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Every day I get new books, manuscripts, DVDs, CDs, and web links from all over the world, many by people I don’t know all of them asking if I’ll help them get a book published, review their work on my blog, or at least post a link somewhere. Unfortunately I get way more of this stuff sent to me than I can possibly process. t try to at least steal a glance at each one to see if there is anything Father is wanting me to do with them, but even that has grown so overwhelming that I can’t do justice to any of them.

So my stack of books just grow and grow so does my sorrow that I simply can’t get to everything sent to me and I don’t have the opportunity to encourage those people that have something wonderful to say into the world. That’s probably why I enjoyed this interview so much. My friend, Kent, pointed me to an interview between Seth Godin, author and Internet marketing guru, and Krista Tippett on her radio show, On Being about The Art of Noticing and Then Creating. There is a lot of good stuff in that interview especially for people who want to bring their art and craft before the world and see if it can find a hearing.

But I especially liked this part, because he also gets tons of books and manuscripts sent his way hoping he will mention it to his audience. Here was his response:

In a media-saturated world, we want to get picked. So like you, every day people show up to me and say, pick me, put me on your blog. If you would just talk about me, then my art will reach everyone I want to reach… That’s not the way (this) works; it’s bottom-up.

So what I say to people is, I’m not in charge of what’s good. I don’t get to pick what’s a purple cow, what’s remarkable — anything. That the world is, the bottom is, everybody, I’m on the bottom too, everyone is. So tell 10 people — there are 10 people who trust you enough to listen. And if you tell your thing to 10 people — if you send your e-book to 10 people — if you do your sermon to 10 people or show your product to 10 people and none of them want to tell their friends, and none of them are changed — then you failed. That you didn’t really understand what was good. But if some of them tell their friends, then they’ll tell their friends, and that’s how ideas spread. So it’s this 10 at a time — 10 by 10 by 10.

How do you put an idea in the world that resonates enough with people if they trust you enough to hear it? That then it can go to the next step and the next step.

I understand people who think that if they can just find the right promoter or platform, who will push their writing/art/songs/thoughts out onto the stage they would have the success they crave. But that’s not how it has ever worked with me. No one ever promoted my stuff that didn’t also want to turn me into a commodity for their own success and financial return. God has been gracious to not let that happen for me, and my books and podcasts have simply found their way into the world because other people enjoyed them and talked about it with their friends.

I have lots of people want me to “pick them” and their project, thinking that I can promote it into the space they desire. But I’ve never sought to promote anything, including my own stuff. My desire has been to make things available that impact me and let God do with it what he will from there. But I have felt the pressure to “be in charge of what’s good,” even though I haven’t had the time or perspective to do it. These words really spoke freedom to me. I’m not the one who can decide after all! Yeah! I actually knew that. Some books I have recommended have found a huge reading audience. Others, I have recommended similarly have not. And it isn’t always the better books that resonated with the larger audience. In this age of diffused media no one gets to choose what’s good. Advertising and endorsements are not near as effective as simple word-of-mouth.

The one departure I have from Seth’s approach above, is that if ten people don’t get as excited about your project as you are, you’ve failed. I don’t think all things worthy in our culture find the largest audience. And those that do find the largest audience almost always get twisted in the acclaim. If you can simply do what God asked you to do, simply make it available as he asks you to make it available, then you can trust him with how far it goes in the culture. And if our God puts wildflowers in the hidden places of the mountains that no one can see but himself, does he not delight in our writing, or art, or thoughts even if he is the audience of one that enjoys them? And the creativity on our part does wonder for us.

The world doesn’t value what God values. When we get attached to the outcome, our art gets twisted, our relationships will get twisted, and in the end we’ll get twisted. God’s way of putting things in the world is far more organic than the way the world lusts after success. So if you have something to share, share it. Worry less about getting it to someone famous to be your champion, and simply share it with ten friends who trust you enough to give it a chance. If it’s going to catch on, it will from there. If not, you may want to rework it or simply realize this was a gift to God.

And by all means, when you read something, hear something, view something that has touched your life, pass it on in whatever way you can. Tell people about it, recommend it in a blog or in social media. I know hundreds of people who have done that with some of my things, not as a favor to me, but because they were genuinely touched with something they wanted to share it with others.

That’s how ideas spread. Don’t wait to be discovered. Don’t be self-promoting, it’s obnoxious. Simply share freely in the space you’re already in let it grow from there.

One moment, she was a healthy student beginning life at the university with plans to study medicine. In the next, she’s completely bed-ridden have been struck down with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), which means inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. The only way she can write is via her iPod Touch, a couple of sentences per day.

I told you a bit of Jenny Rowbory’s story two years ago, because she sent me a copy of a book of poems she wrote dealing with God in the midst of her intense struggle. I found them incredibly uplifting and insightful, and we arranged to have some sent to the U.S. so we could make them available here. We still have a few copies left if you’re interested, but that’s not why I’m writing this.

She is now marking her eighth year dealing with this horrible disease, made all the more complicated by the fact that many doctors don’t regard her condition a true physical problem and think of it has a psychosomatic disorder. She has been thwarted in her attempts to get medical attention, and getting funding for research in this area has been difficult. She is now hoping to use her condition to raise awareness of M.E., and fight back against a health-care system that has been unresponsive to her needs, and to many other cases like hers. She’s written a blog to increase this awareness, by also including a video of her first 18 healthy years. I hope you can take some time to get to know Jenny a little bit and pray for her, and for the cause she carries on her heart. She has not only been the victim of this disease, but also the injustice of a medical culture that won’t take her disease seriously. And yet, she continues to embrace a vibrant and growing trust in who God is. You can read her blog here and see the video.

If you don’t have time to go there, this is the crux of her mission:

There are M.E. patients who have been campaigning for decades and they say that nothing has changed in 20 years; they are still treated with the same derision and ignorance now as they were back then. The situation needs to change right now. If you, dear reader, are looking for something worthwhile to dedicate your life to, this could well be it. Patients are suffering and dying so don’t tell me to be patient and that things will change for the better ‘in time’ or ‘soon’. Nothing will change unless someone does something. Now is the time to act. If you have any power or influence at all, please use it. Help us. Fight injustice. Be a hero.

Today marks the day eight years ago when my life changed. I have spent several months writing this post, a sentence or two per day, by wiggling my thumb to jab out letters on my iPod Touch and it has very nearly killed me. It has been worth it though because today, I refuse to let doctors make me feel so small inside. Today, I refuse to let them strike the type of terror into my heart that makes me cower at the very word ‘doctor’. Today, through this, I have stood up to them. Today is the day their power dies. Today, hear me roar.

Hers is a compelling story, not only of dealing with a debilitating illness, but also doing so with her feet firmly planted in a Father’s care for her, in spite of the fact that she has not healed her in the way she’s wanted and prayed for earnestly. Her story will change you. Her faith in the midst of the unthinkable will embolden your own trust in a loving Father, who doesn’t wave his magic wand and make our lives the way we want them. I’m including one of her poem’s here that display not only the depth of her struggle, but also her playfulness with God about it.

Can’t You Be A Magician, God?
© Copyright 2009 by Jennifer Karen Rowbory – Used by Permission

Can’t you be a magician, God,
if only for one day?
Forget about being wise and good
and do exactly what I say.

Can’t our prayers be spells, God,
if only for one day?
The right words in the right order
and bingo! We’ll have our way.

Make me better now, Lord
please no more delay.
I want to force your hand, Lord,
to make my illness go away.

If you live in England or outside the U.S., please order directly from Jenny’s website, so that she benefits the most from the sale of her book. If you live in the United States, you can use the link below to order through Lifestream. The money from sales here will also go to Jenny’s medical treatment.

In a conversation almost twenty years ago, someone asked me how I thought the church should function. At the time I was still enjoying how much the Father’s love was reshaping my relationship with him and with others. I remember responding, “The church? Honestly that’s not my priority right now. I’m still exploring what it means to live loved and may not even get back to the church for another ten years.”

Well, it took me a bit longer than that. At the time, I thought everything had to do with the church. I had been in leadership positions in various institutions for twenty years, convinced that if we could just get church right, people would have the relationship with God they wanted. But that didn’t happen, especially because all of my experience with church had to do with conformity-based environments. Someone had a vision or a program and community only rose out commitment to that task. But as I was soon to find out, when you’re no longer on that task the “church” relationships evaporate.

That’s not to say I didn’t have numerous fruitful and endearing relationships within this groups, but they were still influenced by our need to believe the same things. That’s what’s wrong with conformity-based environments, people try to fit in often by trying to say and do the right things, rather than being open, honest, and real about their spiritual lives. And a conformity-based environment has to be controlled by some kind of leadership structure that has unquestioned authority. What has amazed me is how many of those relationships reconnected years later and with the corporate structure was no longer between us how freely and quickly the friendships deepened in our passion for Jesus.

For the last fifteen years, I’ve been able to taste of community with other believers all over the world who, when they are deeply related to God as Father can share community without conformity and collaboration without control. Of course, that only works where Jesus stays at the center of each heart and where people are not going to bully others to get what they need. That sometimes happens when weaker brothers and sister seek to exploit the community or collaboration for their own agenda. So maybe true community can seem transient at times, particularly with the failures of people, but I’ve also known community friendships that have transcended decades and their is nothing richer and more engaging than that.

So now I find myself contemplating community again. How can we share vibrant, growing friendships and share the life of Jesus together without someone having to impose their plan, vision, or program? And I’m excited at how subversive love-based relationships can be in revealing Jesus to the world. We cannot create real community by human effort, but we can cultivate the environment around us in which real relationships can connect and grow as we follow Jesus. We can watch him knit friendships together in larger networks freely and joyfully and watch what kind of amazing collaborations can unfold from that. It’s what he’s about in the world, “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” (Ephesians 1:10) His church is not expressed in the man-made institutions that have co-opted the terminology, but in the lives of those who have been drawn into relationship with him, and the growing conversation and unity of heart and spirit that comes from walking alongside others who are also growing in that relationship.

Can you imagine a growing network of people who simply love and care about others enough to walk together without demand and expectation? There’s nothing more incredible than warm friendships sharing a relationship with God and for the next season I’m want to explore that more, especially with seasoned saints around the world who are tired of man-made illusions of community and want to have a conversation about how we cooperate with what God is doing to break down the dividing walls of that shatter relationships, and learn to truly live in love. The current podcast at The God Journey, A Greater Gathering, unpacks this desire to help people participate in that greater gathering Jesus is calling out of the world, beyond the limitations and abuses of our religious institutions into authentic connections and real friendships.

If you only listen to one podcast this year, this is the one you will want to hear. There is a greater gathering going on in the world that transcends whether or not your part of a regular congregations, that’s not based in your attendance at a meeting or your faithful cooperation to someone’s program. Rather, it is based on the deep and engaging friendships of those whose lives are being transformed by Jesus, so they don’t have to live protectively and defensively in the world, but generously and sacrificially because they are at rest in Father’s care for them. The conformity and control won’t be the issue, but growing relationship with him. I want to have that conversation with all kinds of people around the world and see what Father has been seeding in the hearts of those who’ve been learning to live in his love for decades, that may help us see how he is gathering his flock together.

I don’t know of a person whose passionate for God who doesn’t yearn for real and fruitful community. Jesus put the desire for connection in the human heart that only he can fulfill and then we can see it reflected in friendship with others as well. It may have often been disappointed by those who only wanted to use it for their own gain, or those who tried to pressure us to serve their agenda. We’ve confused our church institutions, for the reality of the church itself. But I’ve seen the firstfruits of that real community all over the world and I want to be part of a growing conversation that explores how we can engage these kinds of friendships and help others do so as well. This next week a local group of people are going to begin that conversation here, and I hope the podcast spurs on a wider conversation that will help others see the church Jesus is building and engage it with him, without the need to control people, or prod them toward a conformity that subverts the transforming power of Jesus in the human heart.

It’s not ours to do, but it may be ours to see him more clearly what he is already doing.

A friend in Japan sent me this image today and I found it quite compelling. It illustrates the art of kintsukuroi, which literally means “to repair with gold.” It is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer to make the final piece a greater work of art for having been broken.

I love how image illustrates what my Father does in the brokenness of our world. He’s able to pick up the pieces of our shattered lives and craft them back together in a way that makes us an even better reflection of his glory than we were before. Amazing. Just amazing!

Is that why God is not so easily threatened by the problems and challenges we face in this age? Where we see evil and failure, he sees the opportunity to craft a better piece of art. I’ve been through some horrible things in my life and have suffered some crushing disappointments, but as I look back I see God doing his work of healing in all of them that led me into a greater place of freedom, healing, and joy. Yes, much of that was through many tears and anguish, but I just kept coming to him and surrendering as best I knew to what he was doing in me.

I love where I’ve landed in his life and I know much of the joy that I live now came out of those selfish and arrogant places that were crushed in times of personal failure, betrayal by others, frustration, or grief. As I look back, however, I do see others who were part of those same circumstances that didn’t find the same healing and freedom. Instead their brokenness caused them to withdraw into their own strength and fight harder for those things they think they wanted. They end up imprisoned by their own will in sorrow, stress, and pain. His healing does not come from trying to save ourselves, but only when we give up and come to him and let his healing patch us back together.

And the end result can be so exquisite as you can see below:

One of the phrases Eugene Peterson uses recurrently in his translation of the Bible (The Message) is that Jesus will have “the last word on everything thing and everyone.” He uses that for those Scriptures that talk of Jesus being seated at the right hand of God and all things will be put under his feet. I love that thought.

It’s one I explored further in In Season, because my dad always had the last word on his vineyard. Even though many workers came to harvest the grapes or prune the vines, he was always the last presence passing through his vineyard. He would go behind everyone else and find whatever was missed, fix whatever was wrong, and ensure that it was all just the way he wanted it.

No matter what happens in this age, he will get the last word. He doesn’t have it yet. Many times the wicked seem to prevail and those who cheat seem to get ahead. But if we keep our eyes on him, we’ll be able to see things as they really are and be at peace even in a world that is falling apart around us. Why? Because he can have the last word on everything that happens to you today, and he will have the last word on everything in this entire age soon!

Sara and I have just finished Dr. Brené Brown’s latest book, Daring Greatly. In all honesty, we did not enjoy it near as much as her second bookThe Gifts of Imperfection, which was more tightly written and seemed less like a publisher-motivated book to keep the franchise alive. Nonetheless this one had some great moments in it.

In one chapter she is dealing with the difference between true belonging with others and simply fitting in. She concludes that merely trying to fit in is one of the greatest barriers to really belonging. “Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be in order to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand doesn’t requires us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.” (Emphasis hers.)

Her words directly apply to how we can foster community among those who want to share a journey of faith and why conformity-based environments can only provide an illusion of community, but not its reality. Conformity groups set an ideal and ask people to pretend that’s what they are to fit in. They feel threatened by people’s honest questions and struggles and will often penalize or marginalize those who don’t do what they are expected. Real community, however, creates a safe place for people to be authentic and would rather celebrate in the struggle rather than force them to act better.

Once Dr. Brown asked a large group of eighth graders to break into small teams and to come up with the difference between fitting into a group and belonging to a group. What they came up with surprised her with their simplicity and insight:

Belonging is being somewhere where you want to be, and they want you. Fitting in is being somewhere you really want to be, but they don’t care one way or the other.

Belonging is being accepted for you. Fitting in is being accepted for being like everyone else.

I get to be me if I belong. I have to be like you to fit in.

How amazing that 13 and 14 year-olds would already know the difference, even though they admitted that they had few places they really felt like they could belong. The people with whom you share true community are those who love you where you are and see no value in making you pretend to be anything different. That’s where real love can be expressed and the incubator in which real transformation can take place.

How do you find a group like that? I know thousands of people who are looking for one. But the key is not to find a group like that so much as it is to be a person like that. When you can help others find a safe place for their struggle, you’ll find a safe place for yours as well.

I’m blessed and amazed at how much of my writings have been translated into other languages. Of course some of that has been by publishers who want to sell my books, but the vast majority of it has been done by volunteers who have given their time to translate book or articles so that people in their language group could have access to them. Over the last couple of months we’ve added a lot more of our translated versions of our Living Loved articles on our International Translation Page. Check it out if you know of people that might be interested in some of these things and cannot speak English. And please know that a lot of this has been made possible by people who have been incredibly generous with their time.

We’ve also just been able to add some of my Transition teaching in French, German, Portuguese, and Russian because I was in places teaching some of that material where I was being translated and recorded. They are not completely the same material, and not all the recordings are in the best quality, but they are offered freely so people can engage that teaching if they want to. You can access them from the links above, the International Translation page or directly from the Transitions page.

Also, So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore has also been released in an Italian version and He Loves Me will soon be available in a Russian printed version. That should make the Vatican a bit jumpy, eh? We are also working on published versions of He Loves Me in Castilian and American Spanish. The pdf versions have been available for some time, but we’re now looking to print them and offer them by e-book.

Lifestream has also been involved recently in translating and printing 3,000 copies of He Loves Me in Swahili (pictured above at left) that will be distributed free of charge in Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Tanzania and Burundi. We’ve completely underwritten the costs for translating and printing this book after repeated requests from our friends in Kenya, who wanted that book to be a resource for that region of the world. They have just been printed and are now being distributed.

The whole process has been quite a story of God’s grace and provision and the process itself has already borne fruit. Here are some of the stories that have been passed back to us:

Thank you very much for the funds you support us for translation and printing. I was chatting with the translators and they reached a point where they started giving testimonies on how the book had changed their life in that short time. On shared about learning the language of God, and said that when you trust God, you will find yourself cooperating with his work going on in you and around you. So these, brother, together with comments from the printers really show what God wants for enhancement of His Kingdom worldwide. Another said that it is true that God never want us to trust others, he wanted us to love others but to trust Him alone. They also noted that grace doesn’t diminish God’s desire for our holiness but clarifies the process.

God has opened another door in prison ministry. One of our IGEM members, who is a senor person in prison, he has taken Jesus lens DVDs and he has shared with me today how God is touching the lives of people. Now he is studying the copy of He Loves Me in Swahili language, which he believes it will be a great blessing for the prison ministry.

Actually brother this book will change the atmosphere of Africa and turn hearts back to what God’s wants us to do.

I am grateful to all of you who have found these materials so helpful that you’ve taken the time and effort to make them available to those who cannot read or speak English. There is certainly a hunger around the world for people to learn to live loved and free in the Father’s life.

If you’ve reached emotional overload from all the coverage of the tragedy in Connecticut, or find that it is exacerbating your fear and anger at a broad range of people, turn it off. I honestly think too much of the kind of coverage we get in our media seriously warps our view of the world, either with more grief or anger than we’re equipped to bear for a circumstance you’re not even involved in, or by wiping out our emotional capital so that we won’t have it to give to the people around you. Television coverage does not exist to help you deal with this crisis, even though that’s how the newspeople portray themselves. Television exists for one purpose, to garner ratings by feeding whatever insatiable appetite the available audience has. The media wallows in tragedy by imposing their presence on grieving people and then trying to link the rest of us emotionally to the victims so we’ll be hooked on the grief. This week they used Newtown, CT as a production studio to shoot their latest product and when the audience is no longer interested, they’ll move on to the next calamity and invite us into that one as well. The fact is we don’t truly know these people and as sorry as we can be for what they are going through, we really can’t grieve with them in a way that matters to them. The end result is that we personalize a tragedy we’re not involved in and the ensuing publicity creates an anti-hero of the shooter that is likely encouraging another tormented soul to do something more heinous to garner even more attention for himself and his pain. That’s not to say there aren’t legitimate reasons for us to be aware of an event like this, to have compassion for those whose lives have been destroyed, and to provide an opportunity for us to consider how we keep this from happening again. But that doesn’t demand we watch wall-to-wall coverage or think we’re helping others by doing so. It will use up your emotional strength that is better spent on people around you that you already know—young children who need love, or a teen misfit that may be contemplating something similar. Television gives us the illusion of community, while it actually splinters us even further from relationships where we can actually have an impact. We grieve alone in our own homes, for people we don’t know. And because we’re not involved there is no capacity to see how God’s grace is unfolding in people’s hearts who are part of this. For surely he his inviting people into a greater reality of his life and love. In the aftermath of evil he is always at work to bring life out of death. He doesn’t have to orchestrate tragedy to engage it, or to weave it into the tapestry of our lives for his good. And while that does not minimize the grief people bare who have lost someone significant in such a senseless and selfish act nor the comfort they will need to work through it, it does give us hope life doesn’t end with loss. I’ve thought a lot about evil in our world and its impact, not just about sudden tragedies like this one, but more systemic injustice that makes society incredibly unfair. Some have way too much and others far too little. Some seem to encounter one continuous struggle after another while others live in relative ease. Yes, difficulties can result from our own poor choices, but often it’s just the reality that pain is not distributed evenly and neither are material comforts and blessing. Some see that as God being unfair, but it is really a commentary on how humanity has marred the creation with its own inequities. God is the presence in the world that comforts the afflicted, he invites those with much into a generosity for those who have little, and offers to teach us to live differently so that they do not bring unnecessary pain on ourselves or others. I’ve known people who have suffered incredible tragedies and have come through into greater places of joy and compassion as God made himself known in their grief. Though nothing makes up for the loss of a loved one, God can hold people in that loss and bring them into a wider space of knowing him. I know a couple whose only child was murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre. She had only been away at college for a few months. When I hear them talk of Father’s comforting love, it reminds me how much bigger God is than the evil in the world, and though he doesn’t stop it all he never stops inviting people into his life. Though the Psalmist promises that God will defend the widow and orphan against the oppressor, and that he will deliver the righteous from affliction, we know that doesn’t always happen in this life. Too often evil prevails. John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod for speaking the truth. Many of our early brothers and sisters were beaten and stoned for their faith. Many children have died in war and of hunger, and some have battled debilitating diseases all their lives. Is it fair that some have it more difficult than others? This age can be incredibly cruel, but God’s measure of justice will go far beyond this age. His perspective encompasses all eternity and told us that true wisdom would as well. Our life in this world is like the dew on the morning grass, it is only a very small part of why God created you. If we only measure our lives by what happens here, we will have a distorted view and end up discouraged and hopeless. That’s why Jesus told us to invest our treasures beyond this life and to keep our eyes on things above where hope and joy prevail of the pain and sufferings of this life. And I’m not talking specifically about just getting into heaven hear or escaping hell. I was taught that at the end of the age God those who have “accepted Jesus” go to heaven and those who haven’t go to hell. I don’t find Scripture pre-occupied with that question. It doesn’t invite us to “accept Jesus”, but come to engage God as our Father through the work of the Son. Salvation is in knowing him, not jumping through some religious hoops. (I am trying to avoid a discussion about hell and what it is, because that isn’t the point of this piece. If you want to know my thoughts about that you can listen to this podcast.) Our life here is preparation for what lies beyond. That’s where God will make sense of this age. I can’t be too specific here because Scripture only hints of realities I don’t think we can even imagine on this side of it. But it is clear that God’s justice will prevail and the inequities of this life will be resolved by him. The oppressed will be vindicated and righteousness rewarded in ways that the world systems do not. I’m pretty sure we’ll be surprised about who is honored and in what ways. It won’t follow the values of this world, even our religious one. For sure we will all get to see our lives as they really were, owning our failures and celebrating our faithfulness. This won’t have any of the guilt, or sorrow in it as we think of it, because shame will be gone and there will be no competition with each other. This is not God embarrassing us by parading our sins in front of everyone else, but giving us the opportunity to participate in his kind of healing that involves confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation in a celebration of grace. That’s the way his kingdom is. We’ve all done destructive things, whether they’ve been out of willful choice, broken places in our lives, or in complete ignorance. Maybe we’ll get the chance to sit down with those we’ve wronged in this age and have the opportunity to engage them beyond the self-protection of our flesh and the shame of sin. To have the chance to right our wrongs, to confess openly and be forgiven graciously, and to forgive freely is the essence of heaven’s impact on human relationships. I am finding that to be one of the greatest works of God in this age and what brings the greatest joy in human relationships. Now that we’re uncovering more of who Sara really is, I am quite aware now of things past that I’ve said and done that were heard and felt differently than I intended. Being able to see that now through her eyes and own it with her continues to be a great joy for both of us. She has no desire that I grovel in the pain of it, and I have no need to hide from it. We’ve both been blessed at the discoveries we’re making and it has deepened our relationship and our joy with each other. When you’re free of guilt and shame, you can truly deal with our brokenness and the pain we’ve caused others in a wonderfully healing way. I can imagine a lot of that happening in eternity, and it is probably one of the best ways we get to participate in eternity now. Holding grudges, covering up our mistakes, and judging others only drives us to further despair and hopelessness. Owning our failures, seeking forgiveness, and freely giving it to others is what breaks the power of evil and brings hope for the future. If you want to be the antidote to selfishness and evil in the world, live there! In the end evil will be destroyed and God’s triumph will remain. We get to taste that here in his comfort at our loss, his interventions on our behalf, and in the way we love others. But we await a day when we will revel in the fullness of his triumph for eternity. Life lived in that reality is full of great hope and joy even in the midst of tragedy. That’s what Scripture encourages us to place firmly in our minds. There is trouble in this world, but we do not need to fear because he will overcome the world. Christ in us is the hope of glory, not getting what we think we deserve in this age. No we don’t yet see all things subject to his will and desires, but we will. Now we see him and can take great comfort in the fact that he will get the last word on everything going on in this world. He just hasn’t had it… yet!

And on a personal note, Sara and I want to pass along our Christmas blessings to all of you–that you would know the warmth, peace, and joy of his presence this season and into the new year. We are so blessed by all the people God has connected us to around the world and are warmed by the incredible Christmas greetings we have received from so many of you. Please know that you hold a special place in our hearts and we pray God will continue to draw you ever-closer to his heart and set you ever-more free in his life. Merry Christmas.

I wanted to throw the remote control through the TV screen when, after reading a list of the names of the children slaughtered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, President Obama Sunday night concluded, “God has called them home!”

I realize it’s just something we say to comfort grieving parents with the image that they those who pass away have been called there by God, but the view of God it hangs on is no comfort at all. God did not call them home; evil sent them to his arms and he received them with sorrow over the way we humans continue to treat each other. It was not his will that any of them die that day. It takes a distorted view of God’s will to assign him choice in every atrocious event in our world, even if we just believe he “allowed it” in some benign way. It wasn’t his doing, but the actions of someone who had given themselves over to evil. Those children would still be alive today if he had not done so.

Why are we so easily soothed by the misguided notion that God is behind such things? What kind of God decides to call some children home and then enlists a murderer to do it for him? And why is that thought more comforting than the fact that God is in this world with us to help make sense out of a senseless world. Evil roams the earth and sometimes through willing vessels is able to cause incredible devastation. Why would we rather believe God is behind these things for whatever false comfort that provides?

I guess the dilemma is this: How can a loving Father leaves us to the whim of the most wicked among us? It is a question that has perplexed mankind throughout history. It seems so incredibly unfair that the selfish act of one person can rob so many others of life and property. Yet the Scriptures are full of evil acts destroying the innocent, from Cain slaying his brother in jealousy, to King David raping his friend’s wife then having him murdered by betrayal, and then Jesus himself consigned to a horrible death by those who would tell lies under oath. In far less brutal ways, all of us have been victims of others who have sought to impose their will on us by deceit, force, or simply taking advantage of us for their own gain.

We want a world were the negative actions of people don’t have consequence. We think God should prevent all bad things from happening, if not for everyone, then at least for those who are following him. But where does that leave you when tragedy strikes except to feel abandoned by God for some unknown offense? If tragedy is proof that God didn’t love you enough to protect you, how do you rely on him at life’s worst moments? God has not promised a world without evil, nor a life with out pain. He has promised to be with us and to work anything life hurls at his toward his ultimate good of redeeming us and the world back to himself.

We cannot escape the notion that human actions have consequence and when people act destructively others are destroyed. We want to credit everything to God’s hands when he put the world in ours. Humanity is not only capable of incredibly compassionate deeds, but incredibly horrifying ones as well. War, oppression, murder, rape, cheating, and stealing are a constant part of life because people choose to do those things and see other people only as fodder for their own wants.

I’ve heard it suggested that compassionate people will not hold others responsible for their actions at times like this. They suggest some don’t really have a choice because they are the product of an unhealthy environment, or aren’t in their right mind. And they believe their hurtful actions toward others won’t matter because God’s love will fix whatever wrong we do to others. I find such thinking not only an affront to God’s love and a flimsy excuse to treat others the way they want and think there are no consequences for doing so.

All of our actions have consequences that effect the people around us and the culture as a whole, for good or ill. They may not be as large as what happened in Connecticut last week, but, like ripples in a pond they do impact others. Because one man chose to grab a gun instead of seek out help for whatever tormented him, twenty-six people had their lives cut short. Mothers and fathers were robbed of beloved sons and daughters.

We are responsible for our actions and the consequences they cause others. While God forgives people their failures as a way to open the door to know him again, it does not change the consequences their hurtful actions have caused others. Any caring person, would not see their own forgiveness as healing enough, but would also want to be part of healing any wounds they’ve caused others. That’s what separates light from darkness.

Evil thrives in the dark, seeking excuses not healing. It has no empathy for others and therefore sees no problem with satisfying its rage by shooting little children. It attacks people at their most vulnerable, often luring them in by false trust, only looking to take advantage of their goodness. Every con artist first presents himself as a trustworthy person before he seeks to take as his own that which is not his. Evil always abuses the trust of well-meaning people and uses it as a weapon against them. It is the complete antithesis of love, which is why God hates evil—not the person, but the actions and motivations that act so destructively.

Evil lurks in the dark to play the coward’s game. That’s why it seeks out a classroom of first-grade children with a gun, where no one can match his firepower, or unarmed citizens at a political rally. These people don’t attack army bases or police stations. This one chose the most vulnerable environment and by doing so betray the trust of a culture that killing innocent children is completely unthinkable. Of course, we have no idea how many intended acts of evil get thwarted by God’s intervention, but we know it is not all of them. I realize that sounds more insecure than the idea that nothing can happen to us God does not allow, but I am not comfortable with the terminology that God would allow such horror.

Is he powerless to stop some things? Of course not, but he has a larger plan unfolding that we can possibly understand in this age. Scripture is clear that God takes up the cause of the widow and orphan, the marginalized, and the oppressed. He will vindicate them and in justice deal with those who are agents of destruction. But only a cursory view of life tells us that rarely happens this side of eternity. What vindication replaces the loss of a child or the wounds of abuse? But we are also assured that this life only makes sense in light of what comes next and we’ll take a look at that more in my next installment.

The character of God in this age need not be compromised to gloss over the actions of evil, or to falsely comfort those in pain. God’s character is seen in the in the actions of those who protect the vulnerable, not seek to destroy them. It’s reflected in the staff members who confronted the gunman and paid with their lives. He has already done that for us by suffering the injustice of this world to begin the process that would reverse sin in the race and overcome evil.

That process still unfolds. Though evil causes ripples through our culture so do acts of grace and kindness. When you smile at a stranger, help someone in need, feed those who have no food, confront injustice on someone else’s behalf, and care for others over your own desires, the world changes a little. Start today with the people you know. How can I show them acts of kindness reveals God’s love in our world, and not use them for what I think I need?

And just because he does not prevent things like this from happening is no reason to give ourselves over to fear. Fortunately evil like this is incredibly rare. Schools don’t get shot up every day for there are very few people as wantonly destructive as that young man. One of the things our media does poorly is give us a sense of proportion about tragedies when they happen. Wall-to-wall coverage in a nation of over 300 million people, makes it seem like it’s happening around the corner and soon people begin to fear sending their own kids to school.

And when we find ourselves in a crisis of any size, we can rest secure knowing that he will not abandon us there. We are safe in him regardless of what comes our way and he will fulfill his purpose in us and the world even beyond the works of evil. If you need guarantees to trust him, you haven’t yet learned to trust him. For trust sets you at rest even in uncertainty, knowing that no harm can befall you that is bigger than him.

I would much prefer a God who is with me in every trial as his larger purpose unfolds, rather than cling to a false comfort that he will surely prevent everything bad from coming my way. We are safer walking the waves with him than we are staying in an empty boat with out him.

His ripples are the biggest ones in this pond!

Who didn’t send their children off to elementary school Friday, without a second thought that they wouldn’t return home safe that evening? That’s because they always do, at least for the vast majority of people on the vast number of days. But not Friday in Newtown, Connecticut where a seriously tormented soul took gun in hand to not only kill his mother, but also to go to the elementary school he used to attend to slaughter as many people as he could find. He shot six and seven year-old children at point-blank range, and any adult who tried to save them.

The events of this past weekend have stung us with grief, exacerbated our fears, and provoke our anger to do something to end these recurring mass murders. There’s a lot being written and said about those things. I think there are some larger lessons here as well, that I will cover in three parts this week. This is the first.

The immediacy of television the brings the carnage into our own living rooms, displaying images that strike at the depth of our souls, and makes us part of the drama. Who can watch it without thinking of their children or grandchildren and the horrible loss that those in Newtown will endure for the rest of their lives? The tragedy is almost impossible to process and the fear it provokes reminds us how helpless we can be in a world where the destructive actions of one person can have so much impact on others.

Just how do you make sense of the senseless? Obviously you can’t, but people have been trying all weekend. A parade of pundits and politicians have tried to explain the problem, find someone to blame for it, or use it as leverage for their pet political theory. How could this happen? Shouldn’t someone have stopped this? Should we have better security at our schools, laws against violence in entertainment, or more anti-gun laws? Couldn’t the shooter’s family and friends have seen this coming and intervened before it did? Surely there is something we can do to make sure this never happens again to anyone.

And while there are things society can, and should, do to mitigate the possibility, ultimately there’s nothing we can do to guarantee absolute safety for every person in a free society. There is no way to thwart every destructive soul who wants to take the lives of others into their own hands to serve whatever wicked purpose that’s been nurtured in their soul. Why some revel in the power to destroy others for their own needs is one of the most perplexing themes in human history. We see it play out in school shootings, theater massacres, war, terrorist bombings, tribal violence, and genocide.

In the last few months tens of thousands of Syrians have been brutally killed in the last few months by a dictator only concerned only with his own fading grip on power. Every day hundreds of children die in these power struggles, or just from the inequitable distribution of resources that leave too many without food, safe water, or medical care. Greed and corruption can cause every bit as much devastation in the world as a man with a gun. A twisted soul rapes scores of children as those around him help him hide it. And if you look historically, the amount of senseless violence in human history and the oppression of one people by another is staggering to contemplate.

It’s unfortunate that we forget most of the suffering in the world because they happen too far away from us or because the are so persistent we tune them out rather than ask what we can do to help. Tragedies close to home, however, impact us disproportionately partly because it is such an anamoly to our expectations, and partly because when they happen to people like us in neighborhoods like ours, we feel much more vulnerable and easily taps our worst fears and our deepest anger. But it can also remind us that there is evil in the world, and it delights in destroying others.

Our culture has all but abandoned talk of evil, wanting to believe the best about people and blaming poor behavior on a difficult childhood, psychological problems, or needs beyond their control. Tragedies like this bring us back to a very simple reality. Evil exists in our world and people choose to cooperate with it. Certainly this tragedy points it out in the extreme—the contrast between a calloused killer and innocent little children, the one taking life and those staff members who sacrificed theirs trying to prevent it. But don’t reserve your understanding of evil only for atrocities of this magnitude, or you’ll miss how easily it can infect you. Evil is simply the willingness to force our will on another human being merely because we have the power to do it.

After we watched the news on Saturday night we found these timely words in our evening reading from Proverbs 6:

Here are six things GOD hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion:
eyes that are arrogant,
a tongue that lies,
hands that murder the innocent,
a heart that hatches evil plots,
feet that race down a wicked track,
a mouth that lies under oath,
a troublemaker in the family. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

Obviously the “hands that murder the innocent,” was in sharp focus that night, but then we were struck by what else God hates to the same degree—arrogance, telling lies under oath, and plotting against others. Evil is expressed not just in tragedies too horrible to contemplate, but also in less overt ways that we harm others around us. Anything we do to force our will over another human being is an extension of evil and mars a bit more of Father’s creation. (Of course, I’m not talking about intervening in someone’s destructive behavior to protect others.)

God hates all these things and please be careful how you hear that. He doesn’t hate the person, he hates the act because of what it does to people he loves. Whatever loss you felt by the tragedy in Connecticut this weekend is multiplied a billion times in the heart of God who bears all the weight of how we humans harm others around us. The grief and anger we feel over this incident reminds us that two kingdoms are at work in this world—one to destroy the other to heal.

Each of us by the decisions we make promote one or the other. Every decision we make matters. Perhaps the most perplexing question of human history is, “How can a loving Father leaves us to the whim of the most wicked among us?” I’m going to write about that as a continuation of this theme in my next posting. The fact that he does, however, ought to encourage us to consider how our actions affect others around us. Our actions have consequences. Yes, murdering innocent children is the worst of it, but from God’s vantage point gossip, envy, dishonesty, taking unfair advantage, telling someone to trust you and then using their trust and kindness to abuse them, and a host of other things, also do real damage to people.

I like Paul’s list of the deeds of the flesh in Galatians 5 to be a great reminder of what we do to add more evil to the world, and his list of the fruits of the Spirit in the same chapter will show how we can promote his healing in those around us. And, no, I don’t share this to make you feel guilty in hopes that you’ll act better. I share it so that our passion to be healers in the world grows and so that we can recognize when our actions become destructive so that we can run to him for healing.

You can’t be a healer in the world, if you are not first being healed by him. Those who know God as Father and are resting secure in his affection have no reason to force their will on another human being, and will instead look for ways to help others who are victimized by the cruel realities of life in a broken age.

The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly is not only one of Creation’s most incredible acts, it also mirrors so well our own spiritual growth. No wonder Paul drew on the metaphor in Romans 12:1-2 to contrast how the world seeks to press us into its mold, while God invites us into a process of surrendered transformation.

A couple of years ago Sara planted a butterfly garden in our backyard, on the advice of a lady I met in Wisconsin on a trip there. It consists of collection of milkweed plants, which are the host plant for the monarch butterfly, pictured at left. This is the only plant on which they will lay their eggs and the only plant the caterpillars will eat. We have now watched two growing season with our grandkids as the eggs hatch, the caterpillars grow, then change into a chrysalises, and finally emerge as butterflies. It seems to hold endless fascination for all of us as we check each day to see how the caterpillars are growing and how the chrysalises progressing. My daughter just blogged on this recently on her blog, with pictures of what’s going on in our own backyard. She has some awesome pictures there that capture of the wonder of this process.

As astounded as I am when a new butterfly emerges from its chrysalis, I am even more astounded how a butterfly becomes a chrysalis. If you’ve never seen this process, you can view it here in time-lapse photography. I have long wondered how it happened, but until I saw this video, I had no idea it merely shed its own skin and the chrysalis forms from the inside. One day the caterpillar simply wanders away from the milkweed, sometimes going as far as 15 or 20 yards, to find another tree or bush for it to crawl up into. There it hangs upside down in a small curl, and this amazing transformation begins. While it does not have the drama or beauty of the butterfly’s emergence from the chrysalis, it is perhaps an even greater miracle.

When I see the caterpillar hanging from the branch ready for this part of its transformation, I am reminded of Jesus’ words in John 12,

Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. (John 12:24-25, The Message)

I know he’s talking about wheat, but the analogy still holds in transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Who wouldn’t want to give up life as a caterpillar to take to the sky as a butterfly? The more difficult choice is first to become the space in which that kind of transformation can take place. For that to happen, the caterpillar has to give up life as it has always known it, stop its voracious activity, and submit to a process it can’t possibly understand. But it cannot embrace the final step until it takes the next one. And the next one isn’t nearly as much fun.

That’s so true for us as well. Somehow we want God to wave his magic wand and suddenly everything become glorious and fruitful in our lives. We want the fruit of transformation, without embracing the process of it, and because of that we miss out on the beauty God wants to call out of our hearts. We, too, have to let go of life as we know it, and when he invites us, to lay down what we already have. There is no growth without risk, and if we always stay safe by our own reckoning we’ll find ourselves growing stagnant and empty.

In the current issue of Living Loved, I write about the importance of following God onto the narrow road in the simplest of choices. Almost always these moments seem too risky and it feels far safer to ignore them. The only thing that makes them safe is to realize who it is that is inviting us. God is not interested in destroying you, but letting the person he created you to be emerge from the twistedness of what sin, religion, and this world has done to you. What takes all the risk out of it, is knowing that the Father who loves me is guiding me and that I’m the one who truly loses when I seek to save myself.

When I’m feeling so much at risk in the way God’s asking me to live right now and what he is reshaping in both Sara and me, I have found great encouragement and insight watching the process by which God makes a butterfly. It encourages me to let go even more, so that what remains is truly what brings him great joy. I know that’s where my joy lies as well.