The Worst Apologist

I had a conversation about faith with a former-youth-pastor-turned-agnostic friend today. I brought it up over eating tacos.  Our conversation was on the tipping point of reaching that controversial subject and I couldn't help myself. I asked him what he believed. 

Turns out, I am the worst apologist in the world. Now, I already knew I'm not the best at verbal communication, but you see, I appealed to a Higher Power. I asked the Holy Spirit to speak through me and here I was expecting to be Moses leading this person out of slavery, or, put less dramatically, at least get him thinking in the right direction. I listened to his own journey and responded with a few points of what I believe. I realized afterwards that some things I said were not quite accurate or didn't come out the way I wanted. What happened to the Holy Spirit giving me the words to say? 

As he talked, I felt my mind lingering on the objections to Christianity that he had and how in the world I would answer them. I had heard many of these objections before and at one point had known how to "give an answer to what I believe" but gosh darn it, I couldn't seem to think straight at all! Maybe it was the chorizo taco, but I felt myself frustrated by having nothing to say but, "Yeah, that makes sense" and "Thank you for sharing." Maybe it's a good start, I thought. I'll be able to come back to those questions he has later, and let him know my own opinion.

How incredibly hard for my prideful mind to be okay with saying "yeah, that makes sense" instead of "well, this is what I think" or "I'll get back to you on that" to statements Christians are uncomfortable with.

I learned today, however much I hate not being able to respond the way I thought I should, that Christians (and humans in general) have a little-appreciated asset to consider in interactions with others. I know that I need to practice it more often, though every fiber of me may object: 

Humility--not the fake, sugar-coated kind, but the true submission of one's fundamental beliefs, rights, and desires and consideration of the beliefs, rights, and desires of another 

The Comfortable Lie

It's quite disarming when my ideas about who God is begin to change. Though God is constant, my imperfections obstruct a clear view of my Savior. Instead of coming to the Scripture with a certain set of long-standing beliefs and translating God's Word based on that, I need to come to God's Word and let it dictate --even re-direct-- my beliefs and actions. 

Instead of translating Scripture with my preconceived, "security blanket" beliefs, I need to allow Scripture to translate me. 


In my experience, I have encountered two kinds of lies, and they are on opposite sides of the spectrum. First are lies based on insecurity. These are the lies that make you hesitant and fearful, the sort that whisper how ugly, unloved, talentless, uninteresting, or unforgivable you are. Second are comfortable lies. These lies are harder to pick up on, because you desperately want to continue believing a lie because it is what you have always believed and this belief has provided you with comfort at some point in your life. Comfortable lies are not obvious. In fact, they take a lot of digging, vulnerability, and questioning to even begin to decipher.

So I welcome you on this journey of deciphering what may be a comfortable lie I have believed all my life. Naturally, I suppose, because the topic is one I always wrestle with, it has to do with God and suffering. 

I've always believed that God has a hand in suffering, meaning that He permits it because we live in a fallen world and He knows He can and will work it all out for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28.) I'll call this the reactionary view of God and suffering [[ silly me trying to create my own theological terms ;) ]] God knows what will happen, He permits it, and He reacts in light of the situation to bring about good. 

That sounds pretty good to me, even now. But in light of some sermons I have heard recently, my reactionary view is uncomfortably leaning towards more of a proactive view. By proactive I mean that God doesn't just have a hand in suffering. 

God proactively leads us into hard times for His glory and our present and future good. 

At first, to me, it seems paradoxical and offensive to our Almighty Savior to think He leads us to places of wilderness. But its becoming more obvious to me in reading the Bible that this is often how He acts, and it is said quite clearly. I think I have the potential to get way off-track when I reach a conclusion like this. I start skewing such a statement . . . believing either:

a) God leads us into hard times exclusively for His glory with no regard to us (which gives no personal purpose to pain)

b) God leads us into hard times for our bad (which is a hopelessly vindictive belief)

c) God leads us into hard times for His glory and our heavenly good (which gives no joy for the present)

To think that God, throughout my life has and will BRING suffering TO me . . . it doesn't sit well. But perhaps that's why we are given the testimonies of so many others in the Bible and in our own interactions with people, of incredible blessing and grace in the midst of trial.

Today at church, we talked about Exodus 16. This is the point where God has brought the Israelites out of slavery and into . . . well . . . a literal wilderness. The Israelites are confused and are listening to lies from Satan that tell them it would have been better to have stayed in Egypt than to waste away in the desert.

 In the midst of His people's grumbling, God, who could easily have got fed up with the Israelites' lack of faith, performed a remarkable act of grace. He does NOT guide them out of the wilderness, instead choosing to lead them wandering around the desert for 40 years. It must have been hard in many ways, but for 40 years God graciously rained down bread for the Israelites to eat. It was an instructive time to teach the Israelites how to be truly free. The pastor pointed out that God didn't bring them into the wilderness to create their own ability to sustain, instead HE provides/rains down grace on us. 

Here I have provided a few Bible passages with emphasis where it seems as if God is proactive instead of reactive in regards to suffering. 

Deuteronomy 8:2-5 (The Voice)

² Remember how the Eternal, your True God, led you through the wilderness these past 40 years. He did this to humble you, to test you, to uncover your motivations, to see if you would obey His commands.³ He humbled you by making you hungry when there was no food in the desert. Then He fed you with manna, a food you and your ancestors had never heard of. He did this because He wanted you to understand that what makes you truly alive is not the bread you eat but following every word that comes from the mouth of the Eternal One.^[a] 4 Your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t swell throughout your 40 years of wandering. ⁵ I want you to know in your hearts that the Eternal your God has been training you just as a parent trains a child.

Genesis 50:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 

Esther 4:13-14 (NIV)

¹³ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 

Job 1:21

²¹ and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.^[a]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

    may the name of the Lord be praised.” 

Matthew 4:1-4

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted^[a] by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[b]”

And to what end did these remarkable warriors of God suffer? 

• Joseph to second-in-command of Egypt, able to save thousands from starvation and reconciling family to each other and to God
• Moses and the Israelites to experiencing God's grace over and over and over when they should have received judgment for their idolatrous ways
• Esther to saving her people from massacre
• Job to receive innumerable blessings 
• Jesus to be glorified at the Father's right hand

Hebrews 12:4-14 (The Message)

^4-11 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? 

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,    but don’t be crushed by it either.It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;    the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God. 

^12-13 So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!

This is suffering born not out of punishment, nor out of idleness. Here is suffering as instruction that serves a greater purpose. 

Admittedly, I could be very wrong! I may be interpreting Scripture incorrectly. In this case, please feel free to continue a conversation in the comments below, because I would love to hear your input. My hope is that this post will encourage you to further reflection, prayer, and exploration of God's Word. :) I'm still exploring and trying to figure this out myself!

Hope Now

More and more, I am realizing that hope is not limited to the future. It is a grave insult, I believe, to call hope a "future happy fulfillment of half-believed wish." Hope lives in the present, not the future. If hope is a tree its roots lie in the here and now, while its branches stretch towards past and future. Hope has a hand in everything. To say, "we have pain now, but look ahead--it will get better in heaven!" may be true, but it is hardly helpful to the one who is in pain. Sure, it can provide a brief glimpse of happiness but it is almost harmful to point a suffering person to unimaginable events and experiences. Imagination can only go so far, and it is severely limited by a broken heart.

I think one of the most helpful things you can do for a person in pain after a time of deep sorrow is to gently illuminate present goodness. Don't overwhelm with false happiness. Acknowledge grief. Yet point out the laughing child dancing in the street, the multi-colored palette sunset, the patient father teaching his son how to catch a ball. Because here lies concrete reality, a present truth instead of a past or future one. 

Jesus said, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." Sometimes I get the verb tense mixed up in my head and think Jesus was saying I will overcome the world. After all, the evidence seems to suggest there ain't much victory going on in our war-torn world. But our God is a God of hope, and that means He is rooted in the present. He is the Light of the World and this light is our concrete, unshakeable, lovestruck hope. 

Currently I'm reading a book called Here and Now: Living in the Spirit In speaking of a particularly hopeful friend of his, Henri Nouwen says, 

There is nothing sentimental about him. He is a realist, but his deep faith allows him to know that hope is more real than despair, faith more real than distrust, and love more real than fear. It is this spiritual realism that makes him such a joyful man.  

Whenever I meet him, I am tempted to draw his attention to the wars between nations, the starvation among children, the corruption in politics, and the deceit among people, thus trying to impress him with the ultimate brokenness of the human race. But every time I try something like this, he looks at me with his gentle and compassionate eyes and says: 'I saw two children sharing their bread with one another, and I heard a woman say thank you and smile when someone covered her with a blanket. These simple poor people gave me new courage to live my life.'  

My friend's joy is contagious. The more I am with him, the more I catch glimpses of the sun shining through the clouds. Yes, I know there is a sun, even though the skies are covered with clouds. While my friend always spoke about the sun, I kept speaking about the clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the clouds.  

Those who keep speaking about the sun while walking under a cloudy sky are messengers of hope, the true saints of our day.

Mexico Mission Trip

Friends and Family,

First of all, thank you so much for your dedicated prayer and financial support. Without you, I would not have been able to go on this mission trip and I would have missed so much of seeing God at work in a culture I am coming to love more and more. It’s hard to believe that it is over . . . thankfully, God stretched out the time while we were in Mexico. The days felt gloriously long and productive.

There wasn’t necessarily a “typical” day in the week we spent at the Back2Back Ministries group home. We would start each day with breakfast, a scheduled devotional and small group time. How refreshing to start the day right within vulnerable community!

Speaking of community, one of our major prayer requests was for unity within the team and wow—God really came through for us! I have never been in a group with such consistent good attitudes and a commitment to dig deeper with each other and with God. Vulnerability was huge. Through small group and debrief times every night, we encouraged each other in our struggles and rejoiced with each other over the wonderful things that were happening. It is amazing what difference good attitudes can bring to a team’s productivity and joy.

God delighted us with many blessings on our trip. He protected all of us from injury and illness (which is almost unheard of on these Taylor University mission trips it seems!) Through prayer, He healed one of the team of an injury he had dealt with for over a year. God personally comforted me in my anxieties by bringing others around me to encourage and pray for me. If nothing else, my prayer life has changed as a result of this trip. I have been encouraged to pray with boldness, and as I came back to Taylor I realized how much more I am praying with people, not just for them. I am motivated to halt the busyness of life in order to bring concerns to God immediately, joining with friends to lift burdens to Someone who can actually carry them.

Me and Gael!

I interacted with kids from poor communities, a government shelter for abused and neglected children, a girl’s home run by three nuns, and a family all of whom Back2Back partners with. In all of these places, the people I spoke with ministered to me even as I was serving them. The graciousness of Mexican people is truly inspiring. Three teenage guys who volunteer with Back2Back graciously spent their spring break serving and hanging out with us. They touched our team with their generosity and love.

Many kids impacted the hearts of our team. One of my buddies was a boy named Gael, who is about ten years old. He is a sweet boy that greeted me every time we went to his community with a pat on the back, a side hug, and a smile. He’d then ramble a bit in Spanish and I would have no idea what he was saying. Gael really caught on to the songs we taught the kids during our program. He would walk around, singing “Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo en mi corazón” (I’ve got the joy down in my heart) and “Mi Dios es grande, mi Dios es fuerte” (My God is greater, My God is stronger.) Of course, I loved singing these with him. We also played a Memory game several times. I would laughingly call him a “tramposo” (cheater) because he kept peeking under the cards to get the right matches! Silly, silly, silly.

I was overjoyed simply to be around kids (I don’t get to see many at college)! I enjoyed going around to all the kids, learning their names (unfortunately forgetting some of them) and learning a little about them. The program we put on with games, skits, songs, and crafts was always a blast. One team member even taught some girls Irish dancing! The cool thing about loving on these kids was that we knew that they were not going to be abandoned. Back2Back is in continual connection and ministry with them.

Easter Sunday was a unique experience for me. Ask me the full details in person if you want to hear the story, but basically, God gave me the opportunity to share my faith with a person at the market (where we got souvenirs.) I was carrying my Bible and journal around and the market vendor (Victor) asked me what the book was. He showed me his favorite passage: Psalm 91. When I asked if he was a Christian, he kept responding with “I read my Bible.” Well, in the end, God prompted me to give Victor my English study Bible with all my notes and underlined verses. He was super excited and grateful and told me that because I had given him my Bible that he would read the Gospel I was talking about . . .   the book of John. I never expected for God to use me in this straight up evangelism way. I had never done that before, but God surprised me throughout the trip with His faithfulness and blessings.

I could go on and on . . .

My experiences resonate well with the last words of John’s Gospel: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

Oh how sweet to trust in Jesus.  

The Forest of Depression

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 

- Psalm 42:7

It is both a blessing and a great pain to both think and feel deeply. Because my mind constantly thirsts for Truth, God is able to teach me so many things about myself, others, and God. On the flipside, sometimes I think way too much--I dwell-- and when those thoughts are negative or are lies, it transfers to my emotions. Since I feel deeply as well, I am able to empathize with people who are suffering. However, I often dwell in my emotions also. So when negative thoughts or news of tragedy or anticipation of change reaches my mind, I try to process process process with all this emotion emotion emotion and one of two things happens. I either:

(1) Withdraw into myself and become overly anxious or depressed

or

(2) Entrust my deep-set thoughts and emotions to a God who responds in the way only HE can, reaching my deepest needs of mind and heart by responding with an equally, or even greater depth

That said, I stumbled upon an article in Christianity Today about depression. Based on the clinical definition, I have probably been in major depression once in my life. I know friends who struggle with depression much more than I have, and acquaintances who have suffered even more, to the point of even attempting suicide. It's terrifying. It's terrifying because the person is not thinking rationally. Even if they are, there are still lies that are being believed. Lies that can so cloud the bigger picture that it can steal a life! Some interesting points I gleaned from this article:

"And the nature of the relationships we do have is changing. Many have become what British sociologist Anthony Giddens labels "pure relationships"—"pure" in that they are detached from any social context, external structure, or security. There is no covenant, community, or being to orient the relationship or provide ongoing assurance, direction, and support. All of this must be generated by the relationship itself, which exacts a heavy burden. We can never relax in pure relationships because there is no pledge of fidelity or constancy on which to rest. We must "maintain" these relationships ourselves. Over time, constant vigilance and sustained insecurity often lead to frustration, anxiety, and weariness. These relationships are just too hard to keep up."    

• Our relationships are too individualistic. We don't rely on dedicated community in Christ, but rely on ourselves to sustain friendships. 

•  We "need" to perform maintenance work. When we become weary of this, we can feel all sorts of emotions.

"Opportunity for the church -- Uncertainty, insignificance, and powerlessness. Destructive, self-indulgent escape. Loneliness and isolation. Fear and distrust. Loss of hope. Retreat. Although hasty and incomplete, this sketch of the early-21st-century American cultural mood picks up dark details masked by indices of societal well-being. It also reminds us that to focus exclusively on the individual in our efforts to understand the depression epidemic is to miss the forest for the trees." 

• The Church has opportunity to do the most good for those who struggle with depression. The Church is a hospital for all of our broken lives. We need to address the epidemic of depression in society, not just on an individualized basis

 "Christian teaching about sin and its reverberating effects frees the church from surprise about the disordered state of human affairs. We can acknowledge the effects of sin both within and without. We can look at wrecked reality squarely in the eye and call it what it is. 

And thanks be to God, who raised the One who entered fully into our condition, breaking the power of sin, death, and hell, that we not only can name wrecked reality, but also lean into it on the promise that Christ is making all things new. 

Those who bear the marks of despair on their bodies need a community that bears the world's only sure hope in its body. They need communities that rehearse this hope again and again and delight in their shared foretaste of God's promised world to come. They need to see that this great promise, secured by Christ's resurrection, compels us to work amidst the wreckage in hope. In so doing, the church provides her depressed members with a plausible hope and a tangible reminder of the message they most need to hear: This sin-riddled reality does not have the last word. Christ as embodied in his church is the last word."  

• We know where depression comes from, can call it what it is, and know that God is not going to let depression live forever 

•  Community is essential for reminders of God's provision, love, and promises. If you don't have good community, find it. No excuses until you find one. Even if it is difficult to find one, it is out there, so why stop looking for your biggest aid in fighting depression?

Addicted to Easy

I'm addicted to easy. In Mexico, many many things were easy and it is now I come back into the hard, harsh life of busy. Some of you may have questions. Isn't a mission trip supposed to be hard? Isn't it supposed to drive some unexpected growth amidst spiritual warfare and open your eyes to the despair of economic and social poverty? Throw in a little fear here, a little self-doubt there . . . how can it be anything but hard?

It seems an almighty offense to call the Gospel easy to live. But what I found out in Mexico was that God knew what He was saying when He speaks of the value of vulnerable community, the body of Christ working together, being of one mind and spirit, and ultimately living for the love of God and the love of others and sharing the Truth that rescues.


I was struck by how fulfilling it is to live in such a way, focusing exclusively on relationships.


Now, I come back and am bombarded by the busyness of school. Dare I say school is a necessary evil? No, no . . . it is a gift from God, though I believe the system is broken (yes, even in my Christian school) in many ways. It is a blessing to learn of what God has created and revealed to people, but we are motivated by the wrong things, driven by grades and success.

How hard it is to keep in mind the mission of life--abiding in Christ--while deadlines and busyness rule the world.

I hunger and thirst for righteousness--the righteousness of Christ piercing through the darkness of our busy American lives and restoring focus on Himself and on building relationships with others. So many times, we saw others forsake their schedules simply to spend time with us in Mexico. Graciousness abounded and the love of Christ flourished like opening blossoms in the spring. I struggle to find how to live this kind of life in a culture that demands a schedule and punishes you if you spend too much time on relationships and not on responsibilities.

Restore our broken lives, God. We are just as broken as the orphans and widows in Mexico, simply in different ways. I see now how easy it is to love when I am not limited by a task-driven schedule. Oh my gracious Savior, show us how to live this easy Gospel love in this world. I'm struggling. I'm struggling. I'm struggling, because I've tasted and seen that You are good . . . and now I am addicted to easy.

My God is so BIG

So strong and so mighty there's nothing my God cannot do! I must have sung this old Sunday School tune at least 10 times yesterday. I don't even know the rest of the lyrics, but those were quite enough for me to shout down the hallway in ecstasy.

all-powerful

Shepherd

Servant 

Some of my favorite moments with God is when I lay aside my troubles for a while and remind myself that I am a little child when it comes to loving and knowing God. So often I try to "figure out" what's going on in God's mind. Either to try to reconcile what's happening around me or to try and gain some measure of control. What a waste of time, really. More often, I need to rest and acknowledge God for who He is. Verbally. Words are powerful, and affirming God's glory and identity can be so freeing.

Savior

Merciful

Slow to anger

Abounding in love

At wing church last night (a time each week when my wing comes together for an hour to glorify God in community) we sang and then spoke words that described who GOD IS. We must have done this for 30 minutes, but it felt like 5. With each descriptor uttered, I felt a resonant "yes" dispelling my doubts. I could not help but grin at times, hearing my beautiful friends speak Truth and Life.

Counselor

King

Good

I didn't want to stop. For once, there was no urgency in my mind to hurry through because part of me wanted to do something else. No. For once, I fully enjoyed His presence and the presence of my sisters in Christ. I hunger for more of that kind of simple, childlike faith, back-to-the-basics worship.

God is . . . 

Joy

Creative

Friend

Compassionate

Empathetic

Conqueror

Victorious!

Teacher

Father

Righteous Judge

Holy

Perfect

Peace

Beautiful

Jealous

Wise

Gentle

Resurrection

Renewal

And indescribably more than we could ever ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20)