Chasing Inspiration

10 02 2011

A sound.

An image.

A smell.

A feeling.

A taste.

It’s that sudden feeling of passion, that flood of raw emotion, it’s that moment when Jack stands at the bow of the Titanic and yells, “I’m the king of the world!”

Inspiration.

Like a beautiful woman, eluding her suitor, evasive with her emotion, it makes you pursue her, desire her, chase her. While her actions may be misunderstood, her heart says come find me.

Inspiration.

Where does it come from? Where does it go? How do you find it?

Are you inspired?

By what, by whom?

Do you inspire?


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Categories : Art, Faith, Art & Culture

Shooting Three Throws

20 01 2011

If I were to give an alternate title for this article it would be “How to feel good about making a difference while making the rest of us look dumb.”

I first heard about the “Three Throw” while listening to Christian Radio station K-Love this past Monday. Usually I am lulled into a mind-numbing coma by the repetitive, poorly-rhymed lyrics and themes of most Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), so I am surprised that I even heard the interview with the founder of the “Three Throw” movement. Along with most of my co-workers, I was caught up in the absurdity of a hand gesture to connect me to other members of my Christian faith. I quickly glanced at my calendar, is it April 1st?

Here’s how it works. Hold up three of your fingers as if you were a toddler telling me your age. There! Now I know you are a Christian! If I do it back we can both rejoice, because as we stand in the middle of a world going to hell in a hand-basket, we are secure in our belief that we’re going to heaven! Yay. Of course, I could look at you with a dazed expression that says, “what the…?” In that case, you can view the situation as an opportunity to witness to me, “this little finger is God, this little finger is Jesus, and this finger is the Holy Spirit…” Once I know the sign, I’m in! Hmmm. So that’s the “Three Throw.” For more info, check out their website: www.threethrow.com. Seriously.

I know that I am using a facetious tone as I get this message across, and while I admire anyone who actually gets up out of their pew and does something about their faith, this is just a bad idea. I am specifically referring to the actual idea of a “Christian” hand gesture, I am trying hard to ignore the fact that there is an entire line of merchandise for sale. We need Christians that will not use their faith as a marketing strategy, but as a way to affect who they are and the world around them.

I shared the link for the “Three Throw” website with Seattle-based author Jeffrey Overstreet, and he had these words to share:

If I remember right, the idea was that those who know Christ would be recognized by their love… not by their “Are you in the club?” exclusivity signs. Nor, for that matter, by the way they vote, their political party, their fashion, their ethnicity, their income, their denomination, their taste in art, etc… etc…

We don’t need our own sign! Nor do we need our own “Christian” Facebook, iTunes, music or bookstores…. As Christians, we are called to excel in the gifts and talents that God has given us, and share the love of Jesus organically as we live life to the fullest in the world! Rather than “Christian” authors, musicians or who-ever’s, as Christ-following authors we will write out of the overflow of heavenly inspiration, as Christ-following musicians we will be passionate about creating something that would sound sweet to the One who has heard it all. In whatever we do, we are to do it to bring glory to God. Labeling something “Christian” doesn’t necessarily accomplish this.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am aware of how easy it is to criticize someone else’s work, and I actually believe that the founders of the “Three Throw” are well intentioned. I bet they’ve spent time in prayer and poured a lot of time and energy into this. I’d love to see that much energy and creativity poured into an effective witness for Jesus. Because of my criticism I must must resign myself to finding real, constructive ways to allow my faith to affect people around me. I hope that means living and loving life and letting Jesus shine through.

Peace.

Travis

PS – Here’s hoping the Three Throw goes the way of WWJD bracelets and Fish-shaped car decals…BE the change, don’t BUY it.


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The Church Tamer

7 01 2011

The devil likes it when we just go to church.

We are to be emulating the Lion of Judah… so why do we often appear as common, quiet, domesticated house cats? And when we do make enough noise to be noticed, all too often it’s just the shrill sound of a cat fight with one of our own, or the petrified whimpers of a kitten afraid of the dark and scary world out there…

God cannot be tamed. And yet the church can be, and often is, by the The Church Tamer, aka the devil…

Are we walking in inspiration, or are we the walking dead? The power of God isn’t to be contained in a package that we open on Sundays for a couple hours and wrap back up before noon. The power of God is to be lived, it is to flow through us.

Church can’t be just another part of our compartmentalized lives…this many hours allotted for work, this many for school, a few hours for church… Church isn’t an event or a building. It is the relational community of the lovers of God, collectively known as Jesus’ bride. In other words, the church (the people, not the institution) is about living in unity with one another, forgiving differences, looking past conflicts…becoming one, in Him.

Being the bride is so much more than going to church. Everything we do in life is affected by who we are.

The ring finger of my wife’s beautiful left hand is occupied by a beautiful ring, and it means she is my bride. Everything she does, every choice she makes is a reflection of her commitment, love and honour for me. In the same way, if we choose to live in our identity, the bride of Christ, everything we do, every choice we make will be a reflection of our commitment, love and honour for Him.

The devil likes it when we go to church. Or at least he used to.

The bride of Christ is rising up…and she is strong and beautiful.

I can hear it…less meow, and more ROAR! Tame that, devil.

Peace,

Travis

PS – I released this because of how proud I am of the people in our church, together we are becoming a family, and I am honoured to be a part of it.


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The Joy of it All

17 11 2010

This morning at Starbucks I was served by the most pleasant barista, and given the fact that I show up for my morning coffee around 5:00 am, I give extra credit to anyone who can not only function that early in the morning, but do it with a smile.

As she punched in my order for a Venti Skinny Hazelnut latte and Holiday Turkey Sandwich, the total came up, $12.10. She said, “that will be eleven dollars and twelve…” flustered, she continued, “no, twelve dollars and eleven…twelve ten!”

She went on to say how tired she was, and explained that she’d been up since 1:30 am, because her husband gets home from his shift at that time, and she wanted to make him dinner, as they don’t get to see each other very often.

As they ate bacon & eggs together in the middle of the night, she was just beginning her day with coffee and orange juice, and his was coming to an end with a beer, but they found some time to be together. “It’s a crazy life,” she said, “but we have a daughter, the joy of it all.”

It was that statement that has stuck with me as I write this. Clearly, the most important thing to them is each other, and their little family.

Last week I was able to take my sweetheart out for coffee with me early in the morning before work. We’d had a crazy week packing, moving, renovating and cleaning, and that’s on top of our regularly jam-packed schedule. Yes, it took some coaxing to awaken her while the clock still read four-something, but we had found a brief window to spend a few priceless moments together, and we took it!

It’s hard to balance work, school, bills, budgets… life; however, in the midst of it all, we find joy in the morning…for some, at five am, for others, it’s bacon and eggs at one-thirty.

It’s a crazy life…but we have each other, and our daughters, the joys of it all.

Peace.

Travis


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You’re Bringing Me Down…But His Love Never Fails!

19 10 2010

You can’t count on people to help you make your climb to the top; however you can expect them to try and knock you down once you get there.

I’m replaying Pixar’s short film, “For the Birds,” in my head, and remembering the story.  You’ve got a little bird who lands on a wire, and feels pretty good about himself. He’s subsequently joined by others who take the spotlight off him, and he becomes visibly annoyed, expressing his displeasure to the other birds around him. Once the little birds are joined by a big bird, who is “different” than them, they turn their attention to him, channeling their frustration, pecking at him and eventually knocking him down off the wire. What the little birds didn’t realize was that the big bird was weighing down the wire, and once he fell off, the wire sprung back and hurled them through the air like a slingshot causing physical harm and much embarrassment to themselves. Find it on YouTube if you haven’t seen it.

All the while as the little birds pecked at him, the big bird was unaware of their disdain for him, even blissfully so. This is one of the aspects from the story that I connect to the Father, and his love for His children; even when we are being attacked, he works everything out for our good!

It’s usually at our highest, happiest points in life, on those mountaintop experiences where we feel like we could just jump off and soar, that we can expect people to bring us back down to earth. Perhaps it’s a misguided intention to keep us from becoming too proud. Or perhaps it’s simply jealousy. Either way, when people bring you down, it hurts.

Ever overheard a conversation where someone was putting you down behind your back? Or had someone use a weak compliment as a means to deliver a hurtful, thinly-veiled criticism, right to your face? It hurts. The sad part is that usually the people that we allow closest to us are the ones with the ability to hurt us the most.

What entices us to bring down the ones we love? I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they are delivering those painful blows, believing that causing hurt isn’t their true intention, but an inadvertent reaction to an underlying issue, rooted in jealousy, pride or hurt of their own. It is this belief that reminds me again of 1 Peter 4:8; And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

Love never fails. Love calls forth a maturity that causes us to put away our childish ways and wisely reason with faith, hope and love. Our spiritual growth can be stunted when we allow hurt to take root and become an obsession, leaving us to function from within that obsession in an immaturity based on hurt, pride and jealousy. Love is not just a word, or a way to qualify a condemning or criticizing point of view; rather, love is a mature action that calls forth “the best” in people, without the predetermination of what “the best” is for them.

Peace & Love.

Travis


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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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Doing Life Together…Differently

7 07 2010

I read the slogan “Doing Life Together” on the website of a local church, and it got me to thinking. No one wants to go through life alone, yet at the same time we all have a unique identity, made up of a combination of our genetics, upbringing, life experience, and relationship with God (or lack thereof). Not one of us is the same.

One of the most amazing things in any community setting is the fact that we can coexist with other human beings at all, given the vast spectrum of individual views on any issue, be it political, religious, personal or otherwise…and yet, for the most part we can set apart our differences and interact with each other in relationship.

So…How do we maintain our own identity, while being part of a larger Christian community? Easy… (to say, harder to do). We assume His identity. By becoming Christians (or Christ’s followers, Christ-like) we emulate who He was, which was all good.

When in doubt, Love. Love your neighbour as yourself, love God above all else.

While many of us share a common stance on the major aspects of being Jesus’ followers, it’s the minor things in life that can generate the highest level of conflict and strife. We eat and drink different things, we see different movies, we dress in different ways, we exercise differently (if we do at all), we drive different cars, go to different churches…you get the picture. We’re different.

So, let’s do life together. Differently, maybe, but together in the love of Jesus, most definitely.

Peace.

Travis

Romans 14:1-23
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2014:1-23&version=NLT


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Categories : Faith, Art & Culture, God and Christianity

Day 7…(Time to Rest)

9 06 2010

It’s 4:45 am. And my alarm is going off… beep…Beep…BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!!! I slam my fist down and silence it. It’s the seventh day since I signed up at a local gym, and I’ve committed to going every day before work. Out of bed I go. While I’m going through my morning routine, I’m also checking email on my iPhone, checking Facebook, and the news headlines from the last 12 hours. Yeah, I bring my iPhone in the bathroom…I know, I know.

A quick kiss on the forehead of my sleeping beauty, careful not to wake her, and it’s off to the kitchen.  It’s now 4:53 am. I throw a couple carrots, celery, an orange, some spinach and a banana into the blender. Mmmm… Breakfast. BING! Oh, there’s another email. Better check that.

5:03 am. At the gym and on a bike. Found a preaching show and away we go. And while I’m sweating away at five in the morning, this guy’s preaching about resting.

Who rests anymore? There’s no time to rest! I was talking with a good friend of mine in ministry on the phone today, as he prepared to take a few days off to “rest.” In his voice I could hear he was exhausted from the non-stop pace yet apprehensive to break his stride and rest. As many of you know, the work never ends, and sometimes it feels like if we do stop now, we’ll only get further and further behind!

I spent a few moments this morning reading in Mark, from a passage that the TV preacher referenced, about when the apostles returned to Jesus after being sent out to minister on their own for a while.  This verse jumped out at me:

Mark 6:31
     (New King James)
And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
     (The Message)
The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, “Come off by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” For there was constant coming and going. They didn’t even have time to eat.

Jesus knew that rest is important. God set a precedent by resting on Day 7 of creation. He took that final day and demonstrated the importance of rest for all of mankind. Sure, he probably could have done something more, a few final touches, maybe create a few hundred more species of exotic animals; add a few more planets, or whatever he wanted. But, he didn’t. He rested.

 We can become so overwhelmed by the tasks at hand that we forget or neglect to take time to rest, to rest in His presence. It is then and only then that we can become re-energized to accomplish what He has called us to do. And beyond that, what is the point of accomplishing anything, if along the busy road of “doing His will” we lose sight of Him and forget what His will is for us?

God’s will for us is that we love Him and love the people around us in the same way as we love ourselves. I’ve got something to say about the second part of that in the future, about loving ourselves, but sticking to the first part, it was Jesus who said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” We can’t love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength when we’ve dedicated every resource we have to simply living life. We are constantly bombarded and distracted by everyday things that we don’t take even the slightest of moments to rest or to rest in Him.

Talk about being distracted. Even when I tell myself I’m resting, I’m usually playing piano, watching TV, checking my email, facebook, twitter or browsing the internet; keeping in-the-loop, and up-to-date. During busy seasons of life, I often joke that I’ll “sleep when I’m dead,” basically implying that there is no time to rest…unless we choose make time, that is.

My iPhone is always in my hand, at the ready to assist me as I attempt to accomplish whatever goal I have set for a particular moment. I call it multitasking if I am making notes about something, checking the facts on something while listening to you talk. My wife calls it rude. If we are having a conversation, and I reach for my phone, she yells, “don’t shoot!”, as though I were reaching for a gun. Likewise, if I attempt to initiate conversation while staring into the light of the incredibly amazing iPhone, she’ll say she can’t start talking while I’m pointing “that thing” at her. She has one too, but I guess that isn’t the point.

I bet it’s rude to God that in every quiet moment we attempt to fill the void with some type of noise, be it audible, mental or otherwise, rather than pause in His rest, and listen.

If He was speaking to you in a still small voice, could you hear it? If He let his voice rumble louder than thunder, could you hear it over the noise in your own life? 

Last night before bed, I took three and a half minutes to rest. I’d watched the news and read all my email. Brandee was dropping off the babysitter, so I put my phone in another room, sat on the couch all alone in my bathrobe, and listened for His voice. I didn’t pray, didn’t worship, didn’t read my bible. I took time to rest. I eliminated the distractions and tried to love him not only with my all heart, soul and strength, but with all of my mind too, not just whatever percentage I wasn’t using for something else.

Turn down the noise, of all your distractions, and rest.


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Haiti

29 01 2010

Today, as I was catching up on some paperwork, I came across an unopened letter from Compassion Canada. Usually, I just throw these letters in a box, theoretically to read at a later date when I have more time.

This time it was the envelope that caught my attention, as it contained a familiar word: Haiti.

We’ve sponsored children through Compassion Canada for several years now, but other than sending in my monthly payment for $38, I haven’t been too involved.

I opened the letter, and saw an updated photo of our sponsored child. With the photo was a sheet of lined paper, expecting me to write a letter to our child. I’ve never before found the time to do this, but it was then that I realized for the first time that our sponsor child, Samantha, is from Haiti. My heart sank. Tears came to my eyes. I moved to my piano, and sang these words…

Were you scared?
Did you cry?
Were you left all alone wondering why?

Did you find shelter?
Did you find peace?
Have you had any food to eat?

I wish I could be there,
I wish I could save you,
In my helplessness I pray that God’s angels will hold you in their arms

I am certain that He will not let me neglect her again. I pray that it isn’t too late to show her His love.

Peace.

Travis

PS – If you don’t currently sponsor a child, do it today, don’t wait. www.compassioncanada.ca


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Order. Order! Order in the Church!!!

19 01 2010

Let all things be done decently and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40 NKJV

In the past, when this verse has been brought to my attention, I’ve imagined in my mind’s eye, a judge, seated high above a courtroom, pounding his gavel like a crazed carpenter, as though the sound of incessant hammering will bring peace once again.

Perhaps, instead of a judge, it’s a pastor, left with nothing but a gavel of control, in a culture of selfishness. The thing is, however, the incessant hammering of control only drives a wedge deeper, separating leader from follower even more, creating even more distrust and discord.

Our church is a very open church to the move of the Holy Spirit, and as such our services have a very free flow to them. We have a basic structure, an idea of how things will look, but we leave most of it to God.

So…how do things stay in order?

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue of an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 1 Corinthians 14:26 NIV

Honour. Whatever we do is out of honour for God and our sisters and brothers.

In conversation with Brandee (my beautiful wife) last night, she said this to me, “Honour equals order.” And it’s true. Where there is honour, there is respect. Where there is honour and respect, there is love. And where all these things exist, there is order, because in a culture of honour, I am last, the people around me are first.

In a culture of honour, there is no room for self promotion or personal gain. We minister to each other to build each other up, not to build ourselves up. And whenever there is need for gentle correction, a slight change in course, there is no room for offense, because there is honour.

So far in this article I’ve written the word honour eight times…make that nine. And yet, I can’t stress enough: Honour is a major key in the fulfillment of our destiny.

That’s probably enough to contemplate for now…

Peace & Love.

Travis


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