What is your foundation? Part two

In my previous post I asked the question, "What is your foundation?"

"Everyone has a foundation for life. There are basic core beliefs, principles and ideas that we build our life upon. 

As an example, our country's foundation is 

built upon the Constitution. 

What is your life built upon?

I think that pretty much everyone wants a firm and stable foundation. A rock solid assurance that what is built will last."

Some foundations are built to be stable and long lasting.

Some foundations are not stable or long lasting.

My wife and I have lived in mobile homes for many years. They are a wonderful, inexpensive way to live, however, they are not built as strong as a turn of the century home. They are made as temporary, inexpensive housing, and therefore their foundation matches that temporary nature. The Gothic revival home in the first photo was built to last for generations. The foundation was built with longevity and permanence in mind. 

In most areas of our life, we have built on good, firm foundations. Hard work is one of those foundations in life that have wonderful benefits! But like the mobile home, no matter how much work you put into it, they will start falling apart, because of the nature of a mobile home. The foundation and core of the building is made of inexpensive materials that meet a temporary need. So as we can see, even good old hard work is only beneficial if the foundation is stable.

How do you know what areas in life 

have a good solid foundation?

How do you judge what foundations you should invest in, and which foundations you should stay away from?

What is your foundation? Part 1

foun·da·tion

noun\fau̇n-ˈdā-shən\

1. a usually stone or concrete structure that supports a building from underneath
2. something (such as an idea, a principle, or a fact) that provides support for something
3. a body or ground upon which something is built up or overlaid
4. a cosmetic usually used as a base for makeup

Everyone has a foundation for life. There are basic core beliefs, principles and ideas that we build our life upon. 

As an example, our country's foundation is 

built upon the Constitution. 

What is your life built upon?

I think that pretty much everyone wants a firm and stable foundation. A rock solid assurance that what is built will last. 

Joy Filled!

I walk roughly 3 miles a day around my small cotton mill town. I love the history here. I love seeing my neighborhood. I enjoy watching their gardens grow, and even seeing and hearing the family pets behind their fenced in yards as they react to me walking by.

There is one dog, I'm not sure what his name is, he does not live behind a fence like the other dogs. The first time I met him on my walk, he was very sheepish and unsure. The moment he realized that I was not dangerous, his joy was very apparent. He jumped and twirled down the road in front of me. He'd spin and bounce his way down the hill. I had never seen a dog so full of joy and I've been around dogs my whole life!

Not a very good photo of him, he was so busy! 

As I walked, I couldn't help but watch him, and naturally his antics brought joy to my morning walk!

So as I was walking and talking with the Lord, I started thinking about joy.

What is joy?

Merriam - Webster dictionary states: a feeling of great happiness, a source or cause of great happiness : something or someone that gives joy to someone, success in doing, finding, or getting something

I thought about the last two years of our life, there wasn't a whole lot of joy happening, and my sense of joy was pretty fickle, often controlled by circumstance. As I finished up my walk, the day got busy like it normally does. Later on in the evening, I started to again think about joy.

My mind naturally went to a very familiar bible verse. 

Nehemiah 8:10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, 

and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, 

for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

The story is about Nehemiah. He hears the ruin of Jerusalem and the wall that surrounded it. He went and rebuilt the wall, rebuilt it's government and went about spiritually rebuilding his people. After the wall was built, and the government was strengthened by righteous decrees, the Law of Moses was brought to the people. The people were hungry for the Word of God. They stood as Ezra, the priest, read the Law. The people, began to weep as they realized how far their lives had fallen away from God's way. They wept as they once again put God's word in the forefront of their lives. Ezra encouraged the people to seek Joy! The Joy of the Lord will strengthen them! The had been restored, and they can celebrate their restoration. The people gathered with great hunger for the Word of God.

I can relate to the people of Jerusalem at that time in history. My wife and I experienced our own world come crashing around us as our beloved church fell apart before our eyes. After 10 years total, with two in intense battle, we left bruised and broken, our whole way of living crashed around us.

Nehemiah and the people of God agreed to a covenant and separated themselves from the people around them. God asked us to lay down EVERYTHING! To take a season and walk away from institutional church. How would we live without church as we knew it? What about our wonderful friends? Both Jamie and I lived for our church, we spent 20 years giving all that we had to our local body. 

How do we rebuild our life? How do we once again turn our hearts toward God's Word, and how in the world will we find joy?

Our life was numb for many months, we were only able to do the basic necessities of life. Slowly God unraveled our tangled up lives. We are still in the middle of the rebuilding. Jamie and I spend hours talking about our faith, and God's Word. 

We are certain of a few things.

Rebuilding takes time.

Seeking the Lord directly takes time.

Reading the Word, and understanding it's intent, without agenda, takes time.

Being quiet and still is deeply painful, but what a treasure it brings!!! Both Jamie and I spend a great deal of time listening in the stillness of our lives.

and the Joy is starting!

I like the last definition of joy. "success in doing, finding, or getting something"

We are in the process of finding and getting something! 

First and foremost, putting Christ first.

This is our journey. This is our story. And as much as I can, I will tell you what we are learning. 

There is joy in the journey,

David

How do we gain maturity?

As a child I had the luxury of hanging out with my aunts and uncles. Summers were spent camping on lakes and winters were spent snowmobiling in Northern Wisconsin.  My dad was the second youngest of 10 kids, so my aunts and uncles were a good deal older. I enjoyed being around them. I've always been drawn to people who were more wise and mature than me. I'd sit for hours and listen to them talk about life - and learn valuable lessons. My daughter who just turned 12 does the same thing. She will sit in our home office while we talk to friends about life and spiritual matters. I'm glad she listens! She sees us struggle through our faith, reason through the Scriptures and weigh the important things in life with Jesus in mind. She doesn't see us with all the answers, but she sees us grasping for the truth in the midst of a chaotic world.

I've been told more than once that I am "too serious". I should "lighten up" they say, "chill out and take a vacation". I do take life serious! I want to grow up!

When I hear the statement "I don't want to grow up!" I'm often perplexed by such a statement. On the surface I understand. I'd rather not have all the responsibilities of being a grown up, but I enjoy all the amazing benefits of getting older and hopefully becoming more mature.

There is something so perplexing about maturity. Its no respecter of age. I can meet someone with wrinkles and grey hair and they exhibit gross immaturity, or I can meet a fresh faced person in their prime and I'm blown away by their maturity, humbled in fact.

What is maturity? I like what Merriam Webster's dictionary says on being mature, "having or showing the mental and emotional qualities of an adult." Also, "Having reached a final or desired state." I like the later statement - reaching a final or desired state.

What would that final or desired state be? For a follower of Christ it would be none other than Jesus himself. To exhibit and exude Christlikeness. And that whole subject would make another interesting blog post as well!

Back to maturity! How is it that two people can go to church faithfully, read God's word faithfully,  go to conferences, watch videos of every up and coming teacher of the Word, in a sense, do all the things that Believers are known for but come to old age in vastly different maturity levels?

There are many reasons for stunted spiritual growth. Inherent personality traits or even emotional harm that has not been resolved, to name a few. However, I believe part of the answer is Hebrews 5:14.

"But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish between good and evil."

WHO BY CONSTANT USE!

This I believe is one of the most important factors of maturing.

There is a danger in passively living our faith. Unfortunately a typical "church" life propagates this phenomena. The institutional church places a very high premium on the Sunday morning message. The average believer waits each week for what the pastor will share. Each Wednesday night is no difference. Conferences are like concerts, more flashy than a Sunday morning, but still a passive "feed me" approach to our walk with Jesus. I must preface that I am not against listening to a message, attending conferences or watching videos. But I am concerned if that is the bulk of your expression of your faith. There are only so many hours in the day.

Back to Hebrews 5:14.

"But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish between good and evil."

"Have trained themselves"

We must as Believers seek God on our own. If we only listen to the latest teaching, read the next book, or attend the next conference, there is a danger we will train our ears to hear the word of man, and not the voice of God. Now again these activities are not wrong unless we neglect the object of our faith - Christ himself.  It is our responsibility to train ourselves the truths of our faith and to work out our faith with action.

Can you hear the voice of God? Do you know what He sounds like?

What would you think about a person who went to college but never graduated and never applied his knowledge in a career. You would think that person quite immature. However, our churches are filled with people who have never graduated. Hebrews 5:12 discusses this issue.

"You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food."

Some of you ought to be teachers, but still need "to be fed" basic Christianity 101. My paraphrase obviously!

According to our faith, We are ALL called to disciple/teach others. Matthew 28:19.

It's time to use our faith, for by use we become mature, and that my friend is a very good thing!

It's time we listen to the voice of God, to understand what the Spirit is saying directly without middlemen. That veil was torn in two for a reason! We are living in crazy times and we need to know what God is doing and saying to His people.

If you are like me, we are . . .

Learning along the way,
David.

The Mystery of the Wilderness

My wife and I are in the wilderness right now. Since following Jesus for 20 years, we are both familiar with wilderness experiences. 

This one by far is the most strange.

There are many biblical examples of the Wilderness experience. It's mysterious why God created such a thing, but it's affect on the human spirit is undeniable. The affect is great if we are willing to stay in the wilderness until it completes the work it was intended.

We live in a culture where we are taught that if anything uncomfortable happens in our life we think that it is not God or good and secondly we try to avoid it at all costs. Unfortunately, I submit, avoiding the wilderness experience has damaging affects on our character.

It is interesting to note that when God calls someone out, there is often a time of wilderness that follows. Most people know the epic Exodus story. The Hebrews were called out from under the oppressive regime of the Egyptians. The people celebrated the victory that God orchestrated, but soon after complained about the wilderness. They even considered going back to their bondage, for in their minds it was better than traveling through the wilderness. They traveled for 40 years and experienced daily God given provision, but only a few made it to the promise land. 

The beginning of Jesus' ministry here on earth began with a declaration of great pride and pleasure from the Father. God was very pleased with Jesus and his willingness to obey. I can envision a panoramic scene of the baptism administered by John the baptist quickly fading to the harsh reality of the wilderness. John the baptist was fresh off his own stint of wilderness living. Jesus' life was marked with purity of heart and total surrender to the will of the Father,  yet the wilderness was there waiting for Him.

Was it God's good pleasure?

We know the temptations that Jesus experienced during His 40 days in the wilderness. Most who have spent their life in church have heard this story multiple times.

Have you asked yourself, why did Jesus, called by the Spirit, go to the wilderness?

Why would we deny and reject a season In the wilderness.

Can we legitimately hasten our time in the wilderness?

What happens when we chose to shorten it or circumvent it?

When a season of wilderness living is upon you, remember Jesus himself was called by the spirit to partake of its lessons and strange beauty.

Take stock of your life with Christ. Inquire of the Lord for the experience of the wilderness to be beneficial.  

Called out and wandering in the wilderness but not lost.

David

Out of death comes life

Over the years my Lord has shown me, tangibly, how He alone can bring something that appears to be dead back to life. Interestingly, this time he used a fig tree to show my wife and I that truth once again. The first time was early in our marriage. Now some twelve years later, He shows us again. 

Last winter was a very long and cold winter. Many of us throughout the US got record cold and record snow. I can be thankful that we only got the former. We had two consecutive nights of 12 degrees. For our friends in the north,  that is mild. However for those of us who live in the south, it was deeply painful! My little fig tree just couldn't take it. 

Spring founds it's way. Everything around us started to green. We made it through the winter. However, I noticed that my little two year old fig tree looked quite grey and lifeless. I was sad because I love fresh figs. And was looking forward to a long and satisfying relationship.  Every time I went out into the yard, I'd look at my poor dead fig tree. 

As God would have it, life started to burst forth from the roots. The fig tree was alive and well under the ground. What looked like death on the surface, was teaming with life underneath. 

Thank you Lord for bringing life out of what appeared to be death.

So today, even when circumstances would indicate otherwise,  I will wait for life!