Category: Doctoral Studies

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Becoming Who God Wants Me To Be (pt 4)

In late 2007 I was reading a blog posting my Josh Kesler about a stupid sheep. I took a different perspective than Josh, thinking rather than being stupid, he was being a barbarian sheep (see my original blog response. To be honest, it is only now as a read back over my original response that I am beginning to make the connection as to why this moved me the way it did. At the time though all I knew was that my mind was whirling.

It was about this time that I started my ministering at Lino, I applied for and got into the Doctor of Ministry program at Bethel, and I was engulfed in this wondrous time with God. It was during this time that I wrote about online community and social justice. I started my twitter prayer project. I read more books than I had in a long time about a lot of different things. During all this, a funny thing happened, I began to change – it was subtle but it was happening. God was transforming me into who He wanted me to be. The themes of community, relationships, and transformation began to jump out at me. I rediscovered the book of James and the practice of my Christian faith. I began to listen to the stories of others and how we as a community can help edit each others stories to strengthen our relationship with God and with others.

So what does this have to do with the stupid sheep? It is about stepping out of your box (comfort zone) and being willing to do what it is God has called you to do. I was comfortable being a geek, integrating technology and learning, but God has other plans for me. This became clear in my last Doctoral class – there were a lot of great conversations but I was drawn to one we had about what I call the ministry of proximity. Actually what I was drawn to is the tension that exists between the need to be in proximity to minister to someone and what we can do at a distance. Right now I am pondering what is meant by “proximity.”

So there you have it. After sifting through the last 30 years as a Christ-follower, I think I know what I will do for the last season of my life. I know God has used me in different places at different times with my rather eclectic life. I know sense that there is a new and quite different adventure ahead for me.

It’s time to be pushed out of the confines of my sheep pen and to embrace the adventure God has for me. I look forward to coming along side my fellow sojourners, walking with them for a while, helping to edit their story and strengthening their relationship with God and with others.

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Becoming Who God Wants Me To Be (pt 1)

I am who I am becoming. No this is not some philosophical, pie in the sky statement, it is an idea taken from the Apostle Paul in his writings to the church in Corinth:

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!
2 Corinthians 5:17 The Message

As a new creation I already am who I am, the goal now is to do the work of stripping away the old and letting the new shine forth.

I will admit that it is easy to strip away some of the old, those things that stare you in the face and you know are not honoring to our newly created life. I sometimes talk about this using an onion as my illustration. Take an onion and around the outside is the dried, papery layer that easily falls away. As you move in the layers of the onion become harder and harder to separate. As new creations we are able to put away some of our old habits that are not needed or wanted in our new life. These things are the outer layers of the onion. But then we get into the tough stuff. Those habits, actions, sins that we try to keep “hidden” in our new life. These aren’t as easily reomoved. Let me make a point here, God can and at times does remove these hard, hidden things, but I believe that going thought this transformation process is what gives us the Godly character and wisdom that the world needs to not only hear from us but see lived out in our life.

For me this has not been an overnight, a ha moment. I have been a Christ-follower for close to 30 years. I have completed 2 post graduate degrees, a certificate and I am currently working on my Doctor of Ministy degree. Though all these years, through all this education, though all my life experiences this is what I have learned – God wants me to be someone who walks along side others as they do life, listen to their stories, offer advise when asked and help them move one step closer in their relationship with other but more importantly in their relationship with God.

This is getting a little long so tomorrow I will share with you how it is I got to the point where I could make the above statement with confidence and clarity. The question I leave you with today is “Who does God want you to become?”

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What is next?

I recently completed my week long intensive for my DMin program. I was a great class with a wonderful professor and a great group of fellow learners. The question posed in the title is looking at both the short term and the long term. There were so many great ideas talked about in the course – there were six great books we read prior to the class and I now have three or four new ones to read. My short term project coming out of the class deals with the concept of “the ministry of proximity.” But there were a number of other ideas and topics that have become relivent to me. Also, I have my “knowing God” project to continue as well.

Longer term I am beginning to pull together thoughts for my doctoral thesis project. It seems as though all my ideas of polar opposites – online community & ministry of proximity, sinners save by Grace vs saints who sin (who we are in Christ), relationally & story editor vs silence & solitude. My goal is to bring these things together in some coherent question.

Still futher out is what I am going to be doing for the last 20-25 years of my active working life – don’t really know what retirement will look like. Just need to keep listening for the answer to this question.