Proud Papa

Okay. So I'm one proud papa. The top left picture is Evan a day before he is four weeks old. The two on the right are pretty self explanatory Halloween pictures. The picture in the bottom left is my son's first bath where he is displaying early signs of being able to disappear. I'm sure he'll use that to his advantage later when he's trying to hide from Mommy and Daddy. I love being a Dad.

Following God's Direction

Have you ever heard this song by The Clash? Chapter 12 of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God touches on this very point. There are some people who think of prayer as if it were something out of "I Dream of Genie." Simply ask God for whatever you'd like in prayer, and God will magically provide. Still others want to use God like a traffic light, "Should I take this job? Should I buy this shirt or this car? Should I stay or should I go?" God is not a genie who will fulfill our inner most desires. A burning bush, and a pillar of fire/ploom of smoke are very rare forms of Godly direction. God is not a traffic light for direction in our lives. God has His own plan for salvation, and we need to dream dreams set in God's will for us. To do this means praying some pretty scary prayers. God, please show me the paths You would have me to walk, and I will do my best to walk those paths. Please God, show me your passion for my life that I might be filled with it also. These kinds of prayers are aimed at putting ourselves in the right point of view to hear God's call on our lives, but they require courage. Once these prayers are prayed faithfully, and our hearts become more focused on God's dreams there is no telling where God may lead you.

The Process

Life has been very busy lately so I thought I'd share a little of what's been happening. One of the classes I'm taking this semester is Mentored Ministry. It's one of those where I'm supposed to be working in a church (inside the box) eight hours a week. However, I've been behind on hours so I'm doing some freelance graphic design work for the Children's Ministry to make up the difference. Since I haven't posted anything detailing the process I use I figured this would be a good time to share the way I work.

First I sit down with the people in charge and try to get a good idea of what they're looking for in a logo. Then I do a bunch of sketches of different ideas. That's when we meet again, and they tell me what works and what definitely does not work.

Then I do some more sketches and we talk again. It can be tedious. I usually do not offer more than two passes on a project, but since this for church I'm offering more. These were the second batch of sketches.

And these are the first run through the computer. I know it looks like a lot, but it fully invests the client in the project, and insures they get the logo they want. As much as I like getting paid to do stuff (I'm not getting paid for this one) it is really important to honor the God given vision for their ministry, so it is worth the extra effort.

Enjoying God in the Valley

Chapter ten of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God is titled Enjoying God Between the Moments. I like the analogy of mountain tops and valleys better. Here's why. Have you ever seen the black and white movie Sergeant York? In the movie Alvin York is an east Tennessee boy, living up in the mountains, and trying to scratch out a living as a farmer. It's tough to be a farmer in the mountains. There are rocks and boulders everywhere, and they all have to be dug up to have enough dirt to plant crops. Bottom land is down in the valley. The land there has fewer boulders and is rich and fertile. I like this example because it reminds me of Jesus's journey up on a mountain side with Peter, James and John. There they saw Jesus' appearance was transfigured. Peter, James and John like a lot of Christians wanted to set up tents on the mountain side and stay there in that heavenly presence. However, life doesn't work that way. We are not called to live on mountain tops of spiritual euphoria. Through these close interactions with the Spirit we can be moved to do all kinds of things for the kingdom. However, there is not enough to support us up on the mountain top. When we travel back down into the valley it is harder to remember the mountain top experiences. Jan Johnson encourages us to establish a routine of prayer throughout the day to help us stay the course when we feel spiritually dry. That is important because like the disciples were called to live lives of service down in the valley with the mountain top experience in their hearts. Our goal is to live in as close a relationship to the Father, through Jesus Christ the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit as we can. The Spirit is a wild duck, and may call us up the mountain, or down to the river; it may seem very far from us, but it is never really very far away.  When we enter those places of spiritual thirst it is important to cling to our spiritual routines and to remember the mountain top experience in our hearts.

Loving God When I'm Not On Top

Several years ago I was discharged from a position. I was young, and had made some very bone headed mistakes, and my employer exercised their right to let me go. To make things more difficult I was living in a city some 400 miles from my family. I needed help in the worst way. I felt rejected and tossed aside. God was trying to get my attention and working to get through all of the busyness in my life to drive home a message. I can rely on God even when I am not on top. This is the point of the 9th chapter of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God. So often Christians feel as though we have to present this image of Christ in our lives that never worries, never gets scared, and is never weak and on our knees. I don't think the world expects that of us, and I wonder if we do the world a disservice by hiding our fears. Paul explains God's grace and power is made perfect in our weakness. I think it is okay to be knocked down by the world so long as we decide not to wallow in self pity, and instead turn to God for strength. Is that easier said than done? Sometimes. But if we do not step out into the waters of faith a little we will never know just how deep God's love for us really is.

When Life Is Irritating

Chapter 8 of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God is about finding God when we're irritated. Most of the examples she uses deal with people who aggravate us during our day; the people in our car pool, the person who cut us off in traffic etc. The example she does not give is the first time parent trying to survive the first month of parenting. We are into week three and I am typing this one handed while holding Evan so Karen can have five more minutes of sleep. Evan is at that stage when eating, messing diapers, and sleeping just aren't enough. He can't tell us what he wants/needs so he cries - and screams through much of the afternoon. It's not an all day thing, but it frays the nerves very quickly. We love him to death, but here lately those are the times we find ourselves looking to God for strength, peace, and most of all PATIENCE.

The encouraging thing about what Johnson writes is her reminder it is okay to go to God with our anger, and our frustration - with ourselves or with other people. We should certainly have a healthy fear of God, but that doesn't mean we, like Evan, cannot cry out to our heavenly Father in frustration. It is okay to get angry. The trouble comes when that anger causes us to sin. It is not a sin to confess that anger to God. YHWH already knows what you are mad about, but offering it up to God is a great way of starting to let that anger go instead of acting on that frustration in malice.

What is Right In Front of You?

About a year ago I was in a small group of guys working through the ScrewTape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In one of the letters there is a story about a man in a museum. The man is looking at the art while eating his turkey sandwhich. A demon, thinking he had the man well in hand was directing the mans thoughts from one painting to another and away from anything important. Then the man began to think about the other people in the room and about God. The demon immediately reacted to what it presumed was the presence of an angel speaking into the man's life on God's behalf. So the demon diverted the man's attention to the man's lunch, to the weather outside, and finally to a random story in the newspaper. All of these diversions were the demon's way of putting the man off thinking about God. In America we get so distracted by stuff, material possessions, or perhaps worse reality TV. I know. I've been guilty of it as well. Wouldn't it be nice to have a new car that doesn't break down? Wouldn't it be nice to have a new brush pen for inking? Wouldn't it be nice to have that latest translation of the Bible or the newest commentary. Stuff Stuff Stuff. We think about you too much.

Chapter seven of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God is about focusing on what's right in front of you, and I don't mean your computer. Who are those people right in front of us who could be helped by God's grace right now? Can't think of anyone? Who else is in the room, or your office, or your house? Try thinking about what they are going through and offering them a one line prayer. "Praying for whatever is in front of us includes praying while reading the newspaper or watching the news (Johnson 51)." When we hear gossip it is an opportunity to pray for the person who told us the gossip and to pray for those being gossiped about. When we stop thinking about the things we want and start focusing on what and who other people need it goes a long way toward bringing us closer to the presence of God.