Ramblin' Dan

The Hard Work of Reconciliation

Dan Roloff — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

A terrific example of the church in action is the twelve step program. Originally, the steps were presented by Alcoholics Anonymous, but they have now been successfully introduced to many types of recovery programs. My encounters with people who attend regular sessions and take the steps seriously have shown these programs to be incredibly healthy. Of course, they’re healthy from an addiction standpoint. But there's more to it than that. Emotionally, they’re healthy. Spiritually, they’re healthy. These programs set the stage for real transformation to take place.

Recently, a friend shared his experience. His stepdaughter had been damaged by parental addiction and divorce. It had been ten years since my friend had any contact with his stepdaughter. Then came a letter. She poured out to my friend how he was the only real father she had ever known, and she wanted him in her life.

My buddy was excited and apprehensive at the same time. Even though his stepdaughter was an adult, my friend needed to get the okay from her mother before he did anything. To his great relief, his ex-wife thought it was a good idea to reach out to his stepdaughter. Then the hard work of reconciliation began.

Focusing on two steps from the twelve step program, my friend planned how he would go about his first face to face meeting with his stepdaughter in ten years. He looked at steps eight and nine:

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and become willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

After making the thousand mile journey to visit his stepdaughter, my buddy was in the home of a young wife with her own baby girl. He confessed to her the wrongs he had committed that had such a strong impact on her life. Then he asked her if there was anything he had left out. She let him know that there were some things he failed to mention. After a difficult heart-felt exchange and considerable emotional toil, there came a point where my friend felt he could ask for forgiveness.

His stepdaughter granted that forgiveness. After a decade, the healing process could begin. My friend had his daughter back, and emptiness he’d carried with him for years was replaced with joy.

This is how Jesus taught us to relate to one another. Forgive one another. Love one another. In this example, I see the church and how it functions at its relational best.

Religious Liberty

Dan Roloff — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

As our nation’s 233rd birthday is upon us, I wanted to ramble about one of its founding principles—liberty. Mostly this word gets reduced to a synonym—"freedom." Or it may be reduced even further to mean "being free" (i.e., without restraint).

Liberty is something more than just being free. In the political context in which it used in the Declaration of Independence, freedom means being released from arbitrary governance by another political entity, England. The separatists or Puritans left England to establish a colony where they were free from the restraint of the Church of England. Their liberty came from the elimination of religious constraint.

While exercising their religious liberty, they did not establish freedom of religion. We can just look to Roger Williams for that evidence. Williams preached religious tolerance and the right for people to pursue God in their own way, and he was exiled from the colony. Eventually, he founded a new colony based on these principles of religious liberty at Providence, Rhode Island. This colony is the birthplace of the Baptist congregation in America.

Through this principle of religious liberty grew a founding tenet of the United States of America, the separation of church and state. It grew out of an understanding of liberty that allows the individual to throw off the shackles of an oppressor to pursue God in their own way.

Religious toleration is at the heart of our country’s founding, and it is very much alive today. Despite its abuses, this tolerance makes possible a forum for dissenting voices. Fifty years ago, the voice of the atheist was crushed in the United States. Today, that voice is allowed to be heard and is openly debated in many Christian media outlets. Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have a voice in our country because the overwhelmingly Christian populace allows it. That's religious liberty.

The Problem with Obedience

Dan Roloff — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Here’s a quote from Howard E. Butt, Jr. It’s from a staff workshop in 1998:

To practice servant leadership as modeled by the Holy Trinity—God the Father is the leader, God the Son is the servant—that's where the whole idea of servant leadership comes from. To practice servant leadership as modeled by the Holy Trinity to renew ourselves, our families, our institutions, and society—now, that's our vision.

This is a reminder that Jesus lived out what Paul wrote to the Philippians.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Jesus struggled with this type of obedience the same as we struggle with it. Being a humble, totally obedient servant is not easy. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Not just once. He makes the same request a few verses later: "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done" (Matt. 26:39, 42).

It’s comforting to know that God understands how difficult obedience is for us. Simple obedience, like following rules, can be difficult enough for us. But obedience that requires a blow to the ego or even suppression of the ego can be really hard. So when Jesus accepted the role of obedient servant in his prayer at Gethsemane, he understood the cost of that obedience. He knew he would face public humiliation, ridicule, and rejection. He knew his friends would abandon him. Obviously, it was painful.

The problem with obedience is that it’s hard. However, there is an up side. Obedience is what makes working together successful. If there is consistent or constant challenge to any idea anyone puts forward and no one is willing to follow or abide by the rules, then failure is certain. Someone has to follow in order to have successful leadership. Being a follower is difficult for most of us. We like to lead, or at least have others listen to us.

Another side to the problem of obedience is the fitness of the leader. A controlling, power-hungry leader who cannot share leadership is doomed to failure. The same is true of a leader who can’t step back and be obedient when appropriate.

There’s a sense of mutuality to obedience. A give and take between leader and servant is evident in healthy leadership and healthy service that encompasses obedience. Genuine care for the greater good or overall goal of the group is a mark of that healthiness. So Jesus trusted the Father. Regardless of the personal anguish Jesus anticipated, he knew that his goals and the Father’s goal were one.

How Important Are Relationships?

Dan Roloff — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

L. L. Barkat’s article, “Personal Business," got my attention. It’s about personal information in emails at work contrasted with a doctor’s personal concern for his patients. L. L. reminded me about the importance of relationships and how often we overlook that importance in the workplace. Somehow we think relationships are a soft subject that has no place at work. Work is about work, and anything personal should be left at the door.

So let’s talk about a hard subject. Maximum security prisons are all about hard time. For the last twenty years or more, I’ve carried with me the images from a TIME article about these prisons titled "Living on Death Row" (unfortunately, the images aren't available online). The photos from death row showed inmates holding mirrors outside the cells trying to connect with other inmates. Another photo showed inmates using hand signals to communicate with prisoners they couldn’t see. What struck me was the desperate need to connect with others.

Sunday on 60 Minutes, I saw a report on a "supermax" federal prison. It is the federal government’s prison for the most notorious and violent criminals. A former warden refers to it as “a clean version of hell.” The worst part of being incarcerated at a supermax is the limited contact prisoners have with other people. Visitation is highly restricted. They receive only one fifteen-minute phone call per month. Even letters are restricted to approved senders.

A former inmate described his incarceration at supermax like this: “The connection to the outside, the phone calls to the outside, are pretty much stopped.” When asked about the brutality of isolation he replied, “It breaks down the human spirit, the human psyche. It breaks your mind.”

It seems obvious that we are meant for relationship with others. It’s a deep need within us. Yet we leave the action of building healthy relationships to chance. There is a treatise that we can consult. It’s Matthew 5. The entire chapter is an illustration of how we should live out healthy relationships. Our emotional intelligence requires it. The idea of emotional intelligence originated in the work of Peter Salovey of Yale and John Mayer. Then Daniel Goleman summarized the idea for a general audience in his book Emotional Intelligence.

Let’s think more deeply about everyday relationships and how we should respond appropriately. Take a look at these articles about being transparent with your coworkers to understand what appropriate working relationships can look like.

On a related side note, L. L. deserves some congrats this week! Last night she finished the manuscript for her next book as she explains in this blog post to her editor at Intervarsity Press. I'm sure meeting that deadline will be good for that relationship.

Good Knight Now?

Dan Roloff — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I was thinking about my earlier post, “Work Is Noble,” and the image of knights, squires, and pages has been flashing through my mind. Using that imagery of classic nobility helps me to see my role clearer. But it also helps me keep a healthy perspective on the role of manual labor and the idea of craftsmanship.

My brother was like a squire to our father. He assisted our father in mechanical functions. I was like a page, assisting in the most menial tasks such as handing over the appropriate tool. I never got close to the real action, not even in training. Those tasks were for the knight and his squire.

Aspiring to be a squire never interested me. Most of what I learned about all things mechanical came from junior high shop classes. There I learned enough to get by but never enough to make me in any way proficient. It became obvious that I should look elsewhere for my unique skills.

There were, however, two times where I developed enough mechanical proficiency to experience joy in the work.

First, I experienced the joy of manual labor while working on a KS-125 motorcycle that I modified enough to be a passable motocross bike. I spent hours working on the bike and learning the intricacies of the two-stroke engine. It was never enough to allow me the knighthood of being considered a mechanic, but perhaps enough to reach the level of squire.

My money and interest ran out about the same time, but I soon learned of another craft that captured my interest.

Second, I experienced the joy of craftsmanship while working on a pair of cross country skies. I enjoyed cross country skiing immensely. It was a great workout, and it got me out into the woods in the winter. I even had my own pair of classic wood skis which I learned to tar and wax for maximum performance.

In the basement of my parent’s home, I spent hours with a propane torch heating pine tar and spreading it across the bottom of the skis to seal them from moisture. Then I would apply the base coat of wax, for the glide. This provided a smooth surface for the skis to glide over the snow. Finally, I applied kick wax, a specific wax to grip the snow and meet the weather conditions for that day.

Alas, this craftsmanship was also short-lived as I soon moved to Texas. I left the skis behind and poured my energies into teaching and coaching. But the sense of physical labor and craftsmanship were an important part of how I defined myself.

Gradually, my identity shifted over time, and it was a frustrating process. I began to understand that the philosophical and theological questions of life were what motivated me and where my gifts were best suited. This was not an easy transition for a couple of reasons. Philosophy and theology tend to emphasize ideas and not products. Such intellectual pursuits conflicted with my understanding of what constitutes meaningful work.

I thought craftsmanship and physical labor were noble work. Philosophy and theology, however, were just glorified ways to describe daydreaming. This conflict took years or decades to resolve. The resolution has played out as a battle to remain faithful to what Christ was teaching me about who I was meant to be as opposed to what the world taught me about what I was supposed to be.

The first steps were the physical relocation that I described in “What You Might Become.” This latter phase of transformation has been more difficult and taken more time. I liken it to the Exodus and the uncertainty of wandering in the desert for forty years. There are times when it’s easy to become distracted and choose another direction. It’s harder to battle through the uncertainty on faith alone.

Don's story

Dan Roloff — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In an earlier post, “The Power of Story,” I suggested looking at colleagues through the lens of common themes in literature. This can be an interesting activity to help us understand those people we work with closely. I gave the example of Katie in another post.

The following is a story that deals with pain. How do we make sense of difficult times, and the pain they bring? One way we deal with it is through story. The following is about the pain of losing a colleague.

When I first met Don, his wife Pat was in remission from breast cancer. Shortly after Pat and Don came to work with us, Pat’s cancer came back. She fought well with dignity and bravery but finally succumbed to the disease. As death took Pat, Don entered an intense grieving process. He was a pastoral care professional himself and so quite familiar with grief and how to help others through it. Now Don faced the battle himself.

Don chose to work through the grief with a counselor friend. They sequestered themselves for about ten days, and the process drained Don. I encountered him briefly during the period of grief, and he looked defeated. The next time I saw Don, he was subdued but hopeful. He had lost the mother of his children, the grandmother of his grandchildren, but still he saw hope.

His clash with death took another turn a few short years later. He stood by his older daughter’s side as she delivered her first child, stillborn. Again Don faced the pain of death, and again he chose hope over despair. Not many years later, Don succumbed to cancer. He faced it with dignity and courage. His life and his life story are a beacon of hope for all of us who knew and loved Don.

Death is one of the common themes of literature. Applying this theme to my late colleague, Don, I am better able to cope with his loss but also more deeply appreciate his life.

Work Is Noble

Dan Roloff — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Growing up, I saw particular value in physical labor. One time when I was boy, I told my father that I’d never work in an office. I said, “I want to do real work.”

It’s funny how things work out. The only skills that I had in the area of manual labor were digging ditches and carrying heavy supplies. My brother was mechanical. He and my dad would work on cars. I stood there bored to tears waiting to fetch the next tool they needed.

I discovered through painful trials that working in the trades was not my forte. That didn’t stop me from trying to find meaningful work in factories. There was plenty of good work, but it just didn’t fit my core identity. So I struggled to find my calling and finally went back to college. What a painful decision that was. For me, the only thing worse than working in a factory was sitting in a classroom. But back to school I went.

I have a strong belief that work is noble. Books like Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, The Mind at Work by Mike Rose, or Working by Studs Terkel reinforce this view. Work derives nobility from its concrete nature. Work is real, not abstract or conceptual. Work is true because I can feel its reality. Work produces something tangible. The material nature of things is good. Even God became corporeal.

Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God. He is corporeally human and fully God. Also he is logos, the fullness of reason.

"In the beginning was the Word [logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" (John 1:1-5).

A Colleague's Story

Dan Roloff — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Here is an example illustrating the power of story in the life of one of my coworkers. I’ve created a story about Katie's journey as I understand it. Some people may say I’ve projected a story onto my colleague. No matter, the following example helps me better understand my relationship with a colleague. And it’s a fun way to try to understand someone.

Katie came to work at Laity Lodge Youth Camp straight from college. She worked as an intern , then as an assistant director. And now she is an associate director. Working with Katie and observing her journey has always been a joy.
There exists in Katie an authenticity that is refreshing. She is earnest in her faith and open about her struggles as well as her triumphs. She is devoted to Christ and his leading in her life. In fact, Katie is so fervent about her faith, it is both encouraging and startling at the same time.
One day in our staff devotion, Katie shared some health concerns. She was in constant pain and doctors weren't sure what was causing the pain. Over the months as Katie continued visiting different doctors, her pain increased. No relief was in sight. Each new report she shared was bleaker than the previous report. When she did receive a diagnosis, the doctor said she had rheumatoid arthritis. Katie was only twenty-five.
Her medication included some difficult side effects. It was serious, but Katie’s outlook never changed. She remained upbeat and faithful even as she shared her fears. Eventually, doctors determined that Katie had suffered because of a virus that brought on symptoms like arthritis. After the virus finished running its course, Katie was perfectly healthy again.
For nearly two years, she struggled with pain and uncertainty. But then Katie was restored to full health. She moved forward with her plans to be married. After this summer, Katie moves to another adventure as she and her new husband, an Air Force pilot, take an assignment in Japan.

Journey or “The Great Journey” is one of the common themes of literature. Applying this theme to my coworker, Katie, I am better able to identify her uniqueness. I continue to marvel at her enthusiastic and encouraging spirit and the power of her faith. All life is a journey. Sometimes we encounter people who inspire us with their journeys. Katie is one of those people.

Katie's journey through illness isn't the end of the story though. Katie’s whole life will be a journey, and she is just at the beginning of that journey.

Now it's your turn. Think about two or three people you work with on a regular basis. Apply one or more of the common themes listed below to each of the people you selected. Create a story around their lives.

The Power of Story

Dan Roloff — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Here’s an idea. Have some fun looking at the people you work with on a daily basis and thinking about them in terms of common themes found in literature. View them from a story perspective. It’s a fun exercise that can provide fresh insights into your relationships with your coworkers. It may help you better understand them. It may help you better understand how you view others. Either way, it can improve the way you communicate with the people around you.

Start with these five common themes from literature: alienation, coming of age, justice, love, and death.

Alienation is being isolated or apart from the group. Do you work with someone who is alienated? Typical characters of alienation are Clint Eastwood in most of his westerns or in Dirty Harry as Harry Callahan, James Dean in Giant and Rebel Without a Cause, Denzel Washington in The Manchurian Candidate and American Gangster. In each of these examples from the movies, the characters are misunderstood outsiders who have decent hearts.

Coming of age stories such as Tom Sawyer, Harry Potter, and Jane Eyre are about young people growing up and coming to terms with adulthood. You can also think about the coming of age story as a loss of innocence when naïve outlook or idealism fall away. This is the case with Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Although Michael Corleone is an adult coming home from the war, he is still facing the cruel realities of his family for perhaps the first time.

Justice themes may include economic or social justice such as A Christmas Carol, Eight Men Out, The Invisible Man, or The Milagro Beanfield War. These stories contain deep moral principles and often have religious significance.

Love is an interesting theme because it is so multifaceted, even more than justice. There is romantic love like Romeo and Juliet; or family love such as Little Women, Great Expectations, and The Brothers Karamazov. Then there is brotherly love or friendship like Band of Brothers, Shawshank Redemption, and Of Mice and Men.

Journey is another theme with different variations. There are literal journeys like Around the World in Eighty Days or Journey to the Center of the Earth. Then there are journeys through time like The Time Machine or Back to the Future. Also there are journeys through life such as Long Day's Journey into Night. Often, stories with a strong journey theme will combine literal and metaphoric journeys. For example, The Grapes of Wrath combines a literal journey to California with emotional and spiritual journeys.

Everyone around us has a story. Telling the stories of the people we work with can help us develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for their lives. In the process, we may find that their lives have had a significant influence on our lives.

In my next post, I'll provide an example of this by telling you the story of Katie's journey.

Small Business and Social Media

Dan Roloff — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I came across an interesting article this morning and wanted to share it with you. "Small Businesses Get Social" outlines how small businesses are using social media. Most of what I’ve seen written concerns large corporations and how they’re incorporating social media into their marketing plans. Here’s an article referencing a study of more than 260,000 small businesses.

Professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn haven’t been a focus of this blog. I’ve written mostly about general social networking sites. Another area I’ve given almost no attention to is wikis. These are powerful tools with tremendous potential. And it’s not just about Wikipedia either.

Take an area of expertise that you or your company is engaged in and ask if there might be an advantage to be gained through opening a wiki? Can shared experience and expertise help grow your business? If you think it can then perhaps a wiki is for you. Here are a few links to wikis that may illustrate how you can use or build your own wiki. Gospel Translations, wikiHow, and Wikispaces are just three examples that might help you see the power of wikis.

Professional social networking provides contacts with business associates through user-defined criteria. Wikis help us to gain and share knowledge. Social media is an effective tool if managed properly and it's just in its infancy. The future will connect us in new and effective ways defined by our needs. It's worth developing a strategy to engage it effectively.

Humility, Serving God's Will

Dan Roloff — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Benedict of Nursia, in the early sixth century, founded several communities devoted to living a godly life. Through his efforts, he developed his "Rule" for governing daily life. Benedict honored work and understood it to be a high calling. Today, The Rule of St. Benedict is growing in popularity.

Chapter Seven of The Rule is "Humility." Each person should strive toward humility. Benedict provides twelve steps in the process.

1.       Fear God and recognize your sins (Ps. 36:2).
2.       Love God and his will more than your own (John. 6:38).
3.       Be obedient to God and others in authority. (Phil. 2:8).
4.       Have patient endurance (Matt. 10:22).
   5.       Humbly confess (Ps. 37:5).
   6.       Be content in difficult times (Ps. 73:22-23).
   7.       Consider yourself lowly, being nothing without God (Ps. 22:7).
   8.       Submit to the common rule and the example of the elders.
   9.       Keep from speaking until asked (Prov. 10:19).
10.     Practice restraint in words.
11.     Speak gently and wisely.
12.     Be humble at heart and humble in all activities (Luke 18:13).

The Most Effective Social Network Ever

Dan Roloff — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Having our own social network online at HighCallingBlogs.com and having recently returned from an influential interactive media conference, I'm interested in the origination of social media. Of course, I can't identify the absolute first example of social media, but I can identify the source for the most effective social network in history. It was in Ur several thousand years ago. The originator was Abraham.

Through faithful response to the One God, Abraham became the founding father of the world's three great monotheistic religions. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all trace their roots back to Abraham. His network began as an oral tradition spread among the tribes. It was "by faith " that Abraham was able to fulfill his destiny.

By word of mouth, the God of Abraham was shared with the ancients. There were no books or scrolls, only words shared among people. This network of desert tribes eventually united under one God. The story of this one God is still shared today. In the beginning was the Word . . .

Today we're enthused by electronic social media. Its immediacy and range cover the globe. This is an amazing feat of technology. The three great social networks of today (Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter) didn't exist six years ago and probably won't be the the big three in six more years. Time passes and technologies change. New ideas replace old ones.

For thousands of years, the faith of Abraham has endured. It has faced trials and divisions. Wars have been fought. Cultures have disappeared. Empires have fallen. But still, the faith of one man, Abraham, and one woman, his wife Sarah, has endured.

It is the most effective social network ever.

Topical Bible Study

Dan Roloff — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If you're interested in taking your faith seriously in all areas of life, then Mark Roberts' Daily Reflections are for you. I find them extremely helpful. Mark's topical Bible studies illustrate the high calling of our daily work.

The current series is from the book of Exodus. Mark gives us a glimpse of Moses that we often don't reflect on. We see a less-than-confident Moses who struggles with self-doubt. This is hardly the image of an Egyptian Prince. Instead, we see a struggling Moses who is reluctant to follow God's call. It's someone we might relate to in our everyday lives.

Mark does an excellent job helping us to connect with the human side of Scripture. He delivers a transformative message. These reflections are a big part of my day. I encourage you to take a look and subscribe to the daily email or use the RSS feed to have them delivered directly to your reader.

Secret or Mystery?

Dan Roloff — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I'm a bit of a loquacious fellow. I come by it honestly. My mother tended to go on. Just about everything was fair game . . . just about. There were some subjects my mother said nothing about. These were her secrets.

My favorite secret was when she got her first, and only, credit card. I was a teenager, and she told me not to tell my father. That was okay by me. It's not like my dad and I spent time talking about family finances. Here's the funny thing. When my mother died, Dad came to me and said, "We can't forget to take care of that credit card your mother had."

I was at once stunned and amused. He knew about the secret credit card, and he knew that I knew. But he never let her know that he knew. He gave my mother plenty of space. She had her secrets. She always did, and he let her have them without judgment.

This was a mystery to me. Why was so much of her life based on secrets that most of the time were known to everybody else in the family? It was like she was trying to hide a piece of herself. Maybe that was the heart of the mystery.

When Jesus encounters the woman at the well, the conversation progresses along relational lines according to what the woman was able to hear and comprehend. She came to the well with her secrets. He shared with her the mystery of eternal life.

Our secrets can be damaging. They damage our relationships with others but mostly they damage our spirits. Secrets foster distrust. We can sense when someone is not being fully open to us. Secrets can make a person appear phony. There are many negative attributes that secrets can manifest in a person's behavior.

Mystery is not dependent on secrets. That's the age-old battle of Christianity. Gnosticism and its various forms throughout the centuries have sold secrets or secret knowledge. Mystery points to something beyond the obvious, but it does not depend on secrets. Devotion, knowledge, and faith may be necessary in approaching mystery, but secrets aren't.

Secrets keep us from open and honest relationships. Mystery leads to deeper truths. Secrets keep us from knowing ourselves more deeply. We understand more about ourselves when we embrace mystery.

Living With Ambiguity

Dan Roloff — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We long for clarity. If we just know the rules or what's expected of us, we can function within that framework. Really, we act like it's that simple. Too often, clarity is our guiding purpose in life. Our relationships are based on clarity. Work is precise. Politics is unequivocal. And church provides all the answers. Just give us the road map, and we follow it.

Unfortunately, that's not how life works. We spend much of our time dealing with the ambiguity of life and the uncertainty of what we're to do next. The black and white choices of everyday living turn into a mixture of grays, ranging from bright silver to dead charcoal.

In the Old Testament, Moses received the Decalogue at Sinai. The Israelites built a life around those rules. The Law became the focus, and justification came through the Law.

Jesus gives us something more than law. He gives us love. But it comes with less definition, less clarity. The lessons Jesus taught came in parables. They were stories that appear as ambiguous statements, but they're rooted in love.

The faithful read Jesus' parables and see not only the obvious meaning but also the deeper spiritual issues that Jesus is referring to. Others outside the faith don't see this. In the parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us that will be the case.

"though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand."

Today, many atheists demonstrate the truth of this statement. From Bertrand Russell to Christopher Hitchens, the arguments of atheist "intellectuals" demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of Christian belief. Sometimes, their arguments are just shallow. They don't know what they've never experienced, so they make assumptions. Reading their accounts can be a bit humorous to a believer. If you've never experienced something, it's difficult to explain to those who have had a profound experience why their experience is not valid.

We find ourselves today where we've always have been. Faced with the increasing complexities of life, we long for clarity. We're given faith. As we sort through ambiguity, we're focused on hope.

Attention

Dan Roloff — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Focus is tough for me right now. One of my sisters just had surgery for cancer, and trying to stay on task is sometimes difficult. Dealing with business items helps me to dial in my focus. When I try to write, though, things tend to distract me easily. So I labor, trying to create something meaningful and helpful in the high calling of our daily work. As you read the following, keep in mind that I wrote this over a couple of days and took almost any opportunity to turn away and attend to something else.

The concept of attention has captured my interest lately. Attention is the scarce commodity in the age of information. We’re bombarded by information. Where do we focus our attention?

Take a typical day. We begin the day wanting to accomplish certain things. They may concern our work, our family, civic duties, or rest. Whatever our agenda, we soon discover challenges to what we hoped to accomplish. We become distracted by the unanticipated events that pop up. Urgent needs keep us from staying on track. Conversations, meetings, phone calls, news reports all have a way of stealing our attention.

Listen up. I need your attention.

On the flip side, just gaining attention is a challenge. At some point, we all need to gain someone else’s attention. Advertisers are consumed with gaining attention, and marketing efforts revolve around managing customer and potential customer attention. On a more personal level, we try to gain the boss’s attention, an employee’s attention, or a spouse’s attention.

In dealing with gaining or maintaining attention, we make choices. We filter the incredible amounts of information that pass before us. Mentally, we sift through the visual and auditory messages that bombard our senses. We search for information that is important to us. Often we band in groups of like-minded people. Using social networking tools, talking over the phone, or meeting face to face, we align ourselves with people whose information we value. They help shape us because they have our attention. And likewise, we help shape them as we have their attention.

Two books have fueled my passion for pursuing attention as a commodity to be managed. First, The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information by Richard A. Lanham lays out a philosophy for the attention economy. Second, The Attentive Life by Leighton Ford, calls us to deep reflection and prayer. The Lanham book inspired me to inquire about attention and give it considerable contemplation. Leighton Ford’s book discusses the rhythm of life and the prime object of and purpose for our attention.

Even as I’ve tried to maintain my focus on writing this post, I’ve allowed my attention to wander. It’s helpful to have this struggle with attention because it forces me to see more deeply the challenges of our attention economy. And it helps me to lean into the love of Jesus to help me do what’s necessary.

Living Water in our Daily Work

Dan Roloff — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Fountains are fun to watch. Some appear to dance when their timed streams of water shoot into the air. Others gush large flows of water that cascade down rocks or walls. They are mesmerizing and entertaining.

In the ancient world, fountains were viewed differently. They were vital resources that provided water for consumption, bathing, and healing. Ancient people were probably more in touch with the vital nature of water on a daily basis, as are people in underdeveloped countries today. In the U.S., we take water for granted because we can turn on a faucet and get water. It's very commonplace.

Springs engage us differently than do fountains. Seeping out from rocks, springs remind us of the natural course of water. They offer a sense of mystery and frailty. We're reminded that springs can dry up and disappear. We're reminded that water holds mystery for us.

Fountains and springs, these are the images presented in the Bible. Fountains are more common in the Old Testament. The Hebrew meaning of fountain is "source" or "source of flow." In the New Testament, the Greek meaning of fountain focuses on "springs" and "gush of the water." The Greek language doesn’t convey the same sense as the Hebrew.

For the Israelites, a fountain is an appropriate metaphor for their faith. God can be appropriately compared to a fountain, the source of living water. It is that expression, “living water,” which is conveyed in John 4:10-11. In Greek as well as English, it takes two words to explain this idea. The notion of a living source is not inherent in the idea of a fountain.

Just as the ancient Greek and Jewish cultures had different experiences of water as a metaphor, we today have a different view of water. Unless we’re someplace where we have to go a day without water, we don’t really feel the same visceral connection that the ancients did. Intellectually, we understand the biblical language of fountains and springs, but our identity isn’t tied to that understanding.

Along with the Greeks, we may share the mystery of the spring. That’s about as far as it goes. We find water readily available to us, and dipping into a public fountain to bathe is definitely frowned upon. So it’s important to search out new metaphors to explain our faith experience. New metaphors connect our everyday behavior with the source of all we do in the high calling of our daily work.

Describing God as the fountain of holiness doesn’t provide for us the same powerful understanding that it did for the ancient Hebrews—without God there is no existence. At TheHighCalling.org, we long to convey the same idea. Our daily work, our daily lives matter to God because he is the source of all we do. Without God, all of our efforts are meaningless. To God be the purpose, the resolve, and the admiration in all we do.

Building Community, A Lesson Learned

Dan Roloff — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In my second year out of college, I coached a junior varsity football team. They taught me quite a bit about community. One day, the captain of the team came to me with a list of players who had broken team rules. They had been drinking at a party. We had a zero-tolerance policy at the time, and every player was fully aware of the consequences. So we dismissed twelve players, including nine starters, from the team.

The next week of practice was a challenge. We plugged in new starters and tried to focus the attention of the remaining players. The varsity head coach came to me late in the week to talk about the upcoming game. He said, “Don’t get too down about this, Dan. Last year, as freshmen, our guys lost to this team 36-0.” That was a pep talk I didn’t need. But I knew he was just trying to prepare me for a difficult game and a difficult season.

During the game, the guys remained focused and kept the game close. We were losing 8-0 in the final minute when our opponent decided to take a safety and get a free kick from their twenty-yard line. That gave us two points. This really energized our team who proceeded to take the free kick and run it back deep into the opponent’s end of the field. On the final play of the game, we scored a touchdown! Although we missed the extra point, the game ended in a tie.

On the bus, I told the team I was glad we missed the extra point, and the game ended in a tie. “We can learn more from a tie than a win here. Everyone counted us out of this game. No one believed, except the guys on this bus. It may not be a win on the scoreboard, but you guys came together and overcame the odds to tie this game. You are winners.”

I didn’t have the understanding of community then that I have now, but that group of young men taught me about community. When I think back at their achievement, I shake my head at what that group did together. I’m thankful that I was part of it, and I learned that a group pulling together for one common goal can overcome obstacles to achieve great things.

For me, sports have always served as a point of reflection when thinking about community. Team sports provide plenty of examples, both healthy and unhealthy.

Unhealthy stuff causes division in community. Flaunting team rules; taunting teammates; being unfocused, undisciplined, and self-centered are unhealthy actions that cause fissures in the bond among teammates.

Healthy community stems from trust. Encouraging teammates, respecting the team, and being dependable are the disciplines of healthy community.

Jesus says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34). The epistles repeat this theme from Romans through the Second Letter of John. Follow this link to see a list of verses where this is repeated.

So as we build community, we look to love one another. That’s what healthy communities do.

NOTE: This post is part of the May WILF project . Robert Hruzek hosts the WILF (What I Learned From) writing challenge for bloggers each month. Many of the posts come from the High Calling Blogs Network where Robert is an active member. This month, Robert challenged us to write on what we learned from community.

Selling Your Ideas

Dan Roloff — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Our relationships at work are often equivalent to customer relations or a sales opportunity. Let me explain. First, we have a great idea at work. We know it makes perfect sense for the company. We’re convinced that everybody should embrace it enthusiastically. They should embrace the idea and run with it. Then nothing happens. Nobody runs with it. Maybe some people will acknowledge that it’s a good idea and if they had more time they’d consider it.

Discouragement can set in quickly. Why didn’t anybody follow through with this idea? It was obviously helpful and on target for the whole group but nobody did anything with it.

There is a simple reason why nobody embraced the idea. People look for what makes things easier for them, or makes them look better to others. My friend Steve says it, “How can we make them the hero?” Self-interest isn’t necessarily bad, even David asked about the reward before he fought Goliath.

So our task with coworkers is to find ways to make them heroes. We’ll sell them on our ideas by considering how it will benefit them. Ideas are great and very helpful, but putting others first is even greater. When we consider others first we accomplish many things. It’s good customer relations. We can sell our ideas easier. People realize we’re for them and not trying to make their lives more difficult. Our relationships are strengthened. It also is faith building. We put into practice what Jesus tells us about serving one another in love.

A Coworkers Gift

Dan Roloff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Right out of the blue, it caught me by surprise. One of my coworkers presented me with a gift. It all stemmed from a conversation a few of us were having in the office about Disney and our favorite characters. I remarked that Figment was my favorite, and I was disappointed that Figment was no longer available. A coworker said she had Figment at home in a closet. That was it. Except for the part where I always follow any mention of Figment by saying, “Every good idea starts with a figment of our imagination.”

After a couple of weeks, that conversation was long forgotten. So I was definitely surprised when Jessica showed up offering Figment as a gift. She obviously understood that this silly character meant something to me.

I remember vividly the ride at Epcot where the Dreamfinder introduced us to Figment. Creativity and imagination were high on my list as we prepared for a summer of fun at Laity Lodge Youth Camp. I purchased magnet clips with the image of Figment on them. These were for the leadership staff of the camps. These would serve as a reminder to be creative and allow our imaginations to create a memorable summer for each camper.

Figment should serve as a mascot for entrepreneurs reminding them of the small spark of creativity that launches each new endeavor. Or maybe teachers and youth workers should adopt Figment because of the creativity necessary to connect with children and engage them in their world. Scientists and artists could use Figment to stimulate their imaginations.

There was another reason Figment sticks so vividly in my mind. It was twenty-one years ago. I remember that exact time because it was three weeks before our daughter, Lindsey, was born. So thank you, Jessica, for the gift. And this kind gesture of a coworker carries with it much more than the giver ever imagined.

After Some Flailing

Dan Roloff — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It was quite a sight. I didn’t actually see it. So I have to imagine what it looked like. Here was this guy in the middle of the Guadalupe River with a board and a paddle flailing away trying to either get on the board or swim the board to shore. Neither option was going well. At least the guy was wearing a life vest, although it was bobbing up behind the guy’s head making this desperate swim scene even funnier.

In the middle of the struggle, a loudspeaker clicked on. It came from a bridge behind the swimmer. Then the voice of a police officer said, “Are you okay?” The loudspeaker reverberated down the river valley.

After some more flailing, the swimmer eventually turned toward the officer, waved and yelled, “I’m okay. Thank you.” Then he proceeded to swim in place for awhile before making actual progress to shore. All this flailing by the guy in the water was rather comical.

Wisely, the police officer stayed on the bridge to watch the swimmer maneuver to a small island and get back on his board. The officer continued to watch until the swimmer, now paddler, got his board safely to the main bank of the river.

The point of this post is to illustrate the high calling of a police officer. They’re sworn to serve and protect. This officer was doing his job quite well and illustrating how we should care for one another. It would’ve been easy for the officer to just drive off, especially when the guy in the water said he was okay.

Oh, one more thing. I didn’t really see this, because I was too busy flailing away in the water trying to get my board to shore. I wanted to thank the officer for his concern for my safety. I just hope he didn’t video it. I keep checking YouTube.

Artists and Pastors

Dan Roloff — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

An Artists Retreat finishes up today at Laity Lodge. Actually, it's a retreat for those who pastor artists about how to do that more effectively. The visual artist Makoto Fujimura and arts pastor David Taylor made an outstanding team.

I was only able to be out at the retreat for a short period of time. But what struck me beyond the quality of the speakers was the quality of the guests. What I mean is that more than 85% of the guests were at Laity Lodge for the first time. When I arrived at the retreat, they'd been there about thirty hours. What I saw was a very comfortable group of people who were very warm in greeting and very comfortable in the setting. Moments after I arrived late for breakfast, L. L. Barkat came over to say, "Hi." This was our first face-to-face meeting, and it led to some delightful conversation.

Watching people talk to one another as they flowed in and out of groups at meals between sessions and during free-time was exciting to see. Many of these were engaging conversations filled with insight, humor, and grace.

One example is a converstion I had with Mark Philpot. At one point, I brought up arrogance as something that I've been reflecting on lately. Two things that can really irritate me are arrogance and pretense. But I was wondering if there is any advantage to arrogance. This was met with curiosity. I tried to explain that I was thinking that perhaps a truly knowledgeable person who came across as arrogant might actually have a right to be arrogant. Mark responded that arrogance denies grace. An arrogant person doesn't recognize that it is God's grace that makes their knowledge possible. Arrogance points to the person. Humility points to God. God's grace is recognized through humility.

Don't Sell Me That

Dan Roloff — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The best thing I didn't do last week was buy a car. I was close, one final signature close, but I decided against it. For several reasons it just felt like closing the deal was a mistake.The salesman was a good man, and the process went along smoothly. The price of the car was acceptable, but the trade-in value of my car was a little low. Still, that wasn't a deal breaker.

When I sat down with the finance person to work out the final details, things started getting weird. These days, before I go out to buy a car, I do considerable research. So I have in my mind the market value of the car I'm purchasing, the trade-in value of my car, and financing options. I signed a couple of papers to start the process, and then I was handed the total bill and the quick explanations that followed each line.

The finance person stated, "Of course, you want this included. And certainly, here's another necessary item."

Suddenly, an overwhelming urge to get out of there struck me. I paused. No! I couldn't do this. It didn't feel right. I got up and politely announced that I couldn't follow through on the deal. The next thing I remember is that the finance person was dropping items from the bill. Hundreds of dollars came off the price. That only made me more determined to get out of there.

As I've reflected on the experience, a few things come to mind. I don't think this experience reflects the high calling of our daily work. I understand car dealers are trying to get as much money for their cars as they can. What bothers me is the way the dealer has chosen to deal with the concerns of their customers.

I've done business with car dealers who do care about their customers and deal with them fairly. So this isn't an indictment of car dealers. It's an illustration of how our work may or may not glorify God in all that we do.

I don't expect a car dealer to give me a car. I don't expect them to not make money off of the car they're selling me or the car I'm trading in. I do expect to be treated respectfully with full explanations and choices each step of the way. Treating the customer as a person deserving respect goes a long way in transforming a workplace.

How we treat each other is how we reflect Christ's love. That's how we turn our jobs into the high calling of our daily work.

Chemistry

Dan Roloff — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Chemistry is popular in sports today. I’m not talking about the kind you mix in a lab. I'm not even talking about recreational drugs. Today, chemistry is the buzzword for keeping team unity at a peak level. It’s the intangible elements that bring people together to accomplish more as a unit than they could as individuals. Chemistry is credited with uniting teams (good chemistry) or dividing teams (bad chemistry).

Sports analysts talk about team chemistry all the time. They'll speculate on what a trade will do to the chemistry in a locker room. Some players can unite a locker room thereby improving the overall team chemistry. Other players are seen as divisive, and they bring bad chemistry to a locker room. Coaches try to “build” team chemistry through shared meals and group activities.

There are other places where chemistry is important. When doing a Google search for “chemistry,” the second site listed after Wikipedia is an online-dating site. By implication, it means applying a little science to the art of finding love, or at least compatibility. Chemistry is the descriptive term used to describe how people get along with each other. Gossip columnists talk about chemistry when writing about celebrity couples.

Even in the workplace, chemistry is a growing concern. I was at a recent conference where a CEO discussed the importance of chemistry in hiring new employees. Meg A. Bond has written a book titled Workplace Chemistry. It’s about fostering healthy relationships in the workplace.

Chemistry has replaced esprit de corps for describing common devotion among group members. Morale is another term that’s lost its luster to chemistry. Of course, coming together and combining the ingredients of personalities is always an intangible, an abstraction, something physically unidentifiable. Now we can identify it: chemistry.

There is a related biblical term: spirit. Like chemistry, it can feel like an abstraction or an intangible. But our understanding of spirit is important. The Bible says there are many spirits but only one Spirit. We are encouraged to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” When Christians start talking like this, we often separate ourselves from others because our language is shocking to them. I've heard non-Christians say we sound like psychotics who hear voices. The uninitiated don’t understand discernment the same way that Christians do.

But as John points out, we are supposed to test the spirits. Not every spirit is sent by God and not every inkling is a message from God. It’s important to develop a strategy for discerning among spirits. It’s just as important to find a language to bring people closer to Christ and not drive them away. That’s what Paul did even as disciples in Jerusalem were opposed to his methods. He reached out to the Gentiles in a manner that they could understand and embrace.

Professional Relationships

Dan Roloff — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Relationships are at the heart of what we do in our organization. Whether it’s at Laity Lodge, Laity Lodge Youth Camp, Family Camp, or Free Camps, the experience is about relationships. This holds true in our offices, and it is what we try to convey through TheHighCalling.org. So when I took a day trip out of the office, I was a bit overwhelmed by the experience.

A group of former campers and staffers from Laity Lodge Youth Camp meet every Thursday in Austin for lunch. This close-knit group has sustained a bond that they created twenty years ago. It’s amazing. Their lives are very busy with work and family responsibilities, but they take time to connect with each other over lunch.

They also connect on Facebook where their group has three hundred seventy members. These members are scattered throughout the country now, but they know that they’re welcome anytime they’re in Austin on a Thursday afternoon. Lunch with friends is always an option. The group will embrace them warmly. When I went last week, the conversation flowed naturally like we were all still at camp and the lunch bell just rang.

What an amazing group of grounded people. Many of them have faced considerable adversity and risen above it. They are sustained by their faith in Christ. It’s a confident, humble faith. It’s not boisterous or anxious. Just being around these folks for a couple of hours renews my faith. They live the high calling of our daily work. I was deeply honored to be in their presence and to break bread with them. It was a sacramental moment.

Adversity

Dan Roloff — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Alone in the world at 23—that’s how I felt when my mother died. She was my anchor, my confidence. Living without her was a terrifying prospect. I was the youngest of six, and I moved back in with my dad after her death. He had been devoted to her. When she died, he was 68 and healthy, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t last too long without her. Three years later, he was gone too. Lung cancer got him, from a life of cigarette and factory smoke. But I just figured he missed my mom too much.

I wrote a post about this a few years ago. “Facing Death” looked at how my dad and one of my brothers faced their impending deaths.

This post is about the difficulties of dealing with the death of your parents and what’s left after they’re gone. Those two events were the greatest adversity of my life, and I was totally unprepared. I had taken my parents for granted and assumed they would always be there to guide me. I learned that when your parents die, it doesn’t matter how old you are. That may seem odd, but from my perspective, it just seemed significant. My oldest brother was in his forties when our parents died; he’s twenty years my elder. I thought it wouldn’t be as hard on him. I was wrong. It was just as hard on him as it was the rest of us.

I’ve taken to saying, “It doesn’t matter how old you are or how old they are. Your parents are your parents. Their deaths still sting.”

In the wake of their deaths, I learned not to make major decisions for at least a year. There were some dumb decisions that I made during the twelve months following each parent’s death. Fortunately though, I didn’t make any major decisions because my mind was in a fog from grief. I wasn’t thinking clearly, but I wasn’t really aware of that until I had some distance from each death. Through prayerful reflection, I could see the results of my grief. But while I was grieving, I couldn’t see the dumb things that I was choosing.

Eventually, grief gets replaced by daily living and life goes on. Here it is thirty years after my dad died, and I can still feel him with me, my mom too. Sometimes through interactions with my wife or children, I may do something that reminds me of my parents. Immediately I think, “This is exactly how my dad would react.” Or, “This is what my mom would’ve said.”

This type of anecdotal evidence is a sure sign that the spirit of my parents lives within me. The spirit of their parents lives within me too. These unseen influences are the spiritual heritage we inherit. How we live out those influences forms our character. We can choose to embrace the influences that helped shape us. We can also reject them. Or we can modify them.

The great tragedy is to ignore them.

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Does that mean the philosophical questioning of society, or does it apply equally to the mind and its offspring, personal character? An unexamined life that does not recognize the influences, both past and present, which shape its actions is an unfulfilled life. If we deny the spirits that shape our lives, how can we connect with the Spirit that shapes all of life?

This is an entry for this month's What I Learned From... groupwrite project hosted by Robert Hruzek.

What is servant leadership?

Dan Roloff — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In the twenty-four years I've worked here, I've learned a considerable amount from Howard Butt, Jr. One of the clearest examples is my understanding of servant leadership. At its core, the concept is Trinitarian. That means, you can’t fully understand servant leadership without considering the nature of the Trinity.

Servant leadership is a combination of three things:

leading
following
being open to change

Over the years, I've read, heard, and seen people claim servant leadership as their method of operation. Most often, this means that people choose to be servants. They don't want that position to be seen as one of submission. So they choose to exercise their leadership by serving others. Up to a point. Then they exercise their leadership by not serving any longer. Howard Butt illustrates this well in his audio message "A Servant's Thanks." Often, we need control in order to feel powerful. "I'll serve you on my terms."

Other times, servant leadership becomes an opportunity to abdicate responsibility. People don’t know when to claim their leadership. The internal conversation sounds like this, "I know I'm the best suited to lead in this instance, but if nobody asks me I'll just serve everybody by practicing servant leadership." That's one of my favorite internal conversations. When individual leaders refuse to lead, the group suffers. We don’t serve anyone by denying our leadership responsibilities.

The heart of servant leadership is the struggle between two apparently opposite terms. Being a servant means submitting to the authority of another. Being a leader means claiming authority over others or a situation. When we breakdown the terms, servant leadership doesn't look as warm and fuzzy. Some people submit way too much. Others try to control too much. In either extreme, it isn’t servant leadership. If there is no tension between serving and leading, it isn’t servant leadership.

Tension doesn't mean agony or anxiety. It does mean a pulling, twisting, or bending. Servant leadership is constantly aware of the shift between leading—and following another's lead. It's a healthy tension that takes seriously the other people involved in our work.

If there is tension, invariably there is someone saying, "Relax."

That's not bad advice. But a better prescription for tension is flexiblity. It should be clear by now that tension doesn't have to mean rigidity. There needs to be a give and take. The relationship between our service and our leadership should be flexible. When we look at the language of the Trinity, we see a Father and a Son. The Father represents authority. The Son represents submission to the Father's authority. There is some tension in the father-son relationship. How is it resolved? The Holy Spirit introduces flexibility and restores unity.

Why Is It Social Media?

Dan Roloff — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The hottest topic on the Internet today is social media. Connecting with friends, family, colleagues, costumers, retailers, and on the list goes. It’s highly interactive involving all types of media such as photos, videos, written word, music, and games. This list isn’t all-inclusive, but it does serve to illustrate the breadth of media involved in social media.

There is an interesting race going on to see who can control the biggest piece of social media. Facebook appears to have a significant, if not the leading role, in this race. Twitter is coming up fast. Some people even see it as competition for Google. LinkedIn, Friend to Friend, MySpace are all there along with many others. The motivation for the race is riches and fame. The dominant players stand to make a fortune, whether they are organizations or individuals. Business users and others can’t afford to sit on the sidelines for too long to see what shakes out.

It's the wild, wild west on the Internet. All kinds of people are jumping in to use these services without any plan. Now it’s fine for individuals to stick their toes in to test the waters. But we’ve seen or heard some horror stories. Earlier adopters sometimes dive in and find that inappropriate posts have cost them their jobs.

So how does a person of faith respond to these challenges? With all the risks and the speed of change, it’s easy to strike out in the wrong direction.

The first step is simple. Pray. I'm not talking about praying one time and rushing off to social media glory. Whatever we're doing, we need regular, focused time to articulate our plans and concerns to God. Then we wait on God’s response. Listening to God requires discernment, the ability to choose faithfully among several options. We might call discernment the outcome of prayerful reflection.

No matter how much we pray, we are going to face the challenges inherent in the medium. It’s called social media. When people communicate with other people, they are being social. But there is a deeper implication than that. Social communication suggests relationship. Whenever we enter a relationship, no matter how shallow or brief, we’d be wise to remember to “serve one another in love.”

This is a critical imperative for Christians. Social media is a wide-open communications tool. How it is used now and in the future is yet to be determined. By being active, caring, and respectful, we can help shape the development of this new tool so that it is helpful and uplifting. It’s up to us.

Creativity or Being Like Everyone Else?

Dan Roloff — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT