I was on my way back to the office from my semi-daily lunch run to Bojangl...I mean Subway...the other day when a commotion in the parking garage caught my eye. A well-respected leader from my organization was standing outside of his car pacing back and forth, making rather erratic movements (imagine the drunkest guy at a wedding trying to do the Electric Slide and the Macarena at the same time). Conflicted by my desires to help him, restrain him and pretend like I didn't see him all at the same time, I kept going thinking that he would instead see me and stop. He didn't. I got to the door and took one more glance back in hopes that the combination of the 110-degree day and the aroma of the cajun chicken sandwich I was carrying was causing me to hallucinate. It was then that I realized this individual wasn't in fact having a breakdown, he was just having a conversation...on the phone...using that wonderful piece of technology we know as Bluetooth.
I've drawn a line in the sand when it comes to technology, and that line is the miniature device that we can place in our ears enabling us to talk on the phone completely hands-free. This device also enables us to make innocent bystanders feel very uncomfortable as we carry on our phone conversations in public places. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a store or standing in line at Bojangl...Subway...and have attempted to interact with someone who wasn't talking to me. Hear me on this, I'm one who takes social etiquette very seriously, and I'm proud of my ability to detect clues that tell me when something is or isn't socially acceptable (my wife will more than likely disagree with that statement). But how am I supposed to pick up on a clue that I can't see? When I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with someone looking at diapers in Target, and they say something like, "So what are you doing later today?", I'm naturally going to respond with something like, "Put all of these diapers on my son at one time to see if it can be done." Oh, but wait, they weren't even talking to me, and now I've put myself out there to look like the weirdo. Sure, I have my moments of weirdness, but they have a piece of metal attached to the side of their head wirelessly transmitting a signal to the phone in their pocket, and I'm supposed to recognize what's going on while avoiding eye contact and risking an awkward situation in the diaper aisle? Well, Bluetooth, you just made the situation awkward because now I have to rescue the situation by whispering "sorry" and pretending like I'm ashamed of myself for not respecting the technology. We didn't have this problem back when mobile phones were tethered to bags that plugged into the cigarette lighters of cars. For my younger readers, yes this was once a reality--cars had cigarette lighters and mobile phones were for the elite...mainly because the service plans cost $200/month for 15 minutes of talk time. But back then, if I was addressed in the diaper aisle it was because someone wanted to share a conversation with me or, more than likely, was trying to get me to sell Amway.
Maybe my line in the sand is unreasonable and it's time to rethink it. I vowed that I would never relinquish my VCR for a DVD player, but after a visit to Blockbuster one day back in 2002, I realized how much of a social outcast I had become. After winding my through the rows and rows of DVDs, I found the 10 VHS tapes they still had on the shelf. They were pretty much all movies that I owned, except for one that I believe to have escaped from the naughty room of Roy's Video Warehouse two doors down. I received my very first DVD player a short time later. I'm wondering if it's time to redraw my line in the sand of cell technology and face the BlueTruth of Bluetooth.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
A New Look at Tree Hugging
I'm the self-proclaimed king of ridiculous analogies. I usually start with a harmless little metaphor, and then I stretch the heck out of it, often until it becomes unrecognizable as a cohesive thought and eventually just falls apart, leaving me scrambling to remember why I went down that path to begin with. This post is NOT going to go like that. Oh, who am I kidding? It probably will. Just consider yourself warned.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to believe or trust in God with your head and not your heart. And yep, you probably guessed it, I've come up with one cheesy analogy after another to express those thoughts. The one that I keep going back to in my mind has to do with gravity. Ok, I'll be honest, I Googled gravity, and I didn't understand anything I read, so I'll just sum up gravity as the force that keeps us from floating into the atmosphere (And with that summary, I'm pretty sure I just offended my 11th grade physics teacher and the descendants of Sir Isaac Newton. Awesome.).
So, what's the difference between believing in gravity and trusting in gravity? Here comes the analogy. Imagine walking through your neighborhood one day and seeing your neighbor in his front yard holding on to a tree. I'm not talking about one arm slung around a branch here; he's down on the ground with his arms and legs wrapped around the tree, holding on for dear life. Intrigued by the sight of this, you walk into his yard and ask him why he's hugging the tree. Here's how that conversation goes:
You (if you don't like your neighbor): "What's up, weirdo?"
You (if you do like your neighbor): "What's up?"
Your neighbor (if he doesn't like you): "Get out of my yard."
Your neighbor (if he does like you): "Please get out of my yard."
Your neighbor (if he likes you; me being serious this time): "Hey neighbor! Nice day, huh?"
You: "Are you tied to that tree?"
Neighbor: "No, I'm holding on so that I don't float away."
You: "Are you full of helium?"
Neighbor: "No, that's ridiculous."
You: "I'm not holding on, and I'm not floating away. Yay gravity!"
Neighbor: "Don't take this the wrong way, but that's just your opinion."
You: "It's not an opinion, it's the truth."
Neighbor: "Well, it might be true for you, but it's not for me."
You: "Do you not believe in gravity?"
Neighbor: "Sure, I believe that there is something called gravity, I learned about it in school, and for the most part it's proven to be real, but I don't think we can know everything there is to know about it--just what we've been told."
You: "Haven't you been told that it will keep you from floating away?"
Neighbor: "Yes, and I believe that, but I'm still not letting go of this tree."
You: "Then you don't really believe that about gravity, because if you did, you would let go and trust it to do what you believe it will do."
Neighbor: "Get out of my yard."
Recently, I had a conversation with someone very close to me. She had made a big mistake and felt like God could never forgive her. However, she truly believes that God exists, that He loves the world and sent His Son to die for our sins. But when it came to her situation, she feels that she has messed up so badly, God couldn't possibly offer His forgiveness. I took that opportunity to share a little bit about my life, and how I related to God for the first 23 years. I shared how I believed all kinds of things about Him in my head but none of those things were real in my heart. Just like me, she was struggling with the same disconnect. It was no different than a person who believes in the existence and principles of gravity but who refuses to let go of a tree in fear that he'll float away. I explained that there is a big difference in believing in things with your head and allowing them to transform your heart. And I went on to share that God placed His punishment for every sin--past, present and future--on His Son, Jesus, and that when Jesus died on the cross, the debt of all mankind was paid in full. When we confess our sins and ask for His help in turning away from our sinful life, and ask for forgiveness and a new life in Jesus, we can have assurance that that God hears us, forgives us and makes us a new creation by His grace through faith. You can read more about that in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 and Ephesians 2:1-10.
I see the same analogy working for those who've become new creations but still have trouble trusting God and taking Him at His word. We're still clinging to trees, but we're doing it as children who struggle to believe that their Father is everything He says He is. He says that He'll provide for our needs, but we cling to the tree until we're absolutely sure that we'll be able to provide for our own needs. He says that hard times and tough circumstances will come our way but to not lose heart because He's with us every every step of the way. But we remain wrapped around the tree during the storm, unwilling to endure a little wind and rain as we run to a more secure and permanent shelter. He says that letting go and following Him wherever He leads us is the most important thing we can do in this life, but we cling to the safety and security we have found from years of holding on to the same tree. Each day, the Holy Spirit prompts us to let go, get up and move forward in trust, obedience and worship. We can do it, we just have to let go of the tree. You can read more about that in Luke 9:23 and Philippians 3:7-14.
Whether you're still questioning what it means to truly trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you received Him long ago and have trouble following Him daily, ask the Lord to help you let go of your doubts and fears and instead walk confidently in the things that you've always believed to be true but have a hard time trusting in your heart.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to believe or trust in God with your head and not your heart. And yep, you probably guessed it, I've come up with one cheesy analogy after another to express those thoughts. The one that I keep going back to in my mind has to do with gravity. Ok, I'll be honest, I Googled gravity, and I didn't understand anything I read, so I'll just sum up gravity as the force that keeps us from floating into the atmosphere (And with that summary, I'm pretty sure I just offended my 11th grade physics teacher and the descendants of Sir Isaac Newton. Awesome.).
So, what's the difference between believing in gravity and trusting in gravity? Here comes the analogy. Imagine walking through your neighborhood one day and seeing your neighbor in his front yard holding on to a tree. I'm not talking about one arm slung around a branch here; he's down on the ground with his arms and legs wrapped around the tree, holding on for dear life. Intrigued by the sight of this, you walk into his yard and ask him why he's hugging the tree. Here's how that conversation goes:
You (if you don't like your neighbor): "What's up, weirdo?"
You (if you do like your neighbor): "What's up?"
Your neighbor (if he doesn't like you): "Get out of my yard."
Your neighbor (if he does like you): "Please get out of my yard."
Your neighbor (if he likes you; me being serious this time): "Hey neighbor! Nice day, huh?"
You: "Are you tied to that tree?"
Neighbor: "No, I'm holding on so that I don't float away."
You: "Are you full of helium?"
Neighbor: "No, that's ridiculous."
You: "I'm not holding on, and I'm not floating away. Yay gravity!"
Neighbor: "Don't take this the wrong way, but that's just your opinion."
You: "It's not an opinion, it's the truth."
Neighbor: "Well, it might be true for you, but it's not for me."
You: "Do you not believe in gravity?"
Neighbor: "Sure, I believe that there is something called gravity, I learned about it in school, and for the most part it's proven to be real, but I don't think we can know everything there is to know about it--just what we've been told."
You: "Haven't you been told that it will keep you from floating away?"
Neighbor: "Yes, and I believe that, but I'm still not letting go of this tree."
You: "Then you don't really believe that about gravity, because if you did, you would let go and trust it to do what you believe it will do."
Neighbor: "Get out of my yard."
Recently, I had a conversation with someone very close to me. She had made a big mistake and felt like God could never forgive her. However, she truly believes that God exists, that He loves the world and sent His Son to die for our sins. But when it came to her situation, she feels that she has messed up so badly, God couldn't possibly offer His forgiveness. I took that opportunity to share a little bit about my life, and how I related to God for the first 23 years. I shared how I believed all kinds of things about Him in my head but none of those things were real in my heart. Just like me, she was struggling with the same disconnect. It was no different than a person who believes in the existence and principles of gravity but who refuses to let go of a tree in fear that he'll float away. I explained that there is a big difference in believing in things with your head and allowing them to transform your heart. And I went on to share that God placed His punishment for every sin--past, present and future--on His Son, Jesus, and that when Jesus died on the cross, the debt of all mankind was paid in full. When we confess our sins and ask for His help in turning away from our sinful life, and ask for forgiveness and a new life in Jesus, we can have assurance that that God hears us, forgives us and makes us a new creation by His grace through faith. You can read more about that in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 and Ephesians 2:1-10.
I see the same analogy working for those who've become new creations but still have trouble trusting God and taking Him at His word. We're still clinging to trees, but we're doing it as children who struggle to believe that their Father is everything He says He is. He says that He'll provide for our needs, but we cling to the tree until we're absolutely sure that we'll be able to provide for our own needs. He says that hard times and tough circumstances will come our way but to not lose heart because He's with us every every step of the way. But we remain wrapped around the tree during the storm, unwilling to endure a little wind and rain as we run to a more secure and permanent shelter. He says that letting go and following Him wherever He leads us is the most important thing we can do in this life, but we cling to the safety and security we have found from years of holding on to the same tree. Each day, the Holy Spirit prompts us to let go, get up and move forward in trust, obedience and worship. We can do it, we just have to let go of the tree. You can read more about that in Luke 9:23 and Philippians 3:7-14.
Whether you're still questioning what it means to truly trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you received Him long ago and have trouble following Him daily, ask the Lord to help you let go of your doubts and fears and instead walk confidently in the things that you've always believed to be true but have a hard time trusting in your heart.
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