Head vs Heart

About a week ago I ran across this question in my quiet time. Its from a great little book my mentor gave me a while back Mystics,Mavericks and Miracle Workers: a 30-day journey with some saints. Here it is:
"In your relationship with God what has carried the most influence: feelings or intellect?"

**necessary paragraph** Obviously both are necessary. God created us as rational beings but also as emotional ones. One without the other is dangerous. We all know people who live too much in one camp or the other.

I've been wrestling through this question because I don't know how I answer this. When I think of significant moments in life, moments when the Spirit really kicks my tail, I'm finding my answer to be yes. Yes, because they influence on another. It's why it stirs so deeply inside me when it happens. And I've not yet figured out how to manipulate that or mass produce those moments. In fact the truth is the only thing I've brought to those breakthrough moments is my attention.

Combine that with the reminder these past couple weeks of just how faithful God is has my head spinning. I've grown up always looking to grow, always looking to change, always looking to become better. And I think I'm called to that to some extent. But I'm also seen as perfect by the one who knows me best. That doesn't make sense on an intellectual or emotional level. I am fully known by Him and that's not something to be ashamed of. In fact its something to embrace.

So here's to remembering again that He doesn't change. He never fails. He is always active. He is always there. And in a world where we value change, innovation, transformation and development, the greatest thing in the whole universe is the same today as He was 4000 years ago and that's a good thing. A good thing. Steady isn't always bad. And steady doesn't mean stagnant, stale or lame. It means if He is already awesome, already more than i can comprehend, already perfect than why change? It means no matter if I connect on a head level or a heart level, its tapping into what will only make sense on the other side of eternity.

Distribution vs Redistribution

Sometimes I write because I am confused. My hope is that by putting some words down things will start to connect. The danger of that is when I do it in a public space, you can see how dumb I am. This might be the case here. But more on that later.

I had the chance to hang out with some incredible people last week in Indianapolis. They are the CCDA and you can learn more about them at www.ccda.org If you haven’t heard of them or their founder John Perkins, you should remedy that problem as soon as you can. They are great thinkers but more than that, they are great practitioners on their thoughts. They aren’t perfect, but they are putting their words into action on a daily basis and that’s never a bad place to live.

In the midst of hanging out with them, one of their core values kept coming up, redistribution.  And that got me to thinking.

At its most basic level I got to wondering, what is the difference between distribution and redistribution?

Ok, besides the fact that one word as re on the front of it.

But that’s not a bad place to start. This prefix as they called it in my English classes is an important little thing. We in the church are very comfortable with the gifts that are ours because of re. Redeemed, restored, reconciled, removed and renewed are all Biblical concepts we’d be hopeless without. But how does that play out with distribution?

So we move to a Webster look at re to learn that it brings with it: 1.  indicating return to a previous condition, restoration, withdrawal, etc: rebuild; renew; retrace; reunite 2.  indicating repetition of an action: recopy; remarry

 

Here’s where I’m at today with all this. When I dig in scripture I don’t find the word redistribution. Not even in the Message. I do find a couple appearances by distribution. (Thanks MSG) Now the fact that I’m about to quote passages not from the NIV might make some of you uncomfortable but follow me for a second.

One is in John 3. "The One that God sent speaks God's words. And don't think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! “ (The Message)

Another is Acts 6. “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.” (New Living Translation)

If I am being honest, I’m confused. Here’s what I’m taking away from this as of right now though: That when it comes to redistribution, it’s not about what I accumulate, but rather how I use what I’ve been given to empower and bless not just myself. When I think like that, it starts to sound like sound stewardship. It starts to sound like the way Jesus gifts us as believers. And that starts to smack against the way I sometimes distribute things based on what I want to give up or based on what I think you deserve. Otherwise I start to sound like a selfish only child. And when I see myself as a distributor, I put myself in a position of power that isn’t mine. And it starts to sound like a bad transactional relationship. I have a shirt; you need a shirt so take it and go away. No relationship, no ongoing partnership, no looking at the other as someone with value and someone who can speak into my weaknesses with their strength. 

So maybe I am trying to create a difference here that shouldn’t exist. But they are two different words thanks to re right?

Here’s what our friends at the CCDA say about redistribution and I like their words much more than mine right now.

“When men and women in the body of Christ are visibly present and living among the poor (relocation), and when people are intentionally loving their neighbor and their neighbor's family the way a person loves him or herself and family (reconciliation), the result is redistribution, or a just distribution of resources.

When God's people with resources (regardless of their race or culture) commit to living in underserved communities seeking to be good neighbors, being examples of what it means to be a follower of Christ, working for justice for the entire community, and utilizing their skills and resources to address the problems of that community alongside their neighbors, then redistribution is being practiced.

Redistribution brings the principles of Justice back to the underserved communities. Justice has left communities of color and lower economic status, leaving an unjust criminal court and prison system, unjust hiring practices, unjust housing development and injustice in the educational institutions. Justice has been available only to people with the economic means to acquire just treatment.

Redistribution brings new skills, new relationships, and new resources and puts them to work to empower the residents of a given community of need to bring about healthy transformation. This is redistribution.”

http://www.ccda.org/learn/philosophy/86-redistribution

So………

Are all mission trips created equal?

It's the weekend between our 2 weeks of CIY Engage the City here in Joplin. I cannot begin to tell you all the amazing things I heard, all the powerful ways God moved and all the unexpected moments that have happened and continue to unfold each day. At some point I hope to share a few of these stories as I know these 2 weeks here this summer are something that will shape who I am for the rest of my life.

My time here has certainly shaped more of my feelings and understandings about service and about the trips we take in youth ministry. There is one glimpse I'd like to share here that might help shed some light for all of us as we think about the trips we take our students on.

I had the opportunity to meet a group here in Joplin last week that was from out of state. I don't know all the details of how they ended up in Joplin but they came with a van load, a desire to serve but little preparation. They happened to be serving at one of the locations where part of our Engage teams were serving as well. As I talked with them I learned that they had found housing at the last minute and had found this one option for serving while here in Joplin. Other than that, there was nothing "built" around their service to help the trip equip them for ways to continue to engage their own community when they got home.

I compare their experience with what we saw last week. I do not say this to toot the CIY horn by any means but hopefully to help us see that we have to be intentional with our trips. Our groups were able to engage God's word in the morning, to serve in a variety of ways during the day but most importantly to hear from the churches here in Joplin each night. Whether it was a person impacted by the tornado, a survivor, a first responder, a variety of kingdom workers or a pastor sharing how their church was helping we learned a ton about what God is doing and what he has taught each of them.

Our groups were also able to take part in a prayer journey through the city, spent a great deal of time journaling and reflecting and even a beautiful prayer wall experience. At the end of the week our groups and theirs both did work. But it was all the other details that made the trip truly memorable and equipped them with Biblical truth and principles that equip them to do kingdom work when they get home. Not only did we engage our hands but also our heads and hearts.

At the end of the day, we take our students on service and mission trips in the hopes that it teaches them things that make a difference every day of their lives. These things do not happen by accident and students (and adults for that matter) need tools to think, to listen and to process. Debrief isn't just everybody telling a funny story at the end of the night. It's the hardest and i think most vital part of the experience as we together sharpen one another and develop tangible steps on how the things we do during the day make an impact on what we will do tomorrow.

So do me a favor, think back on your latest mission trip. Can you clearly articulate things that changed for the better in the lives of your students because of their trip. This isn't just the fun things they saw and ate. This is the people they learned from, the things God showed them and the changes that happened internally and externally because they gave their time and their full energy to become stronger disciples of Jesus.

Anybody can take a trip but not every trip is really worth the investment of dollars and peoples lives. It's why I love our teams at CIY. Trust me, we have plenty of things to learn but I'm grateful for the men and women who are dedicating their lives to worrying about the details and being intentional about all the things that create environments for God's call on a students life can be clearly heard.  There are things youth pastors can do that we at CIY cannot. But the reverse is also true and I hope that you will consider serving with us in the future so that together we can continue to train kingdom workers who are going to do things for God that will truly change our world.

Joplin

It's been over a month since the tornado.

By now you've seen the pictures and you've heard the stats. And if you have been here you have said the same thing as everyone else, "Pictures don't tell the whole story." Each time I hear that I realize that's the same feeling those of us who live here have.

Instead of being on the road with Know Sweat this summer, I've had the chance to prepare a couple of weeks that CIY will host here called Engage the City:JLN I don't know if I can adequately explain my feelings and emotions throughout this process. Remember, this is coming from a person who's home was not damaged, who had no family harmed and didn't have their place of employment impacted either.

But as we sit just a few days from welcoming groups from as far away as Washington and New York, here are a few things I've heard or noticed.

1. Most people I interact with don't have 417 area codes on their phones.
As we put together a plan of where groups will serve, where they will eat, who they will learn from while they are here and who the go to people are, many of them have phone numbers that aren't local. It is incredible the people who have come or in some cases come back to serve. Whether its a church loaning key staff people to come and share expertise or retired teachers returning to the town they love, there are dozens of people in key roles who are real kingdom workers. They have spent days and weeks away from "life as normal" to offer vital support and infrastructure to a rebuilding effort that is going to take years.

2. Everybody wants to work, many don't want to serve
I spoke with a church yesterday so has a unique set of needs. In their words, everybody wants to do debris and construction work inside the footprint of the tornado and when they are asked to do other things they at best complain and at worst say no. Now, this isn't true for everyone but follow me for a second. For most of us we think of disaster relief as something that applies to all work done following a natural disaster. However relief last days not weeks and month. Rebuilding has more sides to it that I've yet to wrap my head around.
This church yesterday said what they need is people to serve in less glorious and behind the scenes ways. Maybe it is sorting clothes in a warehouse, maybe it is keeping that warehouse clean. Maybe it is cleaning porta potties. As they said, "For someone who is living in a tent, trying to rebuild their lives and sometimes have to go pee in the woods, a clean porta potty is a luxury. That was a perspective I hadn't thought of.

3. Multi-purpose buildings really do have multi purposes
There are countless churches in our area who are functioning as distribution centers and volunteer coordination hubs while continuing to be church buildings. This goes way beyond the tents of bottled water and clothes they are still sorting and distributing. Whether it is meeting places, shower houses, temporary lodging or sites where the temporary AT&T office can be located, they are community centers in ways never before imagined.

4.  There are 2 ways to tell every story
It is true, in a fair estimate, 25% of our city was destroyed in less than an hour. It's hard to fathom just what that means. But it is also true that 75% of our town was not physically damaged by the tornado. There is untold strength and resources available and those continue to rise to the forefront as more organizations and groups pack their bags and head home or to the next site. Joplin has enormous needs but also incredible assets.

5. Our prayers have changed
Everybody tells me this. People are learning to ask for help. People are learning what's really irreplaceable. Even my kids. Brynn, our 4 year old discipleship pastor who always prays for our family at dinner has even changed her prayers. The usual things are still there, "Thanks for the food, thanks for family" etc have been joined with another prayer that comes out of her mouth differently every time but always has a common denominator "Help Joplin". What she thinks and prays about at 4 years old has changed for a long, long time. Both our kids are aware of a reality in life that smacks against the latest development on Yo Gabba Gabba or who Dora will use her map to get through the forest.

So please, don't forget Joplin. Find ways to serve it. Find ways to encourage the incredible pastors in our town. Find ways to encourage those doing kingdom work. And listen, listen for truth and understanding that you can take from those here that can impact who you are and how you engage the community you live in.

BEST DAY EVER!!!!

I shared with the event staff here this week a lesson I am learning from my kids.

It seems that in our house, when the kids are having a great day, each of those days gets the same title, BEST DAY EVER!!!!and is usually accompanied by cheering and pounding of fists on a table, chair or any object close.

BEST DAY EVER!!!! status or BDE as we shall now refer to it can come about from any number of circumstances. Most of them consist of ice cream, baseball, Wii, movies, or food of any kind eaten not at home. A combination of more than one of these can result in multiple BDE exaltation's in one day.

What caught my attention however was the frequency with which these announcements were being made. As a seasoned (read old) adult, BDE announcement are few and far between. They are reserved for important life milestones like marriage, birth of children, tax refunds and well, baseball games or certain food items.

But upon further investigation, I realized my kids were teaching me a profound truth. Every day really has the potential to be a BDE, I just don't live that way. I can tell you right now the days I would forecast would be a BDE but those days rarely just show up. For my kids though, each day is ripe with the promise of becoming the latest BDE.

I think they have tapped into something deeper though. The thing that makes today good, bearable, worth getting out of bed for or dare I say hopeful is something that was solved thousands of years ago on a cross. Since that is figured out, today really is the BDE. If that isn't solved, no amount of ice cream, baseball games, family movie nights complete with popcorn AND candy could make it good. Just think about it. If things are not well with my soul, what I do and what happens means jack nothing.

So here's to my kids for teaching me. And here's to us living each day like it is a BDE because it is. Even if junk happens. Even if we don't get our way. Even if we don't enjoy some of the moments in that day, it's still awesome.