The Songs of Silence

But to You I have cried out, O LORD,
         And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
LORD, why do You cast off my soul?
         Why do You hide Your face from me?
I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth;
         I suffer Your terrors;
         I am distraught.
Your fierce wrath has gone over me;
         Your terrors have cut me off. – Psalms 88: 13-16

Today’s Reading; Psalms 87-88; Romans 13

Someone close to me has been having a really hard time lately. It seems like nothing can go right. One after another one annoying mishap fell upon another and before they knew it their whole life seemed to be crashing down upon them.

When they came to me for advice my only response was to meditate. Find a quiet space and air your grievances to God. Say everything; how you feel, why you’re mad. Say everything that is flooding out of your heart. But make sure that when you are done talking, you listen.

That is the hard part. It is much easier to talk than to listen.

Sometimes when we get down on our knees and holler out for help we are bombarded by silence.

That really sucks man.

It is not particularly validating to speak your mind and bear your soul only to feel like your words fell on deaf ears. Life can be that way sometimes. We go through hardship after hardship and are forced to ask why. Why is this happening to me? How will I make it through? Why am I being punished? It just doesn’t seem fair!

What I’ve learned is that more often than not we have no idea what is going on in the present. Things happen to us for good and bad, but it is only when things are bad that we start asking about what the purpose of it all was.

Sometimes there is a purpose and sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes what is happening is not our fault at all. Other times we bring it upon ourselves. But when it comes down to it, the present is better lived now and learned from later. Through hindsight we have better understanding. If we just focus on living every single day and finding a way to keep taking steps toward our dreams then the answers will come.

Everything comes to an end, whether it is day or night, noise or silence.

So stay patient and use all the strength that you have to persevere. It may feel like you are all alone on your journey but I promise you, you are not. 

Prepare for a New Day

Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For the last fourteen days," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven't eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head." After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. – Acts 27:33-36

Today’s Reading: Psalms 43-45; Acts 27:27-44

So, in this part of our story Paul and friends are on a boat that is being tossed about the sea by some crazy winds and waves. Everyone thinks they are going to die; except for Paul, who received word from an angel that they’d be alright.

When everyone on the ship had given up hope, Paul came through with the words above. Instead of focusing on the current danger he wanted to help the crew prepare for the next day.

This made me think about how I am when I go through trials. I tend to be a worrier. I focus, at times, way too much on the bad of a situation rather than on the solutions that will help me grow in to the person I am supposed to be on the other side of the struggle. This is important to remember because a current hardship may set us on the wrong path if we let it.

Often times the mountains that we have to climb in the present are revealed as speed bumps when they have become part of our past. A trial always seems worse when we cannot see a way out of it. But we tend to find our way, sooner or later; often times after spending way more energy worrying about the trial than overcoming it.

No matter how rough things get, we must never stop preparing for the new day.

The new day will come no matter what. If we can learn to stop worrying, and spend that energy on endeavors that will prepare us for the next steps that we need to take, we will be much better off.

If you are down and out because you lost your job, don’t just look for a new one. Put together a budget so that you can prepare to get yourself back on track when that job comes. If you are sad because you are lonely and have been single for a long time don’t just go out into the world looking for a mate. While you are waiting on that special someone try to figure out why the last situation didn’t work. Do some soul searching. Read a book. Seek good counsel from folks that you trust.

It all goes back to staying ready so that you don’t have to get ready.

This is hard to do because the pressures of today tend to blind us to what is coming tomorrow. But if we can become the masters of our worry and use that energy to relax and plan for better times, those better times will be much better indeed. 

Go Big

Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
       praise his holy name.

For his anger lasts only a moment,
       but his favor lasts a lifetime;
       weeping may remain for a night,
       but rejoicing comes in the morning. - Psalm 30: 4-5

Today’s Reading: Psalm 29-30; Acts 23:1-15

Recently, I have had several conversations with friends and family about the times we are living in.

These are tough times.

There is just so much uncertainty. Many people have spent over a year looking for jobs that seem impossible to find. They struggle to understand how they will pay their rent, how they will put food on the table, how they will provide for the needs of their children.

Many folks who do have jobs have seen their hours cut short, wages diminished and careers stagnate. They were raised to believe in a world where a good education and a strong work ethic meant a reasonable measure of success climbing the corporate ladder. Now it seems that this isn’t enough. It seems like who you know and what you can do for them are the only things that matter. It’s a dog eat dog world and there are only so many bones to go around.

The climate may seem bleak, but I see the dawn of a new day. Like many, I have experienced some of these same feelings of fear and insecurity; hopelessness and worry. But it is when the night is at its darkest that the sun is about to rise.

The silver lining around the dark storm clouds of our time is the fact that we have nothing to lose. We can no longer indulge in a false sense of security about tomorrow; hoping to refinance our way to more and more material wealth. We are being forced to find new ways of being. We are encouraged to search within ourselves to come up with the answers to the problems of today.

And this is where things get exciting to me. If we have nothing to lose then why not go big? Why not pursue those dreams we buried deep within our souls when we decided to get the degrees that don’t seem to be paying off? Why not go hard on our passion projects during the idle hours that unemployment has ushered into our lives? Why not jettison the fear of failure when all that we have been holding onto has already been lost?

I see more and more of the people around me making this decision. They are deciding to live life on their terms rather than busting their balls to hustle back onto a corporate ladder that was quick to shake them off.

This is the time to go BIG.

Why? Because there is nothing to lose.

And whenever we start to feel that fear of the unknown and start to worry about the uncertainty before us we can remember what the Psalmist said:

       weeping may remain for a night,
       but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Today is a new day. Get prepared to watch the sun rise.  

A Courageous Love

"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Acts 20: 22-25

Today’s Reading: Psalms 18-19; Acts 20:17-38

Wow.

Last year I went back with my Dad to Birmingham for a family reunion. In an earlier post I wrote about the hope that I found in this trip; hearing all of these stories about the great people in the civil rights movement from the mouth of a man who witnessed it as a child.

This passage immediately brought me back to that place.

What courage it must have taken for those men women and children to stand up for what was right? What courage must have been required to set out on a mission of peaceful resistance only to know that they would be met with violent hostility? What courage must have been required to get up every single day and fight for something that was systematically denied them; when it meant risking their lives?

Of course our elders of the civil rights movement aren’t the only people who have done this. Countless people have and continue to struggle against oppression and tyranny this very day for so many different reasons.

But when I read Paul’s final goodbye to those that he loved I stopped for a second and really asked myself… why does anyone go through this? Why take the risk when you will not personally reap the reward? I was still asking myself as I began to type these words and the answer was revealed.

Love.

Love is what makes us capable of the incapable. It makes the impossible possible. It challenges us to stand in the face of fear and gives us the sword and shield to vanquish it. It gives us the hope and faith to transform our today so that those who come after us will have a better tomorrow.

Love is God and God is love.

I believe that, not in a hokey, superficial kind of way; but rather, I believe that literally. It is the foundation of how I endeavor to live my life. It is the fuel for my dreams. The more I love, the more that the impossible seems possible. The more capable I am to fulfill the desires of my heart.

I try to imagine the love that Paul felt, that inspired him to keep going in the face of certain death. Is it a love that is out of reach to us?

No.

We have seen it written in our history books. We have heard tales of it that were passed down in our families and our traditions. As those carrying the torch of love into the new millennium it is not our duty to bring about some crazy radical change. It is not our duty to change any one specific law or change the hearts and minds of others.

Our duty is to love.

And as we act in love everything else will unfold quicker and more fantastically than we could have ever imagined. We cannot do it all alone; but with love, there is nothing we can’t do.

Stand up and fight for what you believe in. Fight for truth. Fight for your dreams. Fight for love. 

Staying in the Light

O righteous God,
       who searches minds and hearts,
       bring to an end the violence of the wicked
       and make the righteous secure.

 My shield is God Most High,
       who saves the upright in heart.

He who digs a hole and scoops it out
       falls into the pit he has made.

The trouble he causes recoils on himself;
       his violence comes down on his own head - Psalm 7: 9-10, 15-16

Today’s Reading: Psalms 7-9; Acts 18

I was chatting with someone the other day on IM and she said something that made me really think. She said that it is the very few bad people in this world that are the cause of all the trouble for the good folks in the world.

I picked up the phone and called her. I had to see what she meant.

We then talked for a while about the topic from many angles. I brought up how our society is based on this false notion of scarcity so we are taught to live by the maxim “I gotta get mine before you can get yours”. She agreed and pointed to items in the news like the oil spill. The egregious negligence of a few has destroyed the ecosystems of the gulf for God knows how long. These folks are still rich while many hard working people who live on the gulf shores have lost their livelihoods.

It all seems so sad and hopeless when we look at it this way. How will the little guy make it in a big man’s world? How can we avoid being trampled underfoot as we scramble to live our lives?

Then it hit me… we were focusing on the wrong things.

Yes, the way of the world can be sad. Yes, there are some shady folks who have stolen and cheated their way to the top; and they use those tactics to remain there. And now that they are at the top they still leave wakes of destruction behind them as they struggle to stay there.

But so what?

These feelings of helplessness that we sometimes have are nothing new. Look at the Psalm above. The writer has placed their faith in God that they will make it through. He believes that in the end those who rose by destruction will be destroyed by their actions.

There are two ways to make it to the top. One can choose the dark side and try to climb to the top by any means necessary. As the psalm says, the chickens always come home to roost for these folks. From the outside looking in another person’s life may seem like a dream; but that is only because we cannot see the nightmare that is their reality.

The flip side is to stay true to our values. It may sound romantic or overly cliché but I really do believe that good things happen to good people. The more good we do, the more good comes to us. If we conduct ourselves and our business on the up and up remembering to have love as the foundation of our motives then we cannot help be successful.

Why?

Because who doesn’t want to be around people that they love? Who doesn’t want to do business with honest and trustworthy people? Sure the shady way may be the fast way but there is no long term security in it.

The reliable path to joy and prosperity is in the light, not the darkness.

So next time you feel like someone is doing you wrong or you feel like “The Man” always seems to win at the expense of the little guy, just remember that they may not be winning as much as you think.

Can't Truss It

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. Acts 9:26-27

Today’s Reading: Job 14-16; Acts 9:22-43

Ohhhh Buddy.

You couldn’t have paid me to accept Paul into the fam if I was one of the original disciples.

No sir.

He was a major enemy of The Way. He was the main cat going after them, trying to persecute them into abandoning the faith. And now this Johnny come lately is all of the sudden trying to be on their team? Is he a spy? What are his motivations?

This man is not to be trusted.

It makes me wonder... What in the heck did he say to Barnabas to sell him on the fact that he was trustworthy? I imagine that he had to put in substantial work to get in his good graces. He’d have had to sweep the floors, do some heavy lifting, clean the kitchen…

Man, he’d have had to really humble himself for a cool minute.

Of course he was doing what he was supposed to do so God made a way for him to enter the fam; but oh buddy would my intellect have gotten in the way of accepting him.

It’s a good thing that we don’t just experience life through the prism of the mind. We have our physical senses, our emotions, and most importantly our spirits.

Our intellect tries to interpret the world based upon knowledge… and knowledge, by virtue of the fact that it focuses on the past, is dead. Is there anything that we “know” that still “is”?

Things like love, trust, courage, and hope may be supported by our intellect and knowledge but when you think about it, knowledge is not the foundation of these things.

Faith is.

The most important things in life are not known, they are lived. And to truly live is to believe.

It is through faith that we can activate the core of who we are and engage in the now. Without this faculty we are limited to experiencing life through the view of the past. We are limited to viewing life through what we think we know, rather than what actually is.

Living in the present is a tall task. After all, there is more comfort in the predictability of the past.

But once we realize that this predictability, this sense of control, is an illusion; we can be free to open our hearts and spirits to the present and all of the magic that it contains.

Even if in that present we are challenged to accept a person or thing that doesn’t seem worthy of our acceptance…

Haiti Receives Audio Bibles as Aid

So…

There is this article on Reuters.com about a faith based organization called Faith Comes by Hearing that is sending solar powered audio Bibles to Haiti. This device called the “Proclaimer” is basically a small boom box that has enough volume to broadcast the audio to up to 300 listeners close by.

The boom box “was developed primarily as a playback device for poor and illiterate people who may not have any other source to hear God's Word.”

Hmmm…

My friend Shereen Meraji of All Tech Considered put me onto this article. We both had a bit of an unsettled feeling about it.

When I spent time in Brazil some years ago I heard horrible stories of Christian missionaries who ransacked and destroyed non-Christian places of worship. I am also reminded of the strange history of how Christianity has spread across the globe. In some ways it has been very painful and tragic, and in other ways it has been life affirming and healing.

The poor and illiterate comment also struck a cord with me. As I read this my immediate take was that it was condescending at best…

But then I took a step back and tried to see it from another perspective.

Does this organization have a valid purpose here?

We all know by now that Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. That is not a mystery.

But I wanted to see what the literacy rates are. Per UNICEF the adult literacy rate is only 62%...
That’s brutal.

This device made sense from a practical standpoint even before the earthquake.

Then I thought about all of the starving and homeless people there now. Wouldn’t it be better to send food, water or money to help provide temporary shelter? Why the audio Bibles? Is this an opportunistic move in a desperate time?

As I was discussing these things with Shereen and others the first thought that came to mind was “what good is food and shelter if you have lost all faith, hope, and will to carry on?”

Another valid point.

And now I get what this group is doing. While others have the means to provide food, water and shelter; this group has the means to send what they believe to be spiritual food and comfort in the form of a Bible that can be experienced by anyone within ear shot for free.

So yes, we may or may not have our own personal baggage when we think of missionary work; but, if we allow ourselves to take a step back and look at this from another angle, this act seems like a wonderful and heartfelt expression of love from a community of people that believe the Bible can work miracles.

Even restore the hopes of a shattered nation.

I know that the Bible has helped me through my tough times. Perhaps it will do the same for some of our brothers and sisters in Haiti within earshot of its words.

What do you think?

And yes... the Bible are going along with food and medical aid...

Check out Shereen’s interview with John Wilke of Faith Comes by Hearing.