Dog Naps

Here is how I heard the story:

Joe opened his door to check on the noise out on the front porch. As soon as the door was opened, a big friendly Golden Retriever ambled in. The dog spotted a sunny spot by the window, laid down in it and fell fast asleep. Joe watched him for awhile and, seeing he was having a nice nap, decided not to disturb him. About an hour later, the dog woke up, went to the front door and scratched to be let out. Joe obliged and the dog went on his merry way. The next day, at almost exactly the same time as the day before (1 p.m.) the dog scratched on Joe’s front door. Joe opened it and the dog went to the same spot and fell asleep. This pattern repeated itself for several days with no variation. Finally, Joe attached a note to the dog’s collar, informing the owner where the dog had been spending his afternoons. The dog left as usual and Joe hoped the note would settle the issue for a worried owner.

The next day, the dog returned with a different note around his collar. Joe picked it off and read it. This is what it said:

“Thank you so much for allowing Bob to come into your house every day. He is a kind old dog and will certainly not cause you any trouble. You see, we have three small children who think that Bob is their personal toy. I try to keep them out of Bob’s way, but they always seem to get him into the middle of their mischief. I guess Bob just decided to take a break every day and nap where it would be quiet. Thank you for giving him that chance at peace of mind.” There was one final sentence in the note.

“Would you mind if I joined Bob tomorrow?”

Alternative to Retirement

When my grandparents moved into another “fixer-upper” house at age 70, we all knew the routine. For the first year, grandpa would wax eloquent on all the changes he wanted to make and then the second year he would make them. And his efforts always paid off – at the end they would have a beautiful, ultimately livable space that had once been a run-down shack. I remember being over there one time when he was gutting some electrical circuits out of a wall. “Time to rewire the old man” said the old man.

That is the perfect picture for an alternative to retirement. One of the primary suppositions about traditional american retirement is this: The money we spend in our retirement is ours to do with as we please. It is the classic sense of entitlement. I am entitled to my savings, my pension, my Social Security, my golf, my retirement community, my peace and quiet. It’s mine. I am spending my kids’ inheritance. But as with any sense of entitlement, it is a selfish focus and ultimately leads to an unsatisfying, unhealthy lifestyle. It also offends God.

Yes, it offends God. Ultimately, He owns everything. He gives us what we have so we can work in partnership with Him throughout our lives. When we squander our talents, energy, money, friendships, jobs on ourselves and a headlong pursuit of entitlement, it will never end well. But that is the nature of our country, a society hell-bent on retiring.

Back to the rewiring. I love what Barbara Morris says in her essay “The Re-Wirement Alternative to Retirement”

What does it mean to re-wire, and what is the value? An electrician will tell you rewiring is often necessary to prevent fires or to enhance capacity of a system. Improving and upgrading electrical power coming into the house or business, installing more outlets to improve productivity or convenience is one of the most effective ways to improve the value of an old but very serviceable building.

You can rewire your post 65 life in the same way. You can rewire your mind and body to prevent the mental and physical meltdown that manifests as loneliness, boredom, and depression. You can enhance the capacity of your life by improving and upgrading what comes into your brain and how you use your mind and body. Your re-wiring can improve your productivity and be the most positive thing you can do to enhance the value of your aging but very serviceable mind and body.

Just as my grandfather rewired the house so it could meet the future, so too our post-65 years need to be rewired. During the years when we raised a family and paid off the mortgage, we were focused on those time-heavy and demanding responsibilities. But when we began our fifties and sixties, those demands lessened and they give us a lease to become really productive members of society. Morris says that there are now 1200 physicians who are still seeing patients after age 90 (and by that I mean treating them, not just “seeing” them).

Rewiring often means retraining, re-equipping, learning new skills. There is a health benefit to doing this as well. A well-known study out of the University of Chicago followed a large convent of nuns. They found that nuns who continued to learn, to do puzzles and help others with their problems had virtually no symptoms of Alzheimer’s. When autopsies were performed on them after death, they found that many of them had Alzheimer’s, but because they continued to learn and grow, they showed no symptoms.

The government now gives grants for companies that hire people over age 65. And advances in medicine virtually guarantee most of us will live well past 80. How will you re-wire? What skills do you want to add to those you already have? What truths would you love to pass on to others? How wonderful it would be to go to a marriage counselor who has been married for 70 years. Think of the incredible truths a 90-year old can pass on about being a pastor, a teacher, a writer, an architect, a mother and grandmother.

Jeff Galloway, author of “Running Until You’re 100″ tells how he taught his own mother how to run at age 63. She was in a walker at the time and her health was deteriorating. Slowly, but surely, he helped her set goals for walking and then jogging and finally running. She has now completed two marathons over the age of 70. And as she achieved these goals, her health has improved dramatically.

What will you do to re-wire instead of retire?

Her Diary, His Diary

This explains about 98% of male-female conflict:

Her Diary:

Tonight I thought my husband was acting wierd. We made plans to eat at a fancy restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset that I was a little bit late arriving, but he never said anything about it. Conversation wasn’t really flowing, so I suggested we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn’t say much along the way. I asked him if I had done something to make him so upset and he said “I’m not upset. You didn’t do anything wrong.” On the way home, I told him I loved him and he just smiled at me. Then he kept driving. He never said a single thing on the way home and when I tried to engage him in conversation, his answers were really short. I can’t explain his behavior; I don’t know why he didn’t say “I love you” back. When we got home, I was sure I had completely lost touch with him. He just sat down on the couch and watched television for an hour without saying anything. All he did was stare straight ahead. Finally, when the silence got too much, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he too came to bed, but once again didn’t say anything. He seemed so distracted and distant. Within a few minutes, he fell asleep. That’s when I lost it. I began to cry, wondering why I had lost him and trying to figure out how to rekindle our marriage. I’m almost sure he is thinking about someone else. I feel so lost.

His Diary:

Motorcyle won’t start…can’t figure out why.

How God Helps Us With Our Finances

In a nutshell: He doesn’t help us with our finances. Not in the traditional way that most people believe. If by “help”, you mean that God will swoop down and rescue you from financial disaster, that is not usually how it works. Not at all.

But, God does give huge support in our financial endeavors. In the life we call “following God”, we recognize that everything we do in this world can be a partnership with God. With regards to money,  I can see at least eight ways God can give us long-term support with our finances:

1. Wisdom: There are thousands of traps out there ready to waste our money, steal our money and cause us to lose our money through negligence. Twice in the past five years, people have come to me with incredible investment opportunities. Both times, the risk seemed low and the rewards considerable. Both times, God sent people to me who gave me advice on why I should not go with either investment. Each of these investments went through bizarre disasters, and I would have lost most of what I owned if I had gone with either of them.

2. Defeating the Waste of Self-Absorption: We often think that we don’t have enough money. That is sometimes true (especially of those who live in third-world poverty). For the most part, we have enough money, we just have too many wants. God helps us with our money by showing us how much we are spending on ourselves: Our comforts, our habits, our pleasure and our fears. We are self-absorbed and this costs us a lot of money. Think of the person who spends $100,000 on a sports car and then wonders why God didn’t answer his prayer for more financial success.

3. Rebuking the Devourer: In Malachi 3 God promises if the people of God will begin living on 90% of their income instead of 100% (tithing), he will “rebuke the devourer”. The Devourer is everything in our world that will destroy our possessions. Traffic accidents, household appliances exploding, unexpected medical bills; these are all examples of the Devourer at work. When we tithe we are recognizing a partnership with God. The person who stops living a self-absorbed life, who tithes in recognition of God’s partnership will find that things just don’t break down as often. The pastor of my church growing up lived on very little and gave much of his financial wealth away. He kept a car running until 250,000 miles. When he got a new car after almost 20 years, his old car died about a month later. The mechanic opened up the engine and found there were almost no piston rings left. It should not have run at all. But God kept it going…he rebuked the Car Devourer.

4. Simplifying our Needs: When you follow Christ, your priorities change. One thing many followers of God find is that they don’t want expensive things or too many things to complicate their lives. A simple follower of God is usually quite content to live simply. This will definitely change a person’s financial standing. John Wesley used to teach that a follower of God needed to work as hard as they can, live as simply as they can to give as much as they can to God’s Work.

5. Work Ethic: Those who follow God with a full dedication often work harder than the average person. For centuries, this has been called the “Protestant Work Ethic”. Hard work almost always impresses those for whom we work and it almost always produces higher returns on our money. Hard working salespeople make more sales. Harder working students get better jobs. The work ethic that comes from the Spirit of God will give a person more ability to produce money…and this will dramatically impact a person’s finances.

6. Sin is Expensive; Righteousness spends Differently: Which person will spend more money: The one who spends a week in Las Vegas, or the person who goes to Yellowstone Park? I am not saying everyone in Yellowstone is righteous, but is hard for me to believe that those who deliberately choose Vegas as a vacation spot are doing it in order to enjoy the Godly life. Let’s face it: Sin can be very costly. Look at addicts, adulterers, thieves, alcoholics, liars, swindlers and the like. Though they may all have moments where they make a lot of money fast, they usually lose it even faster. Most people who live Godly lives never waste their money on vices.

7. We Become God’s Channel: When we seek to use our money for God, he sees that we are good stewards of our money. God loves to use good stewards to get some major things done. If you continue to allow your life to be a channel of God’s work, expect he will give you enough money to get that work done. You will never out-give God.

8. Long-term View Always Pays Off: In the world of investing, it is said that those who invest with an eye to the long-term always do much better than those who invest in the short-term. Long term vision often keeps us from spending foolishly. No one has longer vision than God. The person who plants a tree often will not see that tree grow to its full height. But living in Sacramento, a city of Trees as it is known, I can thank God for the vision of people who planted so many of the downtown trees a century ago. The same is true of finances. The longer a vision you have for finances, the better you will handle it. For instance, if you waste five dollars now (money that could have been invested) it is like wasting $25 over the next 40 years. Keep the long view and understand that God may want us to be frugal to bless future generations and not just the here and now. God is not pleased by the thought behind the bumper sticker “We’re Spending Our Kids’ Inheritance”.

Easy Tether Comes Through

I often have to work on the run somewhere. Many times, that requires Internet access. But I have several limitations to that requirement:

1. I don’t like to use my phone when doing a lot of typing.
2. I can’t always find a Wifi hot spot
3. I am too cheap to buy a WiMax subscription
4. I don’t want to pay for my phone to create a hot spot for my computer (up to $40/month)
5. I don’t want to break the law by rooting or jailbreaking my phone.

I found the legal and affordable solution. The program “Easy Tether” does not root the phone and allows your phone to give Internet access to your computer. In fact, I did this entire article while in a cafe that does not have Internet access. Right now, it costs only $4.99 through Amazon’s App store.

I did have some problems with setup. My LG phone needed a software update to get it all to work. But after it did, I have had no problems at all. For many people, this article is gobbldygook. But for Technogeeks who want to use their phone to get internet for their computers, this is a reasonable solution.

Review of Chapter Seven in the book “Radical”

Key Teaching in this Chapter: Platt asserts that most Christians are either intellectual or practical Universalists (Sidenote: A universalist believes everyone will go to heaven). This chapter is designed to show the reader that Universalism is not a biblical position to live by.

Strong Points in this Chapter: Taking the reader on a whirlwind tour through the Book of Romans, Platt stops at significant places to point out why we need a Savior and why many people will not achieve heaven. He notes that all people have a knowledge of God, that all have rejected God, that all are guilty before God and will be punished. He also shows how the death of Jesus pays the penalty for sin and gives us a chance of heaven. This is a good Gospel presentation, though it is primarily intended to show the believer one last point: That people can really only trust in God if someone preaches. And we cannot preach unless we go to every nation with the Good news about God. If we really believe people are lost, we will be “radical” in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This chapter lays out the case for missions, evangelism and the proclamation of the Gospel very clearly.

Weaker Points of the Chapter: Though this is a very straight-forward teaching on missions and the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel, it still has some weak spots. I do like his description of practical Universalism. I am not sure you can apply it as widely as he does. Just because a person does not personally preach the Gospel to a tribe in Irian Jaya does that make them a Practical Universalist? As every preaching missionary reminds us, the support and sending of the church, giving of financial support  and praying for success and protection for the missionaries are just as important as the preaching is. Like an extravert, Platt continues to emphasize radical living in terms of major steps of action – like preaching.

Also, I do not agree with his assessment that we are doomed because we reject Christ. People are doomed because of rebellion and sin. If people are doomed because they reject Christ, then people are not doomed if they haven’t heard of Christ. In addition, Platt does not seem to wrestle with the harder issues of hell and heaven. (Or at least if he does, he doesn’t mention the wrestling match). As the old Evangelist, George Whitefield says “No one should teach on heaven and hell without tears.” This chapter seems to have all the zeal with few of the tears. I guarantee you that Platt feels deeply about the lost condition of man (his actions show that). He needs to communicate that with more emotional investment than just a bible study through Romans.

My Personal Takeaway from this Chapter: Every time I read anything about missions and the needs of the lost, I am purified in my resolve. This chapter had a personal impact on me to force me into seeing the lost condition of man all over again.

Spiritual Formation for Extraverts

I watched my friends wander by the lake, sitting with their backs to the trees, lying on the grass, looking up at the sky. Most had serene, angelic looks on their faces. I, however, wanted to explode.

Our leadership team was at a spiritual retreat, working on our own “spiritual formation”. There are many definitions of this concept, but most of them involve three ideas:

• the work of changing the inner part of who we are
• the process of conforming that inner being to look like Jesus
• the outflow of this is to serve others.

We were spending the day in silence. We were encouraged to meditate, walk, read, think, pray; anything but talk. As far as I could tell, I was the only one about to have a fatal attack of the jitters (I later learned I was not the only one). I cannot go more than about an hour without wanting someone to talk to. I am an unashamed extravert. That means I can only live inside my head for a little while before I have to externalize my thoughts and interact with others. If I go too long without externalizing my thoughts to another person, I start to get morose, paranoid and even depressed. I need the rest of the world to help me keep my proper bearings.

When we gathered the twenty people together, we shared our experiences. I wanted to externalize my anguish, but I could quickly tell it would have gone against the stream. Several people were telling how this was a refreshing, renewing experience; they wanted to do this on a regular basis. I listened to their descriptions and decided I needed to get a deeper life with God before attempting this again. In the years since, I have certainly tried to spend hours in silence. I can do it, but I leave with no less anxiety and muddled head than I did years ago. I have also read many books on the subject of spiritual formation. These books fall into certain categories: Meditation, silence, Prayer, Scripture Reading, Listening to God, Confession of sins. The books are all saying things I completely agree with and try to practice. I have to say I do well at prayer, reading the Bible, listening to God. But recently, I noticed something about the practices of spiritual formation and the books that advocate these practices: They are written by introverts and are primarily designed for introverts. I have said this to many people and rarely do I find someone who disagrees with me.

Just as I have been critical of authors who write on outreach, evangelism and social justice from a strictly extravert point of view, so now I want to take to task those who neglect the extravert when it comes to Spiritual Formation. First, some definitions. I define an extravert in the classic Jungian framework: a person who gains energy by being around other people, who can think and feel more clearly if they use those thoughts and feelings to interact with others and who is not as comfortable living on the inside of themselves. An introvert is the opposite: Someone who gains energy by periodically getting alone, who can think more clearly and feel more confidently when by themselves or in a quiet place and who are not comfortable externalizing their life in front of others.

So, how can an extravert focus on the inner part of who they are when they are much more proficient in externalizing their thoughts and feelings?

For several years, I taught short seminars on spiritual formation for church planters. Generally, Church Planters are the entrepreneurs of church leaders. In order to get a church going from scratch, it takes people who are multi-relational, outgoing and interactive. Introverts can plant churches, but they have to take a more organic, one-on-one approach. Extraverts often get a church off the ground faster with more energy. Therefore, when I taught this course to extraverts, I noticed they were not terribly interested. I don’t blame them. I had approached the subject as if all of us were comfortable with reflecting deeply within. I now realize that is not how it works. An extravert will never be able to grow internally if they take an introvert’s approach. After getting polite but mundane response to my seminar, I revamped it with the extravert in mind. The first time I presented my Extraverted Version of Spiritual Formation, I witnessed a dramatic transformation. These church planters engaged immediately in the concepts. Even now, several years later, these church leaders come up and mention that seminar as foundational in their understanding of spiritual formation.

Here are the basic elements that form the fabric of a dynamic spiritual formation process for Extraverts:

1. An extravert needs to have more times devoted to spiritual formation than an introvert, but they must be of much shorter duration. Rarely can an extravert concentrate on any inner discipline for more than a half hour.
2. They need to have people in their life they can bounce ideas, decisions, thoughts and reflections off. These people must be instructed to know their role is to interact –  they don’t have to agree or disagree on principle. It actually works better if extraverts can have several other extraverts they speak to every week and possibly every day about the spiritual truths they are learning.
3. An extravert should seek to pass on what they are learning through mentoring, teaching, writing or music as soon as possible after coming to an understanding of a new truth.
4. Every truth has a corresponding action associated with it. An extravert should learn they must do something with what they are becoming and learning and not just accept new ideas as philosophical concepts.
5. An extravert desperately needs to have safe people they can talk with concerning the things they want to eliminate from their lives. These people should not be judgmental in nature, but neither can they be soft. They must challenge the extravert to new patterns of living based on the way God is changing them on the inside.

I am researching these things and may develop this teaching into a series of articles. At the very least, these five principles can change an extravert from the core outward. For instance, let’s talk about intercessory prayer. It is too difficult for me to spend hours praying on my own. However, if I can gather two or three other people to join me in prayer, the things Holy Spirit says to me often blends beautifully with what the others are praying. What they say often jibes perfectly with my thoughts and propels me into a new thought pattern altogether. If I sat for two hours trying to pray for someone, I would out-think myself and second guess my inner thoughts. But as soon as they come out of my mouth, I am often surprised at what I just prayed. In this regard, it is helpful when I am alone to pray out loud. Even if no one else is there, I can externalize my thoughts and listen to them as if someone else was praying. It helps.

Stay tuned…I am forming these thoughts as I grow.

Open Source Church – No Copyright

For those who follow my teachings on the podcast, in person or this blog, you’ll know I’ve been hawking the idea of Open Source Ministry for about 14 years.

I knew I should have written a book on it. Too late now.

At least someone wrote it. I will have to get a copy of it for my own edification. I will let you know when I am ready to review it.

The Group Influence on Sin

I looked over at the car beside me. This was so stupid. It was 8 am on a Sunday morning and we are both waiting at a stop light that would not turn green. We were traveling on a major road and we were stopped at a red light for a minor cross-street. I assume it normally does not get activated unless someone is waiting to use it. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a car on the road besides me and the guy next to me. We must have waited for four minutes and nothing was changing. Yet, like good law-abiding citizens we both sat there idling our engines.

I wonder how long we would have stayed there if the motorcycle had not pulled up. On the lane to the right of the guy beside me, a motorcycle came up and started to wait with us. But after 5 seconds, he looked both ways and bolted across the intersection. I was flabbergasted by this –  and offended.  Apparently, the guy beside me did not react the way I did. A few seconds after the guy on the Harley took off, so did he. They were both gone and left me holding up the letter of the law. On top of that, ten seconds later, the light turned green and I made my way – legally –  forward to my destination.

I have to say I felt a lot better when I came to the next light and they were both waiting there. But this scene touched off a spark of insight for me.

Many of our law-keeping ways have more to do with who is also keeping the law than our ingrained sense of right and wrong. I wish it weren’t so, but society proves over and over I’m right about this: You are more inclined to break the law if others are also doing so. Our mothers did have the question right: “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off also?” We all know the answer has three factors: 1. How many friends? 2. How high is the bridge? 3. Will I get caught?

In times of chaos (such as riots, blackouts and Justin Bieber concerts) people will still abide by the law as long as enough people around them are also keeping the law. But as soon as we notice “everyone” doing something wrong, our baser nature kicks in and we often do wrong with the rest. That is really the test of how strong our moral values are: Will we keep them if everyone else is not? I am thinking of the London riots from last summer. People were looting stores and burning cars who just a few weeks before were criticizing those who did those things. In a fascinating interview, one girl admitted she was standing there watching people take appliances from one store and was crying about the destruction of her society. But, as soon as she saw her friends go in and take some items, she thought to herself “I could use a new television”. It took about two minutes to go from outrage to outright sin.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem the week before he died, the crowds gustily voiced their approval of him. They shouted “Hosanna” and proclaimed him as the conquering Messiah. Did anyone imagine a week later they would be screaming for Pontius Pilate to “Crucify Him”? Mob mentality caused them to change their minds; nothing else makes sense. Jesus’ teaching was just as controversial and effective as it always had been (no more nor less), he did miracles that week,  and answered all their questions. Even up to the last minute, there were many vocal supporters. But as soon as the crowd began to turn on him, others followed suit. We don’t know how many people shouted for Jesus to be crucified, but it must have been a sizable majority for Pilate to go against his own desires out of fear for the crowd.

Last summer, when Casey Anthony was found not guilty in the drowning death of her daughter, people started a web page called “I hate Casey Anthony”. On that page, people were passing ideas around about how to kill her, lynch her or threaten her until she committed suicide. Here is one comment from that page: “Me either…I do not hate…it is wrong…but I do love this page.” Seriously, this person knew that participation in this page was wrong, but she valued being part of the crowd more than her own moral values.

What this really comes down to is a deep-seated need to belong. We will do almost anything in life to feel like we are a real part of a group of people. That includes sin. It would not be stretching it to say that most sin has some intrinsic element related to a desire to fit in, belong and have what others have.

Ask yourself this question? What would you consider doing if everyone you knew were also doing it? What would you do that is currently illegal if it was suddenly declared legal? Smoke pot? Commit adultery? Steal?

The answer to those questions is the real bedrock of our morality; or lack of it.

Take That. Lexus.

For those of  us who think the Lexus Christmas commercials mark the end of decent civilization as we know it, some more insanity. Literally.