Who are we to decide?

More thoughts about the book...

The conversation came up about what is good and what is evil?
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Mack was asked "how do you determine whether it is good or evil?" His answer was, "I guess I would say that something is good when I like it-when it makes me feel good or gives me a sense of security. Conversely, I'd call something evil that causes me pain or costs me something I want." I tend to sound justifiably angry when somebody is threatening my 'good' or what I think I deserve. But I'm not really sure I have any logical ground for deciding what is actually good or evil, except how something or someone affects me."
The Holy Spirit responded, "Then it is you who determines good and evil. You become the judge. And to make things more confusing, that which you determine to be good will change over time and circumstance. And then beyond that and even worse, there are billions of you {all of us} each determining what is good and what is evil. So when your good and evil clashes with your neighbor's, fights and arguments ensue and even wars break out." "If there is no reality of good that is absolute, then you have lost any basis for judging. It becomes just a language, and one might as well exchange the word 'good' for the word 'evil'.
Mack said. "I spend most of my time and energy trying to acquire what I have determined to be good, whether it's financial security or health or retirement or whatever. And I spend a huge amount of energy and worry fearing what I've determined to be evil."
The Holy Spirit responded, "This allows you to play God in your independence. That's why a part of you prefers not to see me. And you don't need me at all to create your list of good and evil. But you do need me if you have any desire to stop such an insane lust for independence."
"To fix this, you must give up your right to decide what is good and evil on your own terms, choosing to only live in me. To do that you must know me enough to trust me and learn to rest in my inherent goodness."
"Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life."
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So you and I both determine what it means to be good in our life and what it means to be evil. We play God every time we do this, and become more independent (away from God) when we judge things this way. How can we look at stuff of this world, including how people treat us and others, without creating a conclusion of Good/Evil?
The more you are independent the further you are from God and his love.
We live in a world that tells you to take charge of your life, take control of your future, set goals and gather as much "good" as you can.

Here is a question I leave you with.....
How can we live in this world and not become of this world?
If you have a quick answer to this, then you haven't really thought about it!

Conversation with God

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with God? I mean a real sit down moment-what would he look like? Would he be a she? What would you do-fall to your knees or give a huge hug? The more I processed this book I realized what the possibility of my conversation would be like. It was also neat that Mack (the main character in the book) met not only God, but also Jesus and Sarayu (the Holy Spirit).


For me this was a wonderful book, not about theology but about a new way to look at how God wants to be in relationship with us. It has revealed to me areas of my own life that I need to take a deeper look at. It's also hitting home because of issues (that plague us all) about wanting to have control of our lives, worrying about tomorrow, wanting it all figured out NOW, thinking that WE know exactly how our lives should be lived out.
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Here is something that Jesus said to Mack after he asked who was in charge out of the three of them.....
"We are in a circle of relationship, not a chain of command or 'great chain of being' like your ancestors termed it. What you are seeing here is relationship without any overlay of power. We don't need power over the other because we are always looking out for the best. Hierarchy would make no sense among us. Actually, this is your problem, not ours."
"Humans are so lost and damaged that to you it is almost incomprehensible that people could work or live together without someone being in charge."
"It's one reason why experiencing true relationship is so difficult for you {or for us humans}. Once you have a hierarchy you need rules to protect and administer it, and then you need law and the enforcement of the rules, and you end up with some kind of chain of command or system of order that destroys relationship rather than promotes it. You rarely see or experience relationship apart from power. Hierarchy imposes laws and rules and you end up missing the wonder of relationship that we intended for you."
"When you choose independence over relationship, you become a danger to each other. Others become objects to be manipulated or managed for your own happiness. Authority, as you usually think of it, is merely the excuse the strong use to make others conform to what they want."
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So we have it all upside down? I mean if you think about your day and how often "relationships" are apart of everything we do-if we have that part all wrong-what does that look like to get that back on track?
Being a strong "D type" leader/person, this really has me looking at what I do with my relationships.
I always try to help people in any way I can, doing things for them-and I do so not wanting any credit for it. But is there a part of what I do a controlling aspect of the relationship that I have with that person? Am I trying to stay in "good standing" with that person? I mean I do help strangers on the side of the road (literally and sometimes that isn't a good thing), but most of helping others are those I know.
I also fill my schedule with spending time doing or being with this person or that person-I want to think my intentions are good-but is this a control thing also?
I would say that I am not a scheming person who is trying to be the leader or controller in a relationship-but I do find myself in the driver seat when it comes to my friends-makes me wonder?
So have I experienced true relationship yet? How about when it comes to God? Am I always trying to be in control of that relationship also? Even when it comes to good things...like... Lord I did my part I prayed today and read my Bible....How come things like this happen to me? I go to church and try to be a good christian, why all this pain? Sounds like control to me!

More on the trip

This trip surely isn't what I thought it would be. Earlier I blogged about the roommate issue along with the wonderful weather. Sitting here a little past the half way point of the trip-I realized that this was apart of the plan the whole time. Let me explain....if I had this room to myself all day long-I would have slept in and maybe just laid around relaxing. I know that there is nothing wrong with that, but I am truly glad that I have been forced to get up early and spend time with God. Every morning I have spent time at the coffee shop reading, in the afternoon I have spent time sketching (which I haven't done since 1991). It has been a neat experience so far and I am looking forward to more reading and trying another sketch.

Feb 4th? Wow that was so long ago

I cant believe that I haven't blogged since Feb. It isn't totally shocking, since my life was about to take a turn just a few weeks after that last post. New changes, new jobs, ....interesting how "new things" change our lives and sometimes throw little normal things we do into a tail spin till we are able to get back on our feet again.

Well that's where I find myself right now-back on my feet. About a month ago Brandon asked me if I wanted to head to Georgia with him while he was at a conference with his job. Gone for a week? How would things get done? Would I be able to leave work for that long? What about small groups just starting up? What about opening the new building within 24 hours of my return from the trip? Should I go? Do I even have time? Those are a few of the many questions that plagued me for a few days. I was about to take a few days off from work at Grace to be able to do landscaping at Grace for my company. It was during the first day of working in the 90+ heat that I made the decision that I really needed to take a break. So I when I received the email back from Chris approving my vacation time-I immediately purchased my airline ticket, before I could change my mind.

Now preparing for the trip was simple because of the free time that I had to give to it, or lack there of. It was 10:00 pm Saturday night and we were leaving at 9:30 the next morning. So what a better time to start preparing for the trip. Fay? That was someone that I didn't think would join me on the trip-until now. It looked like Fay would provide rain from Tues-Fri while we were there-Fun Stuff. So I had a day of sun to enjoy. We arrive at the condo to find an entire family sharing the condo with us. We knew that someone (who worked with Brandon from the DC office) would be staying with us-we just didn't know his wife and two children would also be with us. 3 rooms, which two are bedrooms and 4 adults 2 kids. Relaxing wasn't crossing my mind at all-but I wasn't going to give up that easily.

I found this little coffee shop that I knew would become my new little hangout. Here are some pictures of the place. It was a comfortable little wood place about 30'x30', with the original hardwood floor that announced every new guest as they walked across it. Same morning girl serving the same customers every day. I do mean the "same" customers. Like clockwork each and every person visiting this little shop ordering the same way, every day. My favorite is the little lady who starts shouting her order as she opens the door "morning hunny, I want a large (venti is not something you will hear at this place) of the strong stuff leaving me 1" to put my cream in". Everyday (or at least the three days I have been here so far) the same thing. Something tells me that she has been ordering her drink that way everyday for the past 10 years. Today when I walked in, my drink was waiting for me....so now I am a regular who doesn't even have to order-only my third day here. Now I have spent 4-5 hours each morning here, so it is my favorite place on the Island.

I just finished reading the Shack-it was an amazing book. My goal is to process it through my blog later today. I do have to share that while I was reading the final pages, I stopped and looked around the coffee shop and one of those weird feelings came over me. The hardwood floors, the creaking door and the little fireplace that is inches away from "my" seat.....this place is a little Shack in and of itself. Maybe that's why I consumed this book now instead of 3 months ago when I bought it.

Trying to upload the pictures of the shack, I mean coffee place...more to come.