I LOVE to have breakfast at my fave Starbucks, and do so nearly every morning. And here’s the reason why: you just can’t beat the company! In my house you will only find, at the breakfast hour, me. And David if he isn’t in his office. And Jillian if she’s not already full-steam ahead in schoolwork. OK, and Melissa if she’s working with Jillian that day, and Laurie if she isn’t off working. And yes, sometimes Kylie if she’s home on break. So on second thought, my house is too busy at the breakfast hour! No wonder why I pile my Bible and notebook into my bag and head out the door!
And there is that company I mentioned.
Today was a prime example. I’ve been hanging out at the same Starbucks for quite some time by now (and yes, it’s a different one than my afternoon Starbucks, in case you are stalking me or missing me!). The cast of characters is beginning to feel familiar. My friend R.G. Ryan from Las Vegas would love this spot. Not only are the baristas entertaining, so are the customers.
Brandon is my buddy from Christ Fellowship. I’ve watched him grow up, and now he’s the “cop on the beat” nearly every day. When he walks in I have to do a double take to realize that yes, he has a right to wear that uniform and he does get to drive the cool car parked directly in front of Starbucks.
The Rabbi: he is probably at the store four days out of seven. He inspires me with his ability to multi-task and schedule. It appears to me that most of his counseling sessions in his official capacity as Rabbi take place over coffee. He gives some pretty good counsel, too. I’m not trying to overhear, but they usually sit in the set of chairs next to me. Most of the Rabbi’s people seem to struggle with fitting in, feeling like part of a community. He tells them to come to synagogue. And the coffee shop. And he always ends — inexplicably — by telling them to learn to play bridge and join his bridge group. I’m thinking of learning.
The Old Guys: this particular Starbucks seems to have quite a few 60+ men hanging out escaping their wives. I overheard one conversation one day that kind of broke my heart. After listening to two guys discuss their business dealings extensively, one asks the other “Do you know anything about charitable giving and deducting charity donations?” The other answered that No, he certainly didn’t. First guy says, “I’m thinking of finding a charity to donate to. I think it will help on my taxes. I think you can just deduct it from your income.”
I was amazed. These were two successful businessmen at the END of their careers, and they had never yet thought about donating to a charity. Ever. Wow.
My morning Atheist: This morning I had a great conversation with an 85 year old Atheist gentleman who wanted to share my seating area. Since I rarely turn down gentlemen of any age if they are carrying chocolate (and he was!), I kindly “allowed” him to sit down. That started a long, long conversation that touched on religion (“If you need a crutch like that, I guess it’s ok…I see no evidence of the big guy, though. Do you?”), marriage (married 23 years to his first wife, who died, and 34 years to his second. A pro at marriage.), politics (“So what do you think about our president? You like him? You like his politics?”). All this before my first cup of coffee. He asked about my family, my church, why I read the Bible every morning, and what the unit mix of our apartments in Boston was (engineer who designed multi-family back in New York in the day). Bob sure knew how to keep me on my toes. When this 85 year old spit-fire finally decided he should head back home, I was exhausted!
Mary: before I could relax, Mary, the partially deaf and over-enthusiastic sports fan, popped in to find out if anyone of her buddies was around. They weren’t, which was a little bit of a blessing today since Mary is a loud and exuberant talker.
See what I mean? How could you match such varied compnay for a morning outing?
On a serious note, I love the community. I love being out and about with people from all walks of life, Rabbi’s to Atheists. I love the opportunities to learn, meet, discuss and drink some good coffee along the way. Life in Starbucks is a fraternity of coffee lovers with little else in common except geography and love of the bean. But that’s enough.
God definitely wants my undivided attention. That’s a tough thing to get from a scatterbrained person like me. Nevertheless, that’s his message to me for this coming year and I’m having a hard time buying into it. The conversation, if it were audible, would have been something like this:
“So what goals do you have for me this year, God?”
“Be. Try not to DO everything. Just BE who I want you to be.”
“Oh, be all things to all people?”
“No, just BE what I created you to be.”
“Well you created me to be David’s wife. Got that. I’m Kylie and Jillian’s mom…that takes a bit of time but I love it. I’m daughter, friend, church member, infrequent (these days) blogger and aspiring writer. I’m a family member who loves all her family. Let’s not forget that I’m Toby-the-white-dog’s master and the love of his life. Is there anything else I’m supposed to be?”
“You aren’t quite getting this, are you.”
So the conversation didn’t happen, but then again maybe it did. God’s definitely made it clear that he wants me to stop worrying about all those roles and just be — each day — what He has asked me to be that day. To drive the point home, I’ve started off this year driving up and down the Florida Turnpike for various trips. There’s not much to look at on the Turnpike. There’s not much to do if you get carsick like me. David and I love to talk, but not for hours at a time and he’s really busy thinking of killer Scrabble words. So I got to watch the road and…be. And after a few hours, it was really comforting not to have to do anything, but just to watch the world fly by in a trancelike state while I wondered what it was like to be.
Be humble, be gentle, be kind, be compassionate. There’s a lot to be.
When I got home to arctic South Florida (don’t laugh…it really was), i turned on my fireplace and sat down in front of it. It’s the real world. It’s the new year. And it’s time for me to be. Pray for me.
I tend to go MIA around New Year’s for no other reason than I am a stubborn person underneath my calm (!) exterior. It’s the same reason why I won’t go to the gym today even though I’m craving a little exercise. I just hate to do the thing that is expected of “everyone.”
So you haven’t read any end of the year retrospectives, or best of 2009 posts. No lists of what’s to come in 2010. At least not from me.
But I may have to rethink that strategy. Two people lately have challenged my thinking in this area.
Mark Batterson, in his new book Primal, puts a new spin on the idea of “taking every thought captive.” I don’t have the book with me, but the concept was that God speaks to us in “God ideas” and we have a responsibility to capture them so that He can use them. Anything less is being an unfaithful steward of the imagination, intellect and creativity that God has given us.
And last Sunday, John Poitevent (Christ Fellowship’s City Place campus pastor) challenged us to spend time reflecting on the year and relationships past. His point was that we need to constantly try to bring the kingdom into our relationships. This requires reflection. Further, we need to spend time pondering both our successes and goals as well as our failures. When you fail, you need to immediately turn and worship God, allowing your soul to reconnect to God and denying the enemy a chance to beat you over the head with the failure.
So I guess some reflection time needs to be scheduled in the next few days after all! But hey…at least it isn’t New Year’s Eve anymore.
Have you wondered where my Christmas card is this year?
I have to admit that my Christmas Card history is shaky at best. So many years have come and gone, years when the hustle and bustle just hustles the plan to send cards right out the window. But most years I do try to get that yearly note out to family and friends.
Not this year. This year I intentionally didn’t send my cards. Know why? Because they cost roughly $200 dollars to send. And this year, Christmas has a whole new meaning. David, Kylie, Jillian and I are joining with another family to build a well for Christmas this year. Not in our back yard (though quite honestly we have a well in our back yard and could probably do with another!). We are partnering with Charity: Water to build a well for a village that needs fresh, clean water. And that $200? That money translates into fresh water for 10 people for their lifetime. Or a portion of a well for a whole village.
Want to see how close we are to achieving our goal? Go to our website at My Charity: Water. We named our group the Conspiracy Theory, since we are raising this money as part of the Advent Conspiracy project for celebrating Christmas in a whole new way.
It is now the night before Christmas. And you know what? We’ve had a lot of fun with our family this year. We’ve gone boating, we’ve gone on trips to Disney World to soak in the season. We’ve hosted game playing nights for our family and friends, and we’ve spent far less time in the mall. It’s been a great Christmas. Next year I’m hoping to take the conspiracy to a whole new level, and I hope you’ll join me.
So from our house to yours, consider this your Christmas card. And Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas.
Thank God for epiphanies. Thank God for those moments in time that transcend time. Thank God for those moments when we discover something deeper, something truer, something greater than physical reality. Thank God for those moments when our spiritual eyes are opened to behold beauties and realities we were blind to before.
Epiphanies. Mark Batterson is describing them in Primal, his latest book. He is also delivering them on every page. Nearly Everything Mark Batterson has written has transformed my life in one way or another. His first book, “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” rocked my world as it challenged me to face the fears, or lions, in my life and get on with the call of God. If you want to read more about that book, do a search within the blog. I wrote post after post about that book in the early days of Coffee Shop Journal.
Primal is a different kind of book, a new and old book. Mark brings us back to the first things of Christianity, the basics, the primal elements of our faith. Don’t be tempted to skip this book thinking you’ve got that covered, because as usual Mark’s perspective changes everything.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s the primal commandment. Working from that base, Mark Batterson encourages us to grow deeper in how Christianity plays out in the heart, soul, mind and strength. Your heart is the seat of compassion. Your soul is the seat of wonder. Your mind is the seat of curiosity. And your strength is the seat of power. Use these things to serve and remember.
Several sections of Primal really jumped out at me. For instance, there is an amazing chapter on generosity in the middle of the “The Heart of Christianity” section. Particularly convicting at this time of the year was his description of the “Mall Effect.” We all know what that is: you walk in the door of the mall and discover what it is you can not live without any longer. Counteract the Mall Effect with the Mission Trip Effect. Go see your world, let your heart be wrecked. Some good words to dwell on:
Are you focused on what you have or what you don’t have? That is the difference between gratitude and greed. Are you focused on this life or the next? That is the difference between stinginess and generosity. Are you focused on your wants or others’ needs? That is the difference between selfishness and compassion. It’s also the difference between unhappiness and joy.
The section on the soul of Christianity inspired me, in this hectic Advent season, to stop what I am doing and look around me. We took a half a day to get to the ocean, a mere mile or two from our home but a place we rarely visit. Unbelievable. Just skimming along the water changed our attitude toward, well…everything. Mark quotes Elizabeth Barrett Browning as he encourages us to look around us for the Glory of God.
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
There are so many good quote in Primal. I could, and probably should, write several posts about them. At the moment I am remembering the section on creativity, and the duty we have to “take captive every thought for God.” Usually that verse is used to encourage us to turn away from negative or sinful thoughts, but Mark reminded us that it also means we should harness those “God ideas” that come romping through our brains. Good thoughts, those.
I was looking forward to reading Primal. When I was given an opportunity to review the book during this week, I jumped at it. It has been a tremendous help to me in refocusing my mind on the Advent season and celebrating Christmas by remembering the primal roots of Christianity. The reminder to share my heart in compassion, to look around me in wonder, to use my ideas for creative kingdom purposes and to use the strength God has given me to accomplish all of it has inspired me. To learn more about Primal, you can click through to Random House’s Watermark Division here. Mark Batterson is the pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC, a church I love because they also operate Ebenezer’s Coffee shop as a ministry center. Gotta love that!
Go read Primal and rediscover your roots. Make Primal one of the first books you read in 2010.
We knew it was coming, someday. Jillian’s been using and abusing her original iPhone for years now. Her phone had the ability to take what she dished out and still continue to run. It’s back was missing part of its cover, leaving the copper colored antenna exposed. Her front faceplate was cracked — everywhere — and yet still responded to the touch she needed for texting. We thought about bringing her phone into Apple, because honestly, it was in wretched shape and yet still kept going.
Until tonight.
At 9:36 on Saturday night, Jillian’s iPhone was pronounced suddenly, irrevocably dead. And in that moment her life came crashing down. She is 16, after all, and older and more mature people than she have been devastated when their phones go flying off of Thunder Mountain at Disney World, for instance. (Yes, that was my adventure last week.) I understood her tears and frustration.
Before three minutes had passed, David was off the couch and headed to the mall, which is mercifully open late due to Christmas. By 10:07 he was headed home with a new, shiny iPhone. It was an extreme solution for JIllian, but as David headed off on his mission he began pondering.
You see, Jillian has had a difficult year this year. Like her iPhone, she is maybe a bit beat up and feeling it. I know we are feeling it. But God has a solution for her, and us. He’s always ready to reach down into space and time to give us a new life. No words of condemnation, no regrets, just a new life for the old.
I don’t know if Jillian sees the metaphor of her original, beat up iPhone or not, but I do. And just like her daddy was ready t make it all new, her heavenly daddy is ready to make life new again, too. For all of us.
It is the staff of my church, Christ Fellowship, gleaning in the fields. Yes, gleaning. The mechanical harvester has gone through, and now the gleaners are handpicking corn and other vegetables that are left. What they pick will be donated to local food banks.
Know what’s incredibly inspiring about this?
On this particular day, the staff was celebrating Christmas together. It was their annual “staff luncheon” done in a whole new way. Genius.
I read this in my email today from our friend Buddy Hoffman at Grace Fellowship, our church when we are in Atlanta. Sometimes I run across something I hadn’t even known in my soul until someone else verbalizes it. This letter, which is his regular weekly email to his congregation, is one of those moments. This IS what I want. This IS what we need. If you aren’t finding it, get yourself to a place where you do. It’s worth it.
This past week, while Jody and I were on vacation, I found myself in the unusual circumstance of not having to be anywhere on Sunday. Often, even when I am not a Grace, I am somewhere else teaching. I went out for a walk and began thinking about where we would worship Sunday, and it occurred to me that this is not a question I often ask: “What do I want in a church?” Then it occurred to me that I was really contemplating another question, easier to answer: “What do I not want.”
Kind of like, when it comes time to choose a restaurant, someone asks, “Where do you want to eat?” The answer sounds easy, but not even close.
“Anywhere.” comes the answer.
“How about burgers?” you say.
“I’m not thinking burgers.” is the reply.
“How about Subway?” you say.
“Had that Thursday.” comes the answer.
Someone starts naming places, and your realize all you really know is what you don’t want.
When it comes to church, I know what I am not looking for. I have no passion to sit with people lined up in pews, sing three hymns and listen to a sermon with three points and a poem. I have no yearning to hear someone’s idea of a religious pep talk, with a few movie clips thrown in to prove they are culturally relevant. I have no desire to listen to a Christian concert put on by a hand-full of rock band wannabes. It’s not that I mind hymns, poems or relevant movie clips, and I certainly enjoy a good band.
But, unlike finding a place to eat, I do know exactly what I want in a church gathering.
I want to hear someone open the Bible to a passage of Scripture that they have prayed over, meditated on, researched and marinated in. I want to hear what they learned, I want to hear what they discovered, I want to hear not just the results of their research, not just an academic lecture, but what they have heard from God. I want to know how this passage has impacted the church, not just this church, but the church historic.
I want to know how this passage intersects with the context of the whole of Scripture – where does this fit in the meta-narrative of Scripture, the Kingdom of God. I want to know how this passage has convicted and comforted the people that have gone before me, the communion of the Saints. I want to know what this passage meant in it’s orginal context to the ones God gave it. What were their circumstances and how did this passage shape them? I want to sit with a Bible in my hand, and look into that Word and listen for that voice deep in my soul that speaks to me though His Word.
I treasure that voice, it seldom screams, it most often whispers, but it is real as the skin I am in. I want to sit with a gathering of people who also long to hear that voice. I want to look around and see that same longing on their faces I feel in my heart. I want to look across the room and see people with old Bibles that are falling apart, new bibles with pages that are still stuck together, techies with Bibles on their iphones, and people who are just trying to figure it out but sense there is something going on here that is more than a history lesson, more than a lecture, more than a pep talk. I want an encounter with God Himself.
Then I want to this same person who has been marinating in this passage to challenge us all with how this connects to today and tomorrow. I want to hear what they have heard the Spirit speak; I want to hear that prophetic voice.
Then I want some time to absorb what I have heard; I don’t want to just jump up and run out. I want a worship leader to take me deeper in my response to the Word, to the prompting of the Spirit of the Living God. I want time to repent – the word “repent” means “to change my mind.” I want my mind renewed; I need to reflect on what I have heard. I want the kind of worship leader that knows it’s more than a “set list” and leading the band; it’s turning people’s faces to the face of God. It’s giving God what God is seeking: worship.
Sometimes it’s as brief as a blink, sometimes it is more like melting a glacier, but I do not want to just run out. If worship is responding rightly to Revelation, then I want to worship. I do not mean just sing a song, although it might be a song, or it might be a prayer. It might be that I need to raise my hands in surrender and agreement. It might be I need to get on my knees, right then and there; it might mean I need to get on my face, not later but now, in humility and with abandon. And I hunger to gather with people who feel the freedom to do the same.
I might need someone to pray with me. I want to be with people I can just turn to and say, “I need prayer” without feeling they are going to think I am strange. I love feeling someone’s hand on my shoulder and hearing them pray for me without even asking.
That is want I want. I really don’t care if it is in a Cathedral or a storefront. I don’t care if it is across the street or across town. It does not matter that much to me if the teacher is ordained, wearing a robe, in blue jeans, young or old. I really have no preference concerning the size of the church or the style of the service. What I want it to hear from God and gather with people who share that hunger. I want to see young people and old people, but real people. I want to be with people of different colors and cultures, but with a common craving for the heart of God.
I want to hear the Word, I want to worship and I want to do it with a community that takes both seriously.
I am doing a little thinking today about the cities we live in. You know that PLACE is so important to me. Imagine my delight when Buddy Hoffman suggested I read “Sidewalks in the Kingdom” by Eric O Jacobsen. I haven’t gotten past the introduction yet and he’s already speaking my language. So just for an appetizer, look at this list of characteristics of what it means to be a city.
Shared public spaces
Mixed-use spaces
Non-essential beauty and artistry in the local buildings
A local economy
Presence of strangers
Connections through the critical mass of people
In other words, our cities and towns need to have their own identity, that quirkiness that makes one place more interesting than another. And if I’m reading the promise of this book correctly, it’s going to begin to develop a theology of how Christians can impact that process and work within the PLACE God has given them. Sounds like a fun read!
“This is the problem with living at 150 miles per hour. Life becomes a blur of images. I see it all go by, but I lose the plotline, the narrative, even the dialogue.
Really, I lose life.”
Being honest, I think we can all identify with this quote from Vince Antonucci, especially at this time of year! Even though David and I have made a commitment to participate in the Advent Conspiracy this year, it is still tempting to speed up so much that we lose sight of the beauty of life, the joy of the journey. Antonucci goes on, in his book I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy T-shirt, to quote from theologian Kosuke Koyama. It is the antidote to our hurry disease. It is how we rediscover the plotline to our life.
God walks “slowly” because he is love. If he is not love he would have gone much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed…It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice it or not, whether we are currently hit by storm or not, at three miles an hour. It is the speed we walk,and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks.
Vince Antonucci picks up from there:
This is what is holding me back from living the Jesus life. I’m going 150, but God moves at 3 miles per hour. So I need to slow down and walk at God’s speed. I need to move at the speed of love.
Did you catch it? The speed of love.
That’s my prayer for myself and you today: that we would all move at the speed of love, no faster and no slower. In this season which is so emotionally laden for so many people, I want to slow down enough to be fully present with the people I love and the people I haven’t met yet. Isn’t that what the incarnation — Jesus’ birth — really is? His opportunity to BE with us? God with us?
I don’t need a single present for Christmas this year, and you probably don’t either. Not really. But what we all need is the hope, encouragement and faith that comes from being WITH each other.
Today’s Advent Conspiracy challenge, for me, is to slow down to the speed of love.
