09.22.08
Posted in Discipleship, God in general, Ministry, relationship at 11:53 pm by Administrator
Recently I posted two pieces on my blog Left of Self Center about Hurricane Ike that had a weird foreshadowing of what was to come. In these posts, I talked about how a hurricane can change everything. Little did I know that Bolivar Peninsula would become an island and that all the towns on it would be virtually wiped off the map.
One of the other things I mentioned was that a hurricane can change the pace of our lives. Anyone who has lived the past week in Houston has definitely had the pace of their lives changed. Yet despite all the hardships many of us have had to endure at the hand of this powerful storm, I find that so many good things happen in the wake of these storms. When I heard about September Serve , I never imagined this happening. Yet I won’t use my words to describe it, I will share with you the words of my brother Chet in an e-mail blog he was sending to his friends when he came in from San Antonio to weather out Hurricane Ike with me.
“It was an exciting adventure. We lost power around 5:00 Am It was only really bad for a few hours, but it was intense. The next day we went driving around and there were trees down all over the place. It was like someone took a shredder and sprayed leaves and limbs over every yard and street. Afterwards we got 12″ of rain, and there was flooding everywhere. Phones were out, electricity, no TV, or computers, and no cell phones. The instant communication, information, and comfort were gone. It felt marooned with no travel, no communication. Yall knew more about what was happening than we did. All stores and restaurants were closed. No gas stations could pump gas because they didn’t have electricity.”
“One incredible thing was once the rain slowed, everyone came outside, talked, and they all started helping each other clean up their yards and reestablish order. Everyone was laughing and men helped the single moms move branches, and several kids had brooms and were sweeping the streets. Wow it really showed me how much modern technology has damaged our communities. People turn to each other when nothing else exists.”
“I could not imagine 3 to 4 weeks in Houston heat and humidity with no electricity. Now that is pure drudgery. Well I was there for my family and the adventure of experiencing a hurricane, not drudgery. So after extending a invitation of air conditioning and electricity at my home, I decided my career as a eyewitness reporter in the destruction of Ike was over. It was time to go home. I could not get home quick enough. I am now in my cool home, with lights all around me, lap top in my lap, remote in my hand, cold beverages from my refrigerator, despising my neighbors who I have talked to maybe once or twice in 7 years. I am just glad I am not in Houston any more, but I will be forever moved by the destruction I saw, the fun I had, the drudgery I experienced, and the community and humanity I felt.”
Point is this. Adversity brings people together. Adversity makes our faith stronger. The helping hands I saw being extended between people proves this.
Many of the people in the picture above go to either the Loft or attend services over TWUMC . We jumped out and worked to clean up the street and the neighborhood and help out our neighbor. It why I made many 140 mile round trips to Bryan/College Station to get people gas, ice, food, and information for those who couldn’t get it for themselves. We find out what is truly important when we lose things we put our reliance on: Electricity, Technology, Convenience, and so many other things that just aren’t important. My brother felt what being a Christian is really about. He felt what humanity is all about: a relationship with our God and one another.
By the way, my brother is the good looking guy in the blue shirt in the middle of the picture.
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08.26.08
Posted in Ministry, Pain, missional at 2:22 pm by Administrator
I was taught and it has been my own personal experience that one’s mission or ministry in life often stems from the source of one’s greatest trial, pain or suffering. Recently when I was watching a Youtube video of Donald Miller at Point Loma Nazarene College’s Writer Symposium by the Sea, a question towards the later part of the video addressed the area of pain, both in life and as an aspect of his writing. He references a calling to his being a wounded healer to others through his writing by sharing his experiences through empathy and the assurance that people are not only in their experience. Then I thought about the testimony I shared on the Lofter’s Life blog recently on the Teamloft website managed by my friend Bob East. Wasn’t that living the role of the “wounded healer“?
Many of us minister to others through our words, deeds, actions and writing because of the hurts and pains we have suffered and been through. It is the former alcoholic taking an active role in assisting those who are trying to escape the throes of alcoholism. It is like Donald Miller who created the Belmont Foundation to mentor to those who grew up without a father much like Donald. Whether it is greeting people because you realize how greeters helped you to come to Christ or creating a ministry to assist those families with Special Needs children because you had a special needs child yourself and could find no assistance.
Donald Miller references a quote by Bishop Desmond Tutu when he was asked who should be on a committee for reconcilliation in South Africa where he says “the people who should be on this committee are people who are victims. People whose lives have been ripped open and they have gained an education towards empathy. These people should be wounded healers” This quote is found in Antjie Krog’s book “Country of My Skull“
Attached is a transcript of the part of Donald’s interview I found so interesting. The video is about an hour and it’s towards the end.
“There’s a depth to… because my life has had some pain in it….there a broader range of colors with which to paint with. You have had joys and you have had lows, and you understand those things. And so if you want to talk about the human experience, there is a broad range …of tools you can use to do that.
” I think it enhances the work a little bit…. There have literally been times when I have wondered whether God gave me the experiences that I had in order that I could write them down and other people read them and not feel alone in their experiences. And, there have been times I have been pleased at that. That God would do that. And there are times when I’ve not wanted that. You know, I don’t want to deal with this….
” There’s a great line from Bishop Tutu in a book called “Country of my Skull” by Antjie Krog. She is talking about the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. And Bishop Tutu was asked, ….., he is putting together a commission to try to… bring parties together, bring groups together, establish the healing or begin the healing process, Tutu was asked by the committee, what kind of person should be on this committee. And Tutu said, the people who should be on this committee are people who are victims. People whose lives have been ripped open and they have been gained an education towards empathy. These people should be wounded healers….
” I read that, and could only receive that as a dignified calling. That God doesn’t say “Look, this stuff happened to you so you’re just a loser or whatever. God says this happens to you. You have a choice here: You can both become a wounded healer and walk other people through it or you can let it take you and drown in it. And I clinging with everything I got to the wounded healer, because girls like it more…”
Donald as usual inserts his humorous style there at the end.
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