Possessing Peace

When scripture tells us a peace is available that “exceeds anything we can understand” it means peace is available even when what is causing our lack of peace is still present and active in our life.  This is a God-peace that comes in the middle of the turmoil and simply rests upon lives as a gift despite what is happening around us.

This peace doesn’t come because at some point you finally understand why everything took place that has made your life so unsettling. Understanding your present reality does not and cannot bring this peace. This is why we are told the peace of God is experienced in a place beyond our ability to understand its presence in our lives – it simply comes to us.

This peace is only discovered when we are willing to exchange a state of anxiety for a prayer of thankfulness – a prayer that is offered from within our current conflict.  Once this exchange is made it will become the invitation that ushers in the peace you are seeking.

#20 Avoid Early Criticism

(“Thoughts I Want To Leave Behind” is a collection of thoughts and impressions I want to leave behind as I begin to make my final pastoral transition.)

#20 Avoid Early Criticism

Make the choice to not align with the first critical voices that demand your alignment with their narrow interpretation of the facts.  Many times the first response to an issue is premature and uninformed.  If you join in with this initial knee-jerk crowd reaction you will allow the emotions of others to define you and your voice. Give yourself the time needed to allow the Lord to speak to you before you choose to speak for Him. Let God’s heart, not your emotions craft your response.  

The word the Lord gives you might actually go against the established religious party line.  This will require another level of wisdom – the wisdom of when to speak into the fervor of an excited crowd.  Some have spoken too early and others have spoken too late.  The missed timing of a word from God can diminish the impact of what He asked you to share. Having a word from God is critical in order to wisely navigate through intense times of cultural change, but just as critical as the word is the timing and delivery of that word.

“Like golden apples set in silver is a word spoken at the right time.” (Proverbs 25:11 ISV)

#19 Trusting Your Team

(“Thoughts I Want To Leave Behind” is a collection of thoughts and impressions I want to leave behind as I begin to make my final pastoral transition.)

#19 Trusting Your Team

When I was a young police officer, I was part of a SWAT team.  On these special operations units you constantly trained your body and mind.  Each month we trained with FBI SWAT instructors learning how to execute tactical advantage in high-stress situations.  We trained for every conceivable scenario one might encounter when dealing with a broken world.  As a young man, I was at the top of my game in each area the job required of me – martial arts, weapons, strength training, mental acuity, physical endurance and hostage negotiation skills.

What I could not train for was trust.  Trust was something I chose to give. I gave the gift of trust to the other members of our team because my life depended on it.  I trusted our sniper to deliver a round downrange with unbelievable accuracy. I trusted our utility man to carry all the gear we would need for each incident while he walked backwards making sure no threat approached us from the rear as the rest of the team moved forward to clear a building. I trusted the other entry man to follow the training drills he and I had practiced together hundreds of times before.  Our lives depended on our precise and practiced timing as we entered a room where a threat was present.  I trusted our team leader to orchestrate our team tactics so that injury and the loss of life would be held to a minimum. Trusting the other members of my team was more important than all my physical training.

As you lead others, train your team to hear the voice of God.  As you train them to hear God’s voice you will be able trust them to do the right thing when a situation heats up. Train your team to listen to the ultimate leader of your team, Jesus, and to have the courage to follow His instructions when yours may not make sense.

Proper trust training will help each member of your team navigate the spiritually life-threatening scenarios you are sure to encounter in the future.  You will know you have arrived at a place of team synergy when your team can do their job without a command from you.  The fruit of this kind of leadership is seen at the end of a deadly confrontation with darkness where you were able to work your way to those held hostage by the lies of hell and set them free without taking any casualties.

#18 Lessons Learned From A Dry Lake

#18 Lessons Learned From A Dry Lake

This week, I learned that one of our local lakes was drying up.  Emigrant Lake is located on the outskirts of Ashland, Oregon.  It was first created in 1924 and then expanded to its current size in 1960 to service the growing agricultural industry in the Rogue Valley. When the lake was finally filled it covered a rich history not known to many.

At the time the dam was built a historic crossroads – Klamath Junction - would be covered by the increasing water level.  Klamath Junction sat at the intersection of the Green Springs Highway and Old Highway 99.  It was at this junction that travelers could gas up and refresh themselves before and after crossing the Siskiyou Mountains.  My parents would have traveled this now submerged roadway in the 1930’s and 40’s as they traveled up and down the west coast. In 1846 my relatives, who were part of the first Applegate Wagon Train into Oregon, would travel by ox cart across this very junction into the Rogue Valley where I now live.  In 1846 there was no visible roadway only a barely discernible trail used by the early Hudson Bay trappers.  Before the coming of these early Mountain Men, for millennia, First Nations people stopped at this junction to trade and communicate.  This was a place of cultural significance.

The last time Emigrant Lake dried up was in 1994.  This offered me a rare opportunity to go and explore the dry lakebed.  When I parked my truck, I began to walk down the crumbing asphalt remnant of the “Old Road” as my father would call these old abandoned ribbons of asphalt that still parallel many of our modern highways.

My main purpose as I descended the dry lakebed was to pray.  I wanted to pray at the exposed trail source that brought so much history into our valley.  I could see the old foundations still visible that once supported the few buildings that were the old Klamath Junction community.  Tires from 1920 era cars sat atop the mud along with old sparkplugs and other car parts.  As I continued to explore the lake bottom I came across a fishing lure sitting all by itself atop the sand.

By instinct, I reached down to pick it up and as I held it in my hand the Lord spoke to me and said, “Fish follow the water”.  Immediately, I knew what the Lord was saying.  As I held the fishing lure in my hand and listened to the Lord’s words, I saw in the distance the last bit of water that remained of Emigrant Lake.  It was only about an acre in size.  If I was going to fish and hope to catch anything, it would be there.

I put the lure back on the sand and continued walking.  God was processing a word for me, and a word for the larger Church.  Things have changed.  The core elements of our faith remain secure and intact, but the cultural application of our faith needs to be revisited or our lure will find itself sitting alone atop the dry sands of a changing culture.  The people waiting to receive their God-destiny from the message we carry are swimming in different waters than they used to be.  If we are going to catch these lives and become the fishers of men Jesus talked about, we can no longer fish in dry cultural lakebeds and expect to catch anything.   We need to pick our lures up off the dry sand of old and expired methods and cast them into the fish-rich waters of our culture because fish follow the water.