Out of the Clay

I LOVE haircut day. It’s the best. Once a month (or so) I take my son Noah down to get our haircut together. It’s always on a Saturday, it’s always around lunchtime, and we always go to Frank Allen’s afterwards where I have a double bacon cheeseburger w/ onion rings (I know, I know) and Noah has two hot dog weenies followed by lil’ debbie nutty bars. It’s a tradition.

I don’t know where I picked it up … maybe from my dad but, I love little traditions. Noah and I have only done this about 4 or 5 times but everytime I mention getting haircut, he asks if we can go to Frank Allen’s and have a hot dog. I truly believe that over the months and years that I continue to forge small traditions wth my children, it will pay off huge dividends in their teen age and young adult years. I can hear Noah, now, talking to his friends at college, or wherever, saying, ‘Man, it was always so cool to eat hot dogs at Frank Allen’s after getting our hair cut’. It’s one of those things that will always be with him. Maybe I’m just sentimental, maybe he won’t really appreciate it when he’s older .. who knows? There is one thing for sure - the onion rings are awesome!

Ok - last week I pushed myself. Too hard? Maybe. But the goal is to train intensity, right?

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, I follow a strength and conditioning program called Crossfit. It is a regimen consisting of the basics of gymnastics, weight lifting, and endurance. Last monday at CrossfitCHF (where I train) we performed a workout called ‘Cindy’. ‘Cindy’ is a WOD (workout of the day) named by/for one of the early crossfit trainees and it entails performing as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes of: 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 air squats. Sounds easy? Ha.

Crossfit is the ultimate program for general physical preparedness. If you are a crossfitter then you are committed to specializing in non-specialization. It’s one of the programs that the better you get at it, the harder you push resulting in more pain …. which makes you better, and you push even harder and that results in even more pain … and the cycle never ends.

I have completed Cindy about 3 or 4 times. The first time … I think I met Jesus. I couldn’t even do one pull up so I subbed jumping pull ups and I think that I completed like 6 or 7 rounds before I just gave up (like 12 minutes in) … and I was smashed. Not only that, but I was completely hooked on this program. Why? Because in addition to workouts like Cindy, Crossfit is made up of varied, if not random, workouts 5 or 6 days per week using hundreds of exercises in ways and combinations only hampered by the limit of the creator’s imagination.

So, last Monday was Cindy. I attacked it like never before and completed 17 rounds + 5 pull ups and 10 push ups. A personal record (PR). And on Tuesday, I payed for it like never before. As a matter of fact, I was sore the entire week. I believe it was Saturday before my chest and lats calmed down from all of the pull ups and push ups. This Cindy effort was about 1.5 rounds more than last time (about 2 months ago) so, hopefully, next time Cindy comes up … I can join the 20 round club … I wonder how much that one will hurt?

Those words rang deep into my spirit as I read and meditated on some of the deeper truths of Christianity. ‘He cannot do without me …’. Much of my life I have studied, read, prayed, served, and thanked God for the fact that ‘I cannot do without Him’ but, until I found this deeper truth, a majority of my spirituality was mere religion.

When the story of the prodigal is taught or read most believers are impressed with all of the troubles that the prodigal meets before returning to his father. But, as I read the other day, that is not the heart of the story. It is not a question of what the son suffers but of what the father loses (Nee, ‘The Normal Christian Life’). Can you imagine? We are so selfish to think of our own situations, experiences, and conditions and how our bad decisions and behaviors have affected our walk as believers. The real lesson to be learned is that it is God who suffers - not us. His heart aches for our devotion and affection! And He waits patiently for our return.

In my experience, most Christians are self focused. They have not heard, or understood, or appropriated their true life. They are still trying to live within the bounds of who they were are birth. But that is not who God has said that we are. See, most people that I come in contact with still walk around with a mentality that I like to call ‘Sinner saved by Grace’ and that is a true statement. It is just not complete. Christ did not die and rise in order to refine our life or make us better. He died and rose so that we would have NEW life.

To think that God’s purpose is to change us or make us better is to think on the wrong plane. In that line of thinking He cannot bring us into His glory. We must be born again, made new, redeemed. Our justification and our righteousness are one in the same. The point is this … we are not ‘Sinners saved by Grace’ we are ‘Saints who sometimes sin’.

With the cross (applied to my life) in view, I can say boldly ‘I cannot do without Him’ and I know that ‘He cannot do without me’.

I have had the biggest burden the last couple of weeks concerning spiritual authority. I hear about it all the time: on christian television, from the pulpit of my church, from other believers that I fellowship with and from when I read The Word.

In several of Paul’s letters (Romans, I and II Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy) he mentions authority. He aludes to several realms of authority: The Government, The Household, The Church, The Kingdom and exhorts us as christians to adhere to His design. There is, however, a catch to the whole spiritual authority structure … the one in authority must also accept spiritual responsibility.

You see, as a husband, in God’s Kingdom, I AM the spiritual authority over my home. But, if I just walk around barking orders at my wife and kids because of who I think that God has made me then I have TOTALLY missed the point! As the figure of spiritual authority I must accept the spiritual responsibility for my home! That means that I must allow the love of Christ of to fill me, guide me, flow through me, and dominate me. That means that when things don’t go my way - I respond by realizing and counting my self as dead and alive to God in Christ! That means that when troubles and storms come that I must trust that ‘God causes all things to work together to the good to those who love Him‘ and encourage those in my family that if we place our trust in things of the world then we are missing our true life in The Spirit! That means that the only way that I can be the husband and father that God wants me to be is to reckon on my true identity in Him and let His love flow through me to my wife and children. Anything less will leave them lacking …

My belief on the matter is that when one understands and walks in true spiritual authority, he also understands and walks in spiritual responsibility. I say that because all authority on heaven and earth belongs to Jesus. He has all rule, dominion, power, and authority. And any true spiritual authority exercised on earth will be birthed out of that union of that believer with his Master. See, we have been given The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. He didn’t come in to our life to help us or make us better - He came in to be our life!

The best part is that whenever the question comes up in my mind - there is a great litmus test … Galatians 5:22 - 23. If there is no love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control - then there is no spiritual authority. Because if these fruits are present - it is spiritual proof that the believer has nailed his/her flesh (w/ it’s passions and desires) to the cross and is living out of their union with Christ. Not only is that believer accepting of their spiritual authority as a child of The King - but they are also understanding of their responsibility as an ambassador of Christ.

God Bless!!

I read an awesome devotional today by Anabel Gilliam from Lifetime Gaurantee. It was titled Who is your strength and it really made me think. Like Anabel, in a former life I was a ‘performer’. Let me explain …

I spent much of my life orchestrating and arranging situations and activities that would highlight my natural talents and abilities and downplay my weaknesses. This motivation was driven by the fact that my understanding of identity was made up of what others thought about me and how I felt about what others thought about me. I never questioned whether or not I was able (or talented enough) to accomplish any task that was worth doing. See, if I didn’t think I could do it well then I would use other natural talents to downplay the importance of accomplishing such a task …

That is all behind me now. Like I said, that is a former life. No, I don’t believe in reincarnation - well, not in the world’s understanding of reincarnation.

I died in Christ. When He died, I died. When He rose, I was given new life - His life. Now, I have His identity. For this moment I choose to present myself to Him as one who has been raised from the dead. If the old me is gone - then what happened to all of those natural abilities? Well, they have gone as well … at least in the sense that they define who I am …

You see, He has lifted me up out of the clay and given me a new song. He truly is my strength - how could it be otherwise when He is my very life? No longer do I search for comfort and peace in the things that I DO for Christ … I find peace and rest who I AM in Christ.

Forrest Gump (and his mother) had a famous saying:

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get …

Well, I am not a founder a huge conglomeration like the Bubba Gump Shrimp company nor was I smart enough to buy stock in Apple (Macintosh) back in 1980 (I was only 6 at the time) but, when talking about what life is like, and more importantly, what kind of BOX life is, I would have to say that instead of a box of chocolates, life is more like a black box. That’s right. A Big Black Box. Let me explain …

Everything that you do or want to do in life should be approached like it is a big black box. You put stuff into the black box … something happens inside the black box… and then you get something out of the black box. How it all works (what happens in the box) is not nearly as important as what you put in and what you get out.

I take this approach with nutrition …

I have tried everything from ‘The Zone’ to ‘Intermittent Fasting’ to ‘Low Carb’ to ‘Lower Carb’ and back to ‘The Zone’. The entire time, my weight has stayed just about the same but … the performance in my training sessions and my general well being has been the best when I was on ‘Lower Carb’ and ‘The Zone’. So, using my black box analogy - I have put different things into the box (tried different nutritional lifestyles), some different things happened, and I got different results out. Now, my job, as an intellectual being, is to analyze and decipher those results and make choices based on my experiences.

So, my point is this - don’t get all caught up in the ‘why’ and ‘how’. Just get out there and try something. Take some action. Put something into the box and see what comes out. If you don’t like it, change what you’re putting in. If you like the results but think they could be better, tweak what you’re putting in. If you approach life this way, then everyday turns into a scientific experiment. It’s awesome!