Sunday, February 15, 2015

Gone Fishing

This morning, at church, Bill gave a talk out of John 21; and as we read through the first part of the chapter I was struck by one line.

Simon Peter said, "I'm going fishing." (Matthew 21:3, NLT)

What was going through the mind of Peter?

He had been the guy that boasted to Jesus that even if everyone else fell away that he, Simon Peter, would remain a faithful follower to the end.

He had been the guy that less than a day after this boast had denied to even know Jesus not one, not twice, but three times. Now we rejoin the story as Jesus has risen and appeared to a few people a few times; showing up and disappearing quickly. 

No instructions given. No plan to follow. Just the hope that the choice to follow Jesus had not been in vain.

And what does Peter do? He goes fishing.

There have been times in my life when I suddenly found myself upside-down. In those times I found myself tempted to freeze; to simply stay put and hope that something would happen that would decide my next action for me.

Even now, with so many decisions facing me regarding my schooling, my career, and my family there are times that I simply want to shut everything out and let everything decide itself.

But Peter went fishing.

When life got to be too much he went back to what he knew and it was precisely there that Jesus showed up to guide him the rest of the way.

It was good for me to come across that one, simple line today. I think I needed to be reminded that faith is moving forward when the path is not clear; that often the answers come not in the deliberating but through the momentum of action.


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Striking A Balance

http://leahkostamo.com/planted/
I just finished reading a book this week that really challenged me. The book is titled Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling, and Community which tells the story of the author (Leah Kostamo), her husband, and their adventure in starting and running a Christian conservation community.

I will say that the author does a wonderful job of storytelling. I found myself engaged in the struggles, weeping for their loses and chuckling at the oddities that life has thrown their way. However, more importantly; the book really made me think.

For years I have found myself in a bit of an internal transition. As I would read Scripture, the Genesis account of creation, the stewardship of humans in the Garden, the story of Noah and the ark, and prophetic references to the promise of a restored Earth I was struck by the role that Creation played in the story woven through the pages of the Bible. As I would enjoy a warm sunny day with my sons or meditate on the beauty of a wildflower defying urbanization by pushing up between the cracks in a sidewalk I would feel a tug deep down to claim my birthright as an Image-barer of the Creator.

I don't know if it was this shift that lead Heather and I into more a more natural approach to life or the natural approach to life that fed this internal change, but there has been a change in the way I view our biome.

I have take a more active approach toward recycling and reducing the amount of waste I produce directly and indirectly. I have even tried my hand at gardening a few times (though I found that my once-green-thumb does not seem to work as well in Florida). So I started reading Planted thinking almost subconsciously that I was going to be able to pat myself on the back for all the good I do. But as I got further and further into the book I found myself almost resenting Leah and her oh so environmentally friendly self.

I was confronted by pride; by how my egocentric view had blinded me to how little I was actually doing in the grand scheme of caring for the whole Earth. Thankfully, as I neared the end of the book I was given a quote that helped put everything in balance.

In the last chapter of the book Leah writes of her own challenge in feeling that her efforts were so small and the words of wisdom that her husband spoke in moment of her frustration.

Calmly, he responded, "We are going to do what is right. We aren't going to save the world, Leah. We are going to do what is right."

It was almost as if the author knew exactly what was going on in my head and my heart as I neared the end of the book and strategically placed those words for my mind to tell my heart.

I don't have to save the whole world. I don't have to reduce my carbon footprint to third world level or eat only food that I grow or kill myself. All I really need to focus on is doing right. I can be free to strike a balance between where I have been and where I feel God leading me.

What does that look like? I don't have specifics now, but I can share them as I find them along the way.