JRMITCH85 Decisions, Faith

Happy Reformation Day

The popular belief is that on this day in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses, and sparked the Protestant Reformation. Later today it is my task to preach the Word of God. I feel obliged to include in the presentation of the Word, the actions of Martin Luther in 1517.

Ultimately, the importance that we find in scripture, and in history, that no human institution or human action is worthy of worship or praise, but rather it is God Almighty alone that has the power to save us from anything. Therefore, the important thing to understand is that through the prodding of the Holy Spirit, God granted Martin Luther the boldness to present this argument to the church. Certainly, Martin Luther had to respond to the prodding, but it is the Holy Spirit who reforms us, not an action by a single human, or human institution.

When we lose our way, and begin lifting up the institution above God, or even at equal position with God, we lose sight of the reforming and transformational character of God. This breaks God’s heart, because the Almighty loves us so much that when we fall into the traps that trap us in thinking that God requires a special formula, or the right “hocus pocus” to be effective, we become stagnant in our worship, and restrict ourselves from taking a step back and breathing in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When we do this, God laughs and cries because we simply miss the point that God is God, and we should strive to be more like God, and less stuck on our own patterns and ideas about right and wrong worship.

The Almighty God alone judges. God is bigger than our churches. God seeks to grant us each a deep and true Shalom, wholeness, prosperity, peace, and completion. Only if we are willing to come together as the Church, are we going to see the true Reformation. However, that starts with our own personal expression.

God desires a personal relationship with each of us, and that relationship takes time and effort on our part. How do we respond to the grace that is present for us before we do anything? We are called to respond with JOY, GLADNESS, THANKSGIVING, and SERVICE. This has nothing to do with being Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. This has to do with God, and coming together to be the true church.

I think it odd that Jon Stewart reminds us that we have more that brings us together, than that which pulls us apart, but if we amplify our differences, we wont be able to see our similarities. God loves you, God loves me, and because of that we should respond by loving one another.

It never was Luther’s intention, nor the desire of God, for the result of the Reformation to split the church into a million different denominations. In fact it was intended simply to be a corrective, and a call for the church to remember that which God’s calls us. We are called to be the salt of the Earth, and to bring the love of God to all of those lacking hope. Therefore, I pray that on this Reformation Day, we as the Church of God can come together and participate in the Reformation of the World.

JRMITCH85 Hope, Ramblings, Uncategorized

A Team with Two Personalities

As a Cal fan, this football season is hard to stomach.

This season has been full of ups and downs, one week we score 50, and the next week we struggle to score at all. One week the defense gives up 0 offensive touchdowns, and the next week we give up 5 to 7. (Yes I am using “we” to describe the team.) This is hard to understand. How can a team play similar competition week in and week out, and have such a radical disparity with the level of play. The list of excuses ranges from the fact that all the games they have dominated have been at home, and all the losses have been on the road, to injuries, to passion.

However, most of us have up and downs from time to time. Some days we are up to performing our best, and other days we desire to merely phone it in. (Again using the collective “we”.) However, I think it is times like this that we have to find it deep within our gut, to fight that urge to just be content with mediocre. It is that mediocre performance that maintains the status-quo. Even if we are great on some days at fighting the injustice in the world, striking out against the forces of “evil”, and bringing hope to the world, if we don’t contend with our own slipping into mediocrity, we endanger ourselves into becoming the biggest opponent to our own goals.

Therefore, each day go after greatness, even on those days when we are struck with injury, or are otherwise prone to fall into the trap of mediocrity. We can’t always control our situation, but we can control our response. Go forth and press forward bringing glory to our God Almighty.

JRMITCH85 Character, Faith

Intrusive Vanity

As I was running this morning I had to question my intentions. Why am I doing this? Am I doing this to lose weight so I am healthier? Am I doing this so I can be in good enough shape to run a half-marathon in December? Am I doing this because I am living out a life to which God is calling me? Or am I doing this so that I can simply be more attractive, or because of vanity?

I would be a liar if I began to say that vanity had nothing to do with it.

Certainly, there are good reasons why I am running; it does aid me in a healthier lifestyle, and my body is a gift from God, and I am called to be a good steward. The half marathon is more or less a neutral rationale, because there is also an aspect of vanity there.

While vanity was not the reason I started running, or planned to run a half marathon, the fact that vanity has crept into my desires to run bothers me greatly. This vain trap is intrusive, as it works its way into the things that are good and tarnishes them, making them less than what they once were.

I love the complements I have received about losing weight. However, my love for those comments tarnishes the fact that it is a good thing I lost weight.

This isn’t the only thing that vanity has intruded upon. When I preach, when I play with my son, when I blog, when I sit and read, and the list goes on and on and on. It works its way into so many things, and it feels as if everything I care about is vulnerable to the ugly tentacles of vanity.

It may be impossible to eradicate the danger of vain thoughts, what I can do is recognize them, and prevent them from influencing my actions. I do also need to continuously review the reasons I do things, and if they have anything to do with me and my pride, I should reconsider. I need to give these up to God, and not hold onto them. This is a difficult task and certainly not one that I have mastered, but have to flexible and ready to keep working on it.

I pray that pride and vanity do not take over, but it is something that I know I have to understand better, and make sure that my focus is upon the God that loves me, and calls me into the kingdom, and that I do this for God and not myself.

JRMITCH85 Hope, Ramblings

Interwoven Messages

This morning, like many mornings, I was listening to Colin Cowherd, and he had Bill Walton on his show to talk about his NBA observations. Walton is a former NBA champion, the father of Luke Walton, and apparently he is also the spokesperson for Yum! Foods World Hunger Relief Project. As he was answering the host’s questions he would correlate the leadership of NBA greats to the leadership it takes in all of us to help those who are hungry. He would answer a question about how well a team worked together, with a corresponding comment about how we all need to work together as a team to help combat hunger.

His invite to the show must have been understood by all of those involved as primarily a commercial for the World Hunger Relief Project because the host did not seem to be phased by borderline ridiculous nature of Walton’s responses. I believe our awareness needs to be raised about the hunger in the world, but it seemed a little like a joke to weave this message within Walton’s answers about the state of NBA.

However, if this tactic is effective, I support it, because it is important that we give hope to those lacking even the most basic provision, and I pray that this initiative is successful in the long run.

UPDATE: Apparently, Bill Walton has been doing this all over the place. Here is a link to another site that published their transcript of their interview with the legend. http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2010/10/28/tbj-qa-bill-walton/

 

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Ramblings

Chilly Mornings

This morning was chilly, and the fact that a vent directly above my bed allows a breeze from outside to blow into my bedroom certainly contributed to the chilly condition in my room. The temperature and breeze contributed to my reluctance about getting out of bed. I missed my morning jog, my morning coffee, and my morning reflection time. Each of these are enhancements to my day, and I sacrificed them for the opportunity to get another hour of sleep in my warm bed.

The extra sleep and warm time is great, but I don’t know if it was worth what I lost. What things do we sacrifice for a moment? Sometimes those moments are worth it, but this one wasn’t, at least not for me.

JRMITCH85 Character

What Should I Do?

In case you haven’t seen the latest Nike commercial, I have embedded it below.

LeBron James asks, “What should I do?”

In case you were in a cave, or just didn’t care, this past summer LeBron James, arguably the best player in the NBA, decided to leave Cleveland as a free agent, the team he played with for the first seven years of his professional career. This caused an uproar among people in Cleveland, and  an especially nasty public letter from the owner of his old team.

He ended up joining forces with another superstar, Dwayne Wade, and an All-Star, Chris Bosh, by joining the Miami Heat. One commentator affectionately referred to this team as “Super Team”, because these three were the three best free agent players available. Any team would have been pleased to land one of the three, but Miami got all three.

But the third strike against James in the eye of the public, was that he and ESPN got together and put together a show called, “The Decision.” (This is what he is spoofing at the beginning of the commercial.) Here he announced his decision to leave and join the SUPER TEAM. This was also when the former team found out that they were losing their best player and any hope of competing for a championship.

These three strikes and Mr. James was out.

After the summer of criticism, LeBron lashes out at those who criticized his decision and the way he presented his decision through his commercial. (Nike probably knew this was going to be a lightning rod, and probably also forcefully pushed LeBron in this direction.)

Sure there were definitely things that could have been done differently, but ultimately all he, or any of us, can do is live our lives to the greatest potential. We will have to live with the fallout from our decisions, but we cannot control how people are going to perceive or act around us. We only control our own actions.

What should I do? Live life trying to bring God the glory in all things. As for LeBron, I would suggest the same.

JRMITCH85 Hope

Hope In A New Season

With the NBA season tipping off today, I figured basketball would be a good topic. Each season starts with a some interesting questions, because each new season there are player and coaching changes, and each year starts with a number of teams vying for the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, each with new hopes and dreams. Is this the year?

So too we enter this day, a new day, a day where we can go out and be the best. We can go out and strive after holiness; we can strive to serve and love in all we do. We don’t need a new season to start over, but each day is an opportunity to live the best life you can live. The hope should always be there for living for the glory of God.

There is a sign in the Notre Dame football locker room that each player is supposed to touch as they go out onto the field that reminds them to play like champions. The team’s record is of no consequence, because each time they go out on the field they are reminded that they go out and represent Notre Dame. Similarly, we need to remember that we represent our Creator with how we live our lives.

Each day we need to remember that we are God’s beloved; be a champion for God’s love today!

JRMITCH85 Faith

Weather or Not

Not to disparage meteorologists, but the predictions this weekend were wrong, and affected my outdoor plans. First on Saturday in Berkeley the chances of rain were less than 10% before 5pm, after the game was going to be over, therefore a friend of mine decided to go with me because there was not going to be rain. However, the rain started just before halftime, and by the end of the third quarter I was soaked. Fortunately, Cal beat up on ASU, and was leading by 40 points in the fourth quarter, so we left the game early. (Although we left later than most.) Yesterday, the weather was supposed to be 70 and mostly sunny at the pumpkin patch, so I planned a trip to the pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, it was much cooler than that, and it started to rain as we left. (I am thankful that it didn’t start to rain sooner, but I was not personally ready for rain, even though I did make sure my son was dressed warm enough.)

All in all I had plans based on information delivered to me through a couple of weather outlets. I trusted them.

How often has the weather forecast been incorrect? Although, this isn’t completely because of the insufficiency of the knowledge of weather predictors, but the nature of weather. It is difficult to predict many times.

It reminds me of where I place my trust. Granted, my weekend plans are very small in comparison to many things in life, but I think it is relevant I placed more trust in a prediction that has a less than stellar record of accuracy, than I place in God with some decisions I make everyday.

This should never be the case, but as I think about the things that I do in preparation of making a decision, I realize that my relationship with God is not always a major determining factor in doing something. Sometimes I feel as if the thing is below prayer, but sometimes I trust in my intellect, and still other times I trust in nothing more than a feeling.

Not that I am advocating for falling down on your knees for every decision, from deciding what you are going to eat for breakfast, to what career you are going to pursue, but I do advocate for each of us to ask how the Almighty Creator of the universe would feel about our decision, and the process we use to make the decision.

Ultimately, God is in control of the weather, not the weather people making predictions, thus God is much more worthy of my trust. Thus in life, God cares about all of my life and all of my decisions. Therefore, I should go to this personal God, and trust that I will not be led astray.

JRMITCH85 Character

Lacking Perfection

FAIL

Today, when I went to pick up the results of my four ordination exams, I found out that I passed two of them, and did not pass two of them (I thought this was a funny and gentle way of saying that I failed). My first instinct was disappointment, because I was going to have to take two of them again. However, my biggest disappointment was that I will never be able to say that I passed them all on my first try, I will never have a perfect record.

A sad thing about this experience is that I was so disappointed that I was not able to truly accept a friend’s congratulatory remarks. While I should not gloss over the fact that I should strive for perfection, I also need to be able to appreciate the good news that I passed two of the exams. It really is just a matter of perspective. If I were a hitter in baseball I would be the greatest of all time if I hit 0.500.

However, I looked at it from the perspective of a basketball player shooting free throws. 50% is Shaq territory; awful! This is why I focused upon the tests that I didn’t pass. However, there is a good lesson that can come out of this. I need to humble myself, and prepare differently for the exams that I didn’t pass. When Shaquile O’Neal, a horrendous free throw shooter, played for the Lakers he was encouraged to work on his free throws, and he reached out to one of the best free throw shooters in the history of the NBA, Rick Barry, to help him with his free throws.

As seen below, Rick Barry had an unorthodox way of shooting free throws. Shaq had set up a meeting with Rick Barry to possibly changing the way he shot free throws to the between the legs version of the free throw shot. Unfortunately, this meeting got cancelled, because, as rumor has it, Shaq’s publicist told him this would hurt his image, and thus they idea was jettisoned.

However, I cannot worry about my image in failing, and studying extra hard for the next time around, but rather I must humble myself to working on and continuing to drive into my head the things that I may think I have fully understood. I can’t be above doing the things that will help me succeed in the future. Which, to some extent is a microcosm of our relationship with God. Sometimes it takes doing the “weird” or “different” thing to really explode with success in ministry, as it is most of our greatest successes come from the lessons learned during our greatest failures.

Not that this is my greatest failure, but I must understand that there is a lesson here to learn. I must not allow the failure to rule me, but I must yield to the process and to the power of the Holy Spirit constantly at work in our communities, places of employment, and homes. My focus must not stray from God! I think this is a major struggle many of us have when we get disappointing news.

Also while I am not currently perfect, I strive after holiness, and the power of the Holy Spirit working within, and thus am continually in the process of being sanctified. Thanks be to God!

JRMITCH85 Uncategorized

Blame it on the Rain

Rain

Rain is a gift from God. I am thankful for all of the great things that come from rain! I love the smell in the air, the puddles that my son wants to play in, the clean cool breeze, and of course the water that makes things grow and the other beneficial effects of rain that I didn’t think of or mention.

However, sometimes it brings the worst out of some of us. Driving is more of a challenge, people drive slower because the roads are wet, and I am a great deal less patient with other drivers. The way this affects me is that I allow my stress level to rise, and I become more irritable. This is because I have allowed myself to reflect on the one or two inconveniences of rain, and given into the trap they have set upon me.

I pray that I allow myself to reflect further on the blessing of rain, rather than the fact that it takes longer to get around. I need to remember that, as a pseudo-popular country song says, “Rain is a good thing.”

For the record: I don’t like country music!