God at Work

It's been a while since I have posted. A lot of pondering going on, but not a lot of time to write. I do want to share my experiences from the last couple of Monday nights.

As you may or may not know I have been going into Lino Lakes state prison for the last four years working with groups of offenders who are completing an 18 month program called IFI. It is a faith-base prison ministry that is part of Prison Ministry Fellowship. The latest group I have been working with (8-9 months) are finishing up working through A Rattling of Sabers by Greg Bourgond. It is an in-depth look at themselves and putting down on paper a Biblically grounded set of beliefs and values they are choosing to begin living by. This is done through a lot of personal reflection and the working of the Holy Spirit.

A couple of Mondays ago I sat in the room with them and listened to the striking of key as 9 men began to type out their personal life platform, putting into words what they have been thinking and what the Spirit has been stirring in their hearts. Then this last Monday each man read to the rest of us what God has been doing in their lives. What wonderful stories I heard from each of them. God was working in each one of these men in unique and special ways. It was wonderful to see the hard work these men put into what I hope is only the beginning of a transformed life and that when I are released I am trusting that God will use these men to do great things for the Kingdom.

Becoming Who God Wants Me To Be (pt 4)

In late 2007 I was reading a blog posting my Josh Kesler about a stupid sheep. I took a different perspective than Josh, thinking rather than being stupid, he was being a barbarian sheep (see my original blog response. To be honest, it is only now as a read back over my original response that I am beginning to make the connection as to why this moved me the way it did. At the time though all I knew was that my mind was whirling.

It was about this time that I started my ministering at Lino, I applied for and got into the Doctor of Ministry program at Bethel, and I was engulfed in this wondrous time with God. It was during this time that I wrote about online community and social justice. I started my twitter prayer project. I read more books than I had in a long time about a lot of different things. During all this, a funny thing happened, I began to change - it was subtle but it was happening. God was transforming me into who He wanted me to be. The themes of community, relationships, and transformation began to jump out at me. I rediscovered the book of James and the practice of my Christian faith. I began to listen to the stories of others and how we as a community can help edit each others stories to strengthen our relationship with God and with others.

So what does this have to do with the stupid sheep? It is about stepping out of your box (comfort zone) and being willing to do what it is God has called you to do. I was comfortable being a geek, integrating technology and learning, but God has other plans for me. This became clear in my last Doctoral class - there were a lot of great conversations but I was drawn to one we had about what I call the ministry of proximity. Actually what I was drawn to is the tension that exists between the need to be in proximity to minister to someone and what we can do at a distance. Right now I am pondering what is meant by "proximity."

So there you have it. After sifting through the last 30 years as a Christ-follower, I think I know what I will do for the last season of my life. I know God has used me in different places at different times with my rather eclectic life. I know sense that there is a new and quite different adventure ahead for me.

It's time to be pushed out of the confines of my sheep pen and to embrace the adventure God has for me. I look forward to coming along side my fellow sojourners, walking with them for a while, helping to edit their story and strengthening their relationship with God and with others.

Portable "Standing Stones"

I have always been fascinated with idea of standing stones, those rock towers we read about in the Old Testament where when something fantastic has happened God's people will create this memorial so that when people pass the young can ask the old what they rocks mean and the story of God's grace or provision can be passed along.

The Strand family has our own standing stone that we created while we shared those things that God has done for us. It's a really cool idea that is part of one of our patios. However, it is not very portable and at times I need reminders of the things I believe and the awesomeness of God. To this end I have established a couple of portable standing stones. These "stones" are in fact not stone nor were they created initially for this purpose. They are however markers from a couple of significant God things in my life.

This first standing stone is the pendant I received when I first finish a personal journey of transformation that helped me to clarify my central beliefs and core values. This material has taken on even greater significance since I started working with men in the IFI program at Lino Lakes State prison. My central beliefs have expanded into my foundational beliefs (in my case made up of three biblical meta-narratives) and my operational beliefs. I carry this in my pocket so that when I slip my hand I and I feel the pendant I reflect on the things I say I believe and value and do a quick self assessment to see if at that moment I am in fact living them out. If I don't keep reflecting on these beliefs and values they are doing me little good.

This second marker comes from a recent series at my church where we were give this "stone" to remember to pray for a specific person. I now us this stone to remember to pray about God. To be specific I pray about the attributes of God that make God God. This actually came out of one of my new belief and value to remember who God is. This was brought about by Malachi his proclamation that the Israelites had forgotten who God what and what He had done for them (Malachi 1:1-10).

Are there things that you do to keep God in proper alignment in your life?

My Sojourn - So What Is Next?

So, this is who I was becoming in the fall of 2008. I had been pushed and pulled, shaped and molded, challenged to step out of my comfort zone, and as described by Erwin McManus (a passive mentor of mine) I was beginning to walk the barbarian way. I didn’t know it at the time, but events, readings, and life experiences had fallen into place to send my on a wild sojourn to places hadn’t really thought of going before. What was needed was a trigger, some event, some writing, some still small voice to launch me into the transformational crucible were I would be shaped by different events, molded by readings from the Bible and other authors, transformed in my theological understandings (my beliefs and values), and where my contemplative nature would be allowed to flourish as I would spend hours pondering about who God is, what I believe, and how He has transformed me into the person He wants me to become.

So what was the trigger? It was a blog posting my Josh Kesler about a stupid sheep they had encountered while driving around the countryside. In his telling of the story Josh referred to the sheep as a “stupid sheep.” To this day I don’t know how or why I resonated with that stupid sheep, but rather than thinking it was stupid I saw it as barbarian, wanting break free of the thinks that confined it. Maybe that is the metaphor for my life experience, until now I have been listening to the people who have been telling me to get back in, instead of listening to God say break free, get out, think outside the box, don’t be conformed rather be transformed by the things I am teaching you and showing you.

I will be thinking again about this to see where I am headed...

My Sojourn - Where It Began

I have been a Christian for some 25+ years. My spiritual transformation during this time was one of crisis or experiential transformation. As situations presented themselves I was shaped and molded by them. I could choose to embrace the transformation or ignore it and escape the process. I was dumped into what has been called the “Transformational Crucible.” This was a place where I was refined to become more like Christ. It was during this time that I preached my first sermon, struggled with infertility issues, struggled with depression, spent years moving from place to place, going to school, and trusting God. My crucible experiences grounded me in a lot of ways. I didn’t see them then, but as I reflect back ten, fifteen or twenty years removed from the experience I can see God’s hand in my life, the potter shaping and molding the clay which became me, the person I am today.

After graduating seminary in 2001 I felt a little lost, tired, and complacent. I was working, taking leadership roles in my church, teaching, and simply doing life. There was little “transformation” going on. I had hit some sort of spiritual plateau. It was here where God chose another type of formation process to again begin to shape and mold me. For lack of a better word I call it process formation. By process formation I mean that you are guided through a series of exercises, questions, or processes to produce in the end a transformation in my life.

My Sojourn - Setting the Stage

This is the first a number of blog postings I am calling "My Sojourn."

This past week I have been feeling odd or should I say odder than I usually fell. In talking to others, I haven’t really been able to describe the way I have been feeling. Maybe it’s a deeper sense that God is real, that God is working in my life, or that I am being prepared for some sort of wild adventure, a barbarian adventure. I simply don’t know. Content walks in the rainy weather, hours of pondering and resting in the Lord, the sense that I have something to write but unsure of the content, this is what I have been feeling, sensing, experience this past week. What follows is a reflection back over the past couple of years, a reflection to try and help me figure out what God is doing in my life and calling me to do in the future. I am writing this for me, but if others can glean some insight from it too, so much the better.

Let me set the context for this sojourn. My Christian life was a lot like the Dow – highs and lows but generally headed in an upward direction. Seminary, which should have been a time of meeting God, was in reality a time where academic pursuits replaced relational intimacy with God. I learned a lot about God, about how to interpret the Bible, about how to theologize about God, but I didn’t spend time with God. It was a time of intellectual transformation, but not heart or relational transformation. So was this experience good or bad? I don’t know, but God has used it to shape who I am today. In reality, all of my life experiences had shape who I am and how I live out my life.

Next Up - A Little Bit of Context...

New Adventure

Well, my life long learner has kicked in again and I will be starting a new adventure this summer. I have been accepted into the Doctor of Ministry program at Bethel Seminary. I will be in the spiritual formation tract. My main focus will be looking at the use of Web 2.0 technology (ie this blog) to foster spiritual formation for both digital natives (those who have grown up with personal computers, etc) and digital immigrants (those of us who grew up with slide rules and $100 calculators that only did basic math).

The focus of my studies is something I am calling The Barbarian's Call. It is an outflow of the barbarian sheep/ stupid sheep blog postings back in January. The web site is up, but there isn't a lot there yet.

There are at least 4 components that I will be exploring in relation to the The Barbarian's Call: love, community, courage & strength, and engagement.

I haven't decided if I will lead a duel bloggers life or simply move all my blogging to the new site. We will have to wait and see about that.

Giving Voice to the Voiceless

I am off to the the Wind City, Chicago. Took the train down, what a relaxing way to travel, no lines at the station, no fighting with traffic, having time to read, sleep, and ponder life as we went along. One of the things I did was watch again the movie Amazing Grace. It is the story of William Wilberforce, an Englishman in the House of Lords who work to abolish the English slave trade.

Two things that struck me as I watched. First, was the fact that Wilberforce did not "find God" but rather that God found him. Relating to a sermon by Erwin McManus (listened to that on the train ride down also), God was putting His finger prints on Wilberforce. God was stirring a passion in his soul so strong he could not escape it. William then spent the next 10-11 years giving voice to the voiceless, speaking for the slaves who had no voice. He was in fact putting his finger prints all over them. Second, Wilberforce stood firm against astronomical odds. He leaned into fears, stood in the center of God's will and fought for what he knew to be right.

Has God been stirring a passion in you? Have you taken the time to listen to God to see how he is speaking to you? Have you asked God to stir something within you? Are you willing to allow God to put His fingerprints all over you and then in turn be God's hands and feet by putting your fingerprints all over someone else? Are you willing to engage the world, to make one small part better so that the whole can become a little better? It could be dangerous, it will be exciting. You might even call it barbaric!

I know that God is stirring something in my, but I can't put my finger on it quite yet. I know the components, love, courage, community, and engagement. I know it has to do will to with being a barbarian. Stay tuned for more related to this...

Stupid Sheep or Barbarian Sheep?

I responded to a post from the blog by Eagle Brook Church Men's Pastor Josh Kesler with regards to a stupid sheep he saw. He ask me to follow up so here with go with my first thoughts.

In his illustration Josh talked about this poor stupid sheep whose head got stuck in a fence trying to reach something better. Great illustration and 100% right. It goes along with the current sermon series at the church also. I looked at it from a slightly different perspective. As you may or may not know we can all look at an event and come away with sightly or even vastly different perceptions of the event (what a great movie theme, oh wait it is coming out in a week or two).

My vantage point is influenced by my recent rereading and discussion around the book The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus. You see in Josh's illustration I didn't see a stupid sheep looking for something better, no what I saw as a barbarian sheep looking to break out the conformity of the pen and do something greater. You see we can be that barbarian sheep, we can step out of the confines and safety of the "our pen" (what every your pen is) and serve God in a great an mighty way. You see it is not about us, rather it is about doing the will of God regardless of the danger, regardless of the sacrifice, regardless of the cost. What did Jesus say, come and follow me when it is convenient, after the big game, when you have a spare moment? No Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow. Don't ask questions, don't make excuses, simple follow me. I would love to say that this is who I am, 100% on board, but that would be a lie. It is something I am working towards, something that I believe in. You see I would rather be know for how I serve God and others, that for what I know.

The Barbarian Way

This is a book I have been rereading by Erwin McManus. In this book he talks about the Christianity of the early church as being raw, untamed, willing to follow Christ where ever he leads. Today, we have been tamed, civilized in our faith. We aren't willing to step out and take the risks we need to for our beliefs. I know I fall into the category.

I'm spending my Wednesday evenings with a group of men who seem to really resonate with what Erwin is sharing. Men who are willing to take risks, they are innovators, they are mushroom eaters (see chapter 2 of the book).

Our call is to step out, to live out our faith with passion, with vigor, with love to restore the relationship between humanity and God.