10 Minutes that Changed a Life

Many years ago I found myself doing an odd job that involved me driving a van all over Chattanooga delivering flowers for Valentine's day. I took dozens of flowers all over the area. One in particular stood out to me the most and still touches my heart even today.

I approaches this small house on missionary ridge and, as I had with so many houses before, checked thrice to make sure that I had the right address. Once I was certain that I had arrived in the right place I approached the door. An elderly, black woman opened the door and greeted me. I returned the greeting and asked "Are you Ms. Joy?" (pseudonym....duh). She responded with a very confused "yes?", and at it was then that I offered her the flowers.

Her eyes flew open wide with shock and she began stumbling over her words as she asked, "What? What? For ME?! Are you SURE?! Who would send ME flowers?!" As she took the flowers from my hand she began to cry, still asking if I was sure they were hers and if I knew who sent them. She held the flowers close as tears ran down her face in pure happiness from receiving the unexpected Valentine.

Ms. Joy no longer looked at me with confusion and as if I were a stranger. No, I was now embraced with a look that spoke of friendship and love. Though we knew each other not, the barriers of defense and difference had been removed. She hugged me in gratitude and thanked me immensely for delivering the flowers to her. Soon she began sharing the gospel with me and exhorting me to be encouraged to always chase after God's will for my life!

Soon we bid each other farewell and went our separate ways. That 10 minute encounter changed my life. I didn't know who sent the flowers, but I hope that she found that person so as to be able to show her love and gratitude to them as well. I hope they know how much they deeply affected Ms. Joy that day.

There are so many people out there living in utter loneliness. In a world that is so heavily saturated by social media and means of communication, we are beyond "disconnected". The very people in our churches and even our own families go throughout their days in loneliness; they are overwhelmed by the deafening silence. They go un-encouraged and feeling completely out of place in the world. Teenagers cry themselves to sleep at night not knowing whether or not they are loved by their parents; young women give themselves away to advantageous young men who see their craving for affirmation and love. We can change the world, but not by bribes, petitions, force, or hype. No, we change the world through the power of Christ and by the outpouring of the love of Christ. We can restore the Church by just stepping out to love those that we share pews with every week.

It's not Valentine's Day for a couple more months, but that doesn't mean that we can't go out of our way to show love and appreciation to those around us. Perhaps you know of someone who is lonely or in need of some encouragement right now. Why not do some small, random kindness to them so they might know that they are not alone; to let them know that they have not gone unnoticed or unloved? You can touch the life of a lonely, old women, and you might even change a delivery boys life too.

Love God and Love others...

Grace & Peace,

Stephen

Priority Shift

Of late I have been heavily contemplating what my next step in life should be. I believe that I have allowed myself to fall into an inconsistency in thought, as well as having submitted myself to enslavement to time by means of worrying. Worrying about what I want to do and where I go and about wasting time…and in turn wasting time. Time isn't going to stop to wait for me to decide to do something. It goes on while I sit around and weigh my options and pick apart my desires to make sure that I truly want to do the things I think I want to do. It’s quite ironic actually.

Additionally, I have been mulling over the nature of my blog and what I want my blog to be. I have shifted around quite a bit over the last couple years, and if you have read farther back into my blog you might detect the change in style and subject matter between now and the genesis of my public writing. I went through a period of time where I tried to advocate theological positions and intentionally push thoughts out for people to mull over. Too much of what was written during that time was artificial and manufactured. I fought for words rather than writing my heart out with the natural flow of my soul. It wasn't fully me and, as a result, my writing suffered. This is a revelation that I have received in my contemplating my use of time and current perspective of life and career.

In turn, I believe it is important that I restructure my blog. I want it to be a place for honest words and thoughts, but not to the point where it becomes a place to just emotionally rape the eyes of my readers. To a degree I believe that my blog has already begun to reflect this desire. This is not a place for me to just spill emotions and rant about life. It is, however, a place to wrestle with real questions and to invite others to join me in questioning and reflection, not just me trying to advocate my opinions. When I do share my opinions, however, I am seeking to be more straight forward and honest in my doing so, rather than dancing around them (as I too often do). This place is an honest place.

It is time my friends for a priority shift and change of focus. For “life is short and there is but little time to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us. Therefore, be quick to love and make haste to be kind.”

Grace and Peace

Stephen

Giving Grace

In college, I was forced to wrestle with the attributes of God and His character. A topic of great difficulty for me was the topic of Grace. I believed in the grace of God, but I didn't fully grasp it. Heck I'm still far from fully comprehending the grace of God, but who truly understands any given attribute of God? 

As with most things, we often fail to take such things into balance. We all too often fall to one extreme or another, leaving us acting as if grace doesn't even exists or forgetting that God is also our Judge and will hold us accountable for our actions at all. Sin is evil. God hates sin. There is grace for those who repent. 

God has been reminding me of the importance of grace in my life: recognizing my sinful state, being grateful for the grace that I don't deserve but am given regardless, and accepting with joy the reality that I am called to do the same. Grace and love for all. I am not God, but I represent him on this earth. I am, therefore, called to to speak truth to those I encounter, be honest about sin, and then show grace. 

I often fail to show grace for the small things. When a lot of grace is required I am able to give it, but it's the small subtle actions that shouldn't be so hard to forgive or to show grace for that I struggle with. This is mainly with other people though, grace for family is a much more difficult ground to conquer. In some ways, this feels like a great tragedy. Shouldn't family be the easiest to forgive and to give grace to? For many this may be true, but I do not believe this is the rule, nor do I believe that a struggle to show grace to a family member is any more of an issue than the struggle to give grace to a total stranger. 

Christ taught grace and He displayed this in his eating with tax collectors and talking with prostitutes. He gave Himself to the sinners of this world in ultimate sacrifice for their sins, and this is the love He has for us and it is the love that He demands of us. Thankfully...there is grace! For we are not capable of full and complete love as our God has. We are the fallen: the dark and hideous shadows of creation, and yet God loves us and grants us grace to be able to give grace to others. So next time that guy at work won't shut up and just rants away about stuff he knows nothing about, when that friend shafts you and leaves you high and dry, or that woman behind the counter of the gas station is a total jerk to you,  remember that Christ gave us grace for our sins in entire and that giving grace for minor things as a rude cashier, an annoying co-worker, or a betrayal of a friend is not too big a thing to give. 

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Joyful Lament: Preparing for the Season of Advent

We are but a week away from the month of December and from the liturgical time of Advent! In the midst of overwhelming commercialism it is easy to lose the beauty and meaning of this holiday season. It's unfortunate that the holidays have too often become about selfishness and greed.

In the upcoming cold and desolate month we will be buying gifts, hanging ornaments, verbally and emotionally assaulting each other over costs and item availability, stuffing our faces, destroying our teeth, and complaining about getting the wrong color for the iPod Touch we asked for. It's incredible that the symbol of Christmas is a Bishop/Saint and yet the Church often goes unremembered and Christ is neglected.

Christmas and Advent is, and will always be, a Christian holiday. People get angry when politicians have "holiday" trees instead of Christmas trees. If they aren't Christians then they can call them whatever they want, the holiday has no real significance or importance to them anyways.

The giving of gifts is a beautiful tradition of Christmas. I am by no means saying that gift-giving should be eliminated from this holy day since it is the day God gave the greatest gift of all: His Son...Himself. We live in the realm of ungratefulness, never remembering the true beauty of Christ's coming. Advent is to be a time where we celebrate and rejoice in the greatness of God and His love for us, but it should also be a reminder of the darkness that was before Christ came into our lives. This reality should also bring our minds to the harshness of sin that still remains in the world and all that is yet to be brought into full subjection to Christ. There are still millions of people who have yet to even hear of Christ!

That said, Advent should be a time of lament, but it should also be a time of repentance; remembering that the reason Christ came was to save us from the sin that destroys our society, culture, economy, and
government. He came so that He would die and usher in the age of the Church, and God forbid that we eat and drink in celebration of His coming without first falling on our knees in humility and fearful trembling in the revelation of our sinful state.

May we all be fasting and praying as we approach the day set aside in memorium to Christ's birth.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Entertaining Unaware

This past week I found myself sitting in a McDonald's with three friends just chatting about a thousand random things. We discussed everything from giant bears to preferred form of death to bible to psychology to Lord knows what! We jumped to whatever topic was on our minds and we're having a blast discussing it all.

As we were talking about what it would be like to be killed by attacks from wild beasts (yea...I know), we were suddenly interrupted by a man in his late 40's who had been sitting not far from our booth. He expressed great joy in having been able to sit by and having overheard our conversation! We learned that the man was a pastor from the area and we had the opportunity to hear about some missions trips he was working on and we were able to pray for him before he left. While his initial interaction with us was slightly awkward, it was a rewarding and enriching addition to our night.

First and foremost, we were made aware of our having blessed someone else through our, well, living! We were ourselves and were able to bring the man joy! He stated that listening to us reminded him of his need to sit back and enjoy life; slow down and enjoy the simple things including conversations with friends about nothing in particular. This is a good things for all of us to remember!

Second, I was reminded that what we do doesn't always go unseen, or unheard! We influence and shape the world around us in small ways every day. This is why walking in love and displaying Christ everywhere we go is so important! People see it! You might be entertaining angels without knowing it right?

I was glad that he had taken the time and had the courage to approach us and tell us of how we had affected him. It makes me wonder how many people have overheard me talking with others and have been moved by what we said or if someone's day had been brightened. Also, how many chances am I missing out on in public places to hear and listen to the world around me just because I don't take the time to notice. While I wouldn't intentionally ease drop on a conversation, I can see and hear a great deal going on around me just by taking my headphones off and being more present in the local coffee shop I'm sitting in or the mall that I work at or whatever!

I want, and need, to be more present in my environment and not retreat from my surroundings so often. I miss prime opportunities for learning and for teaching by closing myself up in the prison of my Pandora station, but if I would just take the head phones off and let myself exist in fullness within the habitat that I have occupied...my life might change a thousand times more.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen