Resonating Life

Like a lot of people, I’ve been following the news from the Middle East and North Africa. What has been termed the “Arab Spring” is now turning into the “Arab Fall” (as in the season of Autumn) as we head into November. It started in Tunisia, then Egypt and then a wild fire of protests and even some regime changes in places like Syria, UAE, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran and recently in Libya with the overthrow and death of Muammar Gaddafi.

Here’s an awesome website with an interactive timeline of the events so far.

For months we’ve been watching the news stories of people taking to the streets in protest to oppressive, corrupt governments and hundreds have lost their lives standing up for freedom. Now, I’m not a political expert by any means & it remains to be seen if the unrest and changes in that region of the world will be positive or negative. Will these countries change and allow true freedom to flourish or will another evil and oppressive government rise? We just don’t know yet. Some report that all the upheaval in the middle east and africa was sparked off by one young man named Mohamed Bouazizi, who set fire to himself in protest after police confiscated the fruit and vegetables he was selling from a street stall. His friends, family and beyond took to the streets and let their voices be heard and that was the tipping point for many.

Here’s what I’m struck with: The powerful inner yearning for freedom. People in these violent hotbed countries are courageously putting everything on the line to fight for freedom. Sometimes armed with nothing more than sticks and rocks, these people, most of whom are young adults, are willing to risk their lives to oust oppression. There’s something in all of us that screams out when things aren’t fair. When our innate sense of justice and freedom is threatened or worse, taken away, something inside cries foul.

Personally I think that inner stamp of freedom comes from God. He didn’t make us with the capacity to cope with being oppressed and controlled. He created us to live willingly to worship and follow Him and to live in love and harmony with others. When that’s all messed with, we kinda go nuts. We fight, we become enraged, we protest, we even set fire to ourselves. It’s as if we just can’t handle the suffocating hand of oppression. That’s why Jesus emphasized freedom and it’s why I believe only He can truly deliver it. He is after all the “Prince of Peace”.

Late one Friday night after youth group, my wife and kids were driving home from church. We exited I695 (affectionately known as the Beltway) and then turned onto our local street. As we approached a four way stop, the car in front of us came to a halt. The passenger door sprang open and a young guy jumped out and started running through the intersection and then left up a street. He was running fast and jumping in the air, oh and yeah he was completely naked except for socks. My wife and I were at first shocked, then we started laughing at the craziness of the whole scene. Then we remembered our kids were in the back seat! To our relief our daughter was asleep and our boys were engrossed in video games.

Now, I don’t know why that kid decided to streak. Maybe he lost a bet or he was triple-dog-dared. Maybe he was high on crack. I have no idea. But all I know is that he drew a lot of attention and none of it was good. In fact, Maryland law is such that if you steak and get caught, you’re pegged as a sex offender. Which means that this kid, who probably thought this was an innocent prank, would have had to live for a very long time with a very bad label attached to him if he was caught.

In a spiritual sense, I don’t ever want to be guilty of “spiritual streaking”. (Stop laughing.) Follow me here. Don’t we Christians sometimes do things just to be seen? We pray a certain way, we talk a certain way, we even serve in certain ways to gain accolades or status or popularity or position. We put on the Christian face and speak Christianese in front of the Pastor, but then act differently around others. Like the Emperor and his “new clothes”, we fool ourselves into thinking we are better, smarter or more important than we ought to. All the while it’s like we’re running down the road naked…with just our socks on.

Jesus talked about this when He taught about prayer. He taught that humility is not an option or emotion. It’s a way of life. It’s the way of life.

Matthew 6:5-13 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! 9 Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.

This week my respect for professionals who install trim has increased yet again. I’ve done my fair share of construction over the years. Before I got sissy hands in ministry (I miss my calluses…they made me feel more manly), I was a roofer for four years. Then I spent time framing homes, siding and welding. I even learned how to make sails for sail boats! But one thing I never quit got was trim. It’s too tedious. Too delicate. My motto has become “Caulking covers a multitude of mistakes”.

Trimming out my current house has proven that my walls are, well, crooked. Nothing reveals flaws in the walls quit like trim work. Your miter saw can cut 45degree angles with laser precision, but if the wall is out of alignment, your trim won’t match up and there will be cracks and spaces. Ugh! Oh well. I can’t fix the walls. Nail it up. “Caulking covers a multitude of mistakes”.

Same for us. I can’t fix my crooked walls. The world can’t fix my walls. But we still try to trim out our lives with all the usual trappings. Relationships, careers, degrees, stuff. But when those things are laid against our true selves, cracks are revealed. Gaps. Spaces. I know, I can just cover it with caulk. Fill in the gaps with my own effort. My own religious duty or hard work or people pleasing. But the problem is that the walls remain crooked. The trim is still imperfect.

What we need is a master carpenter. One who can come in and straighten our walls. Perfect plum lines. Everything in square. True, some things might have to be moved. It might be painful. We might get dirty. But in the end, what a beautiful house we will be.

A friend once told me about a very frustrating meeting she had to sit through. The team she was on was tasked with creating an important internal PR piece for her company. The print piece needed to explain to all of the companies 500+ employees some new changes that were coming to their health benefits and retirement packages. It was a big deal b/c some of the changes were not going to be so good. So my friend sat around a table with a graphic designer, two other colleagues from the PR dept, the head of HR and 4, count em, 4 VPs.
After an overview of the new changes, the head of HR suggested a clever tagline for the cover of print piece. My friend thought it was brilliant. Then it happened. One of the VPs piped up and said “That’s great. However, that third word…yeah it needs to be capitalized.”
One of the other VPs sat forward and said “No I don’t think it does. That would be a mistake.”
To which the first one said “I beg to differ. It does need to be capitalized.”
My friend said that this went on. For three solid hours. It got very heated. People were called, websites checked…round and round. After three hours, all 3 VPs were calling each other names, the head of HR was making notes for a report, the graphic designer was watching something on Netflix and the three from PR were sitting in absolute disbelief.

Upper case…lower case. Majoring on a minor. It’s what makes companies stall and some churches stale and some families sink. Desk name plates, carpet color, song selection, hair styles, titles, thee vs. you, A+ vs. A-, …upper case or lower case?! Majoring on minors. I think its what we do when we get bored or full of ourselves. It’s like we have nothing better to do than to examine, reexamine and then rereexamine. “Hey look guys, I found a little tiny issue. It’s probably nothing, but since we have nothing better to do, let’s make it a huge deal!” Minor majoring is a sure way to bring progress to a screeching halt. It’s the wet blanket on the creative process. It’s a long boring road trip in a windowless van.

I don’t want to waste time arguing over a capital letter. I want to have the discernment to distinguish between a major and a minor in life. I want to have grace for the lower case, but be willing to fight for things that truly matter. Jesus had that. He didn’t bother with the petty. He would have probably walked quietly out of that meeting and did something of significance. Pharisees split hairs over words and measured out to the gram the tithe of their herb gardens. Jesus said all that was upper case/lower case. Jesus said they ignored the major things like justice, mercy and faithfulness.

How about you? Do you find yourself fighting for a capital Q when you should be loving your neighbor?

I like boats. I wouldn’t consider myself a boater…er…boatist…er…boatologist…but yeah I like boats. I’ve been on several different kinds of boats. I’ve kayaked the upper James River and canoed a couple of lakes. Though not a big fan, I went paddle boating one time. I’ve been fishing on several boats in the Chesapeake Bay. I’ve been on two cruise boats, but they’re technically called ships. I’ve also captained a few jet skis AND I even made sails for sailboats one summer and yes, I sailed (although I didn’t know what I was doing).

For some reason I like to look behind the boats I’ve been on and see the wake it leaves behind. I’m not sure why. I think it has to do with how the boat/ship/jet ski is able to “cut” through the water and change the water’s shape. It’s beautiful actually. Recently I realized that almost all wakes look the same. Have you ever noticed that? Boat, ship, canoe, barge, tug, speed, jet ski, sub, battle, frigate (I think that’s a funny word), sail, they almost all make that distinctive V shaped wake. It’s awesome how the fluid dynamics are predictably consistent when an object like a boat moves through water. So much so that every wake caused by a boat or even a water fowl (bird for you non-nature peeps) is almost always a V shape with each line at about 19 degrees. Sometimes it’s at the rear of the vessel and sometimes it’s several feet behind depending on the speed. Are you impressed with my scientific knowledge? No? Oh.

It makes me think about our lives. We all move through life and we all create a “wake” behind us. That wake is typically consistent (V shaped) with our character. If I’m a mean and nasty person, then my wake will be full of nastiness and pain. If I’m a kind and generous person, my wake will be full of joy and kindness. The aspect of my wake that really makes me stop and think is the consistency of the angle. 19 degrees. Almost always. The only person that can change the type of wake I produce is me.  I also think about the fact that my wake widens as I move along. It touches more people as life progresses. That may not be the case with everyone, but it is for me and it’s something I am taking more seriously. I want my wake to bring life to others. I want my wake to matter for what really matters. I want the 19 degrees V shape that trails behind me to reflect more and more of who Jesus really is. The funny thing is that for that to happen, it has to be less my wake and more His. After all, Jesus knows more about fluid dynamics than anyone. I wonder if He left a wake on the water while He was leaving a wake on the world?