Archives For God

The Kindle Story

Chris —  September 19, 2011

I have always read a lot of books.  I love having books around and talking about books.  I think that bookshelves are the best way to decorate a house.  So the idea of digital books didn’t used to be too appealing to me.  However, during my trip to Fuller, I was embarrassed to see so many people carrying iPads and Kindles, while I had a second suitcase full of books.  This was compounded by a 200 page , two column PDF that I had to read on my Macbook.  Partially joking and partially exasperated I tweeted:

This has been a tough summer.  In many ways, I feel like God has put me on hold.  I’ve been waiting a long time for a lot of things, trying to be faithful with what I do have.  But living in between is tough, and it’s worn me down.

The question that comes to mind is “why isn’t God working in my life?”  I hear stories of  God providing in emergencies, providing opportunities for vocation, or providing little things.  It would be a lie to say that God has never worked in my life this way, but it feels like it’s been a long time.

Last Sunday I was handed a box that had been shipped to an old residence.  I wasn’t expecting anything, much less the 1/2 lb. e-ink masterpiece I had been pining for.  Shocked, I raced home and dug through my receipts just to make sure I had not accidentally bought it.  Nothing.  I tore apart the box for a shipping form, and saw my address and a short line that said:

#alwaysask

I’ve spent the last week attached to the little gizmo.  A co-worker saw me smiling and said: “You look like you’ve got a new girlfriend.”  I’ve devoured two books already.

It hasn’t fixed any of the problems that have got me down.  But it is a reminder that God is out there, he listens, and other people do, too.  I may have some complaints, but I have a good life.  While I may still be on hold with God, I feel like he’s letting me know that he hasn’t gone anywhere.  He cares.  He wants to take care of me.  Maybe he’s just waiting for me to let him.

#alwaysask

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Life is Tough.

Chris —  August 12, 2011

One time I moved across the country for something that didn’t pan out.  Another time I threw myself into developing a community that never knew how to welcome me.  Those were dark days.

A friend’s husband just passed and left her with a baby.  Another friend is suffering multiple miscarriages.  Another friend was denied an interview for a job they deserve.

Some friends of mine back in Denver spend every day with homeless teenagers. Everyday with heroine addicts and drug dealers and occassionally, murderers.  Two families I know are waiting for years to adopt while the kids they love are stranded thousands of miles away.

The kids I met at Emmanuel orphanage in Delhi are sleeping three to a bed in 110º.  If things go well, they might get some chicken this week.

One guy I know is losing the battle to control both his mind and body.   Another just got dumped…again.  Another buried both parents the year he graduated high school.

Life is really tough.

To be honest with you, mine feels pretty rough right now. But not as tough as many I know.

Although I am often depressed and even despair, it hasn’t shaken a few basic hopes.  They are:

1.  This world is not all.  Even when science explains how everything works, it will never answer “why?”  The very fact that there is an unanswerable why question is all the proof I need to know that this world is not all.

2.  We humans refuse to except a reality with no justice.  Hindus count on Karma. Atheist fight against oppresive religion. Christians are holding out for a new heaven and new earth, and if necessary, a hell.

3.  If there is more to this world, and there is justice, then there is a point to my story.  To our stories.  This is all going somewhere.

But none of this changes the fact that, in the meantime, life if tough.

So today, be kind to those you see.  Chances are, they’re going through a lot.

And if you hope in Christ remember that

” In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

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I Finally Met Henri Nouwen

Chris —  March 30, 2011

I’m not sure how I’ve gotten this far in life without having read the works of Henri Nouwen. Now that I’ve finished Spiritual Direction I have high hopes of devouring much more of his wisdom.

Nouwen (1932-1996) is what you’d call a “pastor’s pastor.”  He served as a Catholic priest, a teacher at Harvard and Yale, and most notably, as a caretaker for those with severe handicaps in a L’Arche community.  Despite his considerable success Nouwen struggled his entire life with a true sense of vocation, sexuality and depression.  He is most known for books like Wounded Healer, and his focus on the scriptural image of the Prodigal son.

Spiritual Direction is a collection of essays, speeches and notes published posthumously.  They deal with the deep questions that must be answered in order to listen to and follow God’s call.  Along the way, he shares about his own struggles.  Probably the most powerful are his thoughts on the “spirituality of the body,” where he shares about his struggle to commit to God amidst questions of vocation, aging and sexuality.

It’s hard to capture why it’s important to read Nouwen, so I’ll leave it with this quote:

“For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to Love God.  I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life…and avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself.  I have failed many times, but always tried again, even when I was close to despair.

Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me.  The question is not “How am I to find God?” but “How am I to let myself be found by God?”

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An Interview With Sarah Rinn of Global Journey

Chris —  June 8, 2009

As you probably know, I’ll be heading on a world-wide mission trip with Global Journey (www.globaljourney.org) this coming week.  The following is five questions with Sarah Rinn, founder of GJ and our trip leader.

Chris Morton: Tell us a little about yourself!

Sarah Rinn: Well, I’m Sarah Rinn.  I was born in Texas, went to college at Rhodes in Tennessee, and now reside in New Braunfels, TX.  Since college I have worked many summers at TBarM Sports Camp and even spent a year on TBarM’s Timothy Team, where I went on my first ever mission trip to Nigeria.  On that trip I knew missions would be a very important part of my life. 

In 2006 I went on the World Race, an 11 month mission trip visiting over 11 countries, in 2007-2008 I went on 80 Days Around the World with The Global Challenge, and the summer of 2008 I helped lead another trip around the world that was the pioneer trip for Global Journey.  I’m passionate about giving others the same life changing experiences I have had. 

I also love sports, games, deep talks with friends, random road trips, The Price is Right, and anything sweet. 

CM: Why did you start Global Journey?

SR: I felt the Lord calling me to start something like Global Journey way back when I was on the World Race in 2006.  I knew this is what I was called to do, but I had to be patient and wait for the Lord’s timing.  My heart is not only to share the love of Christ around the world and be a part of the Great Commission, but to impact the lives of the participants on the trip.  My prayer is that while travelling participants might get a bigger glimpse of God’s calling on their lives, that they would fall more in love with Jesus, and be more willing to live surrendered to God.  I also hope that we can build lasting relationships with missionaries all over the world and be an encouragement to them.  Our goal is to go places where the Lord is working and join in. 

CM: What is this summer going to be like?

SR: HOT!!!  Just kidding…well kind of! 

I’m expecting the Lord to do some big things this summer.  It is going to be a stretching and challenging for the team as they are taken away from comforts that we have in America.  I’m hoping they get a bigger picture of God’s world and people and get to partake in different types of ministry.  We will be living with orphans in India, love kids at an AIDS children’s home in Uganda, sharing Christ’s love with Muslims in France, and putting on sports camp in Nicaragua.  I’m also praying for lifelong friends to be built amongst the team. 

CM: What do you hope the trip will accomplish for the missionaries and organizations you’ll work with?  For the participants?

SR: My hope for the missionaries and organizations is that we be servant’s to them.  I want us to be a team of 6 bodies willing and able to serve and walk alongside them with what God is doing where they are.  I hope that we might be able to encourage them in what the Lord has called them to. 
 
For the participants my prayer is that they will begin to get a glimpse of the difference between living a committed life and a surrendered one.  My prayer is that all of them would come away willing to surrender and say “Yes” to anything the Lord calls them to.  I pray that God would give me some Amy Carmichaels, Mother Teresas, Brother Yuns, Jim Elliots who will forever impact the world eternally.

CM: What can we pray for?

SR: You can pray for Jesus’s name to be known and for God to be glorified.  Pray for God to open doors to make an impact for His kingdom.  Pray for team unity and for us to be a light for Christ.  Pray for hearts of the people we will visit to be softened to the Gospel.  Pray for us to be protected from satan and spiritual warfare.  Pray for each team member to grow in their understanding of God’s love for them and fall more passionately in love with Jesus.

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Do You Believe?

Chris —  May 15, 2009

For most of my life, if I believed in something, it meant that I bought into a series of rational propositions.  In other words, I agreed with some ideas.  Therefore “believing in Jesus” meant that I had thought about it, and had come to agree with assertions, such as “There is a creator,” “He’s there even though you can’t see him,” and “he did make an appearance once, about 2000 years ago, and got killed for it.”

What I called belief was really just coming to the conclusion that Jesus seemed like a pretty good idea.

The problem is, life gets difficult and good ideas give little comfort.  You have two choices: risk your life on the chance that your ideas will prove true, or try to figure out how to fix your problems, and think up a set of new ideas to explain the universe.

Belief is what happens when you take a risk on what you say is true.  Believing that God will provide means putting yourself in a situation where only he can. 

Most of the time, we live by ideas more that beliefs.  God doesn’t provide because we don’t need him to.  But when you get to the point that all you have left is God, you can’t help but believe he will get you through.  Then you realize, that it has really been that way all along.  Then you believe.

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