Apparently, I could not choose a better title...
There can be no denying that this process for us has been, and continues to be, a ‘decision-making-process.’ After all, we have made the decision to sell our house and most of our belongings, just as we are now in the process of making decisions regarding what our new home-on-wheels will be, where we will go, and that sort of thing.
People have been asking us why we are doing this. For those of you who want to know, we are doing this because we somehow feel strongly that we should. Unfortunately we have little more to offer by way of explanation, unless you are interested in a bit of a Bible study. If not, we encourage you to stop reading here, and we’ll meet up again at the next entry…
If you are interested to hear a bit more about how we have come to make these decisions, in light of the uncertainty that forever presents itself to the Christian decision-maker, we can offer only our experience and a some scripture.
Through out the bible we are given phrases like “Get up” (Jdg. 7:15, 1 Ki. 19:5, Eze. 3:22, Mark 2:9, Acts 22:16), “Go out” (Ex. 16:4, Luke 14:21), “Do likewise” (Luke 10:37), “Seek me” (Jer. 29:13, Amo. 5:4), and “Follow me” (Matt. 4:19, Luke 5:27, Acts 12:8). These are all sending messages. No matter how we cut it, these are action words.
For us, such repetition finally jarred us into asking questions like, “how can we ‘go out’ and ‘follow Him’”? And herein lay the crux. Upon deciding that ‘yes, we should make more of an effort to “go out” beyond our comfort zone,’ we are immediately left with a harsh and sometimes debilitating LACK of holy street signs pointing the way.
Indeed, in our humble experience, long gone are the days of burning bushes, pillars of fire from the sky, and luminous stars throwing spotlights on where to go.
The other day we were reading Philippians, and in 2:12 it says that we should continue to “work out” our salvation. This too is a phrase of action. It seems to hint that there are no clear lines to follow, save that somehow we are to go and seek first the Kingdom of God – before all other things. And with this as our chief concern God will lead us as we go. He will lead AS WE GO.
How does He do that, you ask… We ask that too - - all the time!
We have no idea, except that in the last several months, as we have slowly made decisions with the bible in one hand and our lifestyles in the other, we have felt peace along the way. Sometimes after making a substantial choice we will each have a lot of joy about it, and this coupled with encouragement and prayer from others has served to slowly shape a clearer vision of what we are to do…
So for now, we’re taking it a day at a time, one small choice followed by another.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Great Expectations
Remember I told you how "a few days later the phone rang"? (See "A mess you can't get out of"). Well it was a friend of ours telling us about someone they knew who was getting kicked-out of her place. For whatever reason, our friend called us. The woman moved in with us that night. A couple of months later and an identical call (but from a different friend) had us asking our 5 year old if we could give her bed to someone who needed a place to live - and was coming to live with us. She said "yes," and then jumped into bed with her sister. Over two years later and our girls still voluntarily share a bed!
Our small three bedroom town home (our first home) was now a relatively full-house (6 in total). These once strangers who occupied our basement and third bedroom quickly became family. Over the next two years, as they found their feet and moved out, others moved in.
A good friend of mine said something to me this morning that stuck with me throughout the day. It wasn't until my drive home that I was able to put it down, and I take it up again only now to tell you about it. She said, "I think that you may be putting a lot (meaning expectations) on this trip." Maybe I am? Are we setting ourselves up for a giant letdown? These were two of many thoughts I wrestled with throughout the day. I was genuinely worried that that was exactly what we are doing...
But what occurred to me so clearly during the drive home is that the very reason we are doing all of this (selling everything and hitting the road) is because we ARE "putting a lot" on this trip - - in fact, we're putting everything on this trip!
I was reminded today of our expectations for this odyssey:
We want untainted time with each other and with our children. I anticipate that.
We want to slow down, to become single-taskers, opposed to multi-taskers. I anticipate that.
We want to meet people, and to see what's happening outside of our familiar-zone. I anticipate that.
And we want to have time where we can push into God - the one who created us. We want time to LISTEN, to be still, to read and to pray. And I anticipate that.
When we asked God to use our home and our resources (in that old prayer), He came through in a big way. I expect nothing less this time around.
Thanks Kim for all of your wisdom and encouragement as we prepare.
Our small three bedroom town home (our first home) was now a relatively full-house (6 in total). These once strangers who occupied our basement and third bedroom quickly became family. Over the next two years, as they found their feet and moved out, others moved in.
A good friend of mine said something to me this morning that stuck with me throughout the day. It wasn't until my drive home that I was able to put it down, and I take it up again only now to tell you about it. She said, "I think that you may be putting a lot (meaning expectations) on this trip." Maybe I am? Are we setting ourselves up for a giant letdown? These were two of many thoughts I wrestled with throughout the day. I was genuinely worried that that was exactly what we are doing...
But what occurred to me so clearly during the drive home is that the very reason we are doing all of this (selling everything and hitting the road) is because we ARE "putting a lot" on this trip - - in fact, we're putting everything on this trip!
I was reminded today of our expectations for this odyssey:
We want untainted time with each other and with our children. I anticipate that.
We want to slow down, to become single-taskers, opposed to multi-taskers. I anticipate that.
We want to meet people, and to see what's happening outside of our familiar-zone. I anticipate that.
And we want to have time where we can push into God - the one who created us. We want time to LISTEN, to be still, to read and to pray. And I anticipate that.
When we asked God to use our home and our resources (in that old prayer), He came through in a big way. I expect nothing less this time around.
Thanks Kim for all of your wisdom and encouragement as we prepare.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Bearable Lightness of Being
A Whirlwind this morning! The first people to show up were here at 7:00 am. A garage full of tools went rather quickly, then the furniture, and finally some book-lovers thumbed through the library. It's 2:30 pm and the house is a lot lighter now.
Today was our "contents sale." Contents... the content within our home... in other words, "stuff." We sold a lot of stuff today. Thank you to everyone who supported this effort.
It's not easy to let go. For whatever reason, our stuff becomes a part of our identity. Stuff travels from the store to our homes and then it settles in. We don't just purchase it, we adopt it. Eventually we even say that we 'need' it; like we could not live without a sofa... How unbearable. "You're selling THAT??? You NEEEED that!!!"
There were lots of bargains today. Our favorite pieces (an old pew, retro red chair, an antique lamp) went to good homes and happy people. I have some money in my pocket to show for it... but this is a strange experience. My house is lighter, my pockets a bit heavier, and slightly stunned expressions on our faces, there's no turning back now.
We have less options for sitting. I'm sure we'll adapt.
Today was our "contents sale." Contents... the content within our home... in other words, "stuff." We sold a lot of stuff today. Thank you to everyone who supported this effort.
It's not easy to let go. For whatever reason, our stuff becomes a part of our identity. Stuff travels from the store to our homes and then it settles in. We don't just purchase it, we adopt it. Eventually we even say that we 'need' it; like we could not live without a sofa... How unbearable. "You're selling THAT??? You NEEEED that!!!"
There were lots of bargains today. Our favorite pieces (an old pew, retro red chair, an antique lamp) went to good homes and happy people. I have some money in my pocket to show for it... but this is a strange experience. My house is lighter, my pockets a bit heavier, and slightly stunned expressions on our faces, there's no turning back now.
We have less options for sitting. I'm sure we'll adapt.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
A mess you can't get out of...
Let me take you back to the lobby of a former strip club. That was the building our church community bought – the last strip club in Markham! We went from a living room to a golf club to a huge building that we gutted and transformed into a gathering place.
One Sunday my wife, Blaise, was standing in the lobby when a woman walked up and handed her a book. “I think God wants you to read this…”
The book was titled “The Irresistible Revolution,” written by Shane Claiborne. Blaise promised to take a look at it. She did. And when she was finished 'looking' she handed the book to me and said, “I think God wants you to read this...” And I did.
“I asked participants who claimed to be “strong followers of Jesus” whether Jesus spent time with the poor. Nearly 80 percent said yes. Later in the survey, I sneaked in another question, I asked this same group of strong followers whether they spent time with the poor, and less than 2 percent said they did. I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.”
- Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
This little paperback book had us asking questions that we had never even thought about before. They were tough questions. They challenged our idea of Christianity. They challenged our lifestyle and the choices we were making to maintain it. They stirred up a dust storm that still hasn’t settled. Not even close. I was upset. We were upset. We were restless, agitated, thirsty. The finish of this book saw the beginning of another, and then another, each building upon where the others left off; as if God was building a case, making an argument, pushing us around a bit, splashing water on our face.
When I say God was pushing us around a bit, I don’t mean “a bit.” This wasn’t a little pig-tail-pulling at recess. This was almost 3 years of way more questions asked than answered, paramount frustration, anger, uncomfortable change, desperation, prayer and hope for something more. However, you could argue that we provoked Him... Pray the wrong thing and you could find yourself in a mess you can’t get out of. Ours went like this:
“Lord Jesus, we want more of you. We have all of this stuff, this house, our money, our time, and our lives, and it’s all for nothing if it isn’t all for you. Use us, as you will, for your Kingdom’s sake. Seriously. In Jesus name.”
A few days later the phone rang.
One Sunday my wife, Blaise, was standing in the lobby when a woman walked up and handed her a book. “I think God wants you to read this…”
The book was titled “The Irresistible Revolution,” written by Shane Claiborne. Blaise promised to take a look at it. She did. And when she was finished 'looking' she handed the book to me and said, “I think God wants you to read this...” And I did.
“I asked participants who claimed to be “strong followers of Jesus” whether Jesus spent time with the poor. Nearly 80 percent said yes. Later in the survey, I sneaked in another question, I asked this same group of strong followers whether they spent time with the poor, and less than 2 percent said they did. I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.”
- Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
This little paperback book had us asking questions that we had never even thought about before. They were tough questions. They challenged our idea of Christianity. They challenged our lifestyle and the choices we were making to maintain it. They stirred up a dust storm that still hasn’t settled. Not even close. I was upset. We were upset. We were restless, agitated, thirsty. The finish of this book saw the beginning of another, and then another, each building upon where the others left off; as if God was building a case, making an argument, pushing us around a bit, splashing water on our face.
When I say God was pushing us around a bit, I don’t mean “a bit.” This wasn’t a little pig-tail-pulling at recess. This was almost 3 years of way more questions asked than answered, paramount frustration, anger, uncomfortable change, desperation, prayer and hope for something more. However, you could argue that we provoked Him... Pray the wrong thing and you could find yourself in a mess you can’t get out of. Ours went like this:
“Lord Jesus, we want more of you. We have all of this stuff, this house, our money, our time, and our lives, and it’s all for nothing if it isn’t all for you. Use us, as you will, for your Kingdom’s sake. Seriously. In Jesus name.”
A few days later the phone rang.
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