The person, the puppy, the crocodile, and the fleshly man.

I will say that this is a work in progress. My thoughts are being laid before you as I work through an issue. I recently finished listening to a webinar on the science of conflict. It was very good and I appreciated it. There was one concept that I had studied before but this time it caught my attention in a new way. It was the breakdown of the human brain.

Here is the summary:
Reptile Brain- crocodile - basic instinct safety, food, reproduction
Feeling Brain- Puppy- feeling of belonging emotions
Rational Brain- Person- reasoning person, purpose in life

The idea one participant threw out that this conflict sounded like Paul's war in himself as talked about in Romans 7. The logical end of this idea is the "flesh nature" is really just the puppy and the croc. A natural part of who we are. Leading us to the conclusion that living in the flesh is natural and thus could not be the result of sin. All of life therefor is just trying to be a better person.

I don't think the instructor was making that conclusion, but some were. There is a problem with this. First, these instincts are never referred to as sin in the Bible. Seeking safety, emotional security, and the like are all promises God wants to give to his people. So where is the struggle?

The struggle is there is a fourth aspect of the flesh nature which wants to live according to its own wishes. This person isn't in the croc or the feeling brain (though it is where they act out) it is in the rational brain. The reason this isn't seen in science or in brain scans is this nature/sin wasn't originally part of God's plan. God's plan was for us to have these levels in our life and have them work in harmony.

As I see it, God's greatest condemnation isn't for those who react out of the croc or the puppy, but those who live in disobedience because of rational choices. It is also for those who know they can or should do better but don't, again a rational decision.

The problem with sin is that it puts things out of harmony. Like the illustration of the brick. Give it to a criminal and they throw it through a window. Give it to a good person and they build a hospital. The problem isn't the brick. The problem is the person. The ultimate enemy we have to conquer is, as Paul calls it, the flesh, not our own nature.

Are there things we need to relearn so that we are in harmony with ourselves, Yes. Is there something to be said about the science of conflict and people responding as a croc? Yes. However, do we still have a problem and it isn't what God gave us? Yes.

We're living in a golden age!

My daughter wrote a great story called Raven*. As we were discussing it one day she came across a song by Zan Wolf called Golden Age. As we discussed her story, we thought that if ever Raven* would become a musical this song would make a great opener. 

What does this have to do with us today?

Plenty, we are living in a day where we are talking about a vaccine for Covid-19, not in decades like they had to in the past but by the end of the year. While in quarantine many received generous grants from the government and many were able to work from home. We had church in our living rooms. When you were bored you had smartphones, Facebook, online games, and lots of streaming options. And that is just a few of the great benefits we have. 

Is everything perfect? Of course not. But we are too quick many times to focus on the negative rather than rejoice in all we do have. 

We are living in a golden age and though we may not be able to run all over because of the stay at home orders, we can still run all over the world with our computers and phones. We have so many possibilities if we will just look around. 

Perhaps many of us need to shut off the news, block the negative posts, unsubscribe to downers, and see what great blessings we have even in the challenges.

*Raven is a short story in the book Darkly: A Collection of Legends. The book is currently in the editing stage which she is funding from her own funds and a little from a Go Fund Me campaign. If you are interested in helping her go to her page. Thanks.

I feel I would be remiss in not giving a link to Zan Wolf's Golden Age. (It's the words, not the video which fits the story, Raven. Unless you can picture knights in armor on skateboards?)

Reopening, I just got used to being closed!

I'll be honest and say that the recent "stay at home" order has caused major changes in our lives. It caused me to work harder or at least work harder to learn things I didn't know before or didn't know well before. In the last week, I have begun to get in a routine and things have calmed down to a new normal. I didn't have as much to do as before or maybe I should say I knew how to do things faster. I was ready.

Now, everything has changed again. I have meetings to prepare for meetings. I am in communications with the Health Department, other pastors, the district, and individuals all about what this reopening will loke like for us.

REALLY! I just got us to the new way and now change comes again.

However, we just went through a time of radical readjustment so though I might like a time to relax it isn't going to happen. The good news is we have just been through this, we got this.

Yes, it is a new time of uncertainty but we have shown we can do it.

So, "
once more unto the breach my friends!"

And so it begins, again...

Today I'm going to start to rewrite a story that I have picked up and put down multiple times for nearly 25 years. Will I get it right this time? I don't know. I do know the version I had 25 years ago wasn't very good or even 5 years ago. I'm hoping this time will be better at least 90%, which is good enough to publish.

There are times you need to set something aside. The key is to not leave it there forever. The key is also not to quit doing anything else. If I had waited until this story was done, before starting anything else than 10 different books, 27 different versions, of other books would never have been completed not to mention the other 5 which I am also working on. I would never have blogged every chapter in the Bible or started a small group of people journaling the Bible themselves.

This blog isn't about me, it is about any of us who feel we need to set something aside for a time but then either don't pick it back up or don't start anything else. It is a warning, if you wait until everything is perfect then you will never get anything done.

Even God doesn't ask us to get perfect then come to Him. If God doesn't why should we ask it of ourselves?

It can't be done! and you're right.

I have been thrilled to hear Jon Acuff's book Finish. To sum it up it says no to perfectionism and yes to accomplishment. What I love is that most of the advice I am hearing I have been doing for the last 12 years. Saying no to things, Cutting the goals down, and accepting imperfection, just to name a few.

One of the great reasons people give up as Jon puts it is they think it can't be done. And you know what? He's right.

You can't read the Bible in a year.
You can't journal faithfully every day.
You won't always eat healthily.
You won't be perfect. (By the way, this is why God has grace.)

The problem is we don't give ourselves grace. We think it has to be perfect and we have to do it all right now.

I am right now finishing up on the edits on Bible Reflections. For those not familiar with it, it's my thoughts on every chapter in the Bible. It is nearly a quarter of a million words. It is the culmination of 3 years worth of work. Except it isn't. The work is the result of 12 years worth of writing first in online classrooms and then on a blog. In the first year of the 3 years, I was writing on one chapter for each 5 in the Bible five days a week (2 days built in so I could stay ahead). Guess what that first year, I didn't always succeed.

When I choose to take on the whole Bible I used those posts but saw that doing it 7 days a week wouldn't work so I broke it down to 6 days a week with two-week-long breaks. Then I broke it up into a 4-year project because I knew more than one chapter a day would be impossible. Then I went further and gave those who joined with me, permission to miss a day of journaling or more. I told them if they only did half, that then they would have only journaled half the entire Bible, which was better than most Bible scholars would do in a lifetime.

When I published the first book so the church could start with me, it was full of mistakes. If I waited until everything was perfect we never would have started and the project would never have been completed. Trust me, those that have taken this journey with me this first time aren't going to be talking about those mistakes in grammar when we finish.

I say all of this to point out that if you wait until it's perfect or you're perfect, you won't accomplish much or as much as you could.

I am saying that you should produce junk? NO! There are books I have written which are not published because they need real work (a real editor) to get them ready. When I have the money then they will be completed. However, there are times that it is better to have it, as Jon would put it, "90% and published than 100% and in my head."

Thanks, Jon.

Ministering every day

The great thing about having a blog that very few people read is there are no expectations to perform. This being said, I do want to get back to blogging regularly for my own sake and for those few who get this. This, however, is not why I am writing today. I am writing to celebrate today.

With the Covid-19 shutting everything down it seems less ministry can take place. Yes, there are online service and phone calls but not the Bible studies where I can share the Word. This bothers me most for those who don't understand or have assess to technology. I use to teach or in some way participate in 7-9 services/groups a week. This didn't include other meetings I was involved in. Now, I am doing 2 online services. It seems that the ministry has really cut back.

The truth is something else. Now, with those services online I have the capacity to ministry to more people than I did before. With work that I did in the Bible, Reflections books are still being used, so I am leading personal Bible studies for people. I was told yesterday by someone that though he doesn't write things down, he makes sure and reads the devotional every day. This person doesn't have the access to technology and yet, I'm in a way ministering to him in this crisis.

This is the great gift of books. They can teach when you aren't around. I knew this and thought it was important but it wasn't until yesterday that I really truly knew how important that could be. I might not be CS Lewis, Chuck Swindol, or Max Lucado, but what I have written is helping some in a time when other ministry isn't available.

So why didn't I write this yesterday, right after I got the call? I was working on reviewing the edits on and formating of Bible Reflections 6 both the devotional and journal. A work I can now see could do more ministry than any personal work I could ever do. It seems I am ministering every day.

You might not be worrying; you might be grieving.

You might not be worrying; you might be grieving?

I have been reading about grief and some of the things that cause people to grieve. We can grieve the loss of course of a loved one but what are we really grieving? The loss of what might have been, the phone calls, the advice, the time we could spend together, the wisdom we could have learned. Understanding this we can understand that we can also grieve losing other things, friendship, a job, a dream, or a relationship with our family. The loss of these things can cause us to go through the grieving process.   Summed up in the grieving process of 1. Denial and isolation; 2. Anger; 3. Bargaining; 4. Depression; 5. Acceptance. 

I won't spend much time here, but I will point out that the grieving process isn't a 1-5 method. Most people jump around in these stages. It isn't clear cut and perfect. It is also good to remember people are different. 

How does this tie into worry? 

Glad you asked. Worry is giving space in our minds to dwell on our difficulties and troubles. This isn't trying to work through the thing but just gnawing on it. Worry and anxiety are unhealthy and according to the Bible sin.

No one would call grieving sin. We see grieving demonstrated in the Bible. Paul when comforting the Christians about the death of other believers in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, he doesn't tell them not to grieve, but not to grieve as those who have no hope. Grieving is part of the human experience. 

If someone came up to a grieving mother who lost her child and told her to "get over it" or to quit sinning by crying about this deserves... (I won't say what I think they deserve as promoting violence is rarely good).  They are absolutely wrong! Some would call this person heartless.

Yet, if a child's mother loses a child to a rebellion or through a broken relationship, often that person is told to trust God and quit worrying. I will admit some people do turn this problem into a time of worry, but I am considering we need to take a different approach. Perhaps instead of beating them up because they are worrying, we should consider if the person might actually be grieving? 

Anyone who has lost a relationship with a child knows it can be as if they had died. Some people have told me it would have been easier if they had died than what they went or what they are going through. If you don't know what that feels like be glad but it's true. There are things worse than losing someone to death and just like in death you grieve. 

I think some people aren't really worried, they are grieving. They are also carrying guilt because they believe they are sinning when actually they are just being human.