Go Play

We took our son to a splash park tonight at a local mall, totally on a whim.  We knew he'd have a blast, so we finished up at our restaurant and promised that a "surprise" awaited him.  He was excited and very, very curious.  When he saw the fountains springing from the concrete and the myriad of children laughing, running, and playing, he knew just what he wanted to do.  With widened eyes, he said with extreme excitement, "Where's my SWIMSUIT, I wanna PLAY!"  His joy gave us joy.  We said, "don't worry about a swimsuit, we'll just dry you off in the car.   Go and play!"

Micah was a little bewildered. "But I'll get wet...I need my swimsuit."  He knows that getting his clothes wet is a no-no at home, but in the midst of his worry about breaking our rules, he wasn't embracing that the rule-makers were giving him permission to go and play.  He kept fretting about getting wet.  We said "go and play!"  He walked cautiously to the first fountain and gingerly stuck his toe into it, cautiously scanning our faces for the go-ahead.  Our smiles and nods told him that it was time to put his leg into the spewing water cannon emanating from the ground.  We said "go and play!"  He looked at us again, searching for permission to break the rules.  We again nodded and smiled.  We said "go and play!"  He interpreted this final nod as the greenlight for Operation Splashbody, running full-bore into the drenching center of the park: a pumping, pulsing urban geyser which soaks anyone who comes near.  He no longer looked for our approval of every step.  He finally stopped thinking of the rules and started listening to the call of the rule-maker: "Go and play!"

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. - Psalm 37:4

We do the same thing with God all the time!  How often do we Christians spend so much time seeking to follow "the rules"...don't do this, don't do that.  Don't drink, don't chew, and don't date the girls that do.  Rules are good guidelines.  Drinking can be harmful.  Chewing tobacco can lead to a lifetime of health problems.  Dating women who do both of these things will almost certainly result in a relationship full of second-hand bad breath.  So it's good to be wary of these things.  However, we can get so focused on the rules that we forget the Rule-Maker.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  As long as we're doing the first, we can be fully and finally free to do the second.  When we mature in Christ, we can stop focusing on the rules and start focusing on delighting ourselves in God and then just "go play."

Instead of following rules, why don't we spend our energies on loving God and developing greater intimacy with our Father...and then just doing whatever brings the greatest joy to our hearts?  I wonder if we would be more generous, more joyful, more filled with the Holy Spirit...if we would lean into Him and then just go play.

Dreams from God

"For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." - 2 Corinthians 6:2

I had an interesting dream last night.  I wanted to write this right after I woke up so I'd remember it as clearly as possible.  I dreamed that I took a friend of mine named Shane to a church small group I was leading. I had invited him several times and he came out of curiosity.  I can't remember the exact passage we were studying in my dream (such details fade quickly) but it was something that was a reminder of the need for integrity and humility in the Church.  I remember discussing the quote from Brennan Manning: "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle.  That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

It seemed to impact Shane and on our ride home we had a great conversation.  Remember, this is a dream, so in wacky-dream-world style, we started off in a limousine which morphed into a Town Car which morphed into a horse-drawn carriage by the end of the ride.  Shane was quiet much of the ride home, giving me just a few answers that showed he was thinking intensely about what he had seen and heard.  I was happy.  Happy that I'd finally invited a friend to church who really needed to hear the message being presented.  Happy that a friend who was one of the most intelligent people I have ever known, who is also one of the most ardent atheists I had ever known, was willing to come hear me pour out my heart for Jesus and preach the gospel in a way that spoke to him.

I awoke happy, as if the events of my dream had actually occurred.  Then, as the fog of sleep began to lift, my mind focused on reality.  Shane, my oh-so-intelligent atheist friend since first grade and a man I was always timid about inviting to church or talking about Jesus with, committed suicide a few years ago.  He jumped in front of a speeding commuter train in a desperate move to end his daily battle with a bitter depression.  Regret immediately filled me.  It is too late for Shane, but who else is out there who needs not a Bible-bash upside the head, but rather a compassionate presentation of Christ's love and perhaps also a verbal presentation of the gospel?  Lord, may I never wait until it's too late again.

"For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." - 2 Corinthians 6:2

Resist the Slow Fade

I definitely think it's a sign of the times that our world is routinely rocked by scandal.  It may be that we are on a morally downward slope, degrading more and more into complete moral free-for-all and absolute boundary-less-ness.  Or, it may be that we are simply more attentive to the faults and foibles of public figures, with so many news outlets desperate for a juicy tidbit, a morsel of gossip to feed the voracious 24-hour news cycle.  Sensation sells, and few things are more sensational than a person or organization who betrays the public's trust for personal gain.  Regardless of the reason, scandal has become sadly commonplace.

One touched me more deeply recently.  A public service organization in the same city where I work has been accused of some heinous stuff...like federal indictment heinous.  Using federal funds for personal purposes is a huge no-no. The person at the center of it all is someone I have worked with for years, a colleague whom I collaborated with on several projects and was very well-respected in our field.  She's not a friend per se, but definitely someone close enough to me that her accused actions hit me like a brick.  How could she do this, and risk her job, reputation, and a career over 30 years in the making?

It was ironic that when I read the first article about the scandal my Pandora app chose to play Casting Crowns' "Slow Fade".  The chorus goes like this: It's a slow fade when you give yourself away / a slow fade when black and white will turn to grey / thoughts invade, a choice is made / a price will be paid when you give yourself away / people never crumble in a day.  If you've never heard this song before, you owe it to your conscience to listen to it enough to memorize it.  It's my personal integrity soundtrack, a constant reminder that we are all vulnerable to the wiles of temptation.

I looked at the trouble my colleague has gotten into and I thought "what was she thinking?"  I rushed to judge her.  But the more I thought about it, she more than likely got caught into the slow fade.  It begins with a thought, which becomes an attitude, which becomes an action, which becomes a habit, which becomes a character.  What thoughts could have sparked this slow fade?  Here's a few I can think of:

1. It could never happen to me
2. I'd never get caught
3. Others do much worse things
4. I deserve better than what I'm getting
5. I'm too powerful / in a hurry for the rules to apply to me
6. I need this money/power/desire, and I don't have time to get it the right way

I think the answer to resisting the slow fade is to focus ourselves and dedicate ourselves fully to a singular focus.  The Slow Fade happens when our focus is diluted, when our worries become too heavy to handle.  The key is to solidify our focus on God and His righteousness so intensely that we don't have time to think on unethical things.  There's so much more to say on this, but Solomon wrapped it up in a nutshell:

"Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, whoever takes crooked paths will be found out." - Prov 10:9