The measure of any society is how it treats it’s weakest element - the widows, the orphans and the strangers in the land. - Sam Slovick (for Good magazine)

Someone once described walking as the process of falling forward, catching yourself, and doing it again. Our hair grows out, we cut it. Our car slowly (or quickly if you have an SUV) runs out of gas, and we must fill it up again. We work through the day and finally lay down at night to go to sleep - to restore our energy. We eat only to burn off what we ate in activity. There’s a constant wave to life - a cyclical up and down. Should we then be surprised when we fall into sin? Should we mourn the fact we’re no longer “on top of the mountain”, but we’re now in the valley? No. I think not.

I whole-heartedly believe we must mourn our sin - our soul must be grieved when we rebel against the Almighty God of the universe. But that is all. Do not mourn that you’ve fallen from some high place, do not be shocked when you sin next. Life is falling and rising again - it is a process. It is the process of death or sanctification depending on your path - if you are walking on the path of sanctification there is hope, there is grace, there is love. You will be tested, you will fall - but your falling is to be expected - we are weak vessels - we are not the Christ.

Mourn your disobedience to the Father, mourn the fact that your sin put Christ on the cross, but do not mourn beyond that, and end your mourning in repentance and the knowledge that your sin is paid for - we live on earth, a wholly fallen and sinful place. You will rise, and you will fall - it’s guaranteed here, in this time. But know that soon the sin cycle will pass and we’ll be in Heaven with our glorious King.

I think this is something that came from the E-Myth book, but here are a couple things I’ve noticed/been thinking on relating to management. The book, I think, talks about Entrepreneurs, Managers and Technicians. The concept is that the entrepreneur is the one with the vision, the manager is the one who takes the vision and distributes and oversees its playout and comes up with systems, and the technicians are the ones who carry things out, look for problems, come up with solutions, refine the systems, etc.

It’s important to understand the interplay of personalities between those 3 groups. The entre. with feel stepped on when the technician takes the vision and points out the flaws. The technician will feel the vision is “unmanageable” if it hasn’t been refined and grounded by a manager. The manager has to understand both personality types and know how to interface with both.

On a related note, one of the biggest management obstacles I’ve noticed is that much conflict comes from undefined quality standards - meaning the manager was expecting a quality of work higher than what the technician gives, or the manager was expecting the job to be done quickly (thus neglecting quality) when the technician wanted to make sure the job was done correctly. Much of the frustration can be avoided up front by 1) getting people who see quality as being the same standard and 2) defining that standard in the first place.

The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

Hypocrrisy is not telling your child to make his bed when yours is unmade.  Hypocrisy is telling your child all the beds in the house should be made, so he should go make his, when yours is not made.

Christians are pegged as hypocrites quite a bit - but orthodox christianity, thus orthodox christians, are not.  We do not claim to be perfect.  Quite the opposite, we claim to be flawed - so much so that we are unable to do any good apart from Christ.  Call us crazy for believing what we believe, but don’t call us hypocritical - we make no claims to be better than anyone, no - the playing field is level on this side of Heaven… we are all sinners deserving of Hell.  But by the grace of God, some of us are being and will be saved from that Hell.

Like I said before, I feel very frail - especially today.  God has been especially gracious to me though - He’s lifting me out of the pit, out of the mire and clay.  Now, will I sing?

I think God has given me the gift of spiritual, physical and emotional frailty - I can’t get to far on my own power without crashing.  Sometimes I crash hard, sometimes I just come close.  I tell you what though - I feel tired and very frail in this moment.

—

Down in the Lowlands by Charlie Peacock

The water is up to my neck
I am sinking in the deep
There is no foothold anymore
I’m very worn out from calling for help
My throat is hoarse and dry as a bone
My eyes have failed me from looking for you
Are you looking for me?

I’m down in the lowlands where the water is deep
Hear my cry, hear my shout, save me, save me

Could this be it, could I be drowning?
Have I failed to be heard by the One
Who can save me now?
My eyes have failed me from looking for you
Are you looking for me?

‘Cause I’m down in the lowlands where the water is deep
Hear my cry, hear my shout, save me, save me

I have a few thoughts on money, the rich and the poor, and transforming people groups.

There’s no middle class - there is the rich and the poor.  The rich are those who have surplus, who are not in debt.  The poor are those who are in debt and do not have surplus.  The majority of the “middle class” that I know are in debt and living as though they had surplus.

If you want to influence a community of a poor people for Christ, if you truly want to be the most effective, move in with them.  Live among them.  Think about it - that’s what Christ did.  He became poor, He gave up His status in Heaven, humbled Himself, became a servant - He became poor so that we might become rich.  So what would it mean for us to truly minister to the poor around here?  Much more than Transform this summer, we need the body of Christ to not just give to a community, but to move into a community and live radically, not just give radically every once in a while, but live radically day in and day out, giving the excess to those in need - giving up status, a life of wealth, and pouring ourselves into the poor.  And I’m not saying you quit your job and become poor in that sense, no you keep it but live on the same amount the poor people do, then take the excess and give to the people around you, spending on ministry rather than yourself.

So if I lived this out, I would move into the trailer park and help my neighbors get out of debt, help them fix their trailers, have them in my home, cook for them, keep their kids, take them to church, love on them, share the gospel, invite my friends to spend time with all of us, have football parties, play soccer and basketball in the neighborhood, etc etc…

All of this scares me.

It seems like life moved so quickly the past month or two.  All kinds of drama… now I look around and I haven’t updated the blog in ages and I’m in sort of a lul - a calm before the next storm and I’m not sure what to do with myself.

I have to say, even with the drama I’m doing well.  I feel blessed to have the faith, friends and family I have.  Without those, I’m not sure what I’d do.  Sometimes I sit back and think “what would I do without my faith?” and I can never imagine exactly how bad things would be.  I think I’d be very depressed because there’s so much bad stuff that happens in the world.  My faith is what makes life have hope - because I know it all has a purpose and an end.

I never set out to be a happy person, but I feel like I’ve kinda fallen into that.  And that’s not to say that I’m always smiling or anything, but that my general mood inside myself is happy.  The things that would’ve rocked me in the past only cause me to sway a bit… I know where I’m going and what I’m doing.  I’m going to Heaven (because of God’s grace) and I’m living as best I can for God.  With those two things, much like Job or Paul, I think I can be pretty content in life.  It’s the sin inside me that makes me unconcent (is that a word?) with anything other than not being in Heaven… and slowly I’m getting better at battling that sin.

It occurs to me that great faith can only be evidenced by great tests of faith. Oh no!

Friends, you are all slaves to your passions, addictions and desires. You know this. It is evidenced by the food you eat too much of, the alcohol you drink a too much of, the rage that builds up when your favorite team loses. Your tell a lie and then wonder why you said that, you do something that hurts someone you love, but you didn’t mean to, you chase a dream that doesn’t get you what you wanted, but only gets you longer hours and more stress.

It doesn’t have to be like that. You can pursue something that you’ll never get full of, never drink in too much. You can loose your passions, addictions and desires on this one thing and it will not return void - this is Christ Jesus. If you give yourself over to Him, indulging yourself in His love and grace it will never be a waste.

Christ came to die for your sins - all those lies, those indulgences, those addictions, those times you hurt the ones you love, they’re all evidences of the impurity, the sin of your heart. God is just, and because He is just He punishes those who aren’t righteous. That punishment is Hell eternally. The truth of the matter is that all of us are unrighteous, sinful, lawless - we are all broken pots who can’t hold it together. We hurt people, we hurt ourselves, but Christ came to die on a cross 2000 years ago, He came as a human being, as the perfect sacrifice to die for our sins, take the wrath, the punishment God would pour out on us, and in doing so has saved us from our sins. All you have to do is believe that Christ has saved you from your sin and repent saying “God, I know that I am rebellious, lawless, I know I hurt the people I love and in that I have offended you. I confess my sin to you, that in my core I am not good, but evil, and say that I am helpless to do anything about it, but I know you have sent Christ, your own son, to die for my sins, to intercede in my place, to bear your wrath, and to save me from my unrighteousness. Save me Lord, I am ruined in your sight.”

God will take the faith He gave you and multiply it.  You will begin to see His goodness and love - but also his just wrath and your own sin.  You will worship God for the truth He is, the light He is.  You will find yourself glorifying God in everything you see - once He opens your eyes to the truth.  You will escape the rat race, the quest for things that are not Him.  You will lay yourself, your passions and your desires at His feet - and HE will, in turn, take those gifts He’s given you and use them for good rather than sin.  You will begin to be sanctified and He will be glorified in redeeming you - the broken pot who before couldn’t hold it together - and apart from Him will never hold it together.

Worship friends, we are evil, the world is broken, but God is good and we are saved through His son.  Rejoice!