Adopting Hope

18 01 2012

Hope is an expectation, an inventive vision, a dream. Hope is a desire.

Hope imagines what faith can create and build. Hope is the designer, the architect, the plans on paper; faith is the carpenter that constructs something tangible, something that you can see and touch from what was once only a dream.

When hope is dashed by doubt and fear, love perseveres…and love always has hope!

Faith, hope and love, a partnership of pursuable, learnable virtue.

As a visionary, a dreamer, hope is where I live. I wake up in the morning with hope at my side, having dreamt together all night. I try to spend time with faith and love, but hope I know.

One of my most vivid experiences with hope occurred while standing on the most eastern point of Mexico, on a tiny island called Isla Mujeres. It was September 2009, and my soulmate Brandee and I were celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary.

If God is love, and love always hopes, than God hopes. So I believe that standing at the edge of the ocean, in the warmth of the sun and of God’s love, he was inspiring me with His hope. Inspiring me to open my heart, our home, and live out our love. He was whispering hope to my soul on the rhythm of the waves.

Adoption. This was the message of hope that He was nudging into my thoughts. He was making His hope become mine. Somewhere a little girl is hoping for a forever home, and He was bringing her hope to me.

Up until this time, I’d never considered adding another child to our family, especially not by adoption. I fully supported the concept of adoption of course, but felt it just wasn’t for us. Everything changed on that beautiful beach in Mexico. Hope was sparked. I remember hearing children laughing, looking back at the boardwalk and seeing two little girls playing together, one American and one Mexican. I looked back at the ocean, contemplating the message God was entrancing me with before looking back to the boardwalk, finding that the two little girls from two different cultures had disappeared, their laughter only memory etched in my mind.

Teary-eyed, I looked back to the waves and watched them slowly roll in and I was amazed at the peace, the vision, the hope that God was filling me with. My wife asked what I was thinking about, and I said, “You wouldn’t believe it…” but went on to share what was happening in my heart. That afternoon, nearly two years ago, we began our hopeful journey of adoption.

It hasn’t been an easy journey, and on occasion it feels like we’re in the middle of the ocean with no idea which way to go, but our God is faithful, and He ignites hope when we have none. In Romans 5, we read about how suffering produces perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope.

Sometimes the dark clouds roll in and it becomes difficult to see our destination on the horizon; but it is in those stormy times that we cling to hope. Our daughter is out there, we pray for her to be held safe in the arms of God until we hold her in ours.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

* * * *

January is often a space to create new dreams and so we’re leaving the topic open and to your imagination. We believe the power of voice has tremendous capacity to inspire and give hope to people. A Synchroblog is a collective response to a particular topic. Every one of our writers writes about the same issue and then links to each other’s post. Here is the link list so far for January’s Synchroblog, a partnership with Provoketive Magazine centered around the theme of Hope. 

 * * * *

Below is a list of all the posts and participants in this month’s synchroblog:

The Trouble With Hope: John Ptacek

Hope = Possibility x Imagination: Wayne Rumsby

Little Reminders: Mike Victorino

Where Is My Hope: Jonathan Brink

Hope for Hypocrites: Jeremy Myers

Now These Three Remain: Sonny Lemmons

Perplexed, But Still Hopeful: Carol Kuniholm

A Hope that Lives: Amy Mitchell

Generations Come and Generations Go: Adam Gonnerman

Demystifying Hope: Glenn Hager

God in the Dark: On Hope: Renee Ronika Klug

Keeping Hope Alive: Maurice Broaddus

Are We Afraid to Hope?: Christine Sine

On Wobbly Wheels, Split Churches and Fear: Laura Droege

Adopting Hope: Travis Klassen

Hope is Held Between Us: Ellen Haroutunian

Hope: In the Hands of the Creatively Maladjusted: Mihee Kim-Kort

Paradox, Hope and Revival: City Safari

Good Theology Saves: Reverend Robyn

Linear: Never Was, Never Will Be: Kathy Escobar

Better Than Hope: Liz Dyer

Caroline for Congress: Hope for the Future: Wendy McCaig

Fumbling the Ball on Hope: KW Leslie

Content to Hope: Alise Wright

Hope: Oh, the Humanity!: Deanna Ogle


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Offensive Love: Disarming Weapons of Mass Emotion

8 10 2010

I am a guy living in a house with three women. Two of them are under the age of five, the other is my beautiful wife. As I clumsily navigate through a minefield of emotional needs of the females in our home, I’ve observed both the joyous thrill of successfully deactivating and disarming an emotional bombshell, and the devastation of inadvertently detonating an explosion of hurt, anger and tears.

When a conflict arises, for the most part, I don’t think either party expects war to suddenly break out. I think the general intention of each side is to be heard and in good faith negotiate a peaceful settlement. Where this “peace process” becomes derailed is when there are fundamental, uncompromisable differences or when emotions come into play.

Usually at the first hint of emotional war I go to “DEFCON 1” and prepare to defend and protect my pride and dignity, while simultaneously going into damage control mode, attempting to capture and disarm all of the emotional missiles of hurt, pride, fear or anger before they can be launched, and wrap up the conflict before any major damage can be done by either party.

One of the biggest problems with this defensive strategy, however, is that by preventing the explosion nothing changes. The landscape, the politics, the economy all continue as they were, and any discord simply simmers below the surface until the fragile cease-fire is broken and the full arsenal from the previously-averted conflict plus new ammunition is unleashed with a greater ferocity than the last attack.

A proven strategy of averting war is to maintain a positive presence during peacetime. Countries will often have troops on the ground in humanitarian or peacekeeping roles, developing a relationship with the locals, understanding their needs and assisting wherever possible. This is a good example of a peaceful one-on-one relationship as well, staying engaged with each other’s day-to-day needs so that we can understand each other’s perspective when conflicts do arise.

I call it “offensive love.” Rather than choosing the selfish, defensive route, take to the offensive, spending time intentionally tending to the emotional needs of the people closest to you, and be reminded that we aren’t adversaries, but allies.

Peace.

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”


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Looking for more?

15 01 2010

Hey there,

Just wanted to write a quick note about our church in Mission, BC. Brandee & I lead worship there, and Brent & Sharon Borthwick are the senior leaders. If you’re in the area and are looking for a place to call home, or just want to visit, we’d love to have you join us. Wind Word Church meets on Saturday nights at Mount Calvary Church in Mission. All the details are here: www.windword.ca. We’d love to see you there.

Peace.


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You Subcultured Swine…

7 04 2009

We’ve all heard the accusation, “You Uncultured Swine!” Most recently it was spoken by Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story:

Mr. Potato Head: (rearranges facial features) Look, I’m Picasso. 
Hamm: Gee, I don’t get it. 
Mr. Potato Head: You uncultured swine!

This phrase has surfaced throughout the ages, been quoted in movies, music and plays, and is actually a variation of Jesus’ own words:

Matthew 7:6
“Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

When applied to culture, it could sound like this: Don’t waste was is good or beautiful on people who won’t understand or appreciate it.

Uncultured – artless: (of persons) lacking art or knowledge.

There is beauty in the world to be observed and appreciated by Christians. And it’s not just things that have an explicit gospel message, (though it could be argued that all things have an “explicit gospel message” but I’ll leave that for another time). There is more to see than beautiful paintings of mountains, sunsets and old rugged crosses. God’s beauty is evident throughout creation, and throughout the “creations of His creation.”  Eugene Peterson, the author who brought us the Message, says that any time a story has been well told, or song has been well crafted, the Gospel has been served.

Part of what it means to be made in the image of God, is that we are made to create. We are creators. In my observation of all of creation, human beings are the only living thing created by God with a need and desire to create something on their own. We play music, paint, build and write simply to create an expression. No other species has a need to create art, we don’t need to in order to survive, yet we  have leave our mark, we attempt to influence each other, to inspire each other. When it comes right down to it, we create to connect.

Isn’t that why God created us? So he could connect with his creation?

Now, moving on and as noted by the title of this article, I am not suggesting that Christians have become uncultured, but rather subcultured, and have become so to the point of irrelevancy. I’ve written about this before, yet I will again. We have Christian music, Christian movies, Christian bookstores, Christian coffee shops, Christian art…In his book, No Icing on the Cake, author Jack Mechielsen, talks about Christian culture being no more than sweet icing on the world’s cake. 

There are so many places of relatable commonality between christians and non-christians within culture, we just need to open our eyes and see. As human beings all, we can connect at the most basic of levels, in our day-to-day lives. Whether it be one young mom talking with another at the playground, or one hard-working dad to another after a hard day on the job; we have the ability to be, simply to exist, as christians. 

When the conversation turns to popular culture, many christians express one of two looks on their faces: the first, The Deer-In-The-Headlights Look. This is the look that says, “I have no idea what you are talking about but it’s probably really bad and I am pretty sure I shouldn’t be talking to you anymore…” The second look is The Eyes-Glazed-Over-Look-Of-Pride. This look says, “I see your mouth moving but I can’t hear your words as you are obviously talking about this evil world and I won’t allow myself to be contaminated by anything of the world…”

When you take a trip to a foreign place, you usually learn a few things about it first. At the very least, you determine what language is spoken in the country you are visiting, the basic climate (should I pack my long winter coat, or my speedo?”), and, if renting a car, the correct side of the road to drive on.

If you care to develop a relationship with anyone, while away from your homeland, you will also care learn things about their food, their economy, their religious & political views, in other words, you will ask questions, and care about the answers. 

To relate to people, you do as they do. In first Corinthians 9, Paul speaks of becoming all things to all men, as part of a process of building relationship and sharing the love of God.

When you make a conscious effort to relate, you experience life through someone else’s eyes. You have no hidden agenda to change who they are. You just relate. And while part of them may rub off on you, the part of you that would like to scream, “Jesus is Lord!” will be gently whispering to them through your actions.

Just try it. I am only twenty-six years old, and already I have gone through phases of rejecting certain aspects of culture, such as some of the new styles of music, movies and t.v. shows, simply because it is different than what I enjoyed growing up. Brandee and I were married quite young (I was 18, she was 19), and she used to point out at the time that I was eighteen going on forty. Through the recent years of culture therapy and time with God I hope that I have reduced that to at least thirty.

As a musician, I love to experience all genres of music. I choose to listen to top 40 radio to better understand the mood of the culture. I also regularly listen to internet radio and satellite radio to hear what’s about to hit mainstream. While I believe that Christian artists should be at the forefront of the music industry, I don’t believe that this can be accomplished by remaining locked in a subculture. 

I am a strong supporter of Christian musicians; however, in general I am not a fan of Christian music. I believe all music is God’s, and as artists who believe in Him, we need to strain to hear the notes, the rhythms, the melodies of heaven and play them here on earth. On earth as it is in heaven. I guess I should qualify this point of view a little more than I have. I love the intentions of Christian artists, but I have an aversion to the fact that they are forced to make a choice between the secular & sacred realms. So many have so much more to say, but haven’t been empowered to making their heart’s cry heard.

I grew up going to a christian school. I wore the navy blue pants with the tucked in white shirt, with the grey vest emblazoned with our school’s name & logo, Abbotsford Christian Academy; of course, the “t” in Christian was stylized as a cross. The school later become known as Cornerstone Christian School. I am very thankful for the teachers & leaders I had there, and that my parents cared so much about my future to send me there. It was in this christian environment that I was raised, where I formed my early beliefs about life, love & God. I was taught to worship and lead worship in this place, it was where my struggle with “there must be more” began, a struggle that I am once again embracing.

One of the most positive things about growing up in this christian environment was meeting my gorgeous wife, Brandee. We grew up together. I fell in love with her in fourth grade and again in ninth grade, and married her shortly after high school. I thank God everyday that He gave her to me to be my partner on this journey. I also thank God that she is so beautiful.

Speaking of beauty, I’ve noticed lately that God is trying to catch my eye. I feel as though the Creator of the universe if flirting with me, trying to catch my attention. He teases me with the beauty of his creation, giving subtle promptings of his glory, faint previews of heaven. From the beauty of a harvest moon, to a spectacular sunrise, to a beautiful woman, his glory is demonstrated throughout the beauty of creation.

Not only does he use our eyes to show his awesomeness, but all of our senses. In reality, our relationship with God can be, and should be a very sensuous experience. Every part of creation is a foretaste of what is to come in heaven. When we taste good food or drink good wine, we can take a moment to imagine what the food & wine of our true home will taste like; when we hear good music, we should imagine what the music of heaven will sound like; when we smell fresh flowers, imagine the aromas and fragrances of heaven; and when we see beauty here on earth, imagine the beauty of God!

It is almost enough to overwhelm us, to cause our senses to overload when we pair the tangible here and now with the imagination of what is to come.

This brings me back to the culture of our world. God created this earth, and though sin has tainted it, his glory still shines through, if we look with open yet discerning eyes we might just catch a glimpse of heaven.


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Be Careful Little Eyes

2 04 2009

God, open my eyes, show me the world, show me what you want me to see, and guard my mind against what I see that could hurt me. 

Depending on which version of the bible you read, there are over five hundred references to the eyes. Here are just a few of them:

Acts 26:17b-19 I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

1 John 2:15-17 (Amplified) Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]–these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself]. And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever. 

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

So, how do we look at the world in love, without loving the world? How do keep from becoming polluted by the world? Focus more on who we are.

We need to learn to know who we are. Once we know this, we automatically know who we are not. From that point on, we learn how to love; from that point on, we learn how to filter through the eyes of faith, instead of religion. Real love isn’t a list of do’s and don’ts, it’s a heart thing. 

I was chatting with Kary Oberbrunner yesterday, author of The Fine Line, and he mentioned that God gave us ten commandments to live by, but the Pharisee’s lived by over six hundred additional laws to help them keep the original ten. Jesus narrowed it down to just two. Love God & Love People.

So again I quote Saint Augustine’s famous words: “Love God, and do as you please.”

If we love God with our hearts, our eyes will follow, showing his love to all the world. Stop worrying about being corrupted by the world and instead dream about ways to influence the world.


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Look Deep Into My Eyes

1 04 2009

Our eyes need to show the love of Jesus! We need to look beyond the sometimes offensive, outward appearance of our subjects. 

Mark 10:21a Jesus looked at him and loved him.

This verse refers to a rich man who was asking Jesus what it would take to inherit eternal life. Take a moment to imagine what it would have looked like for Jesus to look at someone and love them, before even saying any words. What would his eyes have had to do to communicate love with this man? I imagine that his demeanor would soften, his head tilt slightly to the side, and his eyes make a real, deep connection. Take some time to love people in passing, the way Jesus does. 

Why must we judge, instantly, based on the outward appearance? I don’t know, but we do. Camille Lavington, in her book “You’ve Only Got Three Seconds,” says just that, we are judged and judge each other initially based on appearance in less than three seconds flat! As we age and mature, we develop a list of likes and dislikes, so that we can get even faster at this process. As we walk down the street and see people we find attractive, our eyes may stay with them a moment longer; and the people that don’t match the majority of criteria on our lists we simply disregard.

On this note, I could begin to lay out my beliefs for why Christians should look their best, be as fit as they can be, if anything so that they can be a testimony in those crucial three seconds. “Man looks at the outward, but God looks at the heart,” is just as great an insight on the nature of humanity as it is on the nature of God. More on all of that for another time…

Taking this a step further, and seeing the world through pretentious, pharisaically-tinted glasses, we may be judging things faster than we should, as we already have developed a list of what is right & wrong, acceptable and unacceptable, and we judge based on appearance: tattoos, nose-rings, low-cut neckline = bad, clean, well-kept, happy = good; holding a bible = good, holding a beer = bad.

Let’s look beyond what is visible, and gaze into the supernatural realm. What is shown to us there may incite fear or inspire faith in us. We must prepare ourselves in heart & mind. Reading Ephesians 6 is a good place to start, putting on the armor of God as we ready ourselves to see the world the way God sees it.

Upon removing the glasses of religion that have blurred our vision and looking past the façade of this temporal world, we can see things the way they really are, things both inspirational and things incursive,. The backdrop of this world fades to grey and we can finally see the people, some who are dying and some who are thriving, stand out. As we look even deeper, behind the people, we see what is really going on, the battle for souls rages between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness.

Ephesians 6:11-13 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

It’s my prayer that God opens my eyes. I want to know everything he wants me to know, I want to do everything he wants me to do, I want to be everything he wants me to be! I pray that God reveals his heart for people, in us causing us look deeper, past the meaningless things that we fight so hard against, deep into the windows of their eyes and into their souls.

Whoa, its getting a little heavy. On a lighter note, I’ve got one final thought… I was just thinking about a moment I had with my daughter Topanga a few weeks ago. I was having a stern moment with her, probably disciplining her for something, and I asked her to look at me, “look into my eyes,” I said. She did, but only for a second, and then looked down, across the room, up at the ceiling, anywhere but my eyes. I persisted, and I asked her to look into my eyes again. She finally did, and suddenly her whole demeanor changed, and she exclaimed, “oh, its me! I ‘m in your eyes!” She could see her reflection in the deepness of her fathers eyes, and I think we were both amazed.

Tomorrow, check back for the 4th post in this 4 part series:
“Be Careful Little Eyes…”


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Making the Connection: Eye Contact

31 03 2009

Eye contact. Who does that anymore? Try it. Look directly at someone while you speak to them. Listen in the same manner. If the conversation lasts more than 30 seconds, someone will break the connection. One of you will break eye contact.  And I don’t mean glance away, but actually continue the conversation as though you are going to finish the discussion with the wall, the counter or some other inanimate object.

This brings to mind a statement made by the character of Kronk in my daughter Tehillah’s favorite movie, Kronk’s New Groove, as he describes the woman of his dreams:

And her eyes…

They say the eyes are the window to the soul…

Hers were more like steel-reinforced security doors

with a combination I just had to crack.

Be determined, confident and make a connection. In Kronk’s case, there was a reward to making a connection with the object of his affection: she would become part of his dream to have a wife & kids & house on a hill. It was what his father expected of him, and all Kronk wanted to do in life was make his “Papi” proud.

Likewise, there is always a reward for us to make real connections with the people we run into every day. Not only connecting with our family and friends (which we need to do more), but even just the day to day people we take for granted, the barista at Starbucks or the gas station attendant at Chevron. We are rewarded with relationship, and we make our Father proud. 

Practice talking with your eyes. Look and love.

Tomorrow, check back for the 3rd post in this 4 part series:
“Look Deep into my Eyes”


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Initial Contact: Eyes Wide Open

30 03 2009

Every day this week, check back for a new post on the eyes. Thanks for reading, Travis.

Awhile back I was having a conversation with a teen who had just returned from a missions trip. She was describing her experiences, and was telling a story about how she and a another girl on the team found themselves in a ghetto-type neighborhood, and they felt so surrounded by “the world,” with several x-rated movie rental places, posters for adult movies in the windows, bars and strip clubs lining the street that they were walking. “It was so bad,” they said, that they counseled each other, “don’t look at anything, don’t even look ahead, just look down at your feet.”  Eventually, they turned right and found a safer street to get them back to where they we’re supposed to be.

I’ve been thinking about this for a week or so now, and while I understand their perspective, I don’t agree with the mindset. Of course, in the first place, I don’t think that two young girls should have been alone in a neighborhood like that, however I think many christians share their same mindset, regardless. It’s almost like if we don’t see it, it’s not really there. Or, as long as we don’t see it, it can’t hurt us.

God, open our eyes! We’ve got to learn to look through and beyond the temporal things of this world to the people, eternal, beneath it all. It’s kind of like the screen advertising we see on buses driving by. The whole bus is covered in an ad for something, even the windows, and we can’t see the people inside, just the advertisement. What is not noticeable from the outside, is that the ad is not printed on solid material, but on a type of screen, with thousands of holes. The people inside can see out, clear as day. If our first reaction is to become so offended at the external, people will see that we are offended (disgusted) with them (or the way they live), and we’ll never get a chance to get beyond the outward to see what’s inside. 

My good friend and pastor, Brent Borthwick, puts it this way: “it’s not about who you are not, but who you are.” We need to spend less time talking about how bad the world is,  and how everyone in it is heading straight to hell, and spend more time focusing on who we are in Jesus, and how we can reach out and save whoever we can from wherever they are.

To me, we are showing defeat when we hang our heads as if in shame. Have we forgotten who we are? Our faith isn’t so brittle that it would be shattered at the first pebble thrown at us. So, what do we miss when we put our heads down? Moreover, who do we miss? What connection could have been made, had our eyes been open?

Tomorrow, check back for the 2nd post in this 4 part series:
Making the Connection: Eye Contact

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Connecting Christians with Culture: Lines in the sand

23 03 2009

I don’t think Jesus came to connect God to Man only to turn around and disconnect his followers from culture. As the nails pierced his flesh, so the cross pierced the earth. He made a permanent connection between God in heaven and all of humanity on earth. I am continually astonished when I imagine the cross, planted in our world, yet rising towards heaven. 

lineinthesand

How then, do we forget that Jesus came for us all? I don’t think any of us actually feel this way, but sometimes our words and actions create an Us and Them scenario. We draw a line in the sand: on our side we have Us & God, on their side we have Them & the World. 

They do things on their side that we would never think of doing. In fact, we won’t even look out there to see what horrible things they’re doing now. The only time we venture out across the line is to try to drag a couple of them over to our side. But, while we’re over there, we are sure to be covered in prayer before we head out, and when we return we’ll be sure to report back on how awful it was out there, but hopefully we planted some seeds…God will water them, the Holy Spirit will speak to them…

Obviously, I write the preceding paragraph tongue-in-cheek, as so many of the ideals I mentioned here are good and true. It is the disconnected approach that I am addressing. That, and the religious mindset that causes us to draw a separating line between Us and Them. When we do that we become the Pharisee’s of our day, we elevate ourselves above them, those who are in the world.

We can’t forget that we were once them! Jesus came, intermingled with culture, and then drew a permanent line; not separating himself from the culture of this world, but creating a link between it and God.

It is we who create a segregated sub-culture. Of course we want them to come to our side. But with our actions, and sometimes our words we tell them that they’ll have to clean themselves up first! As though the sand on their feet might contaminate the sand on our side of the line.

We need to go out there to their side and let them come over here to our side, unthreatened, learning about them and let them learn about us. We’ve got to be real and honest. Quite often, sharing our faith once a relationship exists is so much more effective than our current evangelism efforts, our “get in, give the word, get out” mentality. Intermingle like Jesus did.

Sometimes we have to take a step back from our short-sighted view and notice that where we draw a line in the sand to separate, He draws a line to connect.

crossinthesand

PS: Some of this article assumes that we actually get out of our comfort zones and evangelize, or at least have a conversation with someone, anyone, outside of our circle…This weekend, I took Brandee and our girls out to Kits Beach in Vancouver to take the pictures for this article, and while I had several great opportunities to intermingle with people, I didn’t take them. Just so you know, I write these words for you and me.


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Hey! Watch Your Language!

18 03 2009

Sorry, I don’t speak Christianese… (can you translate that for me?)

This past weekend I was introduced to the fiancé of a good friend of mine. My wife Brandee and I had made plans to have dinner and watch the hockey game together, the four of us and the four kids. He has two boys that are the same age as our two girls, two and three.

In the midst of calming down various territorial battles over who got to play with Handy Manny’s tool set, or the toy guitar, or who would be going to bed next, I was introduced to a really cool guy with a complete genuineness that I haven’t seen very often in my lifetime. 

He’d say things that would cause me to think deep – right to the very core of my beliefs. And the really cool thing was feeling like he spoke this way not looking for recognition or the look of amazement that was probably blatantly evident on my face, but because he cared to know. Oh, how we need that! When was the last time you were asked, “so, how did you meet Jesus?” and feel like the asker was interested in your answer, rather than telling their own story?  Or when have you last heard someone say the words, “bless you,” and feel like they really did believe for God’s blessing over your life?

What’s more, he was well-spoken and plain-spoken at the same time! So many times when interacting with other Christians, we shift into an entirely different dialect. Often, once we realize we are conversing with another believer, our conversation shifts and begins to sound like this:

“So, how did you come to know the Lord?”

“Well, I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart at a young age, but I turned away for a time as a teenager…”

“How long were you backslidden?”

“After spending a few years ‘in the world’ I rededicated my life to God as a young adult.”

And it can even go further, to the point where it seems like we are in a competition, whoever can use the most obscure words or phrases, or the highest number of syllables per statement wins! Once the conversation heads that direction, it may begin to sound something like this:

“How was it that you came to the realization that you had ‘fallen away from God’?

“I was confronted by a ‘brother in the Lord’ and helped me see that the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ was no longer evident in my life. He suggested that I start ‘doing my devotions’ again, and ‘fixing my eyes on Jesus’, and it was after that that I ‘gave my heart back to God.’ From that point on, I now ‘crucify the old man, and die daily.’ 

What language are you speaking?

The crazy thing about all this, is that the subjects are real, the words spoken are truth, and all in all it is a positive conversation. So why is that we digress into what sounds like an entirely different language when it comes to the things of God? (I just did it right there)

Our language is already different enough from the language of the world (hopefully), to the point where we generally keep it free of offensive words or slanderous words and strive to speak blessing rather than cursing. So, already being in the world and not acting in the same way (of the world) why do we unintentionally distance ourselves even further from the culture?

I am reminded of what happens when we visit countries that speak a language other than English. 

Despite our best attempts to communicate, once we sense that we aren’t being understood, we usually resort to speaking louder and louder, in english, hoping to barrel right through the language barrier. Pairing that with some elaborate charade movements, arms flailing wildly, doesn’t lead to successful communication.

For communication to be successful, you must have two things: a speaker and a listener. And both parties must understand something about the other. The person speaking must understand his audience, and the person(s) listening must understand what is being spoken.

Sometimes, communication is so much more than words. When our friend introduced us for the first time to her fiancé, he hugged both Brandee and I and spoke a blessing over us, our lives and our home. From his first words & actions towards us, I immediately felt as though his faith was fully integrated with his life. The words of blessing sounded so much more real than a memorized phrase, like each time they were spoken, they were meant. He found a way to speak about God and our faith in a way that was refreshing and real, without causing me to look into my lexicon for the meaning to the many words & phrases of Christianese.

Like students who are asked to write “in your own words…” their thoughts on a particular subject in school, we should learn to take the principles of the bible and paraphrase them in our own words. When we speak the truth in plain language, it is not only to the benefit of the people we talk to, but it also allows God’s word to become real in our own lives. 


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Categories : Community, Faith, Art & Culture, God and Christianity

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