My Current Status Revealed

I began to muse the other day on the things that make me feel alive. I know the things I sometimes do that make me feel dead inside and produce death in me. But there are several things I do that produce life. I find that the harmful things quench the life-giving things, and I think upon evaluation, you would see the same thing. It is sometimes only after I have a series of difficult time that I can see thos same times arrive when I negelct the life-giving sources. So these are the things that make me feel the Spirit of God alive in me. Things I will try to do as often as humanly possible. Things I will not apologize for and do with confidence. Things I share with others.

I feel the Spirit of God alive in me when....

I write.

I have meaningful dialogue with a Christian brother or brothers.

I listen to music.

I muse on God's Word.

I preach.

I read.

I listen to great men of God.

I spend time with my family.

Watch inspirational true stories and epic films.

Hang out with students.

Give to a charitable or missionary cause.

These things are in no particular order, but I urge you to look at mine as an example. Of course there are other things in a day that we "have" to do. But what day of mine would not be complete or lived to the fullest if I gave attention to a few or all of those things every single day. I bet your list would be no different. Christ came to give us life. Christ lives in us. So shouldn't that manifest itself in such things that come from our heart? He came to give us life internally, as "out of our bellies will flow living water". He isn't going to smack us over the head with it. So what are you waiting for? Live!

I remember the pettiness of my High School years. At Mounds, we had was called "party road", a dirt road running behind the school that people would go to "settle their differences". You know what I mean. It was the dreaded meeting point of two people after the words "see you after school" were spoken, meaning someone was going to take a beating.

Fights in school were always over stupid stuff that didn't matter. Someone called you or your girlfriend something, or some misunderstanding caused an already hot-head to boil over. This is was always followed by these scuffles, in some desperate attempt to prove how tough we were. RIDICULOUS!! And that's also how I feel about church squabbles...

Its completely unrealistic to think that we can live "fight" free. Even Jesus said, "it is impossible that offenses wont come". Being offended to the point of wanting to protect ouerselves is a natural part of human existence. So we fight. The book of James talks of this asking the question, "Where do fights and quarrels come from?" It then answers by saying, "It because we are at war within our own members." We are basically unsettled people, selfish people who have a hard time being at peace with self and God. This magnifies when we get with others, so therefore, we fight.

But as all things natural, there is a supernatural remedy. The ultimate way is to crucify your flesh. But for sake of practicality, there is some awareness that I wish to bring about conflict resolution that I feel is helpful to know. Maybe until we reach that perfect ideal of a total renewed self and peace is achieved, these are some tips to perhaps cut down on the number of fights we have, or at least make sure they don't spin horribly out of control.

1) When attempting to solve conflict, understand that everyone naturally has a defense for their position.

Conflict resolution only happens when people lose their pride and come to see the truth of a situation. That truth is usually that whatever the fight is over is no big deal or often a misunderstanding. But because we are unsettled and selfish people we take things to heart. And when we take it personally, we attempt to justify the reasons why we did, hence the defense. If we do not understand that all parties invovled are prepared to defend moreso than solve, we will never reach a resolution. The fight will only grow based on the fact that everyone thinks they are right, and our personal flags of "we are right" will be staked in the ground.

2) Offensive statements made in conflict are usually a reaction based on the defense, and rarely sincere appraisals of the situation or the people involved.

Any statements made behind your back in a conflict or before that dreaded roundtable of resolution should not be taken to heart. The passion surrounding the conflct itself and the defensive nature of humanity cause us to say stupid things about one another. Simply stepping back from any situation when its fresh usually will help the end result. Keep quiet as much as possible until thoughts are collected, and by all means, bridle your tongue. But if this does not happen, don't put much stock in what is said toawrd you or about you. I bet you they dont' really mean it the way its comes out.

3) Know that everybody wants somebody elses head on a platter.

The intersting thing about conflict, and perhaps this is the defensive nature, is that initially no one thinks they are at fault. We are often so blinded by anger or hurt that we can't see our own role that's complicating the situation. Let's face it, it's easier to play the blame game. And its never easy to self-assess. The neat thing is that in true conflict resolution, nobody's head has to fly. All parties can come away whole. And I dont think its a stretch to say this is probably how God wants it.

Fight were largely stupid then and they are largely now. Im sure there are a few things worth fighting for, but save your energy for when they arrive. Because they will. If knowledge is power, then understanding is steroids. Understanding the nature of conflict, more imoprtantly the nature of the people invovled, will go a long way in finding resolve. Peace be with you!

I Can See Your Under-Aware

Tonight when I was preparing my papers to throw i noticed that the "Scene" section, which is the part of Tulsa World that carries entertainment news, was thicker than the front page section that prints local and world news. I wonder if this is not going to become the trend.

In 1994, and estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed during the genocide, lasting nearly 100 days. Twenty percent of the countries population died, while the United Nations pulled out all assistance. Americans were glued to the television watching the OJ Simpson trial.

Our search for entertainment is killing our sense of awareness!

I grew up on movies and television. It was a favorite hobby of my family. We didn't spend much time outdoors and most Friday nights were movie nights. I speak as one who is certainly over-entertained. But also as one who is growing sick of it.

It's not enough that all shows and movies are the same now, we still seem to crave more and become more addicted to the idiot-box. Even when we are not watching, we have it on for "noise". Little do we know that the nosie leaks its messages into our sub-concious even then. And it's more than shows, it's commericals, telling us we must have more. All the while, glued to it, we become less aware of the world around us. The needs of our neighbors, literally and figuratively, get lost. And without knowing, we ourselves become less and less equipped to deal with reality, as we are more conditioned to the world of fantasy. Our reality becomes skewed, and our senses become weakened. Sooner than we can realize it, our entertainment works its way into every conversation and we are speaking to each other in movie quotes and commercial lingo. How life-giving is that?

Now the extreme...people who don't watch, who don't spend there God-given time engrossed in entertainment are viewed as "too religious" and outcasts of society. After all, to even mention life without the necessary dose of entertainment is unheard of. One is met with defensiveness of, "what do you want us to do, live in a cave?" As if that's the alternative for one, and secondly, and sadly, we have been made to think that the lack of entertainament makes us too primitive to exist in society. So then, we try and "regulate" it at times in guility response to what we know we should be doing instead. But we all know the necessary dosage, the controlled habit, still has a way of becoming an over-dose, and overdoses are always killers.

So what's the message in all of this? I think perhaps it's time to tune out for a while. I think that looks different for all of us. I don't know what it looks like for you. But at least even a short-term media fast would do us good. Whenever you do this, you will always find reasons "you have to have it". Listen to that thought alone. Anything folks that one "has to have"...by definiton, is an addiction.

But we cannot turn tuning out into piety. The idea of learning to be "Christianly" aware is never about the absence of something, but rather the involvement in Christian mission. The challenge can never be just to tune out. The over indulgence of entertainment has made that easy. We are too good at tuning out already. But the chief drive is for us to become people who are prayerfully aware. Aware to needs. Aware to suffering. Aware of the presence of God and when to celebrate it.

So, simply put, perhaps it is time to tune out in order to tune in. Be a sober people as we are called to be. And let us no longer disgrace the Faith by letting people see us Under-aware!