Embracing the Image

I have an image to embrace.

This is not the image of the perfect dad, or the cool tech dude, or the hip and relevant pastor (I’ve got the sweet goatee for that one).  I’m not talking about the image of the wise sage (long ways to go) or the almost-40-trying-to-feel-like-he’s-20 guy.  I’m not talking about the beautiful image of my wife (which I love to embrace).

This image is WAY bigger than that.

I’m talking about the image that I was created to live in: the image of God.

Okay, this may be a little theologically deeper than most of my posts, but if you’re willing to stick with me, I think you’ll find there’s something for you here too.

I’ve been preaching about the life of Moses for the last 2 months.  Here’s a few sentences of context (I bet my congregation would have liked me to do 2 months of sermons in 4 sentences).  Moses’ mom broke the “kill the baby boys” law and put him in a basket in the royal bathing spot on the Nile.  Moses was found by one of Pharaoh’s daughters and raised in the royal Egyptian family.  At the age of 40, Moses kills an Egyptian (possibly to prove himself to his Hebrew people) but is identified and flees several hundred miles to Midian territory, where he restarts his life.  At the age of 80, God met Moses by speaking to him in the form of a burning bush (yeah, pretty strange).

In that burning bush conversation, God tells Moses that He wants Moses to go back to Egypt and rally the Hebrew people. Moses asks God “If they ask me who sent me, what should I tell them?”

God tells Moses his name when He says “Tell them I AM has sent you to me.”

This is the first time in Biblical history where God gives his name.  Most Bibles have the phrase “I AM”, but the more accurate translation — yes, I’m going all pastor-geeky here for a minute — (with the correct grammatical verb tense) is…

he who causes to be

He who causes to be.

When asked to give a definition of Himself, God says that he is the one that creates.  He doesn’t mention his power, or his love, or his goodness, or his justice, or his faithfulness.  He states that he creates.

Let’s take a step back on book in the Bible to Genesis.  In the creation story, God says that he made man in His image (or His likeness).

When I’ve taught on this “image of God” concept (or had it taught to me), I’ve explained how we all have character traits of God in us: love, mercy, bravery, compassion, justice, truth, honesty, joy, gentleness.  That’s not wrong, but what if …

what if…

What if God created us to be more than people that strive to be better people?  more loving… more merciful… more brave…

What if he created us …. to be creators.

That was God’s first self-stated identity.  If we were created in his image, maybe we need to embrace his first image, that reality, that identity… as creators.

Creating homes, building things, writing books, creating art, growing food, making music, starting business, creating communities, building legacies.

And not just tinkering… but purposefully building great, significant things.

Not because we think we’re amazing or that we think we should, but because we were created to create.

For me, embracing that image requires complete surrender to it.  That means…

• turning off Facebook and the other time-wasters in my life and focusing on what God created me to do (and to be).
• listening to, and pursuing, those little (but big) ideas that have been planted in my brain, but “practical” life says are not worth the effort.
• taking risks that other people may criticize me for.

As I process through all of this, it sounds sorta crazy… but as I’ve spoken to several people about it… I’m not the only one feeling the call to create.

The 13-in-2013 Challenge

In the immortal words of my college roommate:  “It’s time to put up or shut up.”

If you’ve followed my several most recent posts, you may have noticed a subtle shift.

• A shift from dreaming dreams to taking steps.
• A shift from resolutions to practical goals.
• A shift from lofty ideals to teachable skills.
• A shift from thinking about who I should be  to becoming the man God has made me to be right now.

I like to think big ideas, to dream big dreams, and to come up with big grandiose visions for just about everything.  Dreaming stuff up is the easy part. Taking the little steps towards those visions is tougher for me than I’d like to admit.  I end up caught in the same cycle of dreaming about stuff that never actually gets done.

Here’s my 7-step cycle: (1) come up with an idea, (2) get excited about it, (3) talk with my wife about it, (4) drive my wife crazy because I won’t stop talking about it, (5) realize the idea may be pretty hard to accomplish, (6) get caught up in “real world” tedious projects, (7) put the idea on the backburner and try not to be bummed about it… and repeat, but with a NEW idea!

I’ve stumbled across a great tool to help me track my progress as I make the shift from a dreamer to a do-er:  13skills.com.

13skills.com was created by some folks in the preparedness movement to encourage people to learn new valuable skills.  Yes, I know how to turn off the water main to my house if there is a leak, but do I have the skill to fix that leak myself?  Not if the fix involves more than bailing wire and duct tape.  That needs to change.

I’m taking up the challenge posed by 13skills.com:  I’m going to learn (or enhance) 13 skills in 2013. 

Here are a several of the skills on my list: permaculture, rappelling, community building, fire making, and archery.  I’m familiar with these things, I may have even dabbled in a bit of it… but this is about being good enough at a skill to actually use it and teach it to my sons.  In case you’re curious, here’s my complete list.

So I made my list public.  It’s out there.  Here’s where I need your help: ask me how I’m doing!  That’s the simple accountability that is missing from my 7-steps-of -dreaming-and-doing-nothing cycle!

What about you?  Do you get stuck in a similar cycle?  How do you spend your extra time?  What are your goals for becoming the skilled parent/spouse/awesome person that you’ve been made to be?  If you have a lot of soft skills (computer, artistic, office-related), maybe you need to learn some hard skills (carpentry, plumbing, leatherwork).

Take a look at the site, and take a look at what you’re doing to learn new stuff.  Then turn off your computer and go learn something new.

The Spark of a Great Dad

Sometimes little sparks can start big fires.

What does your use of your time communicate to your kids?

I’ll admit, I was spoiled by a dad who set a great example for me to follow.

My dad spent time with each of his three kids (me and my two sisters) in ways that were meaningful and special to each of us individually.  He coached sports teams for all us in our elementary years, and diversified his time with us as we got older and our tastes and personalities changes.  For me, that was spending time hiking with him.  For one of my sisters, it was following pro sports.  For the other, it was pursuing 4-H and show steer greatness.

Dad was physically fit enough to keep up with all of our activities, whether it was wrestling with us as kids, playing town team basketball and running with my high-school teammates, skiing with us on a 4-H ski day, or hiking for hours up and down the sides of rough mesa country.

Although I never saw him personally nurturing his relationship with God (seeing him in prayer or reading his Bible) I saw him give up countless Saturdays to service projects at church and other community service projects.

My dad died from heart disease when he was 57, six years ago.

I’m 37 years old.  What if I only have 20 more years to spend investing in my  kids?

Huge Aside: Yes, there have been several big “What If’s” in my last several blogs, but I’d rather prayerfully wrestle with these potential realities than try to sweep them under the rug.

Granted, I’m not a doctor and I con’t play one on TV.  I don’t know the ins and outs of how his heart valve stopped working.  I don’t know if its genetic and headed my way or not.

To be the best dad I can be, and to be a good steward of the time God has given me (whether it’s one, twenty, or fifty years)  I have identified 4 things I must be proactive about.

1.  Proactively nurturing my relationship with Jesus and intentionally modeling and teaching my sons what its about.  I need to be spending more and more time in prayer, in the Word, reading Christian books, listening to great music… and my sons need to see me doing it.  My relationship with Jesus can’t be behind closed doors and so private that its a mysterious concept that preacher dad talks about on Sunday

2.  Proactively spending quality time with each son doing what he likes.  One boy loves to dance and watch movies.  One boy loves to hike and create stuff with Legos.  They all love to wrestle!  Sometimes I spend time with each boy, but sometimes I make them share my time and do what the others may like to do, even when its not their favorite. I’ve noticed a direct correlation between the amount of time we play together and how well and smooth evenings and bedtimes go.

3.  Proactively teaching my sons valuable life skills  (even if its not their favorite thing to do).  My dad and I played a lot of sports together, and as a result, I’m pretty coordinated and can “fit in” in most kinds of pick-up games.  However, we didn’t spend a lot of time building stuff and fixing stuff together.  I’ve picked up some basic carpentry, plumbing, and fix-it skills from friends and co-workers, but I would have rather learned that stuff from my dad.  I make it a point to drag my boys out with me on projects now.  They still are a little young, but they amaze me at how they are able to help out more and more with each project as they get stronger and smarter.

4.  Proactively getting more physically fit.  My boys are 4, 7, and 8 years old.  I can still take ’em when it’s wrestle time.  What about 10 years from now?  What about 5 years from now?  I don’t just want to be able to keep with them as we hike and rock climb, but I want them to be keeping up with me.  I must schedule time in to get stronger in the gym and build up the cardio out on the trails with my huskies.

For you dads, and you moms, out there: what do you need to proactive about? Spending less time in front of a screen and more time out in the real world?  Shedding a few pounds so you can do the really fun stuff with your kids?  Deepening your relationship with Jesus and passing that passion to your kids?

The Sparks of Elections and Atlas

Little sparks can start big fires.

I’m usually not one to share my political views in public forums.  As a pastor, I place tremendous value on not trying to influence my congregation’s election day decisions.  I believe in variety and diversity.   Here are a few of my personal policies I adhere to when it comes to politics.

• I respect the office and the person of the President, even though I may disagree with many of his current policies.
• I don’t post snarky comments on Facebook about candidates on either side of the fence. (I try to post funny comments about issues, but not about people)
• I pretty much keep my political thoughts to myself and occasionally share them with my wife.

That said, there are 2 sparks that have happened in the last several months that have caused a change in me: (1) Election Day, 2012 and (2) reading Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.

Spark #1.  Election Day, 2012.

In spite of the fact that the president had the lowest approval rating of any president facing re-election, the American people said “Yes, four more years.”  And it wasn’t even close.  Why was that?

From my perspective, I see 4 very closely related reasons:

1. Conservative voters are outnumbered by liberal voters.
2. Rural voters are outnumbered by city voters.
3. Money generators are outnumbered by people with government jobs and those dependent on government subsidized income (which includes me and my wife as school employees).
4. Those that are in favor of fiscal responsibility and smaller federal government are outnumbered by those who love the government and what it can do for them.

So where does that leave our country?

There are tough decisions that need to be made to get our country on sound financial footing, but none of those are electable decisions.  If anyone has the nerve to drastically cut federal spending the way it needs to be cut, they would never be re-elected, regardless of their party.  Therefore…

The changes that need to be made will never be made because elected officials make electable choices, not right choices.  

If that is true, how should I and my family respond?

Before I get into that, let me share a little bit about Atlas Shrugged.

Spark #2:  Reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

If you haven’t read it (its a 1200 page beast of a book – and I’m not even halfway through it yet), its about successful industrialists that are being challenged by intellectuals and power-hungry politicians that believe in distributing the wealth instead of letting people be successful in their own rights.  Laws get passed to enforce this social “justice” and the industrialists secretly conspire to just up and quit and leave society to try to figure it out without them, the real producers.

This book was written in 1957 but it fits perfectly with our cultural setting today.  It really makes one think about the role of the producer and the looter.  Who makes and who takes?  Who uses their efforts to create goods and services, and who makes arguments about equality and fairness and getting a piece of the producers’ pie because its the fair thing to be done?

These sparks have caused a significant shift in my life towards becoming more self sufficient in terms of producing real good and services and less reliant on our government jobs.

This is interesting for my wife and me.  She is a teacher at our school and I also work at the school in addition to pastoring our church.  We are both paid by  tax dollars.  We love our roles in the community in that the school provides, but I’m feeling the call to shift our focus from being consumers to being producers.

Specifically, here is what this means for us:

1.  Producing more of our own food.  We will be starting a garden again, raising chickens for meat and eggs, and hopefully have a milk cow this spring or summer.

2.  Starting some sort of micro-business.  I’m not sure what this is, but I’m pretty sure its something more tangible than websites.  Something real and valuable to people.  This could be a tangible product or something tourism-related, I’m not sure yet.  It will be something that we can teach the boys and pursue with them.  Other than modeling healthy relationship with God, what better skill can I pass on than showing them that they have the ability to produce a valuable service and earn a living.

3.  Investing our time and financial resources into the two avenues listed above.  I have less and less faith in financial institutions and the “wisdom” of trusting other companies with my financial well being.  I’m believing that more and more tangible producing assets on our property is the way to go.

That’s a pretty big shift for me and my crew.  What about and you and your family?  Have you felt a similar pull?

The Sandy Hook Spark

The spark of the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary has started a fire in me.

There have been other shootings, several nasty ones here in Colorado for that matter.  But none of them have hit me to the core like what transpired in that Connecticut school.

Why has it hit me so hard?  Simple:  I have 3 boys in early elementary school and my wife teaches at that school.

What if…

That big “What If” has lead me to pose two very important questions to myself, and they are questions I believe every father and mother should ask themselves as well:

• Am I doing everything in my power to protect my wife and my sons?
• If not, what do I need to do?

This is not a national, gun-control debate question.  This is a personal, look at your face in the mirror question.  What is your answer?

Now we all have different situations.  Here’s my situation:

• I also work at the school with my wife.
• My town is very rural, and we are fifty miles away from a police office.

If something like that were to happen at our school…  (yes, I know it is statistically more likely for my kids to die in a shark attack off the coast of Australia… but I can’t just hope the stats play out right)

• How are the staff, teachers and students trained to respond… and am I okay with that plan?  Our school’s plan was re-thought after Sandy Hook, and I’m glad to say that it is now way better than “let’s stay in our rooms and  hope the bad guy runs out bullets.” Our superintendent was open to several conversations and included some of my input in the plan. Talk to your kids’ teachers and administration and learn what their plan is.  Are you okay with it?  Does it make sense?
• Do we have a way to see what’s happening and communicate real-time?  Although our school is small, we have several buildings that are pretty spread out.  We need video cameras installed and a way to communicate with the teachers real-time to get kids out safely based on where the bad guy is.
• Would I wait for law enforcement to show up before I do something?  Absolutely not.  Could I look another parent in the eye if my response was “Well I’m sorry for your loss, but we were waiting for the police to get here.”  Could I ever respect an adult that would say the same to me?
• What kind of active-shooter response training do I need to acquire to have a realistic chance of stopping that kind of threat?  There is training out there, but its pricey.    I think it will be money well spent.
• Am I prepared and willing to take the life of a person trying to harm the children and teachers of my school?  I’d better be.

Does this sound like stuff a pastor should be talking about?  It should be.

Another word for “pastor” is “shepherd.”

Shepherds guarded their sheep from wolves.  They didn’t try to win over the wolves.  They prepared to fight them.  Feel-good Christianity has glossed over the fact that God has used many of his people throughout history to guard and protect each other.

It is time for me to shepherd my church, my school, and my town.

What is it time for you to do?