People get lost along the way— you, me, everybody. We all go through phases and transitions that bring confusion and disruption to growing.

    We lose our way. [see last EMPulse.]

    So how do we find our way? More specifically— how do we find our way home? “HOME” being a sense of self, of knowing who you are, knowing your way in our world.

      Too many of us think of home as being where we came from; but that is not it. Going to that home would mean a return to the past, to that place of safety you once knew. That is not what I meant.

      We need a new home, a new place of belonging and safety. You will find a new set of friends, a new comfort zone. Even a new shape of faith. Or an entirely new faith, if you have none.

      So, as you lose your way, do not be afraid. You will find your way again— to a new home.

      What will this new place look like?

      For one, it will be your new safe place. You will find yourself flourishing anew. It might take some time before you figure everything out. Tread lightly but boldly. Experiment with tentative confidence. You are learning new ropes; ones you’ve never trusted before.

      In this time of discovery, find a new best friend, one you can count on to be there for you. You need a new set of people to guide you as you search out the avenues of expression in this new phase of life.

      As I’ve said before, you will need a new safe-place. A place where you can calm down and just be yourself. I have found that these places are critical to discovering a new sense of self.

      If you are Christian, in any sense of the word, you will need to find a church that is a safe place for you. A place where you can worship, where you can hear God as He speaks.

      Finally (but not exhaustively) you will have to find new activities that feed your body & soul. Move! God does not direct a body at rest. He directs those who are in process of experimenting with new things to do. Like sky-diving. Spelunking. Performing in public places, like street concerts. Give something a try. God will make it abundantly clear if your choice is off key.

      Whatever you do, everything should create for you a new home. You are weaving a new web for your life, one where you discover and create the new you. Have fun doing it.

      None of this will be easy. It will take a new dedication to push through the barriers you will face.

      Now, find your way forward…, & home.

 Honor God, honor people, make a difference,

  Gary

For those of you starting the journey to make a difference in this world…, GO FOR IT! You have exciting, challenging days ahead of you. Give it all you got!

         For others, more in the nitty-gritty of life’s obstacles, you know you have to pace yourself. Bursts of energy in the sprints we often face require us to back off for times of rest, recovery.

         And for those who are trying to finish well, like me, you need to reflect on what you’ve done and measure how well you have completed the goals God has set you to accomplish.

         As some of you know I often ask people What is God designing you for in the next phase of your life? Many don’t think God has anything to do with their life, this phase or the next. Others have never considered the question. Allow me to leave some questions for you about the long runs of your life.

1. Have you wanted to make a difference in the phases of your life? What about this one? What about the next one?

2. What individuals or groups can you point to where you have made a difference? How do know you have made a difference?

3. What about your own life? Where have you grown, changed, overcome obstacles? How do you know? (Ask other people for their perspectives.)

4. What sense do you have that you have followed God’s design for your life thus far? Do others see your spirit the way you do?

5. Where do you believe you have failed God? What consequences followed? What good came from it?

6. Where have you failed? Yourself? Or God? Why? What can you do about it now?

7. Where can you see yourself making a difference next?

         These are the days and months where I look back to review and assess the phases of my life. Some things I did made a huge difference in other peoples’ lives. Other things, not so much. But I am not finished yet. And God isn’t finished with me yet either.

Honor God, honor people…, still trying to make a difference,

  Gary

         All of us age. Some, better than others. Physically our bodies start deteriorating at about 30-35. Start. We can do something about that. It’s called exercise. We can get up in the morning, go to the gym, workout, or run in the brisk morning air (unless you live in Pittsburg, LA, or New York).

         For myself, I’ve got the age thing down. This September (23) I will turn 80 years old. But the reality is that I don’t feel my age. Mostly. I do wear down toward the end of each day; but, hey, don’t we all. I take more meds than I would like. My stamina isn’t what it used to be.

         But my desire to & make a difference is as strong as it has ever been.

         One of my favorite quotes from G.K. Chesterton (1874 – 1936) is—

“What this world needs now

is a new kind of Prophet.

One who would not tell people

 they were going to die.

But one who would tell them

 they are not dead yet.”

         Too many of us (genuine Christians) already have one foot in the grave. We could be 30, 50, or 70; but we are already dead. Why is that?

         I believe it is because we have given up. We have lost the empowerment given us by the Holy Spirit. It is not so much that we have lost our faith; rather, through the constant war we are in, we have decreased faith.

         Life takes a toll on our fortitude, on our strength. When Scripture reminds us “Blessed are those who are weary.” we get it.

         At some point in life, we will all become “poor in spirit.” This is not a “given” in our faith, but, often, it does come upon us when we least expect it.

         One thing I know about myself, and possibly you as well, is that I am not dead yet. For this, I thank my Lord Jesus Christ. The longer I am a Christian, the more my certitude has morphed toward certainty (1 Corinthians 1:24). The more our world seems to be disintegrating into fragmented chaos, the more genuine Christian faith makes sense to me. It is the one reliable constant in a reality of variables.

         Christ is the Resurrection and the Life! Don’t die yet.

Honor God, honor people…, make a difference,

  Gary

  In my early days of joining the marketplace we held an annual Planning Conference for all staff across the country. Wanting to prove that I knew what I was doing I would show up at these Planning Conferences with my schedule for the next year completely prepared.

       Each day was divided by thirds of days, color-coded by arena of operation— for a year in advance. So if you asked me who I was having lunch with on September 12^th, I could tell you.

       But it also said a lot about me. I was arrogant. I was showing off by having my calendar prepared before I even arrived at the Planning Conference. And it revealed something about me as well; it unveiled the reality that I thought I was more in control that God.

       As I look back, I realize how insecure I was; how afraid to be out of control.

       It also revealed that I was overbooked in almost every area of my life. Save two— 1) time to spend alone with God, 2) time to be with my wife, Starr. [To do things she wanted to do.]  

       Today, with my days of being an important part of the workforce almost totally behind me, I know the importance of making time for people, of creating time to be with God, and of the critical consequence of being with my wife.

       When I was in my early college days a chapel (manditory) speaker said There is enough time in each day for you to do all of God’s will. Are you doing it?  I’ve never forgotten it. I haven’t always lived up to that axiom, but it still stays with me.

       Later, I became friends with an Indian pastor. He never took a day off. We spent a week at a lakehouse in New Hampshire just resting. By the end of the week he was surprised how rested he was and how ready he was to get back into ministry…, but with a little more awareness of stopping.

       What about you? Are you overbooked? Do you have time to breathe? Can you take time to be alone with yourself, with God? With your wife/husband?

       Proverbs 16:3 reads—

Commit your work to the Lord

And your plans will be established

   ‘Nough said.

Gary

NEXT— EMPulse 13 Waiting on the Lord

      There is an intrinsic relationship between forgiveness, repentance, and empowerment. As we each stand (grovel) before the God of the universe we will see our true place is in the grand scheme of things. We are not the measure of all things. (Protagoras. 5^th C, BCE) God is.

       Some of us have a sense that we are not the Supreme Being. Others act as if they are. I’m not sure how they come to that conclusion.

       My concern here is to examine the relationship between the three ideas of forgiveness, repentence, and empowerment. Some of us believe that there is a holy God from whom we need to seek repentence; probably for the arrogant lives we’ve led. More of us do not believe there is a god anywhere to which humanity owes anything. Personally, I’d rather go with the first option just to be on the safe side.

       Oddly, when I first repented I felt as if God had already forgiven me. Going into the repentence process it felt as if God was already there ahead of me, welcoming me home. Immediately following I felt cleaner, lighter, and, of course, forgiven. My life prior to my conversion had been convoluted; phiposophy, modeling, dating, and hiding from people. [Yes, for you who know me, I was actually an introvert. Hard as that might be to believe.]

       Being empowered is yet another thing that must come from without. Money often empowers people: so does position. Approval by people you admire, or who are in authority above you also empowers us. Some of us need more kudos more than others. It’s not a weakness: it is simply a dynamic of personality and heritage.

       The greatest empowerment will come from the God who made us— Jesus Christ. It’s not just enablement. It is true empowerment. In my own life I have often asked God to help me get through something. What I should have been asking for is the power to get through it. Those of us who are tied to God through faith have access to the power of God; but we rarely tap into it. Why is that? Have we become so self-sufficient that we now prefer to depend solely on ourselves? There is only so much power in that.

       But all of us need to be empowered at some point in our lives. We do not have it all together. Be sure that your empowerment flows from the Godhead rather than from any other source. Most often, if follows repentence and forgiveness. Good places to start.

Gary

NEXT— EMPulse 12 Overbooked

   In the last century there was a lot of talk about rekindling the fire. As if the flame of faith had gone out. Given the denominational wars and the liberal/conservative divisiveness a lot of the fire was directed at our fellow Christians. Yet another diversion our adversary throws in our path to keep us from being lights in the world around us.

   As some of us grow older there is a subtle dimming of our flames brought on by simple exhaustion, family responsibilities, health issues, and of being sidelined in Christian service. Granted, it is true that in Scripture the older priests in Temple service were moved to less physically demanding responsibilities. But they never stopped serving.

       In our Western culture there is a prescribed idea that when a person hits 65 they retire from the workforce. But there are some who are just hitting their stride. (Think Colonel Sanders and his Kentucky Fried Chicken.) Nonetheless, across the board, the older a person is, the more pressure there is to drop out.

       Here are some ideas on how to reignite the fire, rather than throwing in the towel.

1.      Eat right.

2.      Exercise! Start small; then go for the Olympics.

3.      Sleep right. As we age we really DO need all the 8 hours we can get.

4.      Socialize! Especially if you are an introvert.

5.      Keep your time with God percolating! Do not get stuck in a rut.

6.      Try something new. Anything! Guitar. Dance lessons. Learn a new language. (Gaelic?) Sky diving. Writing your Memoirs. (If you can remember them.)

7.      Take a course in psychology or Biblical studies. Or start an academic degree program.

8.      SERVE in your church or community. Even politics. Just get out there!

9.      Get back in the workforce in a completely different arena.

10.   Just don’t give up and become a couch potatoe.

       Much of my time is found investing in the lives of other people. Helping them discover things they haven’t thought of yet. Helping them discover who they are and God’s unique design for their life.  

       The point is that you don’t have to lay down and die just because you hit the big 65. You have a lot of life-lessons under your belt that others need to learn.

Gary

NEXT— The Shower— forgiveness, repentance, empowerment

       In asking around what some of my friends think about in the shower I often receive I usually just listen to music & sing along. Hummm. Hadn’t quite thought of that one. Probably should consider it. John Denver? Karen Carpenter? Taylor Swift? If anything, I play Classical. Soothing as I think.

       Still, my singing does sound better in the shower. I think everybody’s does. Oh…, you’ve never tried it?

       For most of us “the shower” is a place of escape. A time to separate from our world of work; or a place to prepare for it, to organize our thoughts and approach to the day: to clear our minds of extraneous clutter. And so we smell better. I prefer to start my day with a mind clearing shower, one where I can lay the gridwork for things accomplished. My wife, on the other hand, likes to end her day with a soothing shower, drawing a close to the work of the day.

       Neither of us are right or wrong. It’s just a life pattern we have developed over the years.

       Whether you begin your day with an invigorating shower or end it with a soothing one, you need to establish a pattern that works for you. Consistency is the point. Eliminate one more thing you have to think about so you can get the important stuff done.

       When I was an undergrad I remember a chapel speaker saying There is enough time in each day for you to accomplish all of God’s will. He challenged us to examine our days to see how we were doing with that.

       The idea had never occurred to me that I had been called to participate in something much greater, much more majestic than my own picayunish plans for my day. Let alone for my life. I had to change the ways I viewed myself, my plans, and those around me.

       It wasn’t all about me.

       I still need to be reminded of that. Each day. Every day. Some days I fail miserably to make a difference. I fritter my time away with superfluous stuff.

       But there’s always tomorrow. And tonight’s shower. Or tomorrow mornings. So sing!

       And plan on!

Loving God; loving people… and bringing the two together! ^©

Gary

NEXT— The Shower— How do you decide what is important?

 As I wander through the lives of my friends it no longer surprises me that they have no need of religion, let alone Jesus Christ. Their lives are engulfed in work, families, extra-curricular activities, sports, etc. They have no time to consider that there might be a God in the heavens who wants to give them everything He has. All they have to say, “Huh!”

     Ah! But there are “hoops”  to jump through! Membership in the Christian Club costs, right. They’ve come to believe that our faith is all about bondage, rules, and limitations on their lives. And they want none of it.

  All people see is subservience to a holy God who wants to subjugate them even more to His laws and limits.

     This comes after years of viewing the Church as a symbol of authority rather than a gateway to freedom from everything that binds people. If it is true that the Gospel points out sin, then it is equally true that Jesus Christ sets us free from our bondage to sin. Stating the obvious? Yes. But we rarely live as if we are free.

     So also do normal people look at our message and see, not freedom & forgiveness, but “Christian” rules and regulations to bind them. How then does that draw them to our gospel of life? Have you ever been hurt? Who hasn’t. How about doubts about whether this whole Christian thing is true? An accurate interpretation of reality? Many of us have.

     What about being betrayed of judged by another Christian? Yeah. Right. People who do not follow Christ’s way of life see it all. And they are skeptical about our claims of the “abundant life,” of the unity of our faith, and the freedom we know in Christ.

     How did we get here? Short of a lesson in church history, we have forgotten our first love. We have traded Christian love and community for positions of power and authority. One-upmanship.

     If ever our world is to see the love and salvation we share in our faith, then we have got to stop dividing against one another. We need to come together on critical issues of faith and practice. It is our hearts of compassion and forgiveness that our secular friends want…, & need.

“By this will everyone know that you are my disciples; that you love one-another.” [John 13:35]

     Years ago, a young college girl from Nigeria asked Starr and me how she could become a Christian. I replied “Why do you want to become a Christian?” Her response took us by surprise. “Because of the way I see you two love each other.” That hasn’t changed.

Loving God; loving people… and bringing the two together! ^©
Gary

       Another issue normal people face when considering our Christian faith is the disgust they have with the uncovered activities of many Christian leaders and the practices of too many Christian organizations. We are not a church without spot or blemish.

       People expect more from a group that claims to know the God of the universe in a pure and personal way. They expect more from Christian leaders who cut corners, who play the edges of the gospel, and live lives that are less than reputable.

       No wonder people are skeptical of the veracity and practice of our faith. What we confess that Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the life, but that doesn’t match the way we live. So we come across as duplicitous to too many people. I’ve been guilty of this myself— this conflicting nature. For that, I am truly sorry. I apologize. Please forgive me.

            The onus remains on us to live lives that lift up our Lord Jesus. But our people are not yet fully redeemed. We are an imperfect people, struggling to be transformed by the indwelling Christ. Regrettably, too many of us have been poor representatives of the God we serve. And people outside our faith stand ready to point that out and condemn our failures.

       We need to ask ourselves— What do we need to change in our behavior so people will be less disgusted with us and our faith in Christ?

1.      For one, we need to live reputable lives— not lives that bend the rules or distract from the purity of life that our Lord has obtained for us.

2.      Then…̶̶  we need to strive to live lives of sacrifice. For example, most of us give to causes we believe in within the scope of our budget. But should we not also set aside some money for emergency giving? People often have special needs that arise unexpectedly. What if we could have a Special Needs Fund (SNF) ready to give to people on the spot?

3.      I know I’ve said this before but I believe it so important to learn to love people as the foundation of the Gospel. All the outlines or presentations we design are nothing without a context of love. So the question we must answer is— Can we love people the way our Lord loved them, with no condemnation?! This implies that we put aside our own peculiar prejudices and attitudes about them. They are not a perfect group of people: neither are we.

4.      We need to take down our own masks that hide the work of Christ within. We tend to put on a good face for people who don’t understand our faith. On the contrary we need to display out real selves, as Christians, with all our warts and failings. Why are we so afraid to be more transparent in our faith?

5.      We need to learn to lead lives that are covered with prayer; not prayer as a passing fancy, but prayer that is a passion. Western Christians are not very passionate about much anymore. We must develop passionate lives that exude the praise to our Lord. Sedate, moderate Christianity will accomplish little in a volatile society.

       If people are disgusted with us, even fearful, we need to change the ways we live to reflect more goodness toward life, and love for those around us.

Loving God; loving people… and bringing the two together! ^©

Gary

NEXT— foreign concepts

       One of the saddest commentaries on Christians in this era is that too many of us have lost any expectation that God still works. His days of making a difference in our world are past.

       We certainly don’t expect Him to drop any of His miracles on us. Not today. We may admit to anomalies in science and medicine on occasion, but it is certainly not the norm to attribute any of these to divine intervention.

       ALL can be explained.

       Since I’ve been in junior high school medical and scientific professionals have been dismissing miracles with the trite We’ll find an explanation someday. For this is one of those things we leave to the work of God. Even when they may not believe in God? [Robert Wright, The Evolution of Religion; “Religious responses to reality are generally explained by game theory and evolutionary psychology.”]

       Christians in the West generally do not believe in miracles. Why is that? Many who are on the more Calvinistic side believe the miraculous gifts ceased with the closing of the writing of the Canon. This position, to this writer, seems to be a quite arbitrary conjecture. The church throughout history has seen the workings of the Spirit of God across both cultures and geographies that have no connection.

       Yes, God works His miracles. Everywhere.

       Why, in our present world, do we believe we need to have a rational or scientific explanation to dismiss any work of God?!? Simply, we do not believe our Lord is still at work in this postModern world. A completely irrational postulation!

       If you’ve traveled our world to any degree, you will hear of and observe God’s work. It is accepted as normative in just about every society…, except in the West. We rule out miracles a priori.

       By example, on a mission in Mexico, an American pastor was asked to pray for healing for a 14 year old boy whose leg was 8” to short and club footed. With great embarrassment our pastor friend placed one hand on the boy’s shoulder and his other hand on his twisted leg. As he began to pray the boy’s leg grew to full length and straightened.

       Our minister friend was dumbfounded. He had just been part of a miracle…, that wasn’t supposed to happen in our day.

       Throughout our lives, personally. my wife and I have been involved in miracles. We’ll never get used to it.

       So when next you find yourself involved in one of God’s miracles that are no longer supposed to exist…, don’t be surprised. God is most definitely still at work in ways we surely do not understand.

       DO NOT try to confine the God of the universe to our limited, puny perspectives.

Loving God; loving people… and bringing the two together! ^©

Gary

NEXT— NEW SECTION Challenges normal people face