Month: November 2016

  • Waiting For Permission

    Have you ever waited to be noticed for weeks, months, maybe even years, only it never happened? Maybe it was a promotion at work. Or maybe it was for the cute barista at the coffee shop to finally make eye contact. Or to be invited into a group you’d watched from the outside. Maybe it was a life calling that would break you out of the mold of mediocrity and finally place you where you always knew you belonged.

    I remember the faces of dozens of friends and acquaintances in their early 20s who tread water in their minimum wage jobs for years as they waited for God to initiate some sort of revival movement that would sweep them off their feet and make the rest of their humdrum lives unimportant and unnecessary. I was one of those people. If ONLY we pressed into prayer, intercession, and worship with more sincerity and passion, we would surely tip the scales and miracles, prophecy, and physical manifestations of God’s power would roll over the earth like a tide.

    Dealing with disappointment

    Then it didn’t happen. Then it didn’t happen again. Then it didn’t happen a third time. You get the picture. Something between my expectations and reality didn’t mesh. I was waiting for something that didn’t happen. And it wrecked me. Really wrecked me.

    When your expectation of life is to see healings and signs and wonders every day and instead you feel like your prayers are fizzling out before they reach the target, it’s not long before Depression lies at the door, knocking.

    What’s Plan B?

    The first problem was that I didn’t have a backup plan. I had connected dots in my mind that weren’t connected by God. And in this imagined reality, all commerce essentially would halt and people would walk the streets in an unrestrained atmosphere of glory and majesty. I had read books about the Welsh revival. Azusa street. And more. I don’t know what all these other Christians are waiting for, but I’m willing to be the guy who ushers this back in again. 

    The problem with planning on an unrestrained revival is that you’ve made no plans to earn a living. Or develop skills. Or form a family. None of these meager earthly things have been accounted for. So when revival fails to show, guess what? Depression it is!

    Are you crazy or eccentric?

    There’s a bitter culture shock that comes with realizing that everything you’ve planned on life being about is out of order and that you have wasted valuable time that should have been spent honing skills and practicing presence.

    Oftentimes the difference between crazy and eccentric is the degree of wealth and success that result. If you bank your whole life on a risky investment and it pays off, you’re a genius. If it doesn’t, you’re a fool. I felt like a fool.

    You never know what the end result will be before you start. The choice to act now comes with all kinds of risk.

    • What if you choose the wrong path?
    • What if you act at the wrong time?
    • What if the right path was going to present itself to you a month from now and you’ll miss it if you get distracted with this now?

    The gurus and the ad agencies will tell you to JUST DO IT. And they’re not wrong. But they’re not always right. Sometimes action would be the hasty choice. I think it all depends on what type of person you are, and what your motivation would be to NOT “do”. What do you gain by inaction?

    • Sometimes we wait to hide from pain and risk.
    • Sometimes we wait because we fear our motives.
    • Sometimes we wait because the choice is unclear.
    • Sometimes we wait because we don’t know what we want.

    I’ve waited for each and every one of these. But now, as I approach 40, I realize that I could have chosen to GO at every moment and it would all end up okay. In moments of uncertainty, action isn’t the enemy. You can press forward toward a temporary goal with an open heart and a willingness to be course-corrected mid-trip. I think that’s the answer. Bill Leckie used to call it “Ready? Fire. Aim.” It means action and motion and willingness and flexibility. Momentum is often achieved before the destination is visible.

    You can’t steer a ship that’s anchored. Steering only takes effect when there is motion.


  • The Veil of Propriety

    Early in my career, our digital agency staff went to lunch at a burger joint. While we sat and ate our burgers, the president of the company announced that I would henceforth have a new nickname. He dubbed me Mister Confrontational. I was a bit surprised. In my world, conflict is typically caused by a disagreeable sort of person who has staked their identity in proving other people wrong.

    There’s nothing wrong with taking a stand against error. But if that’s all you ever do, what do you really stand for, right? Standing against injustice is important, but abundant, life-changing life spreads through love, joy, goodness, and kindness.

    So while conflict is necessary, it’s not meant to be identity. And yet, I’m here to talk to you about conflict. See what I did there?

    Over the course of generations, we have adopted new layers of propriety. There’s so little we can say freely now without being labeled one wretched thing or another. There’s a fine line between avoiding hate speech and reducing freedom of expression to a meaningless propriety.

    While I don’t wish to be remembered as Mister Confrontational, there’s a mission before us that must be accomplished. The veil of propriety must be torn in two. Like the thick veil in the temple separating everyday people from the manifest presence of God, the veil of propriety separates believers from unrestricted dynamic Ministry. The word in due season is often blunt and abrasive. Not rude and unkind. But it doesn’t play by the rules of propriety. It doesn’t pretend that everything is okay when it’s not. It doesn’t mask pain behind pride or fear of exposure. 

    The dynamic and powerful demonstration of God’s love doesn’t flirt with shadows. It doesn’t acquiesce to political correctness. Don’t get me wrong: the ministry of God doesn’t expose every sin or pain. It is more balm and healing. Think of the love you’d have for a child who needs to have a festering bandage removed in order to receive vital soothing and disinfecting oils. This is very much a love process. At all times. 

    Propriety holds a list of what is permissible to confront. And the list is brief. But God’s love touches all things. It applies to all matters. There are no “off limits” areas of our lives where it holds no authority. 

    The veil of propriety is meant to be torn in our day. This era we now enter will be identified and remembered as the era in which the power of truth + love creates rips in the atmosphere. The air will surge with raw power. Reality will become more real. And mere words will no longer be mere. They will shape governments and set people free and transform the vibe of entire regions. The veil of propriety has settled over our land like a coma-induced drug. And the people are about to wake up.