Month: June 2014

A co-worker of mine had this impressive list on her office door entitled “10 Requirements To Be An Effective Believer”.  I was so captivated by it, because until I stumbled on to grace I would never have been able to get past even Number 1.

I googled the list it but I haven’t been able to find its author. It sounds like Tim Keller, but I couldn’t authenticate it.

As I look over the list it hits me that there are a lot of Christians that have trouble getting past even Number 1 on the list.  I know it took me awhile because the more life is about you, the less you recognize what’s right in front of your face.

The other thing I figured out is that each requirement builds on the next – you won’t get Number 2 until you first get to a place where you’ve completely embraced or understand Number 1, and so on.  The list isn’t for everyone, but it’s my hope it will be for you.

Personally, I struggle the most with Number 3 and Number 4…and sometimes Number 9 (when it applies to Salsa Guy).

Number 10 is the reason I blog.   Enjoy, and let me know what you think:

 

10 Requirements For Being an Effective Believer

1. A personal understanding of my own sinfulness

2. An overwhelming sense of God’s grace for me, and for everyone

3. A heart that forgives and forgets

4. An absence of agenda

5. An expectation that God is already in the world…I’m joining Him there – not taking Him there

6. A sense of the church as the body of Christ Universal

7. An insatiable curiosity for all that is not yet known to me

8. A belief in the intrinsic value of every of every human life

9. An assumption that I have something to learn from everybody

10. A deep and abiding desire for everyone to know what God has done for them through Christ

I love how God can use even our selfish motivations for His glory.  Such is the case with my involvement in a wonderful ministry in New York called Operation Exodus.

Much of my younger life was filled with feelings of entitlement and pity parties. One of those areas that I felt entitled was travel. “I’m the only person I know that hasn’t been to Hawaii!  I never get to travel anywhere.”  I remember some of those words coming out of my mouth, and God, in His sovereignty probably rolled His eyes and shook His head and mumbled something like “Kris, Kris, Kris! REALLY? You’re going to play that card?”…when what He probably really wanted to do was drop-kick me.   Just another time I’m sure I grieved the Holy Spirit.

Grace comes into this story (as it always does) by the Father allowing me to slowly learn a great lesson once I started to put other people first.  I’ve now been to 3 of the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, Mexico, the Bahama’s, to many states in the U.S. and ya know what….they’re just places.  None are quite as pretty as Lake Tahoe.  So what I built up in my head as something that I deserved – I really didn’t need.  Oh, they were nice and the experience was fun, but God doesn’t owe me anything.

Fast forward to 2009 where I am facilitating mission trips at work that deal with an organization called Mission To The World.  By then I had been to Mexico to build homes for needy folks for several years and had begun to catch on to what ministry to others felt like (putting others before myself) and God was gently directing my heart to embrace serving others. It was exhilarating and new and it felt really good.  That’s what happens when you take your eyes off of yourself.

I was challenged via Skype by my dear friend Bobbi Jo at MTW when she said “Why don’t YOU go on a short-term mission trip, Kris?” I quickly  informed her that I had been serving in Mexico for years, but she persisted in encouraging me to stretch myself out of my comfort zone.  My boss (gosh darn him!) supported Bobbi Jo and also encouraged me to go.  Really?….I was a middle-aged woman and where would I go?

When Bobbi Jo informed me that she was the Director of MTW Missions to Asia, Europe and New York City… well my ears perked up when I heard New York!  What was this?…a Broadway play mission trip?   I had always wanted to travel to The Big Apple and here was my chance!  This was something I could embrace AND look good at the same time because people would think I was being self-less by doing ministry!  And it was certainly less threatening than Asia and less scary than traveling to Europe by myself.   WooHoo….sign me up, baby!

Thus began a love affair with a broken and beautiful city that would rock my world and change my life.  I packed my bags that first year and headed to New York for a week and worked alongside Bobbi Jo and the tutors at Operation Exodus, feeding 45 volunteers daily and watching the most amazing young people in the inner city of Washington Heights do an amazing job teaching and mentoring kids.  These tutors, many who have been through OE themselves as kids, walk alongside the local Dominican and Puerto Rican children and teach them how to better themselves, and how to make a difference for the gospel.  In an area where gangs and drugs and teenage pregnancy rates are high, the tutors at OE help build Christian character, and focus on academics in a program that has seen phenomenal high school graduation results in the past 14 years.

I fell in love and have been going back the past 5 years, taking with me teams of people each summer whose lives are forever changed by the ministry. You go thinking you’re going to help these kids, but you walk away finding that God is teaching you way more about yourself than you could ever teach these children.  And isn’t that what grace is?  Getting something you weren’t expecting?   Even a middle-aged gal…traipsing around NY like a teenager.  HA!….Ya gotta love it!

OK – this is the part where I have to “fess up”.  I have to admit that I’ve been to a few Broadway plays while there, so don’t hate me because I’m Broadway saavy.   It’s what God lured me to New York with in the midst of my selfishness and so I feel like I should honor Broadway plays by seeing a show now and then.  That, or at least a Yankees or Mets game.  Are you buying this?  Yeah…no – me neither.

So anyway….I’m heading there again at the end of the week to work again with these delightful kids.  If you think of it, pray for a safe trip, lots of great stories about God’s grace, as well as my ability to lead our team of 14.  Each team going this summer will be teaching on a different genre of books;  historical fiction, mystery, biographies, science and technology, etc.  Our team will be teaching on mysteries, writing stories and how God writes OUR story.  We have been busy preparing, but I sometimes get all wrapped up in  the plans that go along with making this a successful trip, when my first priority should be to pray.  I always want to be reminded that I’m not in charge – it’s God’s gig and it’s His party.

Speaking of parties….this will be the first year that we are in the Big Apple when our country celebrates our Independence on July 4th.  That will be a treat!  Undeserved….but a treat nonetheless.  Follow along on the fun as I blog my way through New York next week with Operation Exodus.  Grace…and Broadway plays.

I’m thinking about my Dad today.  He was a wonderful man, although I didn’t know that until I had children of my own. Growing up, we didn’t have a close relationship, mostly because he wasn’t very relational.

I’m wired for relationship and he was practical, analytical, loved routine, was linear, didn’t color outside the lines and ate the exact same thing every day for lunch.  He was an aeronautical engineer that had a pocket protector that held his pencils (you know the type). Rather than offer encouragement and support he was wired to look at something and figure out the how / what / when / where of what could go wrong or break down.  So we didn’t speak the same language and we weren’t close.

After I married and had kids, my son developed a love for “Papa” that was endearing.  “Mommy, Papa can fix anything!”  I learned to appreciate his practicality and the fact that although we didn’t speak the same language of love he still loved his family and cared for us by providing for us financially and with a nice home.  He wasn’t exactly knowledgeable on the emotional and spiritual aspects of supporting and raising children, but you do the best you can with what you’re equipped with.  And I think he had regrets about that, but being the practical guy that he was he didn’t dwell on it.

Could my Dad done better as a Father?  Sure he could have. Could I hold on to bitterness and un-forgiveness for things he wasn’t programmed to understand?  Absolutely…and I dabbled in that for a season.  Could I bash him after he was gone and blame him for being the reason for my own lack-luster ability to be more of a positive encourager? Oh, that would been the easy thing to do. But the bottoms line is forgiveness and grace.

Dang – there’s that grace word again.  Ugh.  Giving my Dad something that he didn’t deserve.  But what if I want to hold on to it for a little while longer until I’m feeling better and THEN I offer him grace when I’m good and ready?

The place that I’m at is this:….I certainly don’t deserve forgiveness from MY “heavenly Father”…and so today I will offer forgiveness to the man that cared for me in his own way – the only way he knew how and I will continue to allow God to heal any broken places in my heart.  I will say “Happy Father’s Day” to my Daddy and rest in the knowledge that my Heavenly Father offers me the best love and support my earthly father couldn’t.  So its a win / win.  Forgiveness is for me to offer, and when I have trouble walking through that all I have to do is ask God for help.  And forgiveness is for my sweet Dad.  Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

Oh….and by the way….guess who now is just as linear as her dad (I seriously want to roll down my window and reprimand people whose bumper stickers aren’t placed evenly in the middle of their bumper) and eats almost the exact same thing for lunch every day?  Uh huh.  However, I DO draw the line at pocket protectors!  🙂

 

I just came off of a wonderful weekend away with girl friends.  Not just any girl friends.  These ladies – some from my past but most in the-here-and-now are the ones who I surround myself with to keep me grounded.   I hold each of them near to my heart, as they are the ones who make me feel that I have value.  I am humbled that they walk this journey with me, and I am so thankful for the special part each of them play in my life.  When we get together, all our different personalities come to the surface and you can imagine the fun we have.  They kidnapped me unknowingly (or at least tried to) for a R&R  weekend in Tahoe, and before you could say “pass the M&M’s“,  Christ’s bond knit us together and the laughter began, the wine was opened,  the stories began to spill out, the chocolate began to be consumed and before you know it we began to make another special memory together.  These ladies take very good care of me, and this weekend was meant to honor me in a special way when I needed it most.  I am so grateful.

Shortly before the drive up the hill to Lake Tahoe (my favorite place on the planet) a new friend, Sara gave me an encouraging note to help lift the burden of a big project we are working on together.  It came with some wild flowers and hand delivered by her sweet children with a big hug, and a note that said “…let these wild flowers remind you that our God brings order to wild things and makes rebels into His children.”   On the front was one simple word.…”Holiness”.

Sara and I have had conversation about our former lives, and how by God’s grace we are changed women, so the part about making rebels into His children especially hit home with me.  Like those wild flowers, I was a bit of a rebel in my past – oh, probably tame by many standards but rebellious towards God nonetheless.  My mouth (no filter) and actions (most of which were geared towards attention towards self) sometimes were a reflection of my desire to hold on to some bit of control of my own life and not have to turn everything over to this cosmic killjoy in the sky.

As you can guess, I’m typically the kind of gal that you can warn, “You’d better not run into that brick wall…it’s going to hurt” and I’ll still end up running head-on into it because I somehow don’t believe you.  When I was young, I wasn’t exactly listening well to God.  Yet He has been so kind to me in that vein and He hasn’t  forced Himself upon me.  He’s allowed me to walk through life full of myself and often going my own way until I bash into a few walls and finally come running back to His side.  There, He enfolds me in His arms with nothing but unconditional love.   “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear him..” (Psalm 103:10-11)

So there we all sat, gathered on the deck of this beautiful cabin and one friend started sharing some old stories about some of my antics from years ago.  Admittedly, we have some pretty funny stories from our younger years – when I wasn’t exactly plugged in to the Holy Spirit.  As she spoke there were moments where I cringed.  Did I really say that?  Ugh.  I did what?  My main concern was that those in the group that might still be holding on to a thread of misconception that I might possibly have it somewhat together, surely they would be shocked to hear some of the less than holy things that I had done.  Again, trying to look better than I was.

But as we walked through the weekend together, and I was loved and encouraged by these precious sisters, it was a sweet reminder of the grace God has shown me.  Just like those wild flowers Sara brought me, He has brought order to this wild thing and taken a rebel and turned her into one of His children.  My hope is that someday I’ll end up resembling just a inkling of the flip side of the card ….something that I could never achieve on my own – just a tiny glimpse of holiness.

I am so grateful that these ladies water and nourish this wild flower.  Thanks girl friends!