Self Destruction

I resigned as an Elder at my church a year ago. Since then, I’ve been living with the sensation that I’m just floating through my days, and ultimately, my life. While I realize this isn’t a necessarily healthy statement, I feel that I was a better man when I served as Elder. My close friend Guy and I have talked a lot about the idea that we need a cause, something to give ourselves too. We need a battle to fight in; a hill to charge. The scary truth is that I think we realize that the danger is very real of just totally disconnecting from a purposeful Kingdom life.

Brennan Manning wrote the following devotional, which seems to articulate what I am feeling. I pray that I, Guy, you – all of us, together – will allow the living, vibrant, magnificent image of Christ that is within us to be expressed. May we truly live our lives and not watch them drift by. Here’s to living with Hope!

Self Destruction

There are three ways of committing suicide – taking my own life, letting myself die, and letting myself live without hope. This last form of self-destruction is so subtle that it often goes unrecognized and therefore unchallenged. Ordinarily it takes the form of boredom, monotony, drudgery, feeling overcome by the ordinariness of life.

We begin by admitting in the inner sanctum of our hearts that the Christian calling is too demanding, that life in Christ Jesus is too sublime. We settle into a well-worn groove and lose the stuff of gospel greatness. We become like everyone else, fail ourselves and the community by failing to respond to the living, vibrant, magnificent image of Christ that is within us waiting only to be expressed.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,

for with the LORD is unfailing love

And with him is full redemption.

~ Psalm 130:7

Journey Management

Each year, the government requires that my company is to give me eight hours of annual safety refresher training. Yesterday was my day to sit and watch videos on how to give CPR, which fire extinguishers are for what kind of fires, and how to safely de-energize an electric motor. Big fun! :)

But there was a section of the class intended for those at my plant who work on the rotating shifts, and it had some great content on how to sleep well under those tough circumstances. The video they showed was actually very informative, and in it was a section entitled "Journey Management" which dealt with driving home safely after working a night shift.

But I gotta be honest - after I heard "Journey Management", I heard little else. I thought that was a brilliant description, not so much for a section of a DVD dealing with circadian rhythms and work, but for those of us who are walking through our days with Jesus. A series of questions tumbled out of my head after I considered that phrase, and so I'll share them with you in hopes of prompting some good conversation.

• Do you consider yourself to be "on" a journey, or is life just a series of steps where you hit "play/rewind/repeat"?
• Are you on your journey alone, or with others? Lone Ranger or do you have a Tonto? Who is your posse? Do you have peeps? :)
  
• Where are you going on your journey? (Cue up Dave Matthews please)
• Are you satisfied with your journey?
• Do you need to start out on a new path, a new trail, a new journey for a new day?

We are all on a journey, really. But as I type this, I so want me - and you too - to seek the best journey. The journey that will end with hearing "Well Done."

If you've lost your way, maybe we can rediscover the path, together. Peace.