Hell's High Performance Team of the Month: Miscommunication

I don't know about you, but I have the impression I'm not the only one.  August has been rough.  It's been day upon day of communication issues, and frankly, I'm calling out Hell here.

I can just see Hell's Miscommunication Team getting their "employee of the month" trophy.  Enter their names here (translated to English from Native Hellion):

• Loaded for Bear
• Text Didn't Come Through
• Apologize and Make It Worse
• Clam Up
• Lose Self-Control of the Tongue
• Believe a False Report
• Act Angrily on a False Report
• Feel More Deeply Wounded Than Normal
• Wrong Words Right Intention
• Wrong Intention Bad Words
• Did Get to Phone Before It Went to Voicemail
• Phone Not Working During Urgent Timeline
• Fear of Loss
• Jump to Conclusion

Any other members you see not in attendance here?  Frankly, I'm exhausted from what feels like everyone's overheated griddles getting splashed with things that pop when they hit heat and sting you.  Let's take a deep breath, everyone.  Let's count to 100.  Let's seek Him, the author of PEACE, TRUTH, and much much needed JOY.

Hints of Heaven - Diversity

I was watching some wretched documentary when one of the character's wailed, "I've lost my children.  A part of me is gone and I'll never get it back!"

While I can't personally identify, I can empathize. The death of your child is an unspeakable, painful ripping that never goes away in this life.  What I thought immediately when I heard the woman's outcry was, "I think the Lord feels that way frequently; about the church and about precious people who choose hell over knowing Him."

The Lord is so creative, He made each one of us unique from anyone else in history before or ever after.  (It doesn't matter if someone has told you that you're just like your mother, or father, or uncle).

Each one of us has the opportunity to know Him in a way no one else can or ever will.  Our specialness creates that unique relationship.  Yahweh also creates patterns, and thus the similarities that draw us to one another.  Some of us are are able to empathize in a crisis but have no idea how to move out of it; others of us don't appear sympathetic but are cool, collected and kick into action to get us out of danger.  Some of us are color blind; others of us can taste and smell flavors very few others even notice.

It takes all of us to make the quilt that is His body, the Church.  Imagine a quilt that was all one grey color with no fancy stitching.  Wait, ....that's not a quilt!  It's not even an elephant in the fog (photo above--kidding).

 You may have read, "But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” (1 Cornithians 12:20-21).  What I see frequently is the foot aspiring to be a hand, or something along those lines.

The enemy of your existence spends a LOT of time trying to convince you that you are not fearfully and wonderfully made; that you need to be something or someone else than who He made you.  The meaning of abuse is simply something that is used outside it's purpose.  When we become convinced we are not enough as He made us, and we strive to be something else, we end up self-abusing and abusing others.

On the other hand, when we see people living to their potential in Christ, we see hints of Heaven.  Oh, that I can be a hint of Heaven wherever I am and whatever I do, rather than a stench from, well, hell.

Removing the Mischief Makers

I was awakened from a dream this morning, odd as it was.

I was minding my own business, walking through an older part of my neighborhood, when a man, dirty and mishelved, jumped out of the tall weeds at the side of the road.  Right behind him were others, a woman with a baby, another man.

They were desperate, but I could tell accosting people was not what they wanted to do.  I was calm, and said I would go and get them food from my house.

As dreams go, I was instantly in my house, but I became sidetracked by people milling about.  At one point I was looking down from a balcony onto a careful arrangement of artifacts.  They were fascinating, but there was something dark about them.  A friend stood next to me.  I thought out loud, saying, "I need to get rid of these things."  My friend quite bluntly replied, "Yes, you do."  Then I woke up.

I don't share every dream.  I know which ones are my brain doing its thing.  But this one was meant for someone, not just me.

I am big on benevolence, so helping the needy around me "in my neighborhood" was no big deal.
And, I've also purged my house many times over the years of things that were no longer a blessing and just taking up space.  The message was, there are things or activities that in themselves are not inherently evil, but my fascination with them was taking up space and time.... and distracting me from the Lord's purpose.

Sometimes those of us with big hearts for Jesus lose focus on the main things.  When we stay close to Him and His purposes for us, we will run and not grow weary (Isaiah 40:31).  But when we are distracted, mischief makers enter our lives.  And we grow tired and vulnerable to attack.

I will continue to contemplate and identify the mischief makers in my life, but some came to mind immediately.  Resetting boundaries on my time, and restating my priorities.  And, well, cutting my sugar intake.

I would just say one other thing.  Helping others is not an "add-on" activity we do when everything else is perfect.  It requires sacrifice.  It means NOT doing something else.  A mischief maker can be something that you are doing that you already know has no eternal value, but you are comfortable in it and your flesh wants it and you make excuses for why you deserve to have it.   It can be something that when you do it, impairs you from doing something else.

What was clear in my dream is, there is very often NOT a direct line from the mischief maker to the inability to do what you are called to do.  (They are tricky like that).  Ask Him to show you the connection if you don't see it right away.  It will make the burden easy and light, just like He means it to be.

Two Voices of Deception

There are two types of deceptive voices it seems. One that says "all is peace" when there isn't, and other that cries "wrath and war" when it is not yet.

The first causes the deceived to be lazy and unguarded, hearing only what tickles their fancy and they become prey for slaughter.

The second brings sadness, fear and trembling when there should be peace and joy.

The enemy of our souls is behind both, and both are constantly active today, causing the misguided to kill people who should not die and keep alive those who should not live.

The miracle of Jesus Christ is that when He is in your heart, you will have joy in the fox hole, and when not in war you will celebrate and peacefully store up provisions for leaner days. He will be your anchor.

The enemy will always try to kill, steal and destroy. Our Heavenly Father is, quite oppositely, the Author of life, liberty and joy, even in the midst of trials. Choose Him and choose joy!

God Bless and Don't Be Safe

Certain phrases circulate, become popular, then continue to be used while remaining superficial at best.  One in particular has become annoying:  "Be safe".  Just what in the four-letter-word does that mean, really?

In the best possible way, someone who says it to you is hoping nothing bad will happen to you that would cause you harm.  It is, after all, a dangerous world out there.  Bombs in every closet, subway and street car; hooligans in every dark alley; viruses on every touchable surface; or financial ruin one medical emergency away .

Your personal version of danger is whatever you most fear can happen to you.  Is it dying?  Or simply being so destitute you would wish you were? Is it being alone?  Or someone hurting the people you love most?

While not everyone is equally vulnerable to danger, there is only one way to be truly safe, and that is by dwelling in the presence of the Lord.  The Bible talks frequently of being "safe"... usually in the context of "dwelling" which denotes that if we trust Him we will dwell in safety wherever we go, and sleep peacefully:

"I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8 NKJV)

This should not be confused with trying to stay so safe that we don't do anything meaningful.  To live a full life means we take risks.  The greater the risk, the greater reward, and that includes the life of faith.  The more you are willing to trust, the more risk you are taking (sort of).  The only "risk" in trusting more fully the One who loves us most is, you will be drawn way out of your comfort zone and into dangerous faith-building places you have not traveled in before...so dangerous to the flesh.  Be blessed...dwell in Him, and the safety will be an automatic perk.

The Truth About Consequences

The trouble with politics is we are each our own unique person, and a consensus on everything is impossible. The idea of compromise means we must give something up.  The challenge for each of us is understanding exactly what the consequences of the decision will be without a clear vision of the future.

The same idea haunts us every day if we give in to reminiscing or regrets.  "If we'd only done something differently", or "if we had not done this thing" our lives would be so much better... the fantasized unknown must certainly be better than our current resulting situation. Our society likes to admire those who overcome bad situations.  When someone overcomes their own folly, we are glad...when they overcome someone else's, they are a hero.

The sad fact is, we must reminisce a bit if we are to learn from our mistakes, right?  Ah, but I digress from my real point here, which is that sometimes we can do everything right, but the outcome was not what we believed it would be.  As a believer in Christ, this can be especially disturbing since praying and seeking the Lord for direction and next steps becomes part of a disciple's DNA. There are times that He has us follow a path that leads not to our perception of success, but simply of obedience.  (The Most High God has perfected the long view; we have not).

I have said often and believe it is worth saying again:  it is not the crescendo events in our lives that will necessarily be what is celebrated in heaven on our account.  It will be the accumulation of small choices to do His will that will change eternity not just for ourselves, but for those it touches. The most valuable things I do are the things I am unaware of.  It is so important to walk in purity and the direction of His Holy Spirit so that I am "naturally" doing what He intends me to do for His perfect plan, not the thing I decide and muck up from there.

As we move into a new year with so much intensity towards intent for good, it would be wise to remember we are not capable of anything truly good without the discipline of resting in the presence of Jesus the Christ.  Let us "be" in Him while we intend to do good.

When No Answer Means No Answer

Way back in the stone age, I was told that when someone was pushing the boundaries of physical affection on a date I should be sure and say "no" if they were starting to do something I did not want.  The phrase, "no answer means yes" was the short way of stating this advice.  So it seems that in the vacuum of response some of us will just forge ahead.

When to seek permission/alignment is another topic, but when you go to the trouble of asking for input or approval, not getting an answer creates the temptation to move to second base.  One of the most challenging tasks of any job is stating your need in the right format at the right time when that person is in exactly the right frame of mind....to get the response you desire.

We all know what happens most of the time.  You pick the wrong format... you send an email that gets ignored.  Or in the email, you thought it would be helpful to give the background on the request and your intended target fell into a coma before reading all of it and didn't see the question.  Or you ask them in the elevator and they say "yes" so quickly that in the back of your mind you KNOW they did not understand what they just committed to... and will have no memory of it.  Or, my favorite, they simply changed their mind after your conversation and email and neglected to tell you of the shift in position.

It can feel like you've become a Who from Whoville when all is silent.  Our lively imaginations kick in to create self-involved activity in the void:  they don't like us any more; or they are mad at us for that thing we failed to do last month.  We are programmed to desire a response.  I can see you're trying not to be the little kid in the back seat asking "are we there yet?" every five minutes, but you want to, don't you?

The worst silence of all is when it feels like silence from Above.  No matter how well honed our "walking by faith" skills have become, if we are walking at all we will encounter seasons where we simply do not know what to do.  It's as if our fleece has disappeared in the morning, never mind whether it had dew on it or not (Judges 6:36-40).

If you know what I mean you understand how frustrating such seasons can be, though we should feel privileged to experience them.  It is, after all, His invitation to seek Him in a deeper place.  Waiting is a verb. It means you sometimes need to keep pursuing the person and not make a move on your "thing" until you have clarity and a response.