Footprints of a God Follower

I love walking on the beach in the morning, before the crowd and the noise cover the sand. I love to look down and see the evidence that there were others before me. Patterns of movement grace the shore with trails of life.

The three pronged mark of birds looking for a breakfast snack. The four rounded impressions of dogs frolicking in the sand and foam. A sand crab leaves a scalloped trail as it seeks refuge in the wet earth. A runner’s toes press deep and the prints are far between.

All of life leaves a mark. It is the residual of being. It is the evidence of existence.

We live in a world that reeks of humanistic fallout. The trash of human existence clouds the water of our lives with the dross of self absorption. People don’t care that their actions affect others. Litter is the least of the human waste. Words, actions, and emotions that disregard others cause more damage to mankind than any landfill ever could.

Too many times, the footprints of life are more like muddy shoeprints on a white carpet. Somehow that trend needs to be reversed. Our prints should leave a positive residual on an ugly world.

I think the footprints of a God follower should be as unique as a snowflake, but as lasting as etchings in granite.

I just got done watching a video(003 Trees) by Rob Bell about purpose in life. As he is teaching, he is standing on a sidewalk in a bad part of the neighborhood. He talks about God and humanity while digging some holes. He reflects on God’s original design for us as he plants two trees. When he finishes his talk about life between two trees, the garden and the new earth, he gets in his truck and drives off.

As I sat there contemplating the point of his lesson, I kept looking at the two trees. His talk made me a better man and the trees made the street a prettier place. Rob left a God follower footprint. All of our trails should be so adorned.

I want my footprints to be like fertilizer to grass, rain to the desert and food to the Haitian. People say they want to “leave their mark” on society. A slap in the face leaves a mark. A conquering King can leave a statue as a mark. I want the kind of mark that bares no name, but carries the fingerprints of God. I don’t want a building named after me; I want a community changed for the better because I lived there.

A jet flew over the other day in the upper stratosphere. Its trail left a definitive mark in the sky. As time passed the streaks blurred and the sun caught the cascading lines like a prism and reflected a beautiful rainbow of color and light. I don’t know what airline left the mark, but it sure made the sunset better.

May our lives be catalysts for rainbows, sunsets and seascapes in the lives of people. And may our footprints lead people on a path toward God.

Pacifist Activist

Is that an oxymoron? Can you be vigilant about pacifism or can you radically stand for peace? Interesting thought. I would think that sometimes, standing for peace may not be peaceful and I think that our strongest stance against some things may be on our knees or just sitting.

I am becoming more and more convinced that "traditional," "conventional," and "universal," are no longer words we can use to describe how we are to do things. We have become so "standardized" in our education, our institutions and our commerce, that we have lost individuality, creativity and diversity. "Sameness" is great for the economy. The more you produce of the same thing, the cheaper it is to produce and the more profit you make.

But my question is, "is profit king?"

Profit leads to wealth and wealth leads to a sense of independence and that is what our country is founded on. Right? At the risk of sounding like an ingrate, I don't know that what our country was founded on was so right.

We were created for dependence and interdependence. "Freedom" is a very misunderstood word. It is not a right, it is a privilege, that carries with it a very high price. And that price has often been paid with lives. From Christ to soldiers in war, freedom costs something.

Now I am not advocating that all war is for freedom or that all lives lost are worth the price, but we do have to be careful when we advocate peace or war.

This brings me back full circle to the pacifist activist. I don't think the lines are easily drawn in every situation. “Peace” is not always the goal. “Action” is not always the right move. So for me it boils down to the only thing I know to be true consistantly. My actions are not determined by the task at hand, but by the heart of God for that situation.

There may be times when I am to "be still and know that He is God" when action seems logical. And there are times when I am to "fight the good fight" when peace would be easier. What determines it for that moment is what Christ said to His disciples. "I do nothing unless my Father tells me and I don't do anything that my father doesn't tell me to do." Complete dependence. Absolute obedience. That doesn't sound like freedom, but it is the truest, purest form of it. The freedom to obey empowered by the desire to obey brings the greatest freedom anyone could experience.

I am not a pacifist. I am not an activist. I am not a liberal or a conservative. I am not a fundamentalist or a leftist. I am not Baptist or a Charismatic. I am a follower of God who may have to actively pacify or liberally conserve or fundamentally lean to the left or baptize with charisma. I don’t want to be known for what I stand against. I want to be known for what I stand for.

God is in the business of loving people to Himself and I want to be in tune with His Spirit in every situation to respond to His call for me. As active or passive at it may be.

Radical Faith

A friend of mine saw yesterday's post and wrote this,

Read your blog this morning and sheesh - I'm a wuss!! I'm just writing gross peculiar ramblings. You've got an attitude problem and I like it.

Stay on the edge - people are waayyyy to comfortable in their American, white-bread, Suburban faith. By its nature Christianity should be fanatical - particularly fanatical in grace!!!

http://matthewmoran.blogspot.com

The word I would use is “radical.” Jesus was very radical for His day.

We need a radical faith; faith that believes God can and will do amazing things today.

We need radical grace; grace that annihilates condemnation.

We need radical love; love that pierces prejudice.

We need radical joy; joy that makes heroine drab, alcohol empty and pornography seem boring.

We need radical change; the kind of change in our lives that makes the world stand on its ear and see Christianity for what it is, God’s expression of Himself to mankind.

Bottom-line - we need God to do a radical work in us and transform us into radical followers of Christ.

From the Dusk of the Faithless till the Dawn of the Fearless

Some movies are a veritable cornucopia of spiritual insight and deep meaning. Movies like the Matrix or Legend of Bagger Vance. Then there are those that carry some richer significance or partial life lesson like Danny Deckchair or The Station Agent. Then there are those movies that have no intrinsic value what so ever except for an isolated scene or random comment. I would not recommend these flicks, but offer only those insightful moments that capture the essence of truth.

From Dusk till Dawn is one such movie. It is pretty much a waist of film except for one scene where the main characters are trapped in a room on the brink of a convergence of blood thirsty vampires. An ex-con, played by George Clooney is talking to an ex-minister, played by Harvey Keitel. Harvey has given up his faith because he feels that God let him down when his wife died. As the tension builds, the following dialog spells out some amazing insight.

Cover your eyes if you are sensitive to foul language.

Someone suggests ways to combat the vampires.

SETH
Actually, our best weapon against
these satanic cocksuckers is this
man.
(he points at Jacob)
He's a preacher.

Frost and Sex Machine look toward Jacob.

SETH
As far as God's concerned, we might
just as well be a piece of fuckin'
shit. But he's one of the boys.
Only one problem, his faith ain't
what it used to be.

Jacob PUNCHES Seth in the mouth, sending him to the floor.
Jacob stands over him.

JACOB
I've had enough of your taunts.

Seth looks up from the floor.

SETH
I'm not taunting you. We need you.
A faithless preacher doesn't mean
shit to us. But a man who's a
servant of God can grab a cross,
shove it in these monsters' asses.
A servant of God can bless the tap
water and turn it into a weapon,

Seth rises.

SETH
I know why you lost your faith.
How could true holiness exist if
your wife can be taken away from
you and your children? Now, I
always said God can kiss my fuckin'
ass. Well, I changed my lifetime
tune about thirty minutes ago
'cause I know, without a doubt,
what's out there trying to get in
here is pure evil straight from
hell. And if there is a hell, and
those monsters are from it, there's
got to be a heaven. Now which are
you, a faithless preacher or a
mean, motherfuckin' servant of God?

Jacob has to laugh at that. So does everybody else. Jacob
sticks out his hand and shakes Seth's.

JACOB
I'm a mean, mmmmmmmmm servant
of God.

I want to get a bumper sticker that says, “I’m a Mean Mother Fucking Servant of God.”

I don’t purport all of the theology of the scene, but I do believe that “A faithless preacher doesn't mean shit to us.” And on the contrary, a man of faith can be the meanest “mmmmmmmmm servant of God” the world has ever known.

I want a faith that stands against evil without fear. I want a faith that turns 50 to 1 odds into a spiritual victory. I want to inspire people to rise to the occasion and believe that God can and will do amazing things. I want to wear my MMFSOG with pride.

OK. I’m done for the day. Now I have to go and apologize to some people for saying bad words on my blog. (smile) Even thought I think they are all “frick’in idiots.”