Hey everyone!
Tonight we will be hanging out from 645-800 at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.
It will be an awesome time to laugh and enjoy - hope you can make it!
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Where do we find something from nothing?
So, the questions continue. Seems we answer a few and then have a few more.
Wind - that's where we started. Wind that might blow away the problems of our lives. The hurts. The pains. The weaknesses. The bitterness. The habits. The insecurities.
Yet we have seen that the pain and all the brokenness in our lives may be like childbirth - producing something that is amazing. The pains may not go away (most likely wont). And yet, there seems to be some perspective on them that can change them and the way we see them.
But at the end, when the brokenness has swallowed us and we are face to face with a reflection of who we are, at the end of our abilities, what do we do now? There in that place of desolation, what direction do we turn? I can see that it is possible for another person to journey out of their individual brokenness and childbirth experiences to where the perspective is different and they can become someone new. But what about me? What about you? I know so many who have experienced the rock bottom end of their attempts to control, escape, buy, salvage, their lives. I have seen them try to be religious enough to fix it all - only to find that their religion was empty and their religious people just as broken as them. I have seen them try to run away from the pain to alcohol or marijuana or crack or meth, only to see them burned out, arrested, about to lose everything. I have seen them try to work their way to the top, making tons of money, buying what they want, only to experience emptiness in their lives sitting in rooms of all their stuff. I have seen them convinced that having fun would make them happy, only to find that in the end, the fun was empty and there was nothing left there. I have seen them eat and eat and eat to squash the pain they feel inside, only to find in the end that the food made their health suck and left them ready to die.
There, at the bottom, we experience emptiness. We experience the totality of nothing. The person we wanted to be? Nothing. The person we have been? Nothing. The accomplishments of our life? Nothing. The running away? Nothing. The purchases? Nothing. Nothing left of all of it.
In the space of nothing there is terror. There is despair. What is left?
What can you do with nothing?
Well, consider for a moment...
I knew a man once. He was wanting to build a new house. He bought a lot in the location he liked and started drawing up the papers for the house, with anticipation, we crafted the blueprints with his architect and builder. He came and talked to me about something else and the new house came up. He showed me pictures of the lot and i was struck...there was a house on the lot. What about the house? I asked. Well, it is old and broken down and beyond repair. Can't u gut it and rebuild from it? it seems such a waste to just tear it down. No, it would be impossible to get the wonderful house we are going to have from that house. It's better just to tear it down and start over.
you will have to tear it down first - this is me - I was the old house - I had not intended to have a broken down and ineffective and messed up way of living. I had just tried to survive my circumstances. That house (that man in the mirror that I hated) was simply the best I could do. But in order to build a new house, I needed to get to nothing. Unfortunately nothing does not feel good - it is bad. But, bad in the only way we seem to ever get motivated to go ahead and move on from our broken house to building a new one.
My friend was an alcoholic. He knew it. He was messing his life up. He knew it. But that was the life he knew and he was not about to risk changing it - it was what was safe to him. I tried to reach out to him - even having him meet with me and a recovering alcoholic/counselor I knew. We sat down, had lunch, chatted. It all seemed to be fine to me. My friend left, leaving me with the older counselor - "He's not ready yet," he said. "why do you say that?" "It hasn't cost him enough yet. Alcohol has not broken his life enough yet." I shook my head - but he was right - my friend had a long way to go yet before alcohol pushed him to be motivated to change - when there was nothing, there was a chance to build.
Out of nothing.
Something.
But where does the something begin? It begins with those cries from the pit of nothing. Then we begin to look for who we might be. In our terror, we realize at some point that the pain has not killed us yet and we look around.
That is when it is essential that we NOTICE. Most often we find that God is there. In the world around us. In the relationships that we "bump" into.
We see the sun. We realize the simple warmth of it. We are thankful for the warmth. We recognize the infinitesimally small chance in all the universe of people being on a planet with a sun that forms just the right amount of heat - not too much, lest we be fried to a crisp and not too little, lest we be frozen like human popsicles. We realize that the most likely answer to this is that it is not an accident - and though we do not understand, we thank the God who was so particular about the distance of the Earth from the Sun. We ask Him to join us in our life. We ask to notice.
We see the smile of a child - and we recognize something amazing and wonderful about life and the way children grow and develop. And we realize that the most likely is that that is not an accident and we thank the God who chose to make kids...
We look for chances to be with people who are also noticing. We listen to their stories. And we share in them. We look for chances to own the nothing of our lives and then allow this God who is speaking to us of goodness in life through the sunshine and smiles that we always knew was there, but were so wrapped up in trying to survive that we were never able to see it with clarity to continue to show us who we can be now - we allow Him to begin to write the blueprints of our lives - that something beautiful would be built on the broken nothing foundation of what we were.
Over time, noticing becomes a piece of the new us. And, although we still wrestle with the past habits and pain and loss often, we realize that God is taking us to something new. And we begin to dare to want to share of our nothings with those who we encounter who have seen nothing too and don't know where to turn. And we find in our stories, that there is a thread of commonality of our broken attempts to survive and the building of a new house on the nothing that the broken left us with. We find that there is goodness coming out of the nothing. That others can see life through us and in this we find more and more of the new life that God is making in us. We see the string of connected notices and God leading us to see Him - loving us - healing us - rebuilding us - out of nothing, into something.
We are broken at More than more. We do not claim to "have it all figured out." But, we do see that out of the nothing of our lives, is coming something. Something that is amazing and wonderful - like the warmth of the sunshine and the smile of the child. We find ourselves being made new. And we are on this journey together.
I understand that many of you who read this will not be ready. It's ok. But I want all of you to remember - that when you find yourself at nothing, because the wind never will blow away all the pain and guilt and hurt and insecurity and loss and habits and heartaches and anger and escapes, there is a God who cares to show you a path, a blueprint, to a new house. the house is not magic and is almost never a "home makeover" in a weekend. it is painful and long, but it is worth it and it is wonderful. If when you are ready, you would begin by noticing. And, if you are anywhere, from broken and not ready, to at the end and acutely aware of your nothing, you are welcome to join us - next Thursday night, June 11th, from 645-800pm at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette. I think you will find that we are strange and fun and awkward and messed up, but that we notice better than almost anyone you know. We would love to meet you and hang out - hope you can make it.
Wind - that's where we started. Wind that might blow away the problems of our lives. The hurts. The pains. The weaknesses. The bitterness. The habits. The insecurities.
Yet we have seen that the pain and all the brokenness in our lives may be like childbirth - producing something that is amazing. The pains may not go away (most likely wont). And yet, there seems to be some perspective on them that can change them and the way we see them.
But at the end, when the brokenness has swallowed us and we are face to face with a reflection of who we are, at the end of our abilities, what do we do now? There in that place of desolation, what direction do we turn? I can see that it is possible for another person to journey out of their individual brokenness and childbirth experiences to where the perspective is different and they can become someone new. But what about me? What about you? I know so many who have experienced the rock bottom end of their attempts to control, escape, buy, salvage, their lives. I have seen them try to be religious enough to fix it all - only to find that their religion was empty and their religious people just as broken as them. I have seen them try to run away from the pain to alcohol or marijuana or crack or meth, only to see them burned out, arrested, about to lose everything. I have seen them try to work their way to the top, making tons of money, buying what they want, only to experience emptiness in their lives sitting in rooms of all their stuff. I have seen them convinced that having fun would make them happy, only to find that in the end, the fun was empty and there was nothing left there. I have seen them eat and eat and eat to squash the pain they feel inside, only to find in the end that the food made their health suck and left them ready to die.
There, at the bottom, we experience emptiness. We experience the totality of nothing. The person we wanted to be? Nothing. The person we have been? Nothing. The accomplishments of our life? Nothing. The running away? Nothing. The purchases? Nothing. Nothing left of all of it.
In the space of nothing there is terror. There is despair. What is left?
What can you do with nothing?
Well, consider for a moment...
I knew a man once. He was wanting to build a new house. He bought a lot in the location he liked and started drawing up the papers for the house, with anticipation, we crafted the blueprints with his architect and builder. He came and talked to me about something else and the new house came up. He showed me pictures of the lot and i was struck...there was a house on the lot. What about the house? I asked. Well, it is old and broken down and beyond repair. Can't u gut it and rebuild from it? it seems such a waste to just tear it down. No, it would be impossible to get the wonderful house we are going to have from that house. It's better just to tear it down and start over.
you will have to tear it down first - this is me - I was the old house - I had not intended to have a broken down and ineffective and messed up way of living. I had just tried to survive my circumstances. That house (that man in the mirror that I hated) was simply the best I could do. But in order to build a new house, I needed to get to nothing. Unfortunately nothing does not feel good - it is bad. But, bad in the only way we seem to ever get motivated to go ahead and move on from our broken house to building a new one.
My friend was an alcoholic. He knew it. He was messing his life up. He knew it. But that was the life he knew and he was not about to risk changing it - it was what was safe to him. I tried to reach out to him - even having him meet with me and a recovering alcoholic/counselor I knew. We sat down, had lunch, chatted. It all seemed to be fine to me. My friend left, leaving me with the older counselor - "He's not ready yet," he said. "why do you say that?" "It hasn't cost him enough yet. Alcohol has not broken his life enough yet." I shook my head - but he was right - my friend had a long way to go yet before alcohol pushed him to be motivated to change - when there was nothing, there was a chance to build.
Out of nothing.
Something.
But where does the something begin? It begins with those cries from the pit of nothing. Then we begin to look for who we might be. In our terror, we realize at some point that the pain has not killed us yet and we look around.
That is when it is essential that we NOTICE. Most often we find that God is there. In the world around us. In the relationships that we "bump" into.
We see the sun. We realize the simple warmth of it. We are thankful for the warmth. We recognize the infinitesimally small chance in all the universe of people being on a planet with a sun that forms just the right amount of heat - not too much, lest we be fried to a crisp and not too little, lest we be frozen like human popsicles. We realize that the most likely answer to this is that it is not an accident - and though we do not understand, we thank the God who was so particular about the distance of the Earth from the Sun. We ask Him to join us in our life. We ask to notice.
We see the smile of a child - and we recognize something amazing and wonderful about life and the way children grow and develop. And we realize that the most likely is that that is not an accident and we thank the God who chose to make kids...
We look for chances to be with people who are also noticing. We listen to their stories. And we share in them. We look for chances to own the nothing of our lives and then allow this God who is speaking to us of goodness in life through the sunshine and smiles that we always knew was there, but were so wrapped up in trying to survive that we were never able to see it with clarity to continue to show us who we can be now - we allow Him to begin to write the blueprints of our lives - that something beautiful would be built on the broken nothing foundation of what we were.
Over time, noticing becomes a piece of the new us. And, although we still wrestle with the past habits and pain and loss often, we realize that God is taking us to something new. And we begin to dare to want to share of our nothings with those who we encounter who have seen nothing too and don't know where to turn. And we find in our stories, that there is a thread of commonality of our broken attempts to survive and the building of a new house on the nothing that the broken left us with. We find that there is goodness coming out of the nothing. That others can see life through us and in this we find more and more of the new life that God is making in us. We see the string of connected notices and God leading us to see Him - loving us - healing us - rebuilding us - out of nothing, into something.
We are broken at More than more. We do not claim to "have it all figured out." But, we do see that out of the nothing of our lives, is coming something. Something that is amazing and wonderful - like the warmth of the sunshine and the smile of the child. We find ourselves being made new. And we are on this journey together.
I understand that many of you who read this will not be ready. It's ok. But I want all of you to remember - that when you find yourself at nothing, because the wind never will blow away all the pain and guilt and hurt and insecurity and loss and habits and heartaches and anger and escapes, there is a God who cares to show you a path, a blueprint, to a new house. the house is not magic and is almost never a "home makeover" in a weekend. it is painful and long, but it is worth it and it is wonderful. If when you are ready, you would begin by noticing. And, if you are anywhere, from broken and not ready, to at the end and acutely aware of your nothing, you are welcome to join us - next Thursday night, June 11th, from 645-800pm at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette. I think you will find that we are strange and fun and awkward and messed up, but that we notice better than almost anyone you know. We would love to meet you and hang out - hope you can make it.
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