Rings, robes, parties and pig steins

I love the way Jesus told stories.
One of my very favorites is the story of the Prodigal Son. I'm sure the people who heard the story understood a lot more of the cultural significance of that story than I do...what with the ring and the robe and the pig sty (or "pig stein" as one beloved friend calls it). But what's really cool about that story is, regardless of cultural shadings, that story is timeless. And at some point in my life, I've been every character in that story...even the pig.

Right now, I know some prodigals. One has just returned home. Everytime I think of her, I feel exhilarated, knowing that she has returned and is really a daughter of the King (of heaven, not rock and roll, for you Elvis fans out there). One prodigal has just left. He wanted it all NOW, and he left. I hope he avoids the pig steins for a while, but I know that he won't forever. One prodigal reports to me regularly about what is going on in his life. And I'm eternally grateful for that. I love him dearly, and it's amazing that he's on his prodigal journey, but he hasn't cut off ties with some of us left here in the homeland.

The last prodigal I mentioned has taught me something. I used to think that the prodigal son's demanding of his inheritance and leaving was tragic, the sign of a a spoiled, selfish child. In some ways, I still believe that to be true. But I've learned something about that guy...maybe it's not that he was so spoiled and selfish that he had to have HIS way, maybe this move out into the world, this being compelled to independence was necessary. Maybe his whole life, he had served his father well, obeyed him, tried to please him, even took on his father's faith. And maybe he woke up one day and came to the realization that he had the power to please himself...and he left. What if the father anticipated this? He saw it coming. And he wasn't surprised when the son came in and announced what he wanted to do. And amazingly enough, even though the father knew full well what was "out there" and what kind of pain his son might endure, he let him go. Maybe he let him go because he knew it had to happen. The son had to move in some way from pleasing his father because it was expected behavior to pleasing his father because he LOVES his father...no other motivation. And the only way for that to happen was for the kid to move out, please himself, wind up in a pig sty, and come home to a loving, grace filled father who welcomed him like a king. Oh, and let's not forget, the son never quit being the son...he was never cut off from the father's love.

Prodigals have to find out for themselves. They have to cultivate a real, gut wrenching, I-can't live-without-my-Father kind of faith. My faith, their friend's faith, their parent's faith, whoever's faith...someone' else's faith won't do. They can't wear it and pretend it's their own. It has to be theirs. Those prodigals somehow find their way home. And when they do, they find The Father who welcomes them back like royalty and never ever stopped watching for their return.

I used to be a prodigal. I used to be the jealous sibling. And when I was the pig...well, that's another story for another time. Now, it seems, I'm the one watching, anticipating, knowing that someday, the ones I love who are on a prodigal journey will return home to our Father.

So.
Plan the party.
Size the ring.
Dry clean the robe.
And let's wait....

Things on my brain

So this won't be a long one. But sometimes it helps just to get things in writing. Here are some things I believe:

* Self righteousness breeds intolerance and smug pride
* There will be some people in Hell who lived some incredibly upright and moral lives
* Loving God is more important than anything else. More important than ANYTHING else.
* Sometimes we make idols out of some very good things.
* Change comes from the inside but is not of ourselves.
* Loving God causes real change to happen

Psalm 112

So today, I'm in desparate need of some encouragement, and I read through some Psalms (well, skim through is more like it) and I read Psalm 112 from the Message translation. Incredible. What spoke to me most was the part that says a person who fears God is "unfazed by rumor and gossip" and is "relaxed in the presence of their enemies".

So you know how it feels when you think (you know) people have been talking about you behind your back and more than likely they have been saying things that aren't true. That's a horrible feeling. But if I fear God, I will be unfazed by that. In other words, it won't matter. And I can relax in the presence of my enemies. That means that around those people who just don't care for me or have no desire to support me, I don't have to get all riled up and nervous. It's all good because I fear God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I really love how the Bible supports itself all the way through.

Anyway, I couldn't ask for more encouragement than what I received today. God is an amazing provider who comes through at the precise moment we are convinced we cannot take anymore. And he turns mourning into dancing.

Other thoughts:
Prayer walking is infinitely cooler than I imagined
ARBC youth are blowing me away
My kids were a blast at a wedding reception
God is good
God is good
God is amazingly good.

" I" in the sky

Have you ever tried to get through the day, or even just 30 minutes without saying "I " , or "me" or "mine" or "my"? It is literally impossible. "I" have some thoughts on that...and of course, being the human being that I am, I think that what I have to say, you need to hear (shameless)

I guess since we live inside ourselves and no one else resides with us from the start, it bcomes very easy to let the world revolve around numero uno. We think we have it right, we think we know it all, we want what we want, when we want it, we think everyone should conform to what we say, do, ask for, and think. And I am saying "we" hear because it is really too painful to admit that I am guilty of doing these things and thinking this way.
God is intimately familiar with our selfishness.
There is a story about a rich young man who came to Jesus and wanted to know how to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells him that he needs to follow the commandments...in other words, do the right thing. I think Jesus tells him this because he is fully aware of what the young man"s answer is going to be. And, the young man delivers when he says he has followed the law, all of his life (sure he has) Anyway, Jesus says good, then. Go out and sell all you have and give the proceeds to the poor and take care of them for the rest of your life. And the young man turned and walked away. See, here is where the selfishness part comes in. I do not think the young man was so attached to his stuff that he could not part with it. I think that Jesus was really saying, "Let go of yourself and all you hope to do and accomplish and let me take over...let me live in you..." Selfishness is a very very powerful thing. Apparently, the cost of heaven was too high.
Here is the way I see it. We do reside here alone inside ourselves UNLESS we allow Jesus in. He is the only one capable of entering and changing us from the inside out...changing us from selfish to selfless. It is fairly simple to understand, but incredibly hard to carry out because, like I said, we cannot go thirty minutes without a reference to ourselves. The rich young man had mastered righteousness in the sense the he was capable of doing the right thing, but "right" is not the same as real righteousness. If we make ourselves "right", then who needs Jesus?

The letting go of self, the grasping of the Holy Spirit....

The opposite of love is selfishness. 1 Cor. 13...look it up.

(and for those of you who are very observant, you will realize that I did not use contractions at all in this blog...not because I was attempting to make some great literary statement, but because my apostrophe key is not cooperating. Selfish thing.)

And the photo above is of a rat. Draw your own conclusions as to why I included a photo of a rat.

Great minds

So, it's nearly midnight and I'm finally doing something that I've been meaning to do for a while. It's a blog. That I control. This should be fun.

There is too much on my mind these days. Way too much. My thoughts weigh me down and I spend more time distracted by musings on past conversations and outrageous statements than I should. Don't you hate it when you think of the perfect thing to say well after the opportunity to say it has passed? Ugh. At any rate, I can't solve the problems I'm dealing with. I just need to figure out how to operate within them without losing my sanity.

Grace is something I think about a lot at times like this. It's grace that allows us life, whether we acknowledge our Creator or not. It's grace that allows us to think, to speak, to act. And so much of what we think, speak, and act like is so ridiculous...but we think we are smart and have it all figured out. And grace is somewhere buzzing around in the background when it should be at the forefront of our thoughts...tattooed on our foreheads. Grace is not something that should ever ever be in the background. Grace there is not important enough for us to seek out, to allow to change us. But grace in the forefront is when we begin to understand it and begin to extend it, and it becomes life support. There is only one source of real grace. And it's the same source as real life. Grace, life, abundance. Wow.

So, there is no need for me to rehash conversations and wish I had said the clever life changing thing at the precise right moment. Grace covers more than I could ever fix.