Violence In Our Schools

Like many of you, I watched with sadness, anger, and regret as school shootings continue to make headlines across our country. With two such incidences in the Pacific Northwest recently, these tragedies feel closer to home than ever before. East Hills has several Seattle Pacific alums here, and so we grieve and pray with them for what occurred at their school.

In the days and weeks to come, we will no doubt hear varied opinions aired, with great vehemence, about what should be done to curb the violence taking place in our schools. Tighter gun control! Heightened school security! Closed-access campuses! These ideas, and many others like them, all have merit and in some way might create greater safety for places of public education.

But this week, I find myself reflecting on the deeper issues of our society. What is happening in our humanity that this kind of violent action seems to be more and more the norm rather than the exception? Why do so many, especially young people, turn to aggression when life overwhelms them? While I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, I would like to share a brief thought along these lines. Could it be that we have created a flawed culture in which the ideals we teach inevitably lead to emptiness and a lack of fulfillment?

Our young people are taught today that life is a smorgasbord of opportunity just waiting for them to enjoy. The message the media teaches them is to fill their lives with good things, pursue pleasure, and prioritize immediate gratification; after all, it’s all about you . Everyone can have what they want, when they want, how they want. The downfall is that the proposed promises of these messages always come up empty. Stuff doesn’t lead to satisfaction. Pleasure doesn’t equate to real joy. Facebook friends and twitter followers doesn’t create true relationships and deep connection. And so, as a society, we are left wanting.

In Isaiah 55:1-2, the prophet declares, “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink- even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk- it’s all free! Why spend money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.” Our society seems to be gorging itself on food that doesn’t satisfy. And when we come up empty and alone, violence is increasingly the answer.

So I believe with all my heart that Jesus is still the hope of the world. Because for all our western culture can give- possessions, techy toys, cool cars, and frappuccinos- culture hasn’t figured out how to give us what we most need. Only God can meet us in the deep hunger of our souls.

How will our society be changed? How will gun violence be curtailed? When people come to God to satisfy their true hunger, the world will be changed. It starts with me and you; making sure that we find our joy and satisfaction in Him. And having tasted the goodness of the Lord, we share this message. We look to be light in dark places. We point others to the only source of lasting joy and peace. And the more that people are pointed to Christ, the fewer guns that will be pointed at others. May it be so.

Strange Behaviors

I was starting to list for myself this morning some of the strange behaviors that I willingly engage in for the love of running. I thought I'd share some of that list with you as a way to enter into a larger discussion.

-Right now as I type this, I have an ice pack strapped around my left ankle. At my desk. At work. My left Achilles has been bothering me, and this is one of the few times I sit still long enough to ice!
-Last night I slept with two socks on that same foot. Just the left foot. I've heard that keeping the foot warm is a key to recovery. It looks weird. It seems to help my ankle.
-This year I have purchased three brand new pairs of shoes. I've never worn any of them in public. They are just for running. The shoes I wear around are all over a year old.
-Last night I felt achy, sore and tired. So I got up early this morning, ran 8 miles, and I feel better than ever.
-I don't eat French fries. I have found that any kind of deep-friend food has an adverse affect on my morning runs, so I avoid them during peak training.
-I check the weather every night just to see what the temp will be in the morning.
-I blow my nose into my shirt when I run. I've tried the farmer blow and it just doesn't work for me. You probably didn't want to know that. I could go even more graphic, but let's not go there.

So why am I thinking about all these strange behaviors today? It occurs to me that in the name of our passion, we will do some pretty outrageous things. We willingly engage in behaviors that may seem odd or even ludicrous to others who don't share our passion. Imagine the frenzied fans at a Seahawks game with bright green spiked hair. Picture the crowds gathering at national scrapbooking and Star Wars conventions. Think of the lines of people camping out to be the first to own the next iPhone. More likely than not, one or more of these groups seem strange to you. You don't understand their passion, so their behavior is hard to comprehend. But you know at the same time that you have a similar passion in your life that may be misunderstood by others, be it Duck Dynasty, Starbucks, or vintage cars.

This weekend at church, we talked about the life of the prophet Jeremiah. This guy lived boldly for God- what God told him to say, he said. What God told him to do, he did. And this made him look strange; very strange. It also offended and bothered a lot of people who didn't understand his passion. But here's the connection for me: Why is it that I am so willing to look strange when it comes to my hobby of running, but often so unwilling to look strange when it comes to my faith in Jesus? To be honest, when it comes to faith and Jesus in my life, I usually try to fit in. I want to look normal, average and regular. I don't want to offend or turn anyone away because of "strange behaviors."

Somehow this feels out of sync to me. How could I bring the same attitude I have towards how others view my running that I do to how others view my faith? Could I be more bold to live out loud and let the crowd- be they skeptics or supporters- react however they want? Here are some paths I'd like to walk in, and thus be accused of strange behaviors:

-I'd like to love more outrageously. When someone is hurting or in need, I want to be more proactive to go to extreme measures to show love. I don't do that very often.
-I want to treat everyone like they have unsurpassable worth. I want to treat people who are nothing like me with the same kind of honor and respect I would give to the president if he walked into the room. That's hard to do.
-I want to respond with grace and love when others grow harsh or mean. I want to bless bad drivers, not yell at them.
-I want to talk more often about Jesus, how much he means to me, and how I really believe he's the hope of the world. I want to stop worrying about who's listening or how they might respond.

You know, if I engaged in these behaviors, I would look strange to most people, especially to those who didn't understand my passion. But I do this all the time with running- why not with Jesus?

What's on your list? How do you want to live so that others might see you as strange?

On your journey, may you joyfully be strange for Jesus!

Nick

On Hearing God

How does God speak to us? It seems like we often hear that a key to faith is hearing God’s voice and then doing what He says. This is all well and good when “the voice” of God we hear is through Scripture. In fact, we could spend a lifetime simply trying to do what He says in His Word. But this same Word also holds out another promise to us- that God is a God who continues to speak. He has something to say about our personal situations and the individual experiences we all have from day to day.

So, in the rush of life, how exactly does God speak to us? Someone asked me this very question a few weeks ago. I thought for a bit about how I personally attempt to listen to God. Like many others, I try to take some time each day to be quiet before God, and then in a prayerful place to listen to what God might have to say. As I pondered this approach, however, it occurred to me that very rarely if ever have I heard God in that moment!

Now that seems kind of strange, doesn’t it? I believe in a God who is speaking and who wants to speak to me, yet when I actually go to listen, I must honestly admit that I rarely hear anything. Perhaps you are encouraged by this! Maybe you have grown weary of this kind of listening because it feels like wasted time where very odd and random things pop into your mind. Be at ease- you are not alone!

But back to the question at hand- how do we hear God speak? I am not trying to create precedence here or say this is the right way, but I want to share my experience because you may find similarities. What I have found is that when I am setting aside time to hear from God, though I rarely hear from Him in that moment, I very often hear from Him in that season. In other words, when I am being consistent in this posture of listening, I will find that at other times in my day, a voice or a thought will suddenly pop up and somehow in my soul I just know it is God’s voice. An answer to a question. A new perspective. A lyric from a song I haven’t thought of in ages. A verse in Scripture I haven’t read in months. But there it is. To me, I feel like God has to catch me off guard in these moments.

The more I think about it, the more this makes sense to me. When I sit and pray, “God, I want to hear your voice,” whether I realize it or not, I have many presuppositions in that moment. I have ideas of what God should or shouldn’t say. I have ideas of what He will say and how He will say it. I put up all these filters that make actually hearing His voice in that moment difficult if not impossible. But in doing this, I believe that I am somehow aligning my heart with His. I am opening up a portion of my soul and making it more ready to receive. And at just the right moment, God speaks. When I am not even aware of Him, He is aware of me and my need to hear His voice. And so He speaks.

So though I rarely hear God “in the moment”, I will continue to be one who listens. And when He catches me off guard and speaks just what I needed to hear, I will be grateful that He spoke in His way, and His time. We have a speaking God. May we be a listening people!

 

How about you? Can you relate to this? How do you hear God?

Less than Magical

One of the difficult decisions of our recent trip to Florida and the Magic Kingdom was what to do with our 18-month old son. He's at that challenging age where he's completely mobile and inquisitive, but not smart enough or old enough to really know better. After much consideration, we decided to leave him with my folks. In Montana. This meant a 5 and 1/2 hour drive before and after the trip for a drop off and pick up.

On Sunday, I was driving back from Montana with our son, and along the way I found myself growing increasingly angry. For starters, some kind of construction activity on Snoqualmie Pass had added an hour to my trip. At one point, traffic had sat completely motionless for 15 minutes. The worst part for me was that all along this stretch, I never did see a single sign of active construction. It was a traffic jam created completely by, well, traffic.

Next off, Luke decided that he didn't want to sleep. Even though it was 10 PM and he was very tired, he kept shaking himself awake. Was he afraid that if he drifted off to sleep I would leave him somewhere again? I don't know. So he's fussy, and then it starts to rain. Not Washington-gentle-mist kind of rain. More like South Pacific-drops-as-large-as-acorns sheet rain. And all of this begins happening as I round the I-5 bend near the Tacoma Dome, which all you north-westerners know is a notoriously busy and backed up section of road.

So there I was- tired of driving, suffering from a 3-hour jet-lag that told me it was 1Am, trying to comfort a crying baby by myself in a pouring rainstorm with traffic all around me moving at 30 miles an hour. And how did I handle this? I got angry, and I found myself wanting to blame others; even irrationally. I wanted to blame my parents for not driving the whole way. I wanted to blame my wife for not going instead of me. I wanted to blame the rain, the other drivers, and even my 18-month old for not being smart enough to see that Daddy was about to blow so he should just pipe down.

Amidst all of this frustration came a quiet moment of clarity. I would like to say that God spoke to me, but I'm just not sure- it could have been my own spirit. But a still voice whispered, "Remember, you chose this. This was the plan that you chose." This thought powerfully calmed the raging storm of my soul. When I regained the perspective that the current circumstances, though out of my control, were circumstances that I had willingly put myself into, I had renewed peace and strength to face them.

I'm writing this today because of how often I think this happens for all of us. Life gets tough, we get angry, and the blaming begins. In some ways, it's human nature to look for ways to blame others for the problems we face. But I wonder if we step back enough and say to ourselves, "I chose this." Certainly, we didn't choose the unexpected problems or trouble, but in most of our challenges I think we can take ownership of choices we made to put ourselves in this position.

So, your spouse may be angry and hurtful at times, but remember you chose to love for better or for worse. Now may just be a time of worse. A boss may have unrealistic expectations or be at times difficult to work with, but when you accepted the job you accepted those risks as well. Your child might be mean and disrespectful, but when you chose to become a parent, you willingly invited another free-willed being into your home.

I think you see what I'm saying here. If we can willingly say to ourselves, "I chose this", we hold onto a perspective that gives us the ability to face the challenge with new strength. And rather than blaming, we are enabled to go to God and see His help. When we blame, we tend not to pray because the fault lies with someone else. Or we pray for them- that God will change them, change the weather, change our circumstances: we ask him to change everything except ourselves.When we look at our own choices, we can ask a gracious Father to give us the courage to face what needs to be faced with the kind of character He loves to give His children.

So when the magic of a marriage, a job, a task, or a trip to Disney World fades, look for an opportunity to embrace your role in choosing. Rather than blaming, and giving in to anger, find ways to surrender to God and invite His help into your situation. Say to yourself, "I chose this" and to God, "Now help me to see it through." And He will help you.

The rain will always fall, but you choose the kind of trip you will take through the storm.

Peace-

Nick

Tragedy in Boston

The events of this week from Boston have struck a chord in my heart. It is eery to see these images from a place I have been- to watch runners fall to the ground at the finish line- to watch medical personnel aiding the injured- hearing the screaming crowd- all of these things happened in 2004 when I ran the marathon. But it makes me sick to see all these same events connected to a bombing. I feel a kind of sickness that doesn't hit the stomach, but a little higher in the heart.

Maybe that's why today I keep thinking of the saying from Proverbs that "A hope deferred makes the heart sick." (Proverbs 13:12) There were so many painful hopes deferred yesterday. A local gal from our area turned the final corner onto Boylston Street- a scene I remember well- only to be forced to stop. For any marathoner, this turn towards the glory of the finish line is etched forever in your memory, especially at Boston. For her, the life-long dream would end there with the banners and ticking clock within site. Hope deferred. For others, they had gone to cheer on a friends or family member as they put on their final kick at the end of the race, only to end up running for their lives away from that place, never to see the loved one finish. Hope deferred. For still others, a loved one or friend who had come to cheer them on in the race of their life will never come home again. Hope deferred. Heart sick.

This complete Proverb says, "A hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Many of us are watching these events unfold and are left with a deep longing in our chests. We long for a world where these events do not happen. We long for safety, peace and security. We long for a human experience marked by kindness and compassion, not anger and hate. But how will this longing be fulfilled?

In my understanding, I only know of one place where we find a tree of life- God's eternal heaven. And something about events like yesterday makes us long for that place. A place where hope is not deferred, but is fully experienced in the presence of God. Events like yesterday always remind me that we live in a hope-deferred kind of time, but that Jesus came to produce a longing-fulfilled kind of world. In Christ, we find the fulfillment of our longings as we experience the "right now among you" kingdom that Jesus inaugurated through is death and resurrection. Yet we still experience hope-deferred moments day after day.

So if, like me, you find yourself a bit heart sick these days, may it remind you we live in a broken world. A world that is not our home. But a new kingdom is breaking in, a kingdom of peace where longings are fulfilled. We live in place that is not yet all that God intended, and so He sent His Son. He sent Jesus to be our longing fulfilled and to lead us into life. May we cling tightly to him in the days to come.

Peace as you run this journey-

Nick