Archive - August 2013

I suppose for weeks like this one, the ironic Bible verse should be Luke 12:32

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”

Or maybe a statement from Jesus when talking to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:21,

“Go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

Sure, we had a box of things to donate to RIFA and we even sold our old television to a friend.

It’s almost too bad God didn’t call us to sell our possessions and move to Africa. But then again, I wouldn’t have been able to spend the afternoon hauling boxes with this crew.

What have I learned about God, the church, or community today?

• Our church has some amazing middle school and high school students. A serious shout out to the young men who hefted our possessions into the trailer without complaining.
•  I was so excited that God was opening this new chapter of our lives that I forgot the old chapter was closing. And yet, He’s sovereign still. He provided a home for us in Hartland Apartments and is now allowing us to have a home in our house.
• My father would remind me during the shopping process that a house isn’t a home until you live there. And now my husband continues to remind me that this home isn’t where we will live forever. It may be our forever home on earth. But even minor repairs of rotten wood and falling limbs remind us that this house isn’t eternal. Only our Heavenly Father can prepare that house for us. We don’t need to get caught up in this one so much that we neglect our eternal home.
• God doesn’t call us all to poverty. We firmly believe He has called us to this house. Not so that we can have a house and a yard – those both are perks – but so that we have a new mission field called our neighbors.

We were able to walk up and down the street last night to stretch our legs and open our eyes to the families around us. We are thrilled to report that we have landed in a diverse area and hope to begin planting seeds of Truth soon.

More spiritual lessons to come from home ownership, I’m sure. But until then…

…Welcome to our earthly home.

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Shhh…Don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to miss this place.

Not the smell of dirty pit bulls after the rain, or walking my laundry across the parking lot to the machines, the barbed wire on the neighboring property, occasional cop spotting, or even that time they towed my car. I’m definitely not going to miss the reaction I get when people say, “you live there????

This place wasn’t our prison, project, or problem; this place was our home – our first home, in fact.

It’s the place we spent our first night as Mr. and Mrs., where I penned my first book, conducted “Adelsberger seminary,” mourned the loss of jobs and celebrated the new ones.

It’s where we’ve seen friends move in and move out. In fact, we’re now the longest residents of this building. And yet, we leave behind a tremendous friendship, friendly veteran, nurse, and the wonderful lady across from us.

As we close this chapter of our lives, it’s natural to ask ourselves, do we have any regrets? Or, if we lived the last 2+ years over again, would we do anything different?

Even if you’re not moving, that’s such a good question to ask ourselves: Will I look back on these days and wish I had done more?

Jesus tells us in the passage nicknamed The Great Commission that we are to “go and make disciples of all men.” That verb “go” in the original language implies “as you go” or “as you are on your way.”

Our living location is our mission field. This one we’re in for the next seven days looks very different from the one we’re moving to. But our command from God is the same. Make disciples. How can we make disciples unless they believe? How can they believe if we don’t speak the Words of Life to them?

This is a mission field where walking past people was easy since we have a building and a flight of stairs in common. But as we move into a house, we will have to intentionally seek out interactions.

What does your mission field look like? Are you using your living situation to bring glory to God or comfort to yourself?

“Wait, no, Mr. Kevin, you’re not serious…are you?”

Kevin was holding Bible study for a few of his high school boys and I could hear snip-its through the wall. I heard Kevin’s footsteps down the hall and he poked his head into the room I was hiding in.

“Renae, can I borrow your nerdy people Bible? They think the Bible was first written in English.”

I went to the bookshelf and pulled out one of my most prized possessions, my Hebrew/Greek Bible.

Kevin returned to the living room and the boys burst into commotion – “There’s no way THAT’S a language.”

I chuckled. That’s exactly how I felt the first day of Hebrew class.

Fast forward one week: I attended a city wide women’s Bible night with two ladies from my office. The speaker used The Message to make her points on Matthew’s recitation of “Come Ye Who are Weary.” One of her points raised my theological flag – I wasn’t certain if the meaning came from Eugene Peterson’s interpretation or if it came from the original language – that chicken scratch called Greek. So I pulled out my phone and opened my Greek app to fact check her.

The next day, one of the ladies asked me what The Message was. I told her it was a loose translation of the Bible created by a man named Eugene Peterson. We have used it on occasion with the youth group but that I don’t recommend it for person study. In 60 seconds, I explained what the above picture shows: that as a translator you have to decide where on this scale you want your version to fit. (Note: I’m not certain how accurate this depiction is…but it seems close enough for us to all understand the point.)

These were the statements made to me:

•  I only read the “paraphrase” Bibles because I believe that Christianity is a religion of the heart. We don’t need to get bogged down in word studies
• I don’t know why you needed to fact check the speaker. I just absorb what speaks to me and leave behind what doesn’t.
• You like the facts. I like the feelings. What’s right for you may not be right for me. And that’s fine.

After pondering this conversation all weekend, these are the three places in Scripture the Lord brought to my attention:

1. Acts 17:11 – The people here [Berea] were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scripture daily to see if these things were so.

2. Matthew 22:37 – [Jesus] said to [the expert in the law], “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

3. Deuteronomy 6:5 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

I struggle with an intellectual religion – that is – it is easy for me to accumulate facts and data from the Scripture and never transfer them into application. This is wrong.

But we must not forget that Christianity is not a feeling or a whim. It is a life-altering journey during which Christ demands all of us – our hearts, our souls, our minds, even our strength. The Bereans are not depicted as arrogant or smug. Rather, they were eager to receive the word. But they were also cautious. They understood that the Scripture contains words of life – and they weren’t willing to accept anyone’s interpretation – not even the Apostle Paul’s – without first making certain it aligned with Scripture. We should be the same today.

When I was a student worker at Union University, one of my “busy work” jobs was to flip through the Jackson Sun and the Baptist & Reflector (B&R) daily to see if I spotted any updates or achievements from our alums. Yes, that chore was as horrible as it sounds. It was even worse when we returned from summer break and they had saved weeks worth of papers for us!

After four years of flipping through the B&R for familiar names, never did I imagine that I would read my own.

I’m pleased to announce that Pedestrian God is officially a contributing writer to the Baptist and Reflector. You can check out the first article in the online edition. It’s on page 19.

Thanks to a wonderful friend in Jackson, I got my head shots updated just in time! I was tired of that same 2010 engagement picture posing as my head shot. (Just for the record, I am in fact wearing that same outfit today – coincidence or time to go shopping?)

I’m thrilled to be able to support our Tennessee Baptists through my writing.

“Is this the room for First Baptist Jackson?” I timidly asked from the doorway.

I had no idea who I was looking for. All I knew was that I was the girl’s summer intern and I had never met a single one of the students. My first day on the job was at a city wide mission trip with a dozen other churches. I was so fresh to the scene I didn’t even know which room our church was sleeping in.

So much has changed since that fear-filled introduction in 2009. I’ve progressed past learning names to being able to anticipate how each girl will react during Sunday School.

This gem of a book was originally handed to my mother, who teaches youth at my home church. She passed it along to me, knowing that I would appreciate it.

I’ll have to admit, I scoffed at first. Clearly I could never improve my small group leader skills. Obviously, I always have it together. Why should I waste my time reading this book? One quick flip through the pages showed me there were actually 162 thoughts for small group leaders – not 99. Come on, guys, edit.

I left the book on my night stand a few weeks before moving it into my car. Maybe I’ll read it on my lunch breaks. It sat for another week.

I decided that if we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, I shouldn’t judge this book by its editors inability to count to 99. Wielding my peanut butter sandwich, I began reading.

The book is concise and to the point. The sections end with testimonials from teachers just like me telling a short anecdote about what they’ve learned. I found myself refreshed. I’m not convinced that 4 years makes me a “veteran,” but it was good to be reminded of the basics of good small group leadership. And, they are correct, serving as a small group leader is a thankless job. I was, however, encouraged to be able to say that I am following most all of their major pieces of advice.

Since the new school year is upon us, this is the ideal time to read this book. Get a few copies and circulate them through your youth ministry.  Sit down with your leaders and discuss what they think their strengths and weaknesses are. My coteacher and I are terrific friends. We teach with unity that only Christ brings between people. But if you’re new to this youth ministry gig, this book is a great way to get you on the same page as everyone else.

As a way of further promotion, I’ll include my top favorite pieces of advice (you will, however, have to read the book for the authors’ commentary on each point):

3 Messages of Relational Ministry

#24 “I care”
#25 “You matter to me.”
#26 “I’m proud of you.”

What to do if the line between leader and friend is blurred

#120 Analyze the situation.
#121 Talk to a trusted friend.
#122 Be the leader.

The Appreciation Vacuum

#150 You won’t get thanked very often.
#151 You will hear more about problems than praise.
#152 Your strength must come from your walk with God.

 

You can buy the book online here or even watch a brief word from the author Joshua Griffin here.