Maybe it’s just me, but I’m shocked to see how many people carry $50-$100 in cash in their wallets. Just so I know if I’m weird or not, humor me and let me know how much you typically have on you. (Totally secret, no way for me to know who said what.)
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. Genesis 12:1
Can you imagine? 75 years old you hear from God loud and clear– leave, start a new life, leave everything behind.
Abram’s entire life was judged based on this one decision! Would his life be defined by faith or by fear?
The first thing that comes to my mind as I try to put myself in Abram’s shoes is fear:
How will I make the trip?
How will I start over?
My wife will kill me.
I’m 75 years old, the only move I’m making is to Florida
Yesterday, I was doing a little check-in on Tash’s morning radio show in Auckland. (You know, I’m huge there! Well… er, probably not.) And she asked me the one question I don’t have an answer for right now, “So Adam, what is going to change as a result of your trip to do relief work in Haiti?”
It is the question I’m afraid of. I don’t really have an answer for that yet.
If I tally the faith I exhibit in my life I see a difference in the reconciliation. Fear is winning over faith.
As I talked to the Lord about it I kept coming back to that central question… right back to the defining moment in Tin Cup… “Will your life be a life defined by radical faith, or will it be defined by an avoidance of fear?”
What about you? What are ways you a living a life driven by faith and not fear? Teach me!
A young man prays in Carrefour, the epicenter of the January 12th earthquake
“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14
I first memorized Ephesians 5 with Kristen in 1995. We were dating and we had discovered that memorizing Scripture together was a way to channel our, um, energy for one another. It worked!
This passage of Scripture has been illuminated to me in new ways since I returned from Haiti a few days ago.
On the one hand– I need to shake the trip, to focus on the action items ahead of me, to move on with being a leader, husband, and father here in San Diego. I am needed here and there is no denying it. That much is clear.
On the other hand– everywhere I go I encounter something I cannot reconcile with what I have seen. Yesterday, I spent most of my day in a coffee shop sipping mochas and working on a freelance project for some friends. I am proud of the work I did yesterday. It turned out great. I love the opportunity it provides both for my family and the organization this work will benefit. But as I walked through my neighborhood I couldn’t help but think of the contrast to what I was doing just a week prior. Last Saturday, sounds of thousands praising Jesus and shouting prayers filled every neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and Carrefour. Even as night fell and we rested in our mission station we could hear the loud speakers in the distance… people singing and praising well into the humid darkness. Yesterday, back home in my neighborhood– nearly silence. The only sounds heard were children playing soccer in the park.
One place was awake. The other asleep.
Paul doesn’t leave me there, he continues, “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17
My prayer while in Haiti were verses 15-17. I overlooked verse 14. My teammates kind of poked fun at me because I barely slept the whole week. I’d go to bed after they were asleep and they’d wake up and I’d already be up. It’s was this verse… I was doing what I could to make the most of every opportunity. I could sleep on the plane.
But it is verse 14 which stirs me now. Now I have to sort out how I can be awake to both realities.
A trip to a third world country, in my case Haiti, will show you just how much syncretism we practice in America.
Here are some of the gods we mix with our faith.
– The safety god
– The comfort god
– The performance god
– The money god
– The staff god
– The building god
– The schedule god
I don’t point those things out to bring judgement on anyone. In fact, these are my gods, too. As I’m re-entering my culture I need to wrestle with these gods in light of the teachings of Moses in Deuteronomy.
The thing that God (the real God!) kept hitting me over the head with while in Haiti is that I live a life of dependency and faith avoidance. Before the trip, as I wrote about, I felt like God was calling me out and asking if I truly believed the things I told people I believed in.
I hope I lived up to the challenge.
And it turns out, coming home presents a new challenge of faith.
As Francis points out in this message, dangerous things could happen if we would just be obedient to what God teaches us in the Bible. Our faith can change things. But so much of that is conditional on whether or not the people are lifting God up above these false gods.
The fact is that believing the Bible is actually true is a step of faith.
But putting your complete faith in Christ and living as though the things of the Bible will happen in your midst… now that is dangerous.
The reality I am trying to reconcile is that I know God is calling me to live a dangerous life. But the life I know isn’t all that dangerous.
It’s taken me a while to recognize this truism. People don’t care what my intentions are, they only care about my actions.
My intentions don’t mean squat.
What matters is what I actually do.
Sometimes I get this right.
And sometimes I get this wrong.
OK, most of the time I get this wrong.
What that was is a defining moment. And the thing about defining moments is that you either define the moment or the moment defines you. – Roy McAvoy
Whether I like it or not each day is filled with many defining moments. And in each of those moments I try to remember… either define this moment with my actions or this moment defines me.
When you look past the excuses and manage to control your fear… you can do amazing things. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of those two things stopping me from what I want to do.
