A Baby Changes Everything

Every parent talking to a man or woman about to have their first child knows something the soon-to-be-parents don’t: they have no idea what’s about to hit them.  Their world is about to be completely turned upside down.  Whatever dreams of a schedule they had will quickly fade into the reality of feeding schedules and diaper changes.  Whatever sense of control they had over their lives will soon end.  A tiny creature incapable of intelligible speech with no knowledge of the fact that it possess arms and legs with hands and feet attached will become their master, dictating their sleep cycle, their bathing habits, and their spending plan.  Their lives will change instantly.  They will suffer from sleep deprivation and spit-up saturation.  And they choose to undergo all of this voluntarily!

When a woman finds out she is pregnant, it is very common for her to evaluate everything she has been doing without thinking.  What she eats, what she drinks, what she smokes, when she sleeps – everything is looked at with great scrutiny.  I knew a woman who was a pack-a-day smoker who stopped cold turkey as soon as she found out she was pregnant.  Other women who are usually couch potatoes find themselves walking 30 minutes a day to get healthy.  Women who once swore off vegetables as an arch enemy suddenly is immersed in dark green leafy veggies.  Women who hate swallowing pills are willing to gag themselves on a prenatal horse pill every morning.

Why do women examine their lives so carefully when they are pregnant?  Simply because they want their baby to thrive long before they draw their first breath.  When pregnant women really understand the impact of their choices on the life of their child, they make changes that they would not have made otherwise.

Even though it was long before we had modern medicine to inform us about the impact of diet, exercise and rest on ourselves and children within, I am certain Mary played it safer when she discovered that she was pregnant.  The decisions she made would affect her and her baby.

What would happen if we took a similar approach to our faith, realizing that Christ dwells within us, and that Christ naturally wants to grow in our lives all the way to maturity?  What if we believed that our daily decisions really would make a difference on the likelihood of our spiritual health?

• We would think about what we eat and drink more carefully.  We would think about the fuel we feed our bodies, and would choose the best we could.  Have you ever treated your dietary habits as a spiritual discipline?
• We would exercise.  We would want to be as physically healthy as possible so that our bodies would be the best tool for us as possible.  Have you ever thought of exercise as a spiritual activity?
• We would take rest seriously.  We would realize that building calm into our lives is as important as integrating exercise and a healthy diet.  Have you ever considered guarding “rest” in your schedule as a spiritual discipline?
• We would read as much as we could to learn everything we could about the journey we’re on.  We would realize that we have much to learn that will help us make the most of our experience and avoid common pitfalls.  Have you ever considered integrating various forms of learning about your faith as a spiritual exercise?
• We would get professional help.  We would talk things over with a doctor, midwife, or nurse practitioner to gain from their perspective and get their help in staying on the right track.  Have you considered getting a spiritual check up with a professional?  I wonder what that might do for you…
• We would join others who are on the same journey with us.  We would gain a lot of confidence in the company of others; we would learn from peers, and together we would be stronger than we possibly could alone.  Have you considered building community into your life as a spiritual prescription?

Mary, though very young to be with child by our standards, discovered very quickly that a baby changes everything.  Without question, she met new challenges, and made decisions that perhaps made things tougher for her, not easier – but the payoff was worth it.

May you be so motivated and eventually blessed as you follow in Mary’s footsteps this Christmas.

It's A Wonderful Life

George Bailey grew up in a loving household, the elder of two sons.  George had great ambition – he dreamed of one day touring the globe, learning about cultures and their architecture, and one day returning to build great buildings that would inspire for generations.  George was an old soul – his character was rich with compassion.  Early in life he made decisions to risk his own well-being for the sake of others – once in saving his brother’s life in a sledding accident (which cost him his hearing in one ear).  On another occasion, he intentionally disobeyed his employer in order to save another child’s life from being poisoned from a pharmaceutical mix-up.  His dreams were high, and his heart was deep.

Unfortunately, George’s dreams were cut short just before he was to set out for his dream life – his father died.  George was faced with a terrible decision: go fulfill his travel and educational dream, or stay to save the Building & Loan business his father had built and run for years.  If he chose to leave the Building and Loan behind, he could easily shake the dust of Bedford Falls off his feet and get on with his life.  But leaving would also mean the end of the Building & Loan and with it the end of hope for hundreds of people who would never be able to afford a home with his father’s business.

His choice was between personal comfort and sacrifice for the good of others.

In the story of Jesus’ birth, Joseph faced a similar predicament.  Should he stay the course he had dreamed – leaving Mary behind and hopefully finding someone else down the pike – or should he sacrifice his personal comfort and dreams for something much greater, and much larger than himself?

A few years later, the underlying love between George and Mary blossomed, and they were married.  While en route to their honeymoon train, people in downtown Bedford Falls went nuts.  Ernie the cab driver wondered if it was a run on the banks.  He was right.  George had another difficult choice to make – go on his honeymoon or do damage control at the Building & Loan.  Mary encouraged him to stay in the cab, but George went anyway.  And just as his customers were starting to go wild, Mary showed up, and offered their own honeymoon savings to keep the company afloat.  The choice between personal comfort and sacrifice for a greater good was before him yet again, and George (and now Mary, too) chose the latter.

It’s reasonable to believe that by the time Jesus was a toddler, Joseph had established himself in the village of Bethlehem.  He was probably picking up carpentry jobs here and there to make ends meet.  He and Mary were probably enjoying a normal life together.  But then he had a dream in which God instructed him to pick up his stakes and move to Egypt to save Jesus’ life.  The choice arose between personal comfort and sacrifice for the greater good.  Joseph chose the latter.

Personal comfort or sacrifice for the greater good.  That’s the choice we face over and over and over again.

Jesus was clear about the choice, too.  He said the choice was between the Kingdom of God and the garbage dump.  The word “hell” shows up, but we must understand that this specific word literally referred to a famous garbage dump just outside of Jerusalem.  When Jesus used that word for hell, his audience thought of the dump.  I’ve switched it out in the following verses where Jesus speaks to his audience about the cost of going our own way, which often doesn’t produce the results we thought would come.

Jesus’ Use of Hell in Matthew 5:

²² …And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of [the dump]….

²⁹ So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into [the dump].

³⁰ And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into [the dump].

Jesus’ Use of Hell in Matthew 7:

¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to [the dump] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Jesus repeatedly refers to the Kingdom of God as the “zone” where life really resides.  The Kingdom isn’t simply heaven – the Pearly Gates and streets of gold.  The Kingdom is now, present, at work in the world, redeeming and restoring people and places all the time.  That’s where meaningful life is found, not in simply looking after ourselves.

Jesus stated that the more we try to save our lives by serving our own needs, the more our lives will actually be lost.  But the more we give our lives to the way of life exemplified by Jesus, the more we will really live.  See what Jesus says…

Jesus On The Bottom Line in Luke 9 (NLT):

²³ Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. ²⁴ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁵ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? ²⁶ If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. ²⁷ I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.”

George Bailey discovered, with the help of God, that his life and sacrifice mattered much more than he realized.  He didn’t have much in the way of money, but he was certainly rich with life. 

Joseph risked his life on God, and discovered a life of impact and experiences that would have been missed if he chose to simply give into our natural tendency to simply look after ourselves.  Joseph could not have foreseen what level of impact his decisions made.  But the truth is that billions of lives have been transformed by the grace of God discovered in Jesus Christ because he trusted God more than his selfish instincts.

The truth is that jumping into the way of life seems scary at the time.  But over time, as God helps us get more and more of our life aligned with the ways of the Kingdom, the more living we actually experience, and the more God, too.  Have you made the jump to trusting God more than yourself?  What parts of your life are not aligned – and therefore holding you back from experiencing more of the life God is offering?

Fearlessfull Faith

From Quiet…  The shepherds who pulled the short straw that first Christmas Eve expected what they had always experienced – not much.  If they had the late watch, there wasn’t much work to be done – just keep your eyes open in case a sheep wandered off or if a wolf or lion wandered in.  I had a job like that in college for awhile.  I worked the graveyard shift at a gas station right off the freeway.  From midnight until just before dawn, nothing much happened.  You can only sweep the floor, organize cigarettes and prep the coffee so many times.  And then you just sit there, looking around, trying to stay awake.  It’s a pretty easy job, but not exactly engaging.

To Glory…  As the story goes, however, on that one night something did happen.  And nothing could have prepared them for it.  An angel appeared, and the radiance of God’s glory with him.  The being had a message about the Christchild’s birth.  Then a huge boatload of angels showed up to sing a song celebrating this event.

To Fear…  It’s a wonder the shepherds knew to look for a manger after such a visit.  My hunch is that as soon as the first angel showed up, all the guys heard was blah, blah, blah.  Can you imagine what they went through?  They had to be absolutely petrified.  God actually showed up in person, with his glory cranked up to the “blinding” setting.  If you look at most of the times when God showed up in person to someone throughout the Bible, the apparent first reaction to the experience is fear.

Maybe we should rethink our position on fear and faith.  Maybe fear, though we tend to speak of it as another term for deep reverence, actually has something to do with being afraid.  How could being afraid be connected to faith in god?

Psalm 111:10 states that fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.  Perhaps this initial reaction is necessary if we should actually take God seriously.  In the United States, we have free speech, and state that everybody has a right to speak their mind.  But this freedom has also had an interesting side effect: we don’t necessarily respect the person behind the voice.  At any particular moment you can hear from about any perspective you choose on the radio and the internet.  Most people tune out most of those voices and give attention and allegiance only to those voices they deem valid.  Could it be, however, that we equate validity with agreement – that we only really give heed to the voices of those who share our viewpoint?

To fear God is to recognize that the voice speaking isn’t one among equals, but a much stronger voice with much greater power than our own.  When we realize Who is speaking, we appropriately should be filled with fear.  Fear is good, then, because it keeps the relationship unequal, with One much greater than ourselves on the other side.

At an early point in my relationship with God, I experienced a fraction of his glory.  I had never before experienced anything like it.  It freaked me out.  But I knew it was God, and I trusted that God was worthy of my confidence, so I went with it.  It blew my mind in the right way, so that I knew a very big God was all around me.  The fear lasted a moment, but then turned to passionate faith.  When I experience the same thing now, it does not elicit fear, but serves to strengthen my faith.

To Faith.  The good news is that God doesn’t want us to cower every time we consider his visits throughout our lives.  Quite the opposite – the more we listen to God’s voice, the more we understand that God is a loving God and desires good for us, the more our fear turns to faith.

May you wrestle with the fact that the all-powerful, all-knowing God showed up on the first Christmas Eve, and still does today.  May you tremble as you realize how significant this truth is.  And may your fear keep your relationship to God appropriately unequal, so that you discover how much you can trust God to be good and faithful your entire life, now and forever.

Wise Questions

This Christmas season, I’d like us to take a look at the Christmas story in reverse, beginning with the last characters who heard about Christ’s arrival: the Magi (aka Wise Men, Three Kings).  If we can get past our familiarity, there is much to mine in their experience that we can apply to ours.  That’s how we take Christmas beyond a holiday and into a “being” thing.  That’s putting the “is” back in Christmas.

The Magi considered what lengths they were willing to go to meet Christ.  For them, the journey likely took months.  Imagine the expense!  Of course, they were loaded, but still – that’s a serious investment.  But they knew that if they were right, it was a once in a lifetime experience.  Actually, it was a once-in-the-history-of-the-world experience.  And they weren’t going to miss it.  The question for us is, how far are willing to go to meet Christ?  To be perfectly honest, I think a lot of Christians today feel like they’re really going the extra mile just to make it to church once or twice a month.  They are sacrificing a morning when they could be sleeping in.  Impressive, aren’t we?  Maybe we need to rethink this.  Who are we thinking of meeting?  What does Christ offer us?  What’s that worth?  I am challenging you to take it to the next level.  If you have to wait for a New Year’s Resolution to do it, okay, but do it.  For some of you it means making worshipping together at church a higher priority that (you fill in the blank).  For many, it’s the decision to reach for your bible instead of the remote control - at least enough to invest yourself in the Word once a day.  What else?  How is God wooing you on this question?

The Magi met up with Herod, who had a reputation for being a seriously insecure, egomaniacal tyrant.  Other than killing off a few of his family members, he was a really nice guy.  When they conversed with him, they knew the prophecy of Christ’s birth better than he did.  How well can you tell the story of Christ to someone?  If someone asked you to explain why you seek Christ, what would you say?

When the Magi went to meet Christ, they came prepared with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  These were not simply the hot gift items that first Christmas season.  They were thoughtful gifts with deep meaning.  All were gifts given to royalty, as they were each incredibly valuable.  Gold honoring Christ’s role as our king.  Frankincense honoring Christ’s role as our priest.  And Myrrh a symbol pointing to incarnation.  You probably don’t have much of any of these items to bring to church with you.  But you can ask yourself about how you approach Christ in worship.  What is your attitude when you worship?  What does your offering say about the value you place on your faith?  Do you expect God to dwell with and in us?

This Christmas season, ask yourself wise questions.  They may just help you find yourself closer to Christ than you expected…

Give Thanks

Many of us will enjoy Thanksgiving dinner and share with each other what we’ve been thankful for this past year.  Family, friends, health, jobs, shelter are always on the list for most people.  Every now and then one of your religious relatives somehow found out where the dinner was and got himself invited.  When his turn comes, everybody knows he’s going to go spiritual.  “I’m thankful for the cross that Christ bore and hope you are, too.”  Everybody sort of nods uncomfortably, and then rolls their eyes when he looks at the potatoes…

I’ve had many conversations with people who are enamored with Jesus, and are willing to believe and follow him.  They like what he stands for, the teaching he gave, and the path he walked that leads toward a relationship with God.

                But these same people stumble around a bit when it comes to the cross.  They don’t get it.  They’re not sure why so much emphasis has been placed on it.  They wonder why it’s even necessary to focus on anymore.  The idea of a man dying for them doesn’t compute.  Things start to sound really religious when the cross enters the conversation.  And we all know God doesn’t even like religion.

                Is the cross relevant anymore?  Or is it just a religious symbol of an ancient people that relate as little to our experience as we do theirs?

                A classic song came on the radio the other day by the band Styx: “Babe”.  It was a love song, a ballad, about a guy who was moving away, which was breaking his heart because his girl wasn’t coming with him.  I remember the first time I heard that song tears came to my eyes because my soul mate was moving away.  How could I go on?  My heart ached at the thought of her leaving, with little chance that we’d survive.  Her name was Anne.  Of course, I never shared the fact that she was my soul mate with her.  In fact, I never even let on that I liked her – no, loved her! – which was probably a good idea since we were in the fourth grade, and she was way out of my league.  The funny thing though is that it felt good to “pretend love” somebody, and I liked the idea that she might actually like me.  Fantasies are wonderful places to live, aren’t they?

                I think we all long to love and be loved in return (I think I hear Nat King Cole singing Nature Boy…).  I think it’s the most core longing we have.  I think it’s the greatest meaning we pursue, and the most painful to lose.

                Our hearts soar when we feel love – we can do anything.  And our world feels empty when we don’t feel loved – we are immobilized in many respects.  When love is strong it is the thing that we are most thankful for.  And when it’s weak it’s what we yearn for most.  How we answer the question, “are we loved?” determines our sense of wellbeing probably more than anything else.   More than money, fame, or appearance.

                I had a friend who had a strained relationship with his father.  One evening, he was driving along and lost control of the car, hitting another car in the process.  He panicked and left the scene.  He thought maybe he killed somebody.  He was driving his dad’s car, which was pretty mangled.  He went home where he lived with his parents (he was in high school), grabbed a few things and left.  He found a spot behind a convenience store where he scribbled a note.  Then he shot himself in the stomach.  That wasn’t killing him fast enough (I guess) so he shot himself in the head.  He was gone.  The note had harsh words for his father, who he assumed would not be able to look past his latest accident.  My friend struggled to believe that he was loved enough to overcome his mistakes.  That core need was so lacking that it led him to do the unthinkable.  His father loved him deeply, but somehow that didn’t get through.

                When kids experience their parent’s divorce, they commonly wonder if it was because of them.  Or they wonder why one of their parents could have left them behind so easily.  Insecurity sets in about whether or not they are loved much, and whether or not they ever will be.  Whose love can they trust if they can’t even trust their own parents to love them?

                When a person gets cheated on by their significant other, after the anger and sense of being betrayed wears off, they often wonder how someone could do such a thing to them when they said they loved them.

                Abused partners question their value and worth because the treatment they are receiving suggests that they are worthy of the abuse, not love.

                Parents, if they are human, will not love perfectly, and their children will suffer the consequences.  How well we love our kids sets their course probably more than anything else.

                For people who seek God, this has to be the primary motivation for their search.  We wonder if the one who made everything is still around, and if he or she is, does he or she care at all about us?  And if we haven’t exactly lived in such a way that would honor such a God, at what point does God just let us go our own way?

                I think that’s why Jesus has so much appeal.  He came proclaiming that he and God had a very tight relationship – that they were, in fact, one – and that what we heard and saw in him was the word and behavior of God.  It turns out Jesus wasn’t a jerk at all.  He was really, really cool.  He put mean people in their place, and lifted up demoralized people everywhere he went.  He spoke the truth, but he did it with love.  Many people changed the direction of their lives after they met him.  And he loved people regardless of who they were or what they’d done.

                And when mean people got him arrested and killed, he let it go forward, as if there was a point he wanted to make that nobody could miss.  Having all the authority and power to get himself out of the mess he was in and hold everyone accountable, he chose to act with grace.  He even told a guy who probably actually was guilty of a crime that there was reason to have hope – God loved him more than he realized, and that soon he would be with God forever.  In ultimately choosing the cross, God was creating a drama which caused people to wonder what God might do when the best is killed.  The answer didn’t change.  God loved.

                I need that Jesus who will prove his love beyond doubt for anybody and everybody.  I need it because every human relationship I am in will have its moments when love is questioned – if only for a moment – but long enough to shake me.  I need to know there is a love that will never fade out, or get tired of me, or not put up with my junk anymore and leave, or neglect me, or turn apathetic, or love someone else more which is like not loving me at all.  I need that kind of love.  And, while there are numerous facets to appreciate about the cross of Christ, its message of love is what I need most of all.

                The message of love is what the guy hanging next to him needed, what Peter needed, what the Apostle Paul needed, what I need, and what you need.  It’s the love that we can build our lives on, that we can draw from without ever worrying about the depths of its supply.  God’s love is big enough to carry me through every season of my life, regardless of my struggle.  God’s love calls me to be a better person and provides the path and resource to see it through.  God’s love assures me that one day all that is not love will be gone.  That will be a very good day. 

                This Thanksgiving, be thankful for all the good things in your life.  But take a moment and savor the love of God that permeates all of life and holds it all together, and give thanks.  Because you are loved by the one that matters more than any other, and that will never change.

                And check out Luke 23:33-43 and Colossians 1:1-14.

150 Years and Counting

Like every church, I suppose, the history of CrossWalk Community church is filled with highs and lows.  But I doubt that the 18 people who started our church in 1860 could even begin to fathom how much impact their decision would have in Napa and globally.

Give the teaching a listen, and be inspired by those who have gone on before us who helped to provide what we enjoy today.  May you choose to be so bold as to think that your actions will live well beyond your years, and may be the difference between life at its best or hell on earth, hope forever or endless doubt.

If you have a couple hours to kill, download and enjoy a more detailed history accumulated over the years here:https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BygjBTyneLsTZjMzOGI1MjEtZmM4Mi00NDU5LWJmYzAtNDFkZDZjY2VlMTI4&hl=en

Lost and Found

One day Jesus was criticized by religious insiders for hanging out with irreligious outsiders.  In response, he crafted three stories – one of which is one of his best known (Luke 15).  All three are lost and found stories, with each describing great joy when whatever was missing was brought back.

Lost.  Sheep aren’t the brightest of God’s creatures.  They produce wool, and prepared correctly can provide a delicious entrée, but that doesn’t make them smart.  Sometimes people are just like sheep.  They wander away from the source of their food and security into the wild.  Perhaps they are drawn to a good looking patch of weeds.  Their focus is the weeds, and they don’t even realize the danger they’re in until it’s too late.  They could be totally lost, with no way of knowing how to get back to the flock.  They could be attacked.  They could fall off a cliff.  Somebody could BBQ them.

Sometimes we are like sheep, and wander away, focused on something we think is worth the risk.

Coins are even dumber than sheep!  They don’t even have brains.  They just get lost.  Sometimes pockets have holes, and the owner doesn’t even know they’ve lost anything until much later.  Sometimes people are like that.  Nobody tries to lose connection with them, it just happens.  People slip through the cracks in our lives, and we don’t even notice until we realize their absence.  Then we miss them.

Sometimes we are like those coins.  For whatever reason, we got left in the sofa cushions, and didn’t get noticed until it hurt that we didn’t get noticed.

Sons are pretty smart compared to sheep and coins.  But sometimes their superior reasoning ability gets the best of them, and they find themselves doing things that manipulate others into doing things for them.  The son let his lust for women and partying move him to offend the dad who had provided so well for him.  Choosing grace, the father gave the son what he wanted.  In a matter of time, the son blew through the entire sum.  His dreams turned into a nightmare.  He was lower than he ever could have imagined.  The father held no anger toward his son.  Rather, he looked with hope and patience toward the direction of his son’s departure, desperately wanting to see his silhouette once again.  Full of self-loathing, the son finally summoned the courage to return, no longer as a son, but hoping to become a slave.

Sometimes we are sons.  We use everything we have for very selfish ends, and find ourselves very alone when it all runs out.  We don’t feel entitled to anything at that point.

Found.  When the shepherd found the sheep, there was great joy to be found.  But let’s not miss the obvious: the shepherd went looking for what was lost.  He noticed, he cared, he went, and he kept going until he found what went missing.

Somebody was a shepherd for us, and if you’re reading this, they were successful.  Somebody else needs you and me to be like the shepherd and seek them in their lost-ness.  Who sought you?  Who are you seeking?

The woman, when she found her coin, threw a great party.  But let’s not miss the obvious: the woman looked and looked and looked until she found the coin.  She noticed what was missing, cared, and began searching diligently until she found it.

Somebody was the woman for us.  Somebody noticed and cared and came looking for us.  If you are reading this, they were successful.  Somebody you know is like the missing coin, needing you to look in some sofa cushions for them.  Who sought you?  Who are you seeking?

One day the father’s dream came true – he saw the appearance of his son.  But when he got there, the son did not know he was still a son.  The father then searched for his finest robe and signet ring, fully restoring his son to his place in the family.  He risked losing his investment again.  But he believed more in grace and love than in judgment and wrath.

Somebody was the father for us.  They saw beyond our self-loathing to our true identity – a person made in the image of God – and invested in that.  Somebody you know needs you to be the father to them.  They cannot see past their past without your help.  Without you, they will continue in their downward spiral.  With you, there is hope.

Of course, Jesus lived his life just like the shepherd, the woman, and the father.  He was modeling what is true of God, who does the same.  Jesus was famous for saying to people, “Follow me!”  I believe he is still saying it to you and me, wondering if we will recognize that while God has always been pursuing us, he worked through the hands and hearts of people we know to move us from the “lost” to the “found” category.  I believe Jesus is calling us to still follow him, to be the hands and feet and hearts that recognize who is lost, care about them, and move out to gain them back.

If not us, who?

We are the people who don’t give up on people.  We are the people who offer hope to anybody, because we really believe that God is big enough to redeem anyone.

We believe that we were the lost ones once who were at some point found.  If it weren’t for someone, we’d still be lost.  Who will we be the one for?

Let Us Pray

What the exemplary fictitious widow learned from pleading her fake case to the pretend uncaring judge (Luke 18:1-8)…

Why pray when you can worry?  Jesus used the widow as the central figure because every listener knew that she had no ability to help herself out.  The worst thing that the judge would do would be to deny her request, which would land her where she was already.  When we pray, what are we out?  At the very least, prayer calms us down, focuses our attention, and provides an outlet for our stress.  Even if you think God isn’t real, prayer works for the one who prays.  Worrying, on the other hand, only leads to stomach problems.

Stalking helps you get to know a judge pretty well.  When we pray like a stalker, we get to know God much better than if we pray only very occasionally.  As with any relationship, the more time we spend with a person, the more familiar we become with them – how they communicate, their values, their ethos.  Spend more time with God and you are bound to get to know God better, which is the goal of faith.

Nobody knew to pay attention until I acted.  When we devote ourselves to something, others notice and sometimes join you.  You find out that you’re not alone, and that some care enough to come alongside and help.

Through the process I learned what I could do and what I couldn’t – something I would have never learned if I had chosen to be passive.  In other words, there was more to gain than the focus of my pleading.  Life is a process.  Challenges are catalysts for redemption.  The more we pray the more we learn where our limitations are, and discover how much we need help from God and others.

The routine, daily plea helped me get through the day.  Prayer is a form of meditation – focus on a particular thing.  Prayer is constructive and positive.  We don’t know how, exactly, but we do know that prayer works and the ritual of prayer at a minimum acts as a coping mechanism so that we can continue living.

There was a range of ways that justice could be served, so I didn’t get hung up only on what I could see.  Instead of praying as if we knew exactly what needs to happen, maybe we should pray for what we think, but stay open to whatever God has in mind.  I think we miss a lot of what God has for us along the way because we’re overly focused on what we think the answer to prayer should be.

Jesus said that God – in contrast to the unjust judge – would bring justice quickly.  What is justice?  What kind of justice will God bring, and how quick is quickly?  In one of his New Testament letters, Peter speaks about God’s timing being different than our own, but Jesus seemed to imply an immediate response when presented with persistent prayer.

If justice is making things right, but we live in a world where justice is an ongoing process managed by humanity, then what level of justice should we expect?  Perhaps we shouldn’t ask God to do what we can and should do.  And for the reality we all dread – dying and death – while we must pray for our hearts desire, we must also resign ourselves to the fact that we do not live in a perfect world, and things don’t always come out the way we hope and pray.  But while we struggle through those hard times, God is with us to give us strength and hope for tomorrow – a tomorrow where the pain of this life does not exist.   God therefore makes things as right as can be in our limited existence, while assuring us that a fuller justice is yet to come.

So pray for all the reasons the widow persisted.  And pray when it seems as though God is not quick, and when God seems indifferent to the wrong that needs made right.  Because it is in those moments when we experience God most powerfully, taking us to deeper depths and higher heights of God’s presence, where life is sourced from times passed through eternity to come.  Jesus’ brother, James, assures us that the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective, so keep praying, and be open to the power and effect of God more than your own limited thinking.

My dear friend, abandon yourself, and you will find me.  Give up your will and every title to yourself, and you will always come out ahead, for great grace will be you’re the moment you turn yourself over to me once and for all.  – From The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

If we are to experience God, we must be open to God, to the mystical, to the divine, appearing in our lives.  And we must have an openness that is free of any preconditions about how that will happen.  Looking for God in a godly form is the great historical mistake.  – From In Pursuit of the Great White Rabbit by Edward Hays