The Shack

I have heard from several friends how good the book, "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young is. So I finally started reading it. I was not sure what to expect and I will not give anything away with this post, so don't worry about spoilers.

I will tell you this, I am about half way through it and I have to admit Mr. Young has captured my attention with his characters. I am an avid reader, and many books I read I don't always get a true sense of the people in the stories, sometimes this is probably on purpose but most of the time I think the writer and the characters just don't connect. With the Shack, I am truly feeling very connected to "Mackenzie" or "Mack" one of the main characters.

I was completely caught off guard a few minutes ago, I was eating an early dinner, and sitting quietly reading, for those of you who have read the book I am about half way through the chapter titled "in the belly of the beast" and they are discussing what happened in the truck. (see no spoilers :-)) at one point I literally began crying, not because I had ever experienced what Mack or the other characters were experiencing but rather because I could feel the emotion that Mack would have felt.

I have to admit, this is a first. Granted I am a little soft hearted at times (clear throat, pound chest, "me man, ungh") my wife and I refer to movies that choke you up as "stupid movies" you know, sitting in a dark theater, trying to inconspicuously wipe the tear from you eyes before anyone notices and you say "(sniffle) stupid movie" That happens quite often, to tell the truth I get choked up on that "stupid show" extreme makeover home edition.... anyway all that may be true but it has never happen while reading a book, until today.

not sure if that is a good book review or not, but take it for what it is worth, Mr. Young has pulled me into the book to the point that I am feeling what his character feels. As a side note Mack did cry in the next sentence, I discovered when I was able to continue reading. "The Shack" is a book that will challenge you spiritually and I feel will change you spiritually as well, if you let it.

Peace,
Randall

Physical a.k.a. well-check

I had my yearly physical today, as I was sitting half naked thinking "preparing" for the poking and prodding, I began a spiritual inventory.

The naked truth...We are always naked before God, so there is nothing to hide, if we examine ourselves as God sees us there are no garment to hide behind... if we are stripped of our pretensions, vanities and other items we use to look good to others... who are we?

Weigh-In: I usually joke with the nurse "I will just use one foot today" in the physical sense this would work but with the spiritual check up I have to look at my deeds, one one side of the scale deeds of which I are proud on the other side maybe things for which I not as proud. Being conscious of my faults, and working on changing them (or repenting....as in thinking about what I did and why I did it so that next time I might not do it) is a great step toward spiritual well-being.

Don't eat after midnight.... how is my fasting? not just a specific time set aside to pray but what about our other hungers... friendship, love, family, beauty, God's will?

First the nurse come in...

Blood Pressure: This is a physical one I do battle with, meds keep me normal but what about spiritual, is my pressure too high, not just inside me but outside of me, do I apply undo pressure to those around me. Is my pressure too low? (okay not mine LOL) is our pressure too low, are we uninvolved, or lacking stimulation. Is what I am doing important and am I doing it for the right reason (Glory to God).

Drawing Blood... am I spiritually anemic, am I less loving and compassionate than I should be, am I overly anger, hateful or hostile?

So then the doctor comes in... How are you feeling? Anything you are concerned about? In the same way as physical pain, emotional or spiritual pain/discomfort, can be a sign that something is wrong or about to be wrong.... get it looked at, don't wait, talk with your physician (spiritual advisor) before it festers and takes longer to heal

Ears, Nose and Mouth... what have I done, spiritually, with these organs? have there been times I have chose not to listen, to hear, to speak or to see. Have there been times I have chosen to listen, speak about or look at things I should have turned away from?

small rubber mallet... I always have to look away when the doctor using this... I know control issue :-) how are my spiritual reflexes, are my responses appropriate in time, emotion, etc. in other words do I respond in anger when walking away would be more appropriate, do I use cutting/biting humor when what is needed is loving words of encouragement. do I speak or choose not to speak without considering the impact?

EKG... The doctor worries about hardening arteries but I worry about a hardening heart and mind. Am I open to new ideas, experiences, learning, possibilities, God's call?

Other physical checks... the "not as pleasant" checks... probing and poking in places another person shouldn't go... what am I trying to hide from God and from others?

And lastly, as my doc calls them... doorknob issues, everything is done the doctor is about to head out, just as he grabs the doorknob the patient say, "did I tell you I was having memory loss?" what else do I need to bring before God, what other concerns might be affecting my spiritual health?

it was interesting to run through this in my mind as the doctor and nurse were running through it with my physical being. hopefully I don't wait a year to do this again... spiritually anyway, the physical can wait at least a year.... enough with the poking and prodding.

Reflecting

Sometime reflecting or spending time in reflection can be a good thing, other times it is torture... for example talking to my 4 year old who will occasionally say... "hey dad, you remember when..." and we launch into a great discussion about something that happened, and how we felt about it.

on the other hand, there is reflecting on past work experience and attempting to capture the last 10 to 15 years of your life in short snippets of buzzwords that will cause an HR or hiring manager to say, "now THIS is a guy I want to interview" I would rather have the 1st type any day over the later. capturing ones life in snippets is no fun.

As I have been thinking about this, I couldn't help but wonder what my Christian resume would look like. I think it would have a completely different format and the buzz words would be very different, for example I would hope there would be more words like Love, Loved, Loving, Caring, Altruistic, Selfless, servant leader, good listener, you know now that I write that maybe they are not that different, I would like my professional resume to contain such sentiment as Caring, Selfless, servant leader, good listener, and hey why not loving! Maybe they use different buzz words but perhaps they should convey the same message.

Randall is a Caring, selfless, servant leader who is a good listener and has a loving disposition.

Now all I have to do is make that show forth using words like managed, resulting in, saving, designed, developed and deployed... well like Jesus said in Mathew and Mark "For man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" so I will... With God's help.

Transitions

It seems I am in the midst of two or more transitions. The first is transitioning from prayerfully considering going on the mission to Honduras again this year to having committed to go. I don't know that I didn't plan to go at any time, but I feel god has confirmed I need to attend. The second transition is from my current employer to the unknown. The end of January will bring with it the end of my employment.

Both are interesting and scary transitions, both in many ways bring to mind finances, trust in God, the future and other things. Both require my putting my trust in God to show me the way.

I am currently praying for the faith of David, Nathan told him that God said his designs for the temple were great, however the temple would not be built in his lifetime, rather that his son Solomon would build the temple. David response was not, "wait a minute God, here is MY plan!" rather his response was to praise and worship God. I don't know where the money or the energy for that mater, for the Mission trip will come from and I don't know where my next job is coming from, I do know that God has a plan, which in all likelihood is not the same as mine :-), and I praise Him for that, and walk with Him as I attempt to live into that plan.

time change has interesting side effects

while I am sure there are bennifits to the time change, I am not sure what they are. So far the results seems to be tiredness, between the kids waking up an hour earlier, they were already early risers, to me waking up an hour earlier, and trying to convince myself I can still get an hour more sleep.

The upside was I was up in plenty of time to do my morning prayer etc, however I don't think I got as much out of it because I feel tired. The other upside is I was able to get that done and then watch the kids while my wife went out to vote. Speaking of which be sure to do that today... even if you think it doesn't count, it does.

So everyone is awake earlier but a little tired, and we get a few more things done early so in a nutshell time change has interesting side effects.

peace

Monday two-fer

So, yesterday was EXTREMELY busy. I did manage to do my morning prayer while cooking chickens etc., I did not get a chance to post a post. This morning, with the time change the kids internal clocks are wacky so I didn't get to do morning prayer but I am posting, so between the two days I have a complete success :-)

Yesterday's morning prayer included a reading from 1st Corinthians 13, well I guess it was the whole chapter, now that I think about it. Anyway, I do enjoy this reading, not only because it talks about love and what love is, in the agape sense. But also because it reminds me that everything I do I should do with the love of Christ, or else it is meaningless. I could be the greatest father-son-brother-nephew-friend-boss-co-worker-employee the world had ever seen, but if I don't have love I have nothing. I could be the best ministry leader-teacher-Evangelist-mentor the world had ever seen but if I don't have love I have nothing. I could be the richest or poorest or or or but if I don't have love I don't have anything.

Said another way, if I don't have Christ I don't have anything. Praise God for his willingness to love me a sinner.

That is what I would have posted, had I posted yesterday, so now for the two-fer part...

A new section I am tentatively calling Monday's prayer list. things I am praying for this week, I encourage you to add your items and if led pray for the whole list... keep checking back and see what people are praying for.

The start of my list in NO particular order:

My friend Deborah who's cancer has returned and her husband Bernie
Precious Zoey who is battling leukemia for healing and her parents for strength

For our troops and their families, both in war zones and safe at home. Help them know they have my support and they are LOVED
For the elections tomorrow, regardless of the winner, may the Lord watch over them in their leadership, us under their leadership
For all the leaders of the world (see above)
For my wonderful kids. keep them safe and secure, filled with wonder and awe, teach them
For my wife, help her to find the rest she needs, give her the strength to be a stay-at-home mom.
For me as a father and husband, that I might be what my wife and kids need me to be and that I might teach them through actions the love of Christ.
For me as an employee, that I might do my job with the love of Christ and thankfulness for the employer who helps me put food on the table and a roof over my head
For my enemies, that I might see the love of Christ in them and they in me and one day we might share eternity together.
For George as he deals with the recent loss of his wife.
For Bruce, my pastor as he leads our church
For our Church
For my ministries that they might sow the seeds of Christ.
For the universal Church that the love of Christ might be seen around the world so that we might live into Jesus' proclamation... "repent for the kingdom of God has come near!"

What can we pray with you about?

Centering Prayer

I have been thinking about Centering Prayer. I don't know why if I decided to do it where or how, but I am sure I can find a quiet 20 minutes without noise of the world, the kids, the dogs, the TV, okay maybe that will be harder than I thought...

Not sure why it has been on my mind lately, but I am going to try adding that to my weekly routine. I will let you know how it goes

if you are curious or perhaps you would like to try it for yourself here is a good description of how it goes... http://www.cellofpeace.com/cp_method.htm#method

short post today... have to go put together those sides I talked about yesterday...

Peace