his new daughter and other interesting writing.  He hasn’t posted in a long time but with time home caring for Summer and his little family he has posted some good stuff including this one featuring a poem by my Dad and this one on the prez election. Check it out.

Item four. It seems I learn more slowly as I get older but the things I am learning seem to be more important.  The things I used to learn seemed to be more about having something to give to others, now they are more about just living life so as to please the Father.  Here are a couple of simple things I seem to be called to learn these days: I can not provide for others, (no matter how much I love the “others”) that which God alone can provide.  Happiness, wholeness, completeness, contentment are all things I long to give to those around me but I can’t.  Another thing I am learning is that forgiveness may be the most important of all actions we are responsible for in life.  Contentment, wholeness, happiness, completeness, not to mention freedom, hope, security, peace all seem to flow out of a commitment to forgive at all levels of relationships. Simple but important stuff.

Item five. Ever wonder if God really does forgive the junk you have done in the past?  Prodigal John has a good word on this subject.  Read it here.  If you are a fan of Washington Husky football, Saturday night in Eugene had to be really painful.  Good analysis of what happened can be found here.  For the view from Duckville look here.  Here is one that might make you think about why we are so fascinated by events like Hurricane Gustav.  Find it here.  A young friend and reader has a neat quote on her blog that caught my attention: People may forget what you said, people may forget what you did, but…they will never forget how you made them feel.

I will leave you with that thought and will see you down the road.

Bewildering.

Grapeview, Washington

Over the past 3 years or so, though not so much lately, I have been bewildered by the circumstances around my life and others close to me.  Bewildering is a word that fit well those days and a word that describes how others around me are feeling.  Bewildering means, to lead into perplexity or confusion, as for want of a plain path.  Things aren’t fitting as we think they should, things are confusing, the path is not plain.

The last few days I have spent some time with a good friend and others close to me who are bewildered by the events in their lives that just are not coming together in the way they thought they would.  One person has worked for nearly a decade to do what they believed God had clearly called them to, so clear was the call, they can tell you the exact place they were when they heard it, yet it just isn’t working.  Another believed they were called to do something, somewhat out of the ordinary, that just didn’t work at all, in fact the fall out from the decision has been devastating.  Both are bewildered, confused, perplexed and wanting desperately to find the “plain path”.

Before I go on, let me be clear.  There are natural consequences to all choices.  Bad choices always lead to bad consequences.  The law of sowing and reaping always works.  Sow poorly and you reap poorly.  I made some bad choices and I reaped the consequences of those choices.  Generally speaking, the Father seldom changes the natural order of sowing and reaping. The friends I mentioned understand they haven’t always made good decisions and they understand that some of the bewilderment they feel is flowing from those poor decisions.

But not all of it.  Why is it that the things we are sure we hear the Father say don’t always work out?  Why, when we make good choices, choices to help others, invest in something that we know will advance the Kingdom that it often doesn’t work out and we are left bewildered and frustrated?

This morning I read a devotional from Oswald Chambers and found it to be a satisfactory answer to the question of why we are often bewildered.

Here is what he writes:God called Jesus Christ to what seemed unmitigated disaster. Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death; He led every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. Jesus Christ’s life was an absolute failure from every standpoint but God’s. But what seemed failure from man’s standpoint was a tremendous triumph from God’s, because God’s purpose is never the same as man’s purpose.

There comes the bewildering call of God in our lives also. The call of God can never be understood absolutely or explained externally. The call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, because His call is to be His friend to accomplish His own purposes.  Our real test is to believe that God knows what He is after.The things that happen do not happen by chance, they happen entirely in the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His purposes.

If we are in fellowship and oneness with God and recognize that He is taking us into His purposes, we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are. As we go on in the Christian life it gets simpler, because we are less inclined to say – I wonder why God allowed this or that? And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life and that God is divinely shapeing us into oneness with that purpose. A Christian is one who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God, and not his own abilities. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which ought to characterize the children of God.

My goal these days is to make my plans but always with the recognition that I am most calm and relaxed when I do not hold my purposes too tightly, knowing that my Father is “divinely shaping me into oneness with His purpose”.  

I still am bewildered at times but I am slowly learning to recognize that God is not so much allowing hard things in my life, or thwarting my dreams, as He is leading me into the fulfillment of His purposes, not just for my good, but for His Kingdom and His glory.

Are you bewildered?  Does this help?  Your comments in agreement or disagreement are greatly appreciated.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.52

Grapeview, WA

Sitting here in the trailer doing some schedule work for Convergence, our ministry school in Oklahoma, working on a message for Sunday morning and listening to Willie’s Place on XM radio (satellite radio).  This is mostly honky tonk music featuring Willie, Hank, Merle, Ray, George and others.  Kind of makes me homesick for our other home in Oklahoma. 

Item one.  Canyon Paul’s #2 birthday was yesterday and Brad and Summer had a party for him on Saturday.  It was fun to watch him and all his little friends, including his 3 cousins interact (actually 6 cousins but I refer to the ones related to me). There were lots of young couples with young children many of whom we have known since they were little.  Hard to believe CP is already 2.  Sure glad we are here to help celebrate.

Item two. The great focus of my current life, truck driving school is coming to close and none too soon.  I am pretty tired of the schedule and the intensity of it all.  I think I am getting it, finally.  I have struggled to pick up the shifting and down shifting using rpm’s and speed.  I think I almost have the hang of it but this week will tell.  Drove over 100 miles on the freeway Friday and that was fun.  Going 60 mph down a very busy freeway in an 18 wheeler was a little surreal.  All the pre-trip, driving and skill tests are this week, both for the school and the DOL.  I really don’t care about the school certificate, though someday I might need to drive for a big company that requires it, but I do want the Class A CDL.  My test with the DOL is Friday at 2:30, so if you think about it, pray. 

While this has been a lot more than I bargained for, it had been good for me, no matter what happens.  I know a lot of things I didn’t know before, have a greater respect for truck drivers and will be better able to help run our little trucking company.  Hard to believe we are in the trucking business, but we are, and it is producing a really nice income, without having to do too much.  It really is the favor of our Father on us.  I plan to finish the course, do the best I can on the tests and leave the rest in the hands of my Papa.  Thanks for your prayers.

Item three.  Some of you must remember the bumper stickers and bracelets that many Christians were displaying a few years back with these words:  What would Jesus do or said acronimically (is that a word?) WWJD.  Never wore it myself but the concept has merit.  I saw a really funny bumper sticker as I was flying down the highway in my 18 wheeled chariot that was a take off on the What would Jesus do.  It said “What would Scooby do?”  I laughed out loud and my instructor woke up and asked me what was so funny.  There was just no way to tell him.  What would Scooby do?

Item four.  This is funny too.  One of my top five favorite blogs is Stuff Christians Like and recently it asked the question “Jessica Simpson, Should we take her back?”  Read it, it really is funny, in a weird christian sort of way, which is what this blog is about-weird stuff Christians do.  Find it here.

Item five.  Item five comes via the Internetmonk and worth your time to read.  I get so weary of the whole theological debate that really proves nothing except providing a way to not like other Family members.  Do we feel better about ourselves when we hold a position so strongly that we will not worship with those who don’t or will not let our young adults gather with those who do not share our particular theological bent?  I just don’t get it anymore.  While I am not in tune with this writer’s theology, he gets it when it comes to the importance of Family over theology.  Read it here.

Item six. Enjoyed another opportunity to preach today and again was able to see old friends who showed up to say hello.  The audience was responsive, we laughed some, worshiped some and learned some things about the Father’s love for us.  Good times.

Have a great week and thanks for reading the Juniper Tree.  I have a really nice readership that seems to like checking back regularly.  In another week I plan to get back to more writing.