Sunday night is a time that a group of people from Lifepoint go out to a place in Macon on Cherry Street and 3rd called the Fountain. There is obviously a Fountain there – although it doesn’t work – and it is a time and place for a meal to be given to those who otherwise would likely go to bed hungry. The most incredible thing is that the relationships that have developed are little miracles happening throughout the week.
Previously I posted about Kamara, who is a part of the gathering at the Fountain. This Sunday I was unable to make it to the Fountain and, because he’s my friend, sent word to let Kamara know why I wasn’t there and that I was thinking about him. This kind of consideration is something that I take for granted, but it had a great impact on Kamara. He was blown away that I would be concerned about what he thought and me not showing up on Sunday night. Poverty is living without friendship. When Scripture says for us to love our neighbor as ourselves, it is giving us the opportunity to enrich those around us with the gift of friendship.
This need for friendship is why sites such as Facebook and MySpace are so popular. The currency of friendship never loses value and will withstand any economic crisis. Watch this video and understand that the gift of friendship is the most valuable commodity on the planet.
Well, well, well. I had to digest and recuperate a little before I posted this. As you know, I am a fan of the SEC’s most scrutinized and hardened team – the Georgia Bulldogs. Some may have their opinions, but mine is firm “Glory, glory to Old Georgia!”. In a quirk of heavenly fate, I was allowed the esteemed pleasure of actually attending this game in person. It happened to be Homecoming, so it was even better.
This was my seat:
As for scrutiny of the game itself, the Dawgs could have played better, Stafford wasn’t on his A game, but that didn’t matter – Georgia shut the “Dore'” on Vandy and won. The other fact was that this was my first “live” Georgia game, so I was a little preoccupied looking…I mean gawking at everything. I truly felt like Moses at the Red Sea. The only difference was that I didn’t want it to part open for me, I just let it swallow me up.
There is something pristine and “right” about college football. Many have tried to define it and have left their readers poor for lack of words to explain the unexplainable. For me it has to go back to the essence of sport. These guys are competing for glory, not money. They are going out in the field to execute the plans and strategies of others. Mark Richt doesn’t play football, neither do the Defensive or Offensive Coordinators or their staff. It is the players themselves who go and put their all on the line, fighting for ten more yards.
In life, as leaders, we have to always understand that strategies and vision are great, but it is the people we lead who go out and seek to execute. Execution is the only way to win. On the field and in life, whatever stage of life, we must “Finish the Drill!”
Got to see the premier of the show, Eli Stone, tonight. I was floored. The preface of the story is that a lawyer has had an aneurysm that has given him hallucinations -but they have been truthful premonitions. He had the aneurysm removed and the erratic behavior stopped.
The great point for me was that the head of the firm, in remembering the “old” Eli, said that he had done all he could to make the firm a machine that worked like clockwork. Along came Eli and brought chaos to his previously ordered life. The strange thing was that the head of the firm, along with other co-workers, missed the “old” Eli and his behavior. Somehow, the chaos had given them all a sense of purpose. With the “new” Eli free of aneurysm and hallucination, life suddenly was dull and pointless.
So often in church we try to constrain the spiritual to the explainable and the expected. Too often in fact we find that our souls long for the unexpected and uncontrollable direction of the spirit. Our lives desire to live on the cusp of chaos. We all know it and yet we all try to find a feigned shelter in a predictable life. Throw off the desire to know what the ext moment holds and embrace the chaos of a life lives with no knowledge of the next moment. That is what faith is all about!
Columbus Day is an important day because without it, the Spanish would have never found the Americas. This is somewhat funny paradoxically as many experts say that within the decade more people will speak predominately Spanish than English in the United States. Columbus was always important to me – we share a first name.
The holiday is celebrated as Day of the Cultures in Costa Rica (a place I hope to retire to). I like that. We should have a Day of the Cultures in the United States. After all, we are an amalgamation of cultures from around the globe – we should celebrate it.
I celebrated with a time being home with family – both blood family and those who I have had the privilege of calling family because we “do life together”. We talked about the future and what we wanted for our children and then we ate (because you can’t have a family gathering without food!) Life is good – not because of the stock market or the bond market or because of my paycheck. Life is good because I do not have to live it alone! Be it so for you and yours. Live life, but live it in relationship. It is the messiest, most chaotic and most wonderful way to exist on this planet we call Earth!
Had a remarkable opportunity to go down to the Fountain on 3rd Street in Macon. There is a relief effort going on that has focused on the Fountain area as ground zero in their attempts to help some of the homeless and disenfranchised population of downtown Macon. I met Jesse, a guy who has a quick mind and a desire to discuss the scripture; I met Kimarra a musical producer who desires to put his fingerprint on Hip Hop; I met Scotty who is simply a joy and a whole lot more. The point is that in just a few moments I created relationships that transcended economics and geography.
Several of the guys asked where I was from. When I replied Perry, they were amazed that I had traveled so far to bring food to them. This is where the church as a whole has failed. When people are surprised that we would feed them, something is wrong. I know that there will always be difficulties when we try to become a part of others activities. (ie. the Red Cross, the Salvation Army – all have strict guidelines and a menagerie of forms) The essence of Christ is to love. When we simply love people we incarnate Christ to them. In fact, when I saw Jesse, Scotty, and Kimmara, they incarnated Christ to me as well. Their love and acceptance spoke volumes as to the impact we each have on one another every day.
Even when we don’t feel like it, or are aware of it, our actions and body language transmit to others. Let us do our utmost to position ourselves to present the best display of our knowledge of Christ possible as we walk out our lives today.
When I was younger, I managed to find myself in trouble quite a bit because of daydreaming. People said that I needed to focus on what was going on and “pay attention”. Now that I’ve added a few more years, I have found great value in daydreaming. I like to think that prior to God’s work of creation, however that happened, He indulged in a little daydreaming. Once satisfied then He did whatever it was that He did.
Dreaming is an incredible gift for us, but even more so if we realize that we all dream differently. We can have the same facts, environment and desire, but our dreams will be completely different.
T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia makes a distinction between day dreamers and night dreamers:
“All people dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible.”
Today dream a little dream – in the open day – for your dream can, and should, become a great dream that influences many for the good.
“We do not want suffering; we want success. We identify not with those who are low and hurt but with those who are high and healthy. We don’t like lepers or losers very well; we prefer climbers and comers. For Christians, the temptation to be conformed to this world is desperately sweet and strong. Yet, says the apostle Paul, we are children of God if we suffer with Christ. … God does not give his hardest assignments to his weakest children.”
There is such pressure for us to become pressed into a form that is not authentically ours. We have people all around us friends and family and co-workers who try to tell us how we should be. Then we pay people to come and listen to us in therapy and tell us what we should be or do. The stark reality is that we need courage to become who we are. Within each of us is a divinely unique essence that God wants displayed in this world. In our day and night dreams we see flickers of it. When we connect with a character in a great film or story we feel a brief moment of what could be. Too often we see those experiences as fantasy instead of the open window into our real reality.
What we perceive to be weakness is in fact strength – strength that has the capacity to remove any obstacle in your way of becoming the true authentic you.
Karen’s words are so fitting for how we face the uncertainty around us. She begins by shedding light on the birth of the idea of “believing”. She then moves toward the Golden Rule as a global religious effort. She recognizes the desire for people around the world for change. Typically, the established church would rather be right than follow the words of many spiritual sages to “do unto others as you would have them do to you”.
She posits that people want to be religious, and that religion should be a force for harmony; that the Golden Rule should be global: do unto other countries as you would have other countries do unto you. That we should move beyond toleration to appreciation of the other. Listen, really listen and see how we can have a positive impact by living out the Golden Rule. This has incredible impact on how we continue “doing” church, indeed on how we continue living at all.
Alzheimer’s is a disease that is increasingly affecting more and more of us. Today it is uncommon to find someone who does not know of a friend, family member or acquaintance who either has known, knows or is going through themselves this terrible disease.
The most difficult part of Alzheimer’s is that when we lose memory, we lose the path of our life. When the signposts of the past are gone, we truly become lost. To watch as someone you love enters into a place of lostness within themselves is a decidedly helpless position to find yourself in.
My friend, Mike Scarborough, has set up a team to participate in the Georgia Alzheimer’s Memory Walk this November 1st. I encourage you to click here and either become part of the team, donate or both. Significant advances are being made in the search for a cure, but more help is needed. Together we can indeed make a great difference in the future!
This Sunday we talked about the subject of generosity. This is a topic that is not mentioned in a lot of churches because too frequently we connect it only to money. Churches are afraid to talk about money even though we all have some and use it to live. That failure to connect generosity to a deeper spiritual need is compelling because of Jesus’ pervasive teaching on the subject.
At the essence of generosity is a willingness to give and a refusal to hoard. Love is essentially an act of generosity because we are giving our love to others. In the narrative of the Prodigal Son, the father exercises generosity by not extending wrath and throwing a party. At the heart of the practice of Christian spirituality is the generosity of the One who displays that generosity by giving Man the ability not only to be aware of his need for a more abundant life, but also the ability live out that abundant eternal life – not in the “by and by” but now.
How incredible to be a part of a spiritual discipline that emphasises giving of love and grace instead of the taking of lives and land. Several years ago, we in the established church couldn’t say that. The Crusades had been waged in an onslaught of taking, all in the name of God. Thankfully those times have past, but there are still some who view Christianity as a “war to fight” or a “battle to win”. Jesus told Peter when he tried to take from another that “he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword”.
May we do all that we can to become a community of generous people who live generous lives in generous ways. Only then will people “know us by our love”.
christopherhildreth 