Restless Peace

Below is a blog post that I put up a couple days ago on the blog at LeaderTreks, where I work (summitlive.org if you're interested). Take a read through it, & let me know what you think. I'm sure you'll be challenged just like I am.

I had the privilege of talking with one of our interns from this past summer. She was in Costa Rica for the summer & I had the opportunity to do a 2 week trip with her when I visited over the summer.

As we talked through her experiences both in Costa Rica & now back home she told me she is still struggling to feel peace in her heart. She has a unique testimony to share in the fact that she stumbled upon God without really any help from anyone but that persistent Holy Spirit just a couple short years ago. It was cool to see that she was already challenging herself in her faith as she devoted her entire summer to mission, students & discipleship this summer.

But like I said, she is still working through this concept of finding peace back home. She told me that she's decided to be involved with areas of service that need the presence of Christ & also has taken advantage of some fun things as well but that restlessness still exists.

Now I'm willing to bet a lot of you have no idea what she's feeling or I am talking about. The truth is most of us have yet to be impacted by God in way that truly changes our outlook on life. To literally return to our daily lives and feel like a stranger in your own skin is a foreign concept. The Bible talks about this in Hebrews 11 (known as the Hall of Faith). In verse 13 it says that these faithful people (Moses, Abraham, Rahab, etc) "were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth."

I think in welcoming the promised things from a distance is where the restlessness comes from. If we truly are disciples of Christ then there should be a level of restlessness for us to see the Kingdom (our true home) here on earth. Even though we can be sure of what we hope for & certain of what we do not see (Heb 11:1) it does not bring a prolonged period of rest to our lives where we just sit & wait for heaven to come.

We need to be challenged with this thought; if you are feeling at peace, feeling comfortable, you may have it all wrong. You may disagree with me and say that Jesus is all about peace but if you take a look at his life, those who followed him (and preceded him) you will find a lifestyle of restlessness. As Erwin McManus says, "it's hard to imagine that Jesus would endure the agony of the Cross just to keep us in line."

I think this is a path that all of us who work for & intern with LeaderTreks are challenged with at some point. We initially may not like the idea of restlessness, the thought of having the taste of bitterness in our mouths every day, but I think we are realizing it is leading to something much sweeter; living life to the full.

Fooling the Wise

Yesterday for my Life Session (group devotion) at LeaderTreks we watched a documentary on miracles called, "The Finger of God". It was quite interesting to say the least & I think everyone should take a look at this movie (it is about 90 minutes & is free to view on YouTube).

The movie was about a gentleman who basically took his video camera, "which looked like he bought at Radio Shack for $39.99," says Phil, & just started meeting up with people who were witnessing & taking part in miracles. The first part of the movie seemed a little ridiculous because the miracles were gold teeth, & jewels showing up at churches who met at airport hotels. But as the documentary went on it began to show miracles were happening all over the world. High school students here in the US, to underground churches in China, to men rising from the dead in Africa were all apart of these miracles.

Now I'm not here to convince you that God does or does not sprinkle gold dust on people, or allow children to place hands on people and heal them, but I am challenging you to think about just how great and powerful is our God? 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." Who are these wise people in our lives? No I don't think the Olsteens, Warrens, & Bells of our Christian world count, mainly because we have no interaction with them. But really, can we think of wise people in our lives who we can or have shamed with foolish things?

I have begun to be a little restless with this idea because I am really struggling to think of who these wise people are in my life, and if they don't exist does that mean I am the wise person who is being shamed? Just a few verses later in verse 2:4 it says, "we want men's faith to rest not on men's wisdom, but on God's power." Miracles are one of the big ways that we can show just how powerful our God is, & to be honest I don't think any of us experience our Lord this way enough. How much more exciting would it be for us, & how much easier would it be for us to smash stereotypes as Christians if we were able to experience God's power & then be able to share about it.

So let us not jump to conclusions or make assumptions the next time we hear about strange or unrealistic miracles happening around us. Most of these are happening without us even knowing, which adds a bit more validity to them because people are simply being a part of God's power without seeking recognition for it. Let us go into our day remember that, "the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power" (1 Corinthians 4:20).

Over-hyped

Back in September when I first moved out of Wisconsin & down to Wheaton, Illinois I was invited to attend my good friend's church. Now this is the same friend who hooked me up with a job at LeaderTreks where he was working, and where I now work. So I figured if he hooked me up with such a great new job why couldn't he hook me up with a great new church?

Although as I became more and more immersed in my new job, and continued through the in depth training I became some what of a critic of public speaking, specifically speaking that entailed teaching from the Bible. Sunday after Sunday would go by and each time I would find myself more bored or annoyed than refreshed, challenged, or encouraged from what was being taught.Obviously this was something that I needed to change because going to church as a critic is not the right mindset.

This past Sunday I attended church, which was also the day after I had spent a little over a week out in New York leading my first mission trip with LeaderTreks. We currently are going through the book of John, but it is more so focused on a book called "The Voice Revealed". This book rewrites the book of John, and provides commentary and insight into the life and mind of John, who was the last living disciple.

This Sunday we were told that many of the people who had heard that Jesus was being proclaimed as the Son of God had trouble believing that based on where he was from which was Galilee. They said that the Son of God should come from a place that no one knows of. They probably were also struggling to believe that the Christ would come from such a lowly place as Galilee, and probably thought that Christ would come from a much more well known and prominent city.

Anyways, as I thought through the teaching I was challenged with the question, "Am I over-hyping the things that I want Christ to do in and through my life?" Let me repharse this. I have specific thoughts, desires, dreams, talents, burdens, passions, etc and I want God to use those through me to their full potential. But I began to wonder, am I only looking for the big & great things to be "from God"?

Things as simple as relationships, interactions with people on trips, compassion, and things I challenge myself with all were brought into this question. Perhaps instead of expecting this big, great, and grand thing to happen in my life (much in the same way that the people expected the Son of God to be from some magnificent place) I should begin to recognize some of the more simple principles that could have huge impact.

So as we all go through our days, looking to God to provide big things in our lives, let us remember the small things that can be the foundation for the big things later on, love those who need it (1 John), refrain from things that cause your neighbors to stumble (1 Corinthians), love those who struggle to open doors & allow Christ to be with them (Revelation 3:20), & know that God does not test us beyond what we can handle, but will always provide a way to persevere.