seatbelts

I had an epiphany! Yep, me, I had one. You betcha (good ole Minnesota slang...you gotta love it).

I was getting into the car, just like a do on a usual basis, and in the midst of the process after turning the car on, I put my seatbelt on and engaged the car in drive.

No big deal right??

Well, for me, this was. Unbenonced to most people, the process of getting into the car, starting it and then putting my seatbelt on, has been a process that has befuddled me for a bit of time. Over and over, I have struggled with that last step. For some reason, there is a blind spot in my life that does now allow me to make this step occur. Maybe it is my own bravado that has eliminated this step from occurring, because I would never get into an accident, but I can not recall how many times I have gotten a 1/2 hour into a drive and then realize, "Oh, my seatbelt, I should put that on."

I think the change has mostly come through Jessica, my wife. She has pestered, poked, encouraged and chastised me to the point where now, I get into the car and put the belt on.

We often take small moments like this for granted, and maybe in a marriage, or even in a good friendship, when we encourage someone (some guys would call this nagging, but I would never, ever say that :)), we realize that we do actually change and take steps.

This is a good thing.

Often, in our faith journey, we make everything so personal. We say that, "My faith is my faith" and we continue on believing what we believe without ever really growing. The depth and profoundness of God and faith in God is not something that is conqeurred. We don't get to a point and understand God fully. We all have areas to grow in and one way of doing that is just taking the step to be honest about what we believe.

So, if you are a former non-seatbelt wearer like me, put it on. If you are one longing to dive deeper into God, take a moment and open yourself up to another person about what faith in God could really look like. We might just grow a little bit!

Grace and Peace!
Micah

Haiti and Pat Robertson

The tragedy in Haiti has been overwhelming.

The pain of the Haitian people has been heart wrenching.

Pat Robertson painted a picture of the situation that has angered a lot of people. If you have heard this response by Pat Robertson, I would like to point you to Donald Miller's blog for an interesting response. I appreciate his words and you may too.

You can find his blog at www.donmilleris.com.

Grace and Peace!

Micah

A Staff

Moses...you gotta love this guy! He goes from floating down a river in a basket, to becoming a Prince of Egypt, from a Prince, to a criminal, and then into a deliverer of Egypt. Someone's gotta get some movie rights for this story! (wait a second??)

He's got quite some story, one that is fun to read and filled with great imagery.

Moses also loves to debate with God. God tells him to go free some people and that if you do, I will get your back, and Moses pulls a Jonah (me? Seriously?). Fortunately, for Moses, there is no whale involved, at least that we know of, but there are a lot of dramatic, over-the-top elements in his story.

In one such moment, Moses is in the middle of a debate, and winning of course, as we all do with God, and then God says, look down in your hand. What do you got there?

Um, a staff.

(Yes, this is a Moses action. Aaawesoooome!!!!)

I like to stop right there. The story goes on to tell about how the staff changes into a snake and a lot of other fun moments ensue. I like the question that God poses though. Just check out your hand. See what you already have. Look down. I got your back.

Often times, when we encounter moments in our life when we struggle to move forward. We struggle with taking a step in some new direction. We long to do something for the world, for our community, for something, but we get at those stuttering moments when we say, "I am not equipped", or "I don't have enough", or "I just can't do it myself".

There is something huge in our world (that being God), that puts into our hands the items we need for real change.

It makes me think about my life. What items have passed through my hands today, that can be used to change someone's life. A keyboard, phone, a wrench, paper, a pen, a coffee cup, a card and so much more. Everyday, items pass through our hands. Everyday, we live and have great opportunities.

The reality is that most of us will not deliver an entire nation from oppressive rule (well, maybe not this week), but we will have countless opportunities to use what we already have to do something pretty amazing. Those amazing things might just be writing a note, or sharing a cup of coffee.

These small moments move our tangible life that we live everyday into a sacred moments, that might not get us any glory or fame or large stories written about us, but they are the most common way of finding God in all typical moments of life.

And so, what is the staff that passes through your hands?

Grace and Peace!

Micah

Turkey

So, your headed to Grandma's for Thanksgiving and it is kind of a long drive. The cornfields on both seem like they never end. You are getting hungry and the same old, same old fast food joints just won't cut it. Ahh, what is a person supposed to do?

Well, here is a recipe for Turkey on the go. You can actually cook your Turkey in your car engine! Check it out...http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2009/11/how-to-roast-thanksgiving-turkey-on-your-cars-engine-as-you-drive/1

If you do try it, you must let me know. Wow, that would be better than sliced bread :)

Often, these hilarious little anecdotes are funny, yet they speak about a truth a little deeper than we want to realize. How often do we in our society eat fast food? How often do we brush past someone, barely acknowledging their presence? How often are we rushing around, accomplishing tasks in our life, which are wonderful, yet we end up completely missing the point of the whole journey?

We live in a world that has just endless options. We can be entertained 24/7, the Internet provides for us countless distractions and new hobbies and they actually have a soap opera channel, for endless drama. The world is just filled with potential. Really, it is an exciting time for us to live. 30 years ago, life ran at a completely different pace for most people. Today, however, most people are always on the go.

Is it a bad thing? Depends how we look at it. It also depends on how we engage the moments that we are still.

So, this Thanksgiving season, though it is a good season to remember what we are thankful for, let us also just be aware. Though the pressure is to accomplish, succeed and shop till you drop, maybe the best situation to be in is not the accomplishment we might succeed in, but the appreciation of what we already have in front us...our kids, our families, our friends, our God.

Grace and Peace!
Micah

Sheep

The Bible has over 700 references about sheep. Amazing, isn't it? And surely, this is some great fodder to impress your friends at a party :) Seriously though, 700 references. Wow! God really likes to talk about sheep.

For some of us, it makes sense, we are like sheep, right? Jesus is the shepherd and we are sheep, following along his path for us. Often though, in our modern society, it is difficult for us to remember what it is really like to be sheep, because most of us have no idea what it really looks like to have sheep grazing in our backyard...at least I don't, well, not yet :) (What a great Christmas present to an unsuspecting friend :))

Well, I just began a new book by Margaret Feinberg. It is titled Scouting the Divine: my search for God in wine, wool and wild honey. It's a catchy title...one that really drew me in and the cover is all catchy and everything, so I think I look pretty cool when I carry it around with me. Even better, there is actually good stuff in the book, so that even makes it doubly better to carry around:).

While I am still within the first 50 pages of this book, I had to reflect for a moment about what she is talking about. In her book, Margaret heads out to meet with a shepherdess in Oregon, to learn about Sheep. For a few days, she stays with this women, learning all about sheep and how they really act. This book is filled with great references for scripture to really help us understand what is going on, in some of those 700 passages, but one such passage really stuck out to me.

Margaret goes out with the shepherdess, Lynne, to meet her sheep. As they go out, Lynne goes through the barn to get to the pasture, and then she calls out three words, "Sheep, Sheep, Sheep." Before Margaret knows it, all of the sheep stop whatever they are doing, and flock towards Lynne. There was no hesitation, no indeciveness, nothing. They just stop and follow.

Later on, Margaret tries this as well, to call those three words allowed to the flock while they are grazing. Nothing. Simply Nothing. No movement, no glance, nothing.

The sheep know Lynne's voice, they follow her, and her alone. They are dependent on only her. This the voice they listen to.

The sciptures connect God to that voice of the Shepherd, to call us(sheep), to him.

In a world filled with many voices, many ideas, many perspectives, I guess the question we must ask ourselves is, whose voice do we really listen to? What voice will make us stop in our tracks and follow? And maybe, do I need to learn how to "baaa" better??

Grace and Peace!

Micah

Daunting

I love the word daunting. It has an edge of something new going to happen, that is filled with fear and anxiety. It is a word characterizing intimidation. It is a descriptive word that creates a great picture.

Over the last month, posts have not prevelant on this blog because I have succumbed to some daunting moments. No, its not my new marriage :) I have been writing papers for the next step in the United Methodist process of being ordained, and for me, scholarly paper writing defines daunting. Often, through these moments, I have felt and experienced moments of great anxiety. The up and coming interviews about these papers have not been easy to swallow, especially since I am not a naturally proficient academic writer. Sure, I can jabber on for a bit with some prose, but when it comes down to using large words, formatted correctly to explain the depth and character of all that God is, I miss the mark pretty quickly.

Often, we all have to face such circumstances. Whether it is facing a fear, working through a job issue that is quite difficult or just going through some hard moments in our personal lives, daunting moments come. Over the last two weeks in my community, we have been reflecting on the book of Job. This book challenges us with great theological insight on the character of suffering, and many times it smacks us across the face with the reality of our pain and struggles. Job lives in daunting moments, for his pain was so real and vivid.

Job walks a difficult journey, and we see ourselves in this story so easily. If you have lived any life at all, you have gone through some hard moments. I know that I sure have. Our reactions to these moments are diverse, as they should be, yet through this book, we learn a lot about God. Maybe one of the best attributes to this scripture is discovering our place in relation to God. The daunting moments we face in our own lives create within us certain images and perspectives on God. We often put God in a box. Yet, through this captivating story, Job teaches us where God really sits in relation to us.

So, when daunting moments come your way, and you are fretting, struggling or just wondering how God fits into the story, or, if you are just curious, take a look at Job. I imagine it won't be as daunting as you think it might be.

As for my papers...they are done! Now it is just off to some daunting interviews :)

Grace and Peace!
Micah

Weddings, rings and relationships

"We both work here, we met here, it all started here, why not?”

These simple words were the reasoning behind a recent wedding of a couple at Walmart. After hearing these words, my heart sank a little. The world has not been as bright as it was before. The green on the leaves of the trees is just not as green. I mean, I just got married, and it was wonderful and great wedding, but we totally could have gotten married at Walmart too.

Shucks.

I really missed the boat on this one!

The sarcasm in this post is a little too explicit, but I want to clarify that this is sarcasm, because I am newly married, and I don't want my spouse directed into thinking that I might want to reaffirm our vows at Walmart or anything. Though, there is a nice grocery store...

Being newly married, I have gotten a lot of advice and fun tidbits of information from a lot of different people. It has been amazing to me all of the expectations, beliefs and hopes for those who are newly married. Most of what I have heard has been very nice, affirming and wise.

Upon hearing all of this information, I have learned to really listen, because marriage, or any relationship, is no easy journey. We are imperfect people. All of us. That is just who we are.

Every relationship takes work and in my community right now, we are journeying through a season where we are looking at relationships. We are spending like 7 weeks on the different relationships in our lives because out of all of the things that cause stress in our lives, relationships are one the highest.

In the beginning, God made us for relationship. Right from the beginning, we were created to be with one another. It is part of the story of humanity, to be connected, but often we ask, why is it so hard? Is the joy worth the effort? Does it get easier?

Questions like these are good to ask.

From work, home, church, to almost anything we do in our life, it is good and right that we are in relationship with each other. Sometimes, relationships are unhealthy too and we need to get out. Overall, though, it is highly important for us to be together in community with one another because we need to do this life together. We need to follow those simple words from Genesis, declaring that we are made for each other. Not only in marriage, but in all that we do.

Community brings depth and wholeness.

So, whether you are getting married at Walmart sometime soon, or if you are headed out to a small group of people who you just love spending time with, let us be a people who are growing together in real, and authentic relationships.

Grace and Peace!
Micah