August 18th, 2010
A few years ago, we went to the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and I saw this painting by Millet, Prayer for the Potato Crop, done in 1857. Here is a couple, out in their fields, praying. It is a kind of a nostalgic view of peasants living the contented and simple life of farming. In the descriptor below the painting, the writer made it clear that this was an idealistic portrayal. I was struck by the realism of the painting and bought a poster of the painting in the museum gift shop. Now, I walk past this poster daily, looking at the reality of the peasant life, but with an idealistic hope.
Prayer for the Potato Crop, Millet
Idealism is the hope of what we wish the world to be. Idealism from Isaiah 11:6-8, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat….” Isaiah paints a wonderful picture of the aggressor and the victim (wolf and lamb) lying in peace. No war, no anger, no bitterness, no pain. Now, this is idealistic. I want to live in this kind of idealism.
I want Living Water, my congregation, to have this same kind of idealistic faith to step toward what should be, despite living in what the world is. This is not easy, and a frustration for me as a leader. We all live in this realistic world. I look out the back window of my house and see this beautiful woods of green. We have deer and turkey and lots of chipmunks in the woods. It seems peaceful, but it isn’t. Animals are always searching for food, and live in a fear to survive the attack of other animals. The simple woods in my backyard is not Isaiah 11, where the wolf lies with the lamb. Nor is our life all that idealistic. We keep searching for that idealism and running from the realism.
If I want to be an encourager to the people around me, I have to have this idealism that pushes me forward. The idealism comes from hope. Scripture is clear that “Hope never fails.” (Romans 5:1-5) I do struggle with being realistic to the point that hope is gone or at risk. If hope is gone, what’s left? Hopelessness simply breeds emptiness and evolves into futility. On my own, how can hope sustain? This is where faith in Christ Jesus spurs me on to believe that God does more through us than we can imagine. I do believe this deeply, and wish to lead people into this kind of faith journey. We confront reality constantly, but maybe we can have the idealism of Millet, who has potato farmers pray in the midst of their difficult reality.
Tags: Hope, idealism, realism
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August 11th, 2010
The other night I had a chance to go fishing for an hour or so. I always go to this lake about nine miles from the house. My boat was made in 1953 and was the joy of my grandfather. I was given the boat 20 years and bought a little six horse Johnson motor to run around small lakes. I have always found fishing to be therapeutic. I go to the lake drop the boat into the water, get the motor started (sometimes this is difficult), and then at full six horse throttle get to the place I want to fish. It really isn’t about fishing. Yes, I love to catch fish and basically throw them all back. It is about the quiet. I usually go the hour before sunset or in the morning before people are up. The water skiers and the jet skiers are either finishing for the day or not out of bed yet. I flat around quietly casting and catching bass and lately crappies. The interesting thing is that I feel content. I feel a sense of peace or, maybe another word, centeredness. Out on the water I recover something of who I am because I’m not running, chasing, going to meetings – just life intensity. The other night I watched the sun setting over the water with the pink and yellows across the sky. It was amazingly peaceful. I think this is what God intends of the sabbath. Sabbath is the call, command, to stop and recover. Recover from all of the life intensity and remember where we came from and Who made us and why He put us on this earth. Stopping gives us the chance to reflect by looking back but we are also given the opportunity to look ahead. It is no wonder that “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy” is the 3rd commandment after honoring God above all things. Stopping is vital for our relationship with Christ, our relationship with each other and our own well being. So, I’m looking forward to another hour on the lake which I hope will be in the next couple of days. I don’t care about the fish, I just love drinking in the refreshment of rest.
Tags: commandments, completeness, rest, sabbath
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July 9th, 2010
I’ve never been fond of the word persistence. It fits right in with the other word I don’t like, discipline. Both persistence and discipline demand holding to something. For example, how we eat. Good discipline says I will moderate how much I eat as well as what I eat. I just want to eat. Persistence says if I want to lose weight than be disciplined and hold to the plan. Now, I’m doing a major bike event. I have put on 1000 miles of training to do the 300 mile over 3 days make-a-wish fond raiser, Wish-a-mile. Certainly this is a worthy cause, generate money to care for six children. Yet, I get on my bike and ride mile after mile and it hurts. There is suffering and at times I simply want to stop. Why endure the pain. I am always struck by the words from Romans 5, suffering produces persistence and persistence produces character and character hope and hope never fails in Christ Jesus. I want to be a man of character but Paul makes it clear in Romans that it comes by suffering and persistence, and also discipline. So, I ride with a fine team…suffering together is more fun and I do yearn to be a man of hope. This bike thing is certainly a metaphor to our godly walk and maturing into a hopeful people.
Tags: biking, character, Hope, persistence, suffering
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June 24th, 2010
There are tons of things written on leadership. it is its own industry. For good reason, being a leader is no easy task. As a pastor I have tried to be a good leader. My sem. classes or undergrad. classes didn’t spend much time on how to be a good leader. So, a lot of what I do is from observation, reading a book occasionally and talking with people. One thing I have come to recognize is that I have to know who I am in order to be an effective leader. It seems like a lot of leaders I have observed don’t quite know who they are and often pose as strong leaders. Whatever that can mean. I’ve seen people hide behind titles and position and not by their character. What are three things I look for in good leaders: one, Faithful integrity. They are people of God knowing who Jesus is and integrating that faith into their style of leadership. Two, They are loyal to the people around them. I as a follower will know my back is covered. And, three, they are interested in developing the people they lead into better people. So, they have to know the heart of the people who work for them. For me, know that I love to fish. Ask if I’ve been out on the boat lately and you will gain huge mileage as a leader. You know something of a strong interest in my life. I could add more to the list but I think three is enough.
Tags: faithful, integrity, leader, leadership
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June 18th, 2010
I’ve been thinking about the shaping of character for a person. Character is that thing of substance which makes a person a person, something of their core values. I would hope for believing Christians that the core of their value is found in Christ. So, by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection we are shaped into God’s image and that motivates our life decisions. This godly character is not easily obtained. In fact, I think it happens by persistence and suffering. An easy, comfortable, life can breed a selfish character. Suffering pushes us out of comfort and craft, hopefully, a selflessness that serves people. In Scripture you can see this in Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David and others. As a pastor I want a congregation to wrestle with this godly inconvenience so in selflessness they mature in faith and see God working in their lives.
Tags: character
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June 8th, 2010
As I wrote a recent Bible study on hope, I was struck by an article I read from John Ortberg. In this piece he speaks of “hope stealers.” I looked at his five categories of people who take away hope: the Contrarian, the Alamarist, the Critic, the Cynic, The Hype Machine. Each form takes away hope. Each of us carries one of the five, I think, so we become the stealers of hope. I know I wrestle with being the critic – one who by self appointment will evaluate someone else’s work. I do this and it is annoying and doesn’t encourage. What I want to do is be an encourager and hope always points us forward, forward to something greater than what we can do by our own individual ability. I found this Ortberg article (Leadership Journal, Fall 2008) really helpful at asking the real question about my place in offering hope.
If you wish, read the article:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/fall/holdingouthope.html
Tags: encourager, Hope
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June 15th, 2009
I was reading Psalm 89 this morning and was struck by verse 1 when the writer says, “I… with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.” All generations really caught me. I want my children, grand children, great grand children to know that God is faithful and that their great grandfather really held to this throughout his life. How does one create a legacy that is enduring? Don’t we all want to have something that extends beyond our lifetime, something that transcends us. I’m interested in what you think about legacy. Dan
Tags: faithfulness, legacy, promise, psalm
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