A man was walking in a large city’s downtown.  The city was a-hum with activity, people coming and going.  Cars and trucks up and down the street transporting people and goods here and there.   There were retail shops alive with people coming and going.  As the man continued on his way he saw a sign.  The sign indicated that some construction work was being done overhead and one needed to be aware of falling debris from the worksite and potential for injury.   As such the man looked up warily as he his stride quickened through the construction zone.  As he walked, looking up with anxiety, he failed to see the open manhole that he fell into.

 There is the old saying “He is too heavenly minded to be any earthly good!” seems aprospo here. I used to cringe at this saying -I was in a season where God was really blowing on the vertical of my faith – specifically the relationship between myself and Him.  I was learning to walk by the Spirit and in faith.  It also seemed that anything that buffeted that aspect of my faith development was a tool of the enemy when in fact, they were gifts.  Gifts to help me live the reality of my vertical relationship with the Father in the real world I lived in – the idea that healthy Christian spirituality is as much a vertical relationship with God that connects us in a deeper, more meaningful way with our physical or horizontal world.  Healthy spirituality always brings about wholeness and doesn’t seek to divide us soul/spirit (vertical) from flesh (horizontal).  Unfortunately this thinking, so prominent in western christianity, finds its roots in Greek, platonic thought than anything else.  Because the Church has been so influenced (like much of the rest of the world) by Greek thinking, many of these thought became entrenched in the way we see ourselves, God and the world around us.

God, however, created us as whole people – wholly spirit and wholly physical and this can be a bit of a mystery for us  As such, it became helpful to break us into parts – not real parts per sae but terms that we can talk about various aspects of the whole person without these demarcations taking on hard and fast boundaries.  We are all mostly familiar with this when we speak of flesh, soul and spirit for example.

However, this great picture gets distorted and hi-jacked by Greek thinking that says the body is bad – corrupted and the spirit is good -and thus is born a theology that suggests the body is something to be escaped and we retreat to the spirit.  This

If only life were so easy.  We identify, evaluate and plot the most direct course to achieving our goals and then simply engage.  The strategy runs like a fine oiled machine and in short order, and under budget our goal has been achieved and we are all the better for it as we move on to the next!  Ah, if life were really like that!

The reality for most of us is that the best laid plans, clearly defied objectives do not always work out the way we had hoped – in fact there can be monumental screw-ups, unforeseen changes in markets, economies, technologies and government that can throw a great big monkey wrench into our well-oiled machine.

In many of these  challenging situations we may become disillusioned, losing site of our objective and as such become unmotivated because we may be temporarily intimidated and confounded by the obstacles thus losing sight of our goal.

Perhaps the first thing is to recognize that we are experiencing disillusionment and our motivation may be waning.  To recognize the symptoms will allow you to grab hold of the situation before the slide gains momentum, affecting your team and yourself to a greater degree that may be harder to recover from.

• Watch for de-motivating, negative self-talk.
• Watch for a growing sense of futility and pessimism around the goal.
• Watch for rationalizing, fault finding and blame shifting.

 When you identify these things happening it will be important to stop and take some time to re-group.  This means to revisit your goal – why you made it an actionable goal in the first place.  Remind yourself of the benefits or rightness of the goal and all the benefits one will realize from it.

Identify where you are now, be honest about what is happening, has happened and there impact on your project/goal. 

• identify risks
• identify fears / emotions – real or imagined – face them and proceed
• inventory strengths / assets
• identify any lacking resources – brainstorm potential sources.

In light of renewed vision, risks, needs and strength assessments formulate the next leg of the plan towards achieving your goal.  Communicate with your team, seek feedback and input – incorporate as prudent to do so and then implement.

 Understand that a plan is subject to change because we cannot anticipate all the potential obstacles – perhaps they don’t even exist yet.  The key continues to be aware – aware of the market place or the context you operate and the kinds of situations which impact your goals.  Be prepared to have to adjust the plan but always keep your eyes upon the goal.  Allow your goal and its benefits to energize you and your team even

The developing of any relationship is a combination of time, contact and effort.  The effort is not an issue of earning but the natural effort that goes into genuinely getting to know another; to be available to interact, to share and journey together.  While much talk has been given to “quality” time quantity of time is important as well and what we begin to see is in even the seemingly mundane things there is a relationship developing. As we become aware this, these areas of seeming insignificance explode with profundity!

Here are 10 super simple ways (perhaps mundane?) to experience God in your everyday life.  Remember, great faith is not just HUGE heroic acts but living heroically in even the not so “grand” moments.   Mother Teresa would say small things done with great love will change the world!

1. Choose to simply love people instead of trying to impress them.
2. Read and savour a poem or listen to a favorite piece of music.
3. Pray for a perfect stranger.
4. Read a passage of scripture and resist the desire to dissect it – simply enjoy it!
5. Stop trying so hard.  Love to the degree that you have grace for today not condemning yourself for the grace you don’t have.
6. Sit and listen to the silence.
7. Watch a sunset or something beautiful.
8. Serve someone or a cause that you feel strongly about.
9. Watch young children play.
10. Create something – sing, write, dance, draw, paint, sculpt, cook, anything that you can express your creativity.

 Bonus: Smile – smile at people – in the grocery store, at the bank, on the street.  A nice, warm smile to a complete stranger can work miracles.

It has become a bit of a frustrating game with the Lord the past couple of years.  The way we interact has changed and so the way He tends to speak to me has been changing.  It has been comical in a sense because I find myself in a kind of argument, two ways with God that He isn’t speaking to me.   I caught myself in this silly exchange – laughed out loud and realized that I am hearing God, just differently than before!

One particular argument has gone like this.  “Father, please show me the way, the way through this situation, this issue in my life.  Please show me the way!”  No sooner do I end my thought and I hear “I am the way.”  I would rebut “No Father, you know what I mean – Please show me the way.” and hot on the heels of my trailing syllable is His kind but deliberate “Michael, I am the way.”

 To be honest I was frustrated by the response but would smile and say “Oh Father” and be on my way just as frustrated as before.   After a number of these kinds of exchanges, I finally asked Him what He meant.   He smiled and seemed to say – “This is a much better question.”

Kierkegaard said life is best understood looking backwards, but as we all know we have to live life forwards.  Looking back it is apparent, He was leading me back to an area we had previously spent a great deal of time – His present presence.  It was a paradigm shift in my faith life – a shift from how to whom.  Christianity at is best is indeed all about love and this love is in Jesus – the person of Jesus not relationship with what He has done or what He will do, rather the person of God.  

I am reminded of a Hasidic Jewish story. 

“A young man asked Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael “Rebbe, what is the way to God?” The rebbe paused and looked up from his work and replied: “There is no way to God, because God is not other than here and now. The truth you seek is not hidden; you simply do not notice it. It is here for you if you will only awake.”*

 This transition is really at the core of what many may describe as religion – peoples effort to find god with a focus on the right kinds of effort – to a relational, incarnational paradigm where God is indeed present. It is more about the present presence of God – a shift from how to whom.  The question is answered in

I have been experimenting with video and various ways of sharing faith.  These often take the forms of rich ancient thoughts and prcatices which have been a blessing in my own life.

Explore the idea of breath – specifically the breath of God and how God breathes life into us. Explore along with Michael how we can experience the life of God in breathing – allowing our breathing to become prayer.

The following is a scene from Les Miserables (1998) starring Liam Neeson.  In this clip we see an encounter between Neeson’s character Jean Valjean and a Bishop (Peter Vaughan).  

Today, I can identify with Jean Valjean.  A person who sometimes feels there is just no other way or just simply doesn’t have the courage to walk the way he knows he should and feeling busted, exposed, caught and guilty as hell.  Expecting to be rejected by God for my misdoings, heck, my mis-beings, and realize that it is only I that has indicted myself to the highest degree.  

To come face to face with the Judge and expect my self indictment to be upheld by this higher court only to discover a Father who judges for the love of you and I, His beloved children. Judgement that leads to life, to wholeness and true justice. That we too may learn to love, not for fear of exclusion and rejection rather in response to perfect love.  

We become love or if you like, we take on the image or Christ (2 Cor. 3:18) or partakers in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  In this learning to love, we quite naturally turn from our brokeness and in doing so, sin is destroyed!  The good Father in His mercy and love satisfies justice by making us the executioner, the destroyer of sin as in Christ we turn to Him – to love. 

I imagine, in this moment as I hear Jesus in my heart, I hear the words of the Bishop as he says to Jean Valjean:

“Jean Valjean my brother you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I have bought your soul. I’ve ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God.” 

A five minute retreat reflecting on Psalm 16 and the faithfulness of God. This faithfulness is a place of rest. Reflect upon Psalm 16 and allow the music and the simple landscape to stir gratitude and a sense of the Fathers love for you.

Music by Andre’ Lefebvre – Soaking.net. Used with Permission.

Being authentic is a genuine desire for many people.  The desire to be authentic themselves but also in those who lead them.  Not too long ago pastors and leaders were being encouraged to “never let them see you sweat”, be “always victorious”, the “mighty -man of faith” and the “over-comer” even when the opposite was true in their lives.  Now, authenticity is popular. It’s the hip buzz word and as such leaders are all jumping on the band-wagon. Authenticity is all about being real – our words and actions flowing from what is really inside. It is genuine, not an imitation and sadly the temptation is put on a veneer of authenticity without ever having to risk being truly vulnerable. If we listen, genuine authenticity has a very distinct ring.

I think we all have a deep desire to be authentic, who we really are.  For many of us, we have lost sight of who we really are under years of cultural and social graffiti sprayed across our hearts and minds – with its desire to fit in, to belong and feeling like we need to jettison those parts of us which may be considered outside the lines.

True authenticity is discovering that you are finally at home in God and with yourself, and as such, the clamouring for position, power, status and all the pretending becomes unnecessary.  It is no longer striving to compete with others to be better but rather content to be the best you that you can be, for loves sake – this is authenticity.

Consider, from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco:

“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’

As a family we enjoy road trips.  We like adventuring out to a Kite festival or a vacation destination or just to tour the back-water places of western Canada and the United States.  They are wonderful adventures and along with discovering a lot of wonderful things and people, we have a great time as a family.  For a number of years, preparing for a road trip was a chore and a half!  We packed so much that our  children were, for all intent and purpose, buried in the back of our minivan by all baggage we bought along.   It was not a lot of fun for them, not to mention the process of assembling and packing it all was at times monumentally exasperating!  As we gained some experience along the way and started to recognize that all that baggage was of no benefit, we learned to lighten the load and we shed most of the things we thought we should be bringing.  The upshot?  It made the road trip more enjoyable for my children – they could see what we were driving by!  It made preparing for the journey a lot easier and we discovered how little we really needed to truly enjoy the road trip and each other!  

There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis

It’s no secret in life, many of carry a great deal of baggage – this takes the forms of hurts, fears, anxieties, desires, expectations and all the mental / behaviors systems we keep in place to manage these.  The challenge is, carrying all this heavy baggage wherever we go can just plainly wear us out and greatly impact our enjoyment of our lives.  Truth be told, we really need to look at our life through fresh eyes and carefully explore what it is we are carrying and why.  Through these fresh eyes we can begin to see those things that are truly necessary and will contribute in life giving ways and those things that consume more life than they actually contribute.

Here are a couple of questions to help you pack emotionally smarter  for your next stretch of the journey of life:

1) What are those things that are truly USEFUL?   Ask yourself does this lead me into life or is it holding me back? Does it help me to truly experience life or insulate me from it?

2) What is truly beautiful, inspiring and precious to you at the deepest level?  If you could only take a few of the emotional / mental treasures what would they be?

Sit with these two questions and see what begins to come to the fore.  I understand that identifying extra baggage is very different