God Speaks, do You Listen? How do You Listen?

Here is a practical “how to” method of hearing God.

The point is to hear God so His Character is evident in my life. That is not the same as hearing God so I can get what I want. Too many people want to hear God in order to verify that God wants them to do something that just happens to be what they already want to do. 

This kind of “I heard God” cheapens the people who practice it.

There is a story of the young Christian who said to his spiritual advisor, “I was just talking with Jesus and He says that I should get a new car.” The spiritual advisor replies, “That’s odd. I was just talking with Jesus’ father and He says you ought to make do with the one you’ve got.”

Do you really want to hear God? Here is a simple process I learned from Mark Thibodeaux, a Jesuit priest who wrote a wonderful book I highly recommend, Armchair Mystic. The title isn't great, but it is a really great book. 

This process is very practical. Some will say, "That's it?!" And I will reply, "Yep." But if you'll do it you will notice a few things change about your prayer life. Read Thibodeaux's book becasue he has several other practical guides too.

While I’m relaxed, usually having a cup of coffee, I turn to the passage of scripture I want to pray over. Recently it was Luke 5:1-11, where the disciples catch so many fish they fill two boats.

I softly sing (sometimes I just sing it in my head because it is hard for me to be soft when I sing) a praise song I like. Sometimes I make one up. “Lebh Shomea, Lebh Shomea...” That’s Hebrew for “a heart that listens.” I just softly sing it over and over again to a simple tune I make up on the fly.

When it seems the right time I pick up my Bible and read the text a few times. I go slow and watch for words or lines that jump out at me. This day it was verse 7, “They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink."

The image of two boats full of flopping fish and wide-eyed fisherman becomes clear in my mind. This is a really cool part for me ever since I've been on a boat on The Sea of Galilee. But even if you've not been there you've been on a boat or can imagine a scene like this. One guy is frantically waving his partners over for help. The shouts and hands on oars now emerges as an important part of the image.

Then I recognize one guy is Peter and the others must be Andrew, James, and John. In my imagination I am now in the scene with them. I try to smell the fish and feel the boat beneath me. And now Jesus looks at me. In my mind Jesus looks like Brian Deacon who played Him the film simply titled, Jesus.

God says, “Trust me. Work with your partners. Let them help you. I will fill your boats and then some.”

I sit in my chair and the boat and think about the promise from this text. I treat it as a Word from God. "Trust me. Work with your partners. Let them help you. I will bless you."

This Word from God gives me comfort and hope. God reminds me there are people in my life He wants me to partner with. I believe God. I believe what He has said to me is consistent with His Word elsewhere. God has never once told me to do anything inconsistent with what He has been telling people for ages. Yet His Word for me almost always has new insight for my life that very day, even that very hour.

I sit there for awhile and wonder about what God has said. 

I thank Him for speaking to me. Now I am no longer there with Jesus in the boat, I am sitting in my chair. I look at my coffee and wonder if it is too cold to enjoy. It almost always is and I usually go make another cup.

Tebowing at Salvation Mountain

Tebowing at Salvation Mountain

You know all about Tim Tebow's prayer posture, right? How about Leonard Knight's Salvation Mountain? Yesterday our son Elijah (who just made the Dean's List) and several buds from Pepperdine took a classic college road trip. It must have seemed much longer than the four hour drive from Malibu to the desert and the Salton Sea.

Billy Graham on MLK: "A social leader and a prophet"

My friend KansasBob recently linked to an article at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website. Take this jump to read the article in full, but here are a few paragraphs:

King credited Mr. Graham with having a significant part in reducing the tension between whites and blacks in the South. In 1965, Mr. Graham canceled a tour of Europe to preach a series of crusades in Alabama, praying that the Gospel would tear down walls of division between the races and seeing the importance of his work alongside King’s.

King later said, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend, Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.”

During the civil rights movement, Mr. Graham preached, “Jesus was not a white man; He was not a black man. He came from that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe. Christianity is not a white man’s religion and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black. Christ belongs to all people; He belongs to the whole world.”

Mr. Graham was in Australia at the time of King’s death. He remembers the moment someone approached him with news of King’s assassination, which was followed by journalists seeking a quote: “I was almost in a state of shock. Not only was I losing a friend through a vicious and senseless killing, but America was losing a social leader and a prophet, and I felt his death would be one of the greatest tragedies in our history."

A question about what to do when people treat you badly

Question: Some friends have hurt me by endorsing some rumors and not acting at all like friends. What should I do? What do you do when people speak badly of you or malign your character?

Answer: Don't react in kind, but rather be kind. On those occasions I have been sharp or edgy  in response to what I perceived as something unfair, untrue and unGodly I have always regretted it. I have, however, never regretted being kind. 

You might also withdraw and be quiet for a season of time in order to provide some space. You can use this time to pray and forgive. Sure, the people who hurt you can say all kind of things about you during this season of time. They may never recognize their wrong, apologize, recognize your forgiveness, or even know you've worked hard to get past what they said. 

Here's the thing... If they continue to act wrongly it will only expose them for what they are. But exposing them is not your goal. Your goal is to move forward and forgive. Turning the other cheek is not a sign of weakness but rather a sign of strength. It is kind because it does not strike back, which shows anyone watching (and many people are probably watching) who in the relationship is acting in love.

Remember, You can only control you, so if you need to be quiet and withdraw for awhile my advice is to do it. But be kind in all things.

NCAA President's Comments About Football Playoffs a Joke

If you want to read the original article in Sports Illustrated take this jump.

The NCAA and the BCS simply do not want a playoff system. This week NCAA President Mark Emmert said he would back a "small playoff" if that's what Bowl Championship Series officials decide to adopt.

His reasons for rejecting a sensible playoff are a joke. And it's a joke that SI doesn't call him out in the article. Here's a quote from Emmert:

"Moving toward a 16-team playoff is highly problematic because I think that's too much to ask a young man's body to do. It's too many games, it intrudes into the school year and, of course, it would probably necessitate a complete end to the bowl system that so many people like now."

Young men and their health? The school year? Too many games? Gimme a break. Protecting the BCS and all the money that flows to the NCAA and the SEC is the reason. Nothing more, nothing less.

Check this out:

North Dakota State beat Sam Houston in the the Football Championship Subdivision (the old Division 1aa) last week. It was the 16th game for each team in a five week playoff that began with 20 teams in all.

The Division 2 champs Pittsburg State beat Wayne State in the championship game on December 17. It was their 15th game and game 16 for Wayne State. The D2 playoffs involve 24 teams over five weeks of games.

The Division 3 playoffs involved 32 teams over five weeks this year. The championship game was the 15th game for both the winner Wisconsin Whitewater and  Mount Union as well.

Too much to ask a young man's body to do? Too many games? It would intrude on the school year?

Only for Division 1 and the millions of BCS dollars I guess.

What a joke.

Gimme the Vente, Leave Room for Kindness

Check out the story below or take this jump to the original at Good News, complete with a picture of Haley Joel Osment from the 2000 motion picture Pay it Forward. I love this stuff. It reminds me of my friend Mark Crowell going to a laundry mat with a bucket of quarters and paying for unsuspecting strangers to do their loads of laundry.

The main conceit of the 2000 Kevin Spacey film Pay It Forward is that if one person does a kindness for three strangers, and those three people each do kindnesses for three strangers, and so on, one person can change the world. Rarely do we see this acted out in the real world the way it was cinematically—one scene finds a man giving away his brand-new Jaguar to a guy having car troubles—but on a smaller scale, these sorts of random niceties happen far more often than you might think. Today, it’s selflessness at a small coffee house in Bluffton, South Carolina.

It all started two years ago at Corner Perk, a small, locally owned coffee shop, when a customer paid her bill and left $100 extra, saying she wanted to pay for everyone who ordered after her until the money ran out. The staff fulfilled her request, and the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, has returned to leave other large donations every two to three months.

“People will come in and say, ‘What do you mean? I don’t understand. Are you trying to buy me a coffee today?’” the shop’s owner, Josh Cooke,told the local news. “And I say, ‘No, somebody came in 30 minutes ago and left money to pay for drinks until it runs out.’”

It took a while, but word has started to spread around the tiny coastal town, home to about 12,000 people. Now, more and more customers have been leaving money to pay for others’ food and drink. Cooke says some people don’t even buy anything when they come in; they just stop to donate and head right back out.

A medium cup of coffee at Corner Perk costs $1.95. That may not seem like a lot, but for a family struggling to save money in these tense and difficult economic times, two bucks saved at the right moment probably feels like a million. And a jolt of generosity is a better pick-me-up than caffeine any day of the week.

100 year old mom meets her 82 year old daughter for first time!

Follow this jump to a wonderful story about 100 year old Minka Disbrow. She has just met her daughter Ruth Lee, now 82, for the first time!

Minka gave Ruth up for adoption back in 1928 after she was raped. She never dreamed she would meet her little girl this side of Heaven.

One of the best lines of the Yahoo! story:

Five years ago, Disbrow prayed she might get the chance to see her. "Lord, if you would just let me see her," Disbrow remembers praying. "I promise you I will never bother her."

Bother? The families have gotten together many times now and will again soon to celebrate Minka's 100th birthday.

Here they are, sharing a long awaited moment and bouquet.