Calm Amidst Chaos

Greetings all,

It has been quite some time since I have found, or should I say taken, the time to make blog posts beyond sermons and Bible studies; but life has finally slowed down a little or at least enough for me to make a deliberate effort to be back in the saddle so to speak, and there is nothing quite like a good devotional to kick you in the butt when you need it.  This morning was one of those days.  The author for this week in The Upper Room Disciplines: A Book of Daily Devotions 2010 made the following statement regarding deliberate time with God, "It is easy to lose our focus when the problems of our everyday lives crowd around us.  We put off contemplation and reflection as things we'll do when the chaos around us ceases, when we feel more like praying, when we are less stressed, less anxious."

Isn't that the challenge of the Christian life, how to be a Christian amidst the chaos.  How to listen to God when there are hundreds of other voices all shouting for our attention.  How to make a point to spend a few peaceful moments amidst the constancy that is the chaos of our lives.  How to give God the time He needs to do a real transformative work in our lives.  I must confess that there are days when the chaos wins out, when even I as a pastor fail to pick up my Bible, or bow my head in prayer, or even read a Christian author.  For me blog posts are part of that time spent with God when I can process all of the thoughts about Him running through my head.  That time with God is good for me, it transforms my day, but knowing that doesn't always make it so.  I am guessing I am not alone in facing this challenge of overcoming chaos to find time for Christ. 

Eugene Peterson followed up the Upper Room author with a little encouragement.  He was like the trainer in a boxing match that patches the fighter back up to send him back into the fray.  These words of Peterson from Running with the Horses patched up my split lip and gave me some hope, "Prayer is never complete and unrelieved solitude; it is, though, carefully protected and skillfully supported intimacy.  Prayer is the desire to listen to God firsthand, to speak to God firsthand, and then setting aside time and making arrangements to do is.  It issues from the conviction that the living God is immensely important to me and that what goes on between us demands my exclusive attention."  He goes on to say, "What we do in secret determines the soundness of who we are in public.  Prayer is the secret work that develops a life that is thoroughly authentic and deeply human." 

Peterson, in his calm, encouraging, pastoral way, calls me back to the deliberate focus that is required to maintain an authentic relationship with God.  He reminds me that my deliberate time with God forms the manner in which I live out my Christian life.  He reminds me that I need intimacy with God and that I must protect that reality at all costs, because it is in that intimate connection with the Creator of the Universe that I am transformed into something more, into something better, into something holy, into a person whose life brings glory to God and makes it easy for others to believe in Jesus.  He reminds me that it is not the case that I can wait until the chaos stops, because with five kids and a church family IT DOESN'T! 

It is not the case that I can wait until I am rested to give my full attention to God, because did I mention the five kids.............yeah, that means I never feel rested.  It is not the case that I can wait for that day when there is no stress in my life so I can really focus exclusively on God, because parents with middle schoolers exist in a bubble of stress!  Our lives are always going to be chaotic on some level, so if we are going to find calm amidst that chaos we are going to have to simply stop amidst the chaos and focus on God.  It may mean not watching our favorite sitcom at night, or getting up a few minutes earlier, or finding three or four different shorter time periods during the day; but however we do it we must take those moments to stop the chaos long enough to see God face to face, listening and speaking.

When we make that time for God we will find calm amidst the chaos.  Everyone's lives are chaos on some level, but one of the things that should set us apart as Christians from others is a certain calm amidst chaos; a calm that attracts others and beckons them to ask, "Why are you so calm?"  Living lives that make it easy to believe in Jesus means finding that calm amidst chaos so when we are asked we can respond, "Let me telling you about my chaos calming God!"

Your brother in Christ,
Faron

Book Review: Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller

Searching for God Knows What
by Donald Miller
Published in 2004 and 2010 by Thomas Nelson

Summary: Needless to say I have been a little slow on making blog posts of late, so I finished this book over a month ago, but it is an exceptional theological look at our identitity and especially our identity as Christians.  He begins by considering how we have reduced Christianity to formulas rather than real relationships and proceeds to evaluate the accuracy of the picture we as Christians have painted of God.  With that as a base he begins to ask the challenging question of have we gotten something a little wrong in the manner in which we portrait God and practice Christianity?  Through the lens of this question and the Book of Genesis he then begins to present some sound theological positions about the God of scripture and how He often differs from the God we present to people and about our self identities being tied to something outside of us.  That something is God and since we were seperated from Him in the garden we have spent the last few milleniums looking for things outside ourselves to define who we are and have been failing miserably because the only thing outside of us that can define us is God.  Until we recognize our need for Him we are going to be lost, there is no getting around it.  Ultimately he presents the suggestion that Christianity should be a lot more like falling in love with Jesus than getting a formula correct and that it is only in relationship that we can fully appreciate God's love for us.

Review: Once again Miller has written a profoundly moving book.  Not only does he use his writing style and wit to keep us interested and laughing, but he also presents well thought out and deep theological concepts that will challenge ones understanding of God and the Christian walk in ways that will only improve our relationship with God.  It is so refreshing to see him use theology to inform the way he both thinks about life and lives it.  I remember reading a Grenz and Olsen book in seminary called Who Needs Theology? and they made the statement that "right theology should help us live a life that makes it easy for others to believe in Jesus," (Faron's paraphrase) and that is in essence what Miller is doing with this book.  He is presenting theological understandings of God that will better enable us to live that kind of life.  This is as worthy of a read as Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life.
Reading Recomendation: YES!

Sermon: Audio File from September 5, 2010

Greetings All,

Here is the audio file from the sermon on Sunday, September 5, 2010.  It is titled "Shaping Our Future," and the texts are Jeremiah 18:1-11 and Deuteronomy 30:15-20.

Your brother in Christ,
Faron

Sermon: Audio File from August 29, 2010

Good evening all,

Below is the audio file for the sermon from Sunday, August 29, 2010.  It is titled Trading Springs for Cisterns and the texts are Jeremiah 2:3-13 and Psalm 81:1, 10-15.

Your brother in Christ,
Faron

Sermon: Audio File from Sunday, August 22, 2010

Greetings All,

Below is the audio file of the sermon from Sunday, August 22, 2010.  The title is "Are You Honoring It?" and the texts are Luke 13:10-17, Psalm 103:1-8, and Isaiah 58:9-14.

Your brother in Christ,
Faron

Sermon: Audio File from August 8, 201

Greetings All,

Below is the audio file of the sermon from August 8, 2010.  It is titled A Temporary Present! and the texts are Genesis 15:1-6 and Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16.

Your brother in Christ,
Faron

Sermon: Audio File from August 1, 2010

Greetings all,

Below is the sermon from Sunday, August 1, 2010.  It is titled The Original Blue Like Jazz and the texts were Luke 12:13-21 and Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23.  I must apologize that there is only 2/3 of the sermon present as the batteries died on the recorder.

Your brother in Christ,
Faron