The Clothers...

Love your neighbor whether you see them or not

Life on the streets is hard. Some are there by circumstances or poor choices, others like their indepedence or are hiding from the law. Some want help, others do not.

This last week we discovered the bed roll and belongings of someone who was sleeping on the flat roof of our administrative offices. It's actually a pretty smart place to hide away for the night. Amongst their belongings was drug paraphernalia.

Our admin offices are a mile from our rescue mission and two blocks from my house. The park nearby often has a few homeless folks hanging out, cooking at the BBQ's, or napping on the lawn.

I walk past the park everyday on my way to and from the office, greeting those along my path; Some are neighbors on their porches, others are families on the lawn in the park, and others yet are hardened folks who've been "camping" on the streets for a while, gathered at one of the picnic tables with backpacks, and bikes if they have them.

Back at the office, the question came up as to what to do with the things we found on the roof. We don't want people climbing up there, let along setting up camp. If the party were to grow, who knows what would happen and who would get hurt. So leaving things alone didn't make sense.

We could... throw it in the dumpster. After all its stuff left on our property with who knows what in it... Or we could place it nearby in the park to allow the unknown person to reclaim it with the risk of others pilphering through it... Or we could ask around in the park to see if anyone knows who owns it... Or we could store it and leave a note with instructions for how to reclaim it (drugs and all, I suppose).

What would you do? Through this process, I realized the decision probably had more weight to me than others, because I walk by the park each day and the person sleeping on our roof may full well be watching me each time I pass. But should that matter?

Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. And I wonder, do we express love to those we see each day more easily than those we have a chance meeting with, or may never actually see at all?

How do we treat the guy who cuts us off on the freeway, the waitress that's rude, the person who takes our parking space or our place in line? The homeless person pushing their cart down the sidewalk? What do our actions communicate to those who are watching but we may never see at all?

Something to think about.

As for how we handled the person on the roof. That story is still unfolding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rubber Band Ball

Three years ago, as we settled into our new home in Oxnard, I began a rubber band ball with the rubber bands that came around most of our daily papers. It was a mere novelty at first.

Then some days when I found myself frustrated that I hadn't accomplished more, I found satisfaction in adding one more rubber band to my little rubber band ball.

Although seemingly insignificant, I was aware of each little contribution I had made. I joked with my co-workers about how when I didn't feel I was making a difference in my work, at least I could add a rubber band and feel I'd gotten something done that day.

More recently, as I add rubber bands to my growing rubber band ball, I realize that everyday we have a choice to do something small that matters. And even though it doesn't seem to make a difference today, the little things add up. 

The little things make a big difference, even if we can't see or feel it in the moment. The little things define our character. The little things demonstrate our love. 

How are you adding to your rubber band ball?

 

 

Reflection

As I was driving the other day, I was thinking about my need for reflection, for looking back.

I need time after events, conversations, books, and the like to reflect, to absorb, to process and learn, otherwise my experiences just drop out of sight with little or no consequence, or even memory for that matter!

Cameras are nice for capturing some things, so I take a lot of pictures, and reflect on them later.

Here are some thoughts that come to mind about reflecting:

Harry Nielsson wrote a song suggesting "Life is just a memory." Think about it. So much of who we know ourselves to be is what we remember.

When we stop to reflect, we allow our experiences to be absorbed, to become a part of us, or be shaken off if they shouldn't be a part of us.

When we stop to reflect, we have time to remember who and what are most important to us, and who and what are not.

When we stop to reflect, we can recount things that didn't work out so we don't repeat mistakes. We may also realize we ran over someone, and need to go back and help them back up.

Every once in a while I hear someone misuse Phillipians 3:13 "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" as an excuse to plow ahead without dealing with the past. It makes me a little nutty.

We musn't allow ourselves to be defined by our past (what Paul is speaking about here), but we sure can learn from it and allow it to shape us for a better future, and in turn help shape others.

Are you moving too fast to truly value and absorb what's important to you? Are you running ahead to avoid dealing with the past?

 

 

We can't help them if they're dead.

Yesterday we were talking on how to offer refuge to the hungry, hurting, and homeless through our rescue missions without enabling or fueling a sense of entitlement among those we serve. We want to help our guests with "next steps," not just the means to continue to survive day to day.

And then this morning I woke up to read today's paper; to find that one of our chronically homeless women in the neighborhood had been strangled to death just down the street. A 42 year old woman with problems. Problems that now will never be solved this side of death.

And I stopped in my tracks.

I've been thinking so hard about how we want to help people move forward, that I momentarily lost sight of the need for them to survive their situation to be able to receive help.

I am thrilled that our women's shelter here in Oxnard will always take in a woman, no matter her condition, because it's simply not safe on the streets at night. They offer a safe place and a loving touch.

And now I'm working my way back through my thoughts on how we help people on the streets. First to survive, then to come to grips with their problems and deal with them, and ultimately find release to a new life. Our hope, a new life in Jesus.

But remembering again, first they have to survive.

Is there someone in your life that just needs help surviving right now?

Someone that just needs a safe place to just be? A loving touch?

 

Is Jesus who he said he was?

As I survey the miriad of churches, denominations, and faith traditions that surround Jesus, I have to pull back a bit to the central figure of the good news. Jesus.

Not questioning whether we will go to heaven or hell if we believe in Him or not. Not questioning whether we will live in peace and love with or without Him, but is He who he said he was?

Evidence That Demands a Verdict, The Case for Christ, and any number of books and people have applied themselves to this question, many ultimately concluding Jesus is the Son of God. He's the only religious figure out there who proved His divinity in resurrection. And most of the evidence seems to clearly support this.

But I guess anything is arguable for us humans, until we've experienced it.

Does the Washington Monument really exist? Yes, I've touched it.

The Great Pyramids? Seen them in lots of movies and pictures. I'm pretty sure they're real.

Did we really land on the moon, or was it done in a movie studio? I don't know. I think we did... but we did declare in 1961 that we'd put a man on the moon before the end of the decade (to keep pace with or beat the Russians' technological development) and it was July of 1969 when we met the goal. Pretty close to the deadline. Sounds suspicious...

Is Jesus who he said he was? Well, a lot of people who were there in person when he walked the earth died for telling others he is. No photos or movies, but a movement that spread like a virus ensued. Something sure happened.

I only know, that in spite of any debate, my personal experience with Jesus is real to me. I have touched Him, and He has touched me. And everything else falls into place from there. Forget all the debateable theologies, here's what Jesus said (John 12:47):

“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world."

Who is Jesus to you? Someone you'd listen to? Believe? Do you believe Jesus is who he said he was?

 

 

 

 

The Perfect Church

Cynthia and I are entering yet another season of change. God has moved us on from the church plant we've been with the last year or so.

We have learned a lot and have grown a lot during the last two years since relocating 1000 miles from our church home of 20 years.

We've stayed true to who we are in Christ, and His call on us here in Oxnard. We have made many new friends, and I don't think we've lost any. And now we need to settle into a new local family.

I can't help but love the local church, in all it's different forms. I have friends in leadership at 8 or so local churches that are each a slightly different expression from conservative to charismatic. 

One of the local leaders has started a monthly gathering called "One Church." People from all different churches come together to pray and worship together in public spaces. It's small right now, but it's a big step in the right direction.

God's heart for His church is that we be one.

One church, but not under one roof, under one Truth.

I believe we are witnessing God moving in Ventura County. And it doesn't look like just one local church growing exponentially with multiple campuses, it looks like multiple local churches all over the place talking to each other like the family that we are called to be and mobilizing our people to love this county with the good news of Jesus.

I love being connected to so many churches, but at the end of the day, Cynthia and I are asking God what local body do we belong in? We can see all that was accomplished through being a part of Seed the last 18 months, and now we have a new assignment. So how do we know? Where do we go?

Well, I can tell you this. The perfect local church for us is the one God wants us involved in. In my next blog, I'll explore what that might look like.

What local church do you belong in? Where can God best grow you and release you as His ambassador with the Good News that God wants others to join His family too?

 

 

Growing in the Darkness

At Seed this last Sunday Pastor Shaun hit on an important truth. God grows us in times of darkness, if we let Him.

We typically don't choose circumstances that propel us into pain, into a feeling of loss of control, a time of distress, of helplessness.

And typically we find ourselves trying desperately to get out of whatever darkness has befallen us.

Throughout history, God has grown his people through times of darkness, where choices, circumstances, consquences have seemingly stopped forward movement. Shaun compared these times to a baby being formed in a womb.

In the womb, we have no choice about the timing of things, or freedoms to go about our own way. We are held in suspension while God knits us together. We don't choose how we grow or what grows next. We don't say "Now it's time to add my pinky finger, God..." He grows us in His perfect order. And we are born when we are ready to emerge into the light.

What if we approached each time of darkness in our lives as "womb time" where we trust God to grow us through it; experiencing the dark times without asking a lot of questions about why, but trusting Him to grow us?

God is growing me right now. This time of year holds a lot of history for me. We'd need to go to coffee to talk through all the events in my life that have occurred in late November and December through the years. Birth pains for each new year, I guess. 

These days my mind is going back to my brother's suicide last year, and the painful end of my pastorate the year before. Both dark times for sure. And this year the reality of both are hitting me once again and I am grieving.

Grief can be that way, coming in little packets months and years later. I know when it comes I need to stop and experience it, or it will simply wait for me. God has brought me to an amazing season of my life that makes me smile every day, but I need to stop and be quiet. Rather than blowing past it or struggling to get out of it, I'm making time to experience it and allow God to grow me.

What kind of womb time are you experiencing? Avoiding? Are you trusting God to grow you through these times, even though you don't know how?

 

 

 

Black Cats, Seagulls, and People in the Streets

As long as we've lived here in the Magnolia House, we have seen a black cat around, usually hiding in the shadows or sunning out in the backyard when no one's around.

He has seemed to be fine fending for himself all this time until recently. He stood on our sidewalk in the night and gave me a howl. He looked hungry. Maybe the mouse population is down or something.

I went to Bi-Mart, bought some Friskies, and started setting out a bowl of food and water each day. Under the cover of darkness, he slips up onto the porch for dinner each night.

I tried to watch him through the window, but he got spooked and ran off. I've left him alone to private meals since. I'm moving his meal time to morning. Maybe one day he'll trust me enough to get close.

There are others that are needy in our neighborhood. Every Tuesday is garbage day and early in the morning people go through the garbage cans looking for recyclables to exchange for a little money to live.

They try not to be seen, but realize it's hard when the garbage cans are all in the street. We leave our bottles and cans in a bag out by the fence so folks don't have to go digging for them. It seems like the right thing to do.

Then, after it's lighter, the street fills with seagulls. It's almost like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" as they flock together and look for breakfast in a week's worth of food scraps up and down the street.

God's creatures in search of food. Some times physical food, some times spiritual food. God will provide for them. Sometimes it's through you and me. Who do you know that is hungry?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40 Days Solo and Proof there's a God.

I dropped Miss Cynthia off at the airport this morning for her journey to Pennsylvania.

She'll take a shuttle, a plane, a train, and a car ride to arrive at the kid's place in 12 hours. Sounds crazy.

Crazier yet, we'll be apart 40 days.

We just celebrated our 32nd anniversary, and are celebrating the birth of our granddaughter.

Mirabelle Lucia was born Sunday on Father's Day and her parent's 8th anniversary.

Cynthia will be with Chris, Cate, Finley, and Simon to help out with their new family member and chores around the household. Me? Well I've got 40 days to come up with some semblance of a pottery studio in our back yard shed, among other things...

With today's technology, Cynthia and I won't be far apart. With our I-phones I'll be able to ring her up and point the camera around to show her what I've been up to, ask about her day, and of course, ask where stuff is.

I treasure my wife. She is such a blessing and profound evidence of God's hand on Earth. How else would a guy like me end up with a wife like Miss Cynthia?

Who do you treasure in your life as a gift from God?

 

Releasing the past

This week Miss Cynthia and I took the plunge and changed our identity.

Month's ago Pastor Shaun had encouraged all of the Portlanders involved in planting Seed to release ourselves from our Portland cell prefixes and get an 805, Ventura County's area code. He explained that in order to reach our community we need to join our community.

All of us tend to hang on to the past for some sense of foundation, identity, security, a safety net...

Without a doubt, Oxnard is our new home. At least for as long as God chooses. We own a home here, our cars are registered here and we have California driver's licenses, we have friends here, a job here, a church here. We attended the neighborhood meeting and hosted a dumpster for Neighborhhood clean-up day. We are making feeble attempts at learning Spanish.

But then there were our cell numbers; the last bastion of Portland identity we were dragging around with us everywhere we went. The 503's... the one thing we seemed to be hanging onto. Familiar numbers that everyone we care about "back home" can use to get a hold of us, as if we'd never left Portland.

Well, this is our home, and Wednesday night we released ourselves to that in the final hold out of our identity at the local cell phone store. We have 805 numbers now.

Ultimately our identity is in Christ, which transcends location. When God has His own area code, we'll switch to that. For now, find us in the 805, fully present, fully blessed.

What are you hanging onto? Are you fully present where God has called you? Fully embracing your community as Christ's beacon of the Gospel Truth?