I can’t tell you what excitement rests within me as I look forward to the 3^rd annual Hallows Eve Diversion.  Over the past few years, this project has taken on a life of its own.  Starting as an idea birthed in my heart by God, this project now seems to have a community of owners.  I get the joy of watching college students ramp up and prepare for a day every October when they can make a huge difference in their community, and begin to change their world.

Ideas such as the Hallows Eve Diversion began forming years ago, as I observed a trend in my conversations with college people.  Whether I was talking to a future teacher, doctor, store manager or missionary, I found the same latent calling rustling between the words.  Conversation after conversation brought up the reality of one person wanting to affect the world for good.  Each person had a desire to cause a change in our world for good, making it a better place.  At the same time came this frustration in the form of a small and simple lie – “I can’t do it, I don’t have what it takes.”  You see our world, and the generations before us have painted a picture of impact and world changing happening thru money and power.  They were not wrong to do this, because in their time and their day that was the way you got things done.  I am here to tell you that we live in a new day, and the currency of community impact has changed!

Today, through our banding together in large numbers, through our focused efforts, we are changing our world in new ways.  The Hallows Eve Diversion is just one example of this.  A group of college students going door to door on Oct 31^st, collecting food for local food pantries…this simple act has happened the last 2 years and is about to happen again.  As we have done this, more students have joined in, more homes have been visited (and invited into this journey) and by our efforts (empowered by God’s favor), we have seen thousands of families receive an answer to the hunger they are experiencing.  We are watching college students change the world!

I am inviting you to be a part of this project again, by joining us on Saturday, October 31^st at Georgia Gwinnett College for the 3^rd annual Hallows Eve Diversion.  (http://ThisHallowsEve.com)

As we sit just a few days away from this event.  I am also inviting you to join me in an act of remembrance.  As I have been thinking and praying over this event, I am reminded that I have rarely had to experience true hunger in my day-to-day life.  It is easy for me to remember our Hallows Eve event as a fun time for us to join together and make a difference, but it is easy for me to forget the deep impact our actions have on local families.  I am taking a day this week to fast, to remind myself of what is on the line this weekend.  Perhaps you will consider joining me by fasting one day this week…taking one full day to not eat any food, and allow your body to feel hunger and be denied.  I am asking God to remind me through my hunger.  I need to remember, to know my actions this Saturday matter more than I know or feel.

Looking forward to our community impact this Saturday.

There is a parable told in the Bible about a pearl that is considered to be extremely valuable, so valuable in fact that it someone would sell everything they have to obtain it.  In the same regard there is also a parable about a great treasure hidden in a field.  Again, the treasure was found to be so valuable that someone would sell all they have so that they could purchase the field.

This analogy is really easy to understand when we deal with tangible values.  I can understand trading a piece of silver for a piece of gold.  I would trade a Ben Wallace basketball card for a Michael Jordan card.  I would trade having Michael Vick as a quarterback for Matt Ryan (too soon?).  The point is, in my mind I can understand very tangible items, because they have a tangible value.  While this parable works for understanding these things, it has such a deeper meaning.

The promise found in these parables is so much more valuable than money, than possessions, than anything you could put hands on.  The promise goes deeper, to the places of need, loneliness, hurt and pain within.  In our own power and understanding, grasp at whatever we see that can meet us in our internal pain.  When we are hungry we grab something quick and accessible.  When we are lonely, we reach out to anyone who can just be near and nurse away pain.  I love the way author Chuck Palahniuk  refers to this; he calls us “noiseaholics and quietaphobes.”

Despite the external evidence that seems to say there is no rest, no ultimate solution to these needs, there is a pearl of greatest price.  When we stop fighting these things, and allow ourselves to sit in pain and loneliness, it is then that God comes to meet us in these things.  He comes and meets us and reveals the pearl of greatest price – the experience of being wholly loved.  When you experience deep loneliness, you are willing to do anything to experience healing.  From every person around you, the best you could hope to get is a medicated fix…but God can offer healing to these deep needs.

The healing touch of God, to know Him and trust Him with every bit of your life, to know the full love that comes from Him, it is a treasure in a field…a pearl of great cost.

The scripture tells us that the road that leads to life is narrow, and few find it.  I was thinking about that this morning, because it is a weird thought, especially when you live in the southern U.S.  It seems hard to believe that the road is narrow, because I feel like almost everyone I encounter is a “Christian” or a church go-er.  If the road is narrow, it must have a long line of people on it.  But then you think about what that whole section of scripture says:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  – Matthew 7:13-14

The road IS narrow, but the point of this passage seems to be to “enter through the narrow gate.”  So, it seems like a safe inference that when Jesus says, “only a few find it,” He is referring to the gate…the end goal.  The point of this small passage is that He wants to tell us to enter through the narrow gate.

I bring this up because I think the narrow road is actually pretty crowded from time to time, with many who are on the path of progress to be able to enter in the narrow gate.  Now when it says “narrow gate,” I think that is an analogy for the life that Jesus wants for us to live…it is a destination that could also be defined as the Kingdom of God alive and active in your life.  The narrow gate is this Kingdom alive in us, but few find it. 

Why is it that only a few find it?  

Like I said, I think many walk on that narrow path from time to time.  I think at times, if you took a birds-eye view, it would look like a street crowded at the beginning of the Peachtree Road race.  But then over time, something happens.  For many, in our journey along this path, we take a mis-step.  We stumble along the way, we step off the path.  It is in this moment that I think we find the climax of our story, the crucial point that makes all the difference. 

You see we have a tendency in our human thinking to view our progress in a straight line, demanding perfection from ourselves as we walk this path of progress.  What happens then is when we fall, when we blow it, when we do something that is not a step towards progress, we mentally and emotionally take ourselves out of the race.  We literally stand one step off the path, and in our irrational thinking, we can convince ourselves that we must start over…or that we cannot step back in and continue in our journey.

Check out this excerpt from Nouwen:

“It is important not to dwell on the small moments when you feel pulled away from your progress.  Try to return home, to the solid place within you, immediately.  Otherwise, these moments start connecting with similar moments, and together they become powerful enough to pull you far away from the road.  Try to remain alert to seemingly innocuous distractions.  It is easier to return to the roads when you are on the shoulder than when you are pulled all the way into a nearby swamp.” (From The Inner Voice of Love, pg 39)

As we walk along the path, let us set our eyes on the end goal, on the prize that is more of Jesus present and active in our lives…and let us not allow ourselves (our pride, our emotions, our will) to stand in the way of our own progress.

I have been sitting in a book by Henri Nouwen lately.  The book is “The Inner Voice of Love” and has a tagline of “A Journey through Anguish to Freedom.”  It basically is a book of devotional thoughts, and though I am only about ½ way through it, I recommend everyone check it out!

Anyway, he put a thought out in one of the early readings in the book that has been sticking with me.  This is from “Cry Inward” which is found on page 7:

“A split between divinity and humanity has taken place in you.  With your divinely endowed center you know God’s will, God’s way, God’s love.  But your humanity is cut off from that.  Your many human needs for affection, attention and consolation are living apart from your divine sacred space.  Your call is to let these two parts of yourself come together again.

You have to move gradually from crying outward – crying out for people who you think can fulfill your needs – to crying inward to the place where you can let yourself be held and carried by God, who have become incarnate in the humanity of those who love you in community.  No one person can fulfill all your needs.  But the community can truly hold you.  The community can let you experience the fact that, beyond your anguish, there are human hands that hold you and show you God’s faithful love.”

The coolest thought (I think) in this piece is the thought that while we are split on the inside, with a separation of our human needs from the understanding of God’s plan…while this is true…He has a way for us to see those pieces become united again.  It is at the point when we stop trying to grasp for human help to fix us that we find ourselves carried by God through his incarnational love becoming tangible in community.

This is a beautiful paradox.  I am the person called to be used by God to be the Incarnation of His love in community (as are all of you), and yet at the same time, I am the beggar in desperate need of His love showing itself tangibly in the lives of others.

Poker might be one of the most interesting games in the world to play or to watch.  In recent years, the only poker I will play is Texas Hold’em.  It is a fun, drawn out game where (at least with Texas Hold’em) you have 7 cards with which to make the best 5 card hand.  Every player has 2 cards in hand, and then by the end of each hand, everyone at the table is sharing 5 cards that are open to everyone.  I myself have been sent home a number of times by the dreaded “5^th street,” or “the river.”  It is such a fun game, and on any given night, you can have the best or worst of luck.

I have also played this game with a number of different characters.  Each one has their unique way to play.  There are one or two who I play with who will nickel and dime their way to winning it all.  Another plays as if he knows what every single player has, and talks like it on every hand.  Another guy bets wildly, many times without looking at his cards at all (and I am sad to say he wins that way pretty often).

I think poker is fun for so many of us, because it is distinctive in the way you play and win.  Most games people play involve competition that is out in the open, with all the facts at hand.  Take a minute and think about some of your favorite games.  Most games allow you to know where you stand and where your opponents stand at any time.  You know what properties they own in Monopoly, you see how many goals everyone has in soccer, you know if a team can catch up on you in Taboo.  Games like this have competition, but not a lot of mystery.

Poker is very different.  At any point in the game, you know exactly what you have, but you have no way of knowing what is going on behind the scenes for the other players.  There has been more than one time where I have had pocket Kings (the 2 cards in my hand were Kings), and I have bet strong, only to find out there was actually someone who landed pocket Aces.  It is a game that requires you to operate with a bit of risk, moving without knowing every bit of information.

The same is true for basically every aspect of following Jesus.  I can’t tell you the number of times I have looked at what He dealt me and thought “victory is in sight” only to realize that I hoped in the wrong things.  Yet, there have been other times when I look at what He dealt me and thought “there is no way anything good can come from this” and suddenly I am walking away with so much more than I could have hoped for.   Following Him constantly requires me to re-risk the things I have gained for the sake of the pay-off (more of Him).  Sometimes it requires you to go “All-In” and put everything on the line for the sake of what He is calling you to.  In the beginning of the book of Joshua, God actually calls the entire fighting army of Israel to go “All-In” and believe that it will pay off.

The truth is that I enjoy playing games this way, but life this way is so much more complicated.  I look at the story of the Israelite army, and I wonder if I would want to re-risk it all again and again.  Through those wrestling’s, we must come back to the basic fact that God is fully allowed to ask us to risk it all for the sake of following Him into the Promise Land.

The journey has already started, it is our turn now, and the response at the table should be a clear “All-In.”

Latest reading has me journeying with Moses and about a million other people in the desert.  It is a pretty intense story of God’s faithfulness to a group of people He picked to be “His people.” 

They are slaves; He influences a major world-leader to let them go. 

They are chased as they leave; He wipes out a whole army as part of their rescue. 

They are hungry in their journey; He rains down bread from the sky. 

They are thirsty; He causes water to spring from a rock. 

God is fully for His people.  It is so easy for us to get distracted from this fact, and begin to believe that we are alone.  We have a short attention span, and forget that we are cared for, provided for, and placed in communities with people we can relate to. 

It is funny to me when I read this story about Moses, because at the moments when God is telling Moses all the details of His involvement with the people, the people are looking for a new God.  The LORD is giving details to Moses, to help the people remain in relationship with their creator.  The people are giving gold to Aaron to create a new god so they have someone to attribute affection and complaints when good and bad occur.

How quickly we forget the good of our lives!  How easily we wander from the things we know to be true, because we don’t feel like they are true today.  The people knew and experienced the truth of God’s presence and care for them, but it was easy for them to forget what they had already experienced.  In the same way, I have noticed it is easy for me, and all those that I know, to experience the hand of God, living and active in their life, but then forget that He is with us and at work around us.  When we feel God with us, our life feels like a journey towards our eternity…towards purpose and importance.  When we feel like God is not around, we allow a journey to become a wandering through a desert.

Sometimes in can feel that we have moved from a journey to wandering.  It can seem as though we have no direction, no guidance, and that perhaps the voice of God is no longer around.  Everyone goes through these times; it is a basic part of the human experience.  We must somehow remember that not all who wander are lost.  God does not cease to be real, personal and active just because our life seems to have become a wander, instead of a journey. 

Though I still have reading to do, I know that the next part of the story for Moses and the people with him is an experience of wandering in the desert for many years.  It would make complete sense to think that God just left them and was no longer a part of their lives.  I bet they even felt like that, spending day after day just trying to figure out “what next?”  What is true is that the wandering was very important for them.  They were never lost in the desert, though God did allow them to wander.  There was purpose in the wander, and there is purpose in ours. 

Every once in a while I find myself sitting and wondering about how some of the most amazing creations came to us.  Though my calendar might not reflect it, my days are filled with email consistantly able to get to me through my phone, about 10 different moments during the day when I open up Facebook to see what is happening…and well…I am addicted to Twitter.  These things have changed the way I interact with almost everyone around me.

Last night I came across this great video, which is an 8 minute talk by Evan Williams.  This is the guy who created Blogger (blogspot.com) and Twitter.  Needless to say, the guy seems to have an ability to come up with some culture-changing ideas.  This video might not interest all of you, but for some it might mess with your thinking for the rest of the day.

Whether you like Twitter or not, what you have to know is that it is helping to change the way people interact with one another…and from this video we can tell that it is helping in ways the creator couldn’t even have first imagined. 

Everything in our culture moves so fast, so I have no doubt that in the years to come, something new will emerge as the next great thing.  I, with many others, are waiting for the Web 3.0 revolution.  I wonder how you, my friends, are engaging with these new mediums of connection?  Do you have some site or service that you are finding is revolutionizing the way you do life?  I’d love to hear what else is out there, what the next Twitter might be…

I have a few cool new thoughts floating around in my head, but the one I really want to dialog about is the idea of influence.  These days, especially for a college-aged person, there are so much information to be gathered around the idea of influence.  It is an important subject…we know it matters who we influence and how we influence them.  One of the most classic (and now parodied) examples of influence is this memorable 80’s commercial…

Still cheesy as can be, but totally communicates the the reality that parents help shape and influence the attitude and direction of kids.  Another fun way to look at the idea of influence is to look into the music industry.  There are a few people in the industry that (in my opinion) have helped shape where we are heading in terms of music in the years ahead.  Like him or not, Kanye West has influenced what we hear on the radio (or download on iTunes) in many of the different genre’s.  Just for fun, lets remember what the Kanye influence was like a few years ago…

So clearly, we are a people who are influenced.  In fact, all the ways we learn and grow have to do with influence. Your education is decided by who you let influence you to read and learn. If you decide to play a sport or learn an instrument, it is because someone has influenced you towards it. The lifestyles we live are based on the influences around us, and which of those influences we actually listen to.

But, we are also a people OF great influence.  I was reading earlier about a man who dared to sit and debate with God about the fate of a group of people.  For some reason, this man had the access to influence how God would handle a situation.  Does that seem shocking to anyone else?  In the Bible, there is the story of Abraham.  Whether you go to church or not, you have probably heard of this ancient figure in history.  What you might not know is this story of Abraham influencing God.  As the story goes, God is going to destroy an area (the areas of Sodom and Gomorrah) and Abraham challenges God and asks if He is really going to do it even if there are still people there who follow God.  This slipper slope debate ensues until Abraham has convinced God to spare the entire group of people if just 10 followers of God exist there.

What is it about this man that gives him such access to God?  He clearly had God’s favor on his life, but why?  It wasn’t earned, but it appears that there were certain things which were true of him which made God desire to hear him out.  Some of these character traits are…

1)Humility (Understanding who God is and who I am)
2)Commitment to God’s Glory (He put God’s fame and importance above his own)
3)Practiced faith that was unrealistic (He banked his life on the fact that God will do what He says He will do)

This thought is still very much in process, but one thing should be obvious…if there is a way that we can have this kind of access to God, we should be pursuing it.  If these character traits are key in knowing God that intimately, then they should become the bedrock’s of our lifestyle.

So I was reading this morning about the ultimate water-leak from heaven.  I am trying to read thru the Bible with a little more attention to detail, asking God what I have ignored or overlooked in the past.  Today I was reading about a time early in my history, when God was so grieved by humanity that He thought it would be better to just end it all and start over.  Then there is one guy who God thinks actually has his heart set on seeking and honoring his Creator.  So, since this man (Noah) seems to be known for following God, God gives him a massive task.  He asks him to create a big boat…big enough for a few people and a bunch of animals. 

Now if you are like me, I am sure you have at least a few questions about this whole scenario.  It is a pretty odd picture, and has some interesting things to observe (for instance: aside from the people on the boat, God wipes out all mankind and all of the animals of the earth.  But, what about the sea-creatures?  Have you ever thought about that?  It says that, “Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died“…but what about all the creatures that live beneath the surface?  What about dolphins, and hammerhead sharks, and jellyfish?  Weird thought, not majorly important at the minute).

Among all the questions about this part of our history, I was struck today by the time it took Noah to honor the call of God on his life.  Let’s look at this two ways…

1)Proportions – If you consider the overall length of a person’s life, consider the fact that in Noah’s life, the most obvious and huge “call” on his life from God didn’t come til the second half of his life.  He had to learn how to delight in God and serve Him for many years before he was able to enjoy a tangible “calling”

2) Length – The Bible highlights a reality that in the early days of humanity, people were probably a lot healthier, and lived a whole lot longer.  Most of the people we read about in Genesis lived anywhere from 600-900 years!! That is so crazy…I wonder if that mean High School was about 40 years long?  Anyway, we are told Noah lived about 950 years.  It was about the time he was 500 years old that God called him to build the Ark and prepare for a major change in his life.  It was around the time he was 600 that it was ready for Noah’s family and all the animals to board the boat.  That means Noah spent about 100 years working on one simply project, day in and day out, it order to honor God.  Fulfilling his calling took every bit of that 10o years, and I wonder if it is any different for me and my 75+ (hopeful) years on this earth.

I imagine the quality (not the quantity) of Noah’s years was measured by his willingness to be completely faithful to the daily call of God on his life.  That daily faithfulness added up to a lifetime of God favored moments…not to mention the whole family line of humanity.

It is the beginning of a new week, and the early phases of a busy season for me.  It is times like these that seem like the perfect moments for a reset.  There are lots of different resets around us all the time.  Every morning, once the night has gone, the sun begins to rise, giving the signal of a reset for “today.”  All that is yesterday has become out of reach, and all we have to put our hands on is today.

There are other types of resets.  You can reset a watch or a timer.  Whether you are cooking or racing or doing any sort of activity that is set within a specific time, once you are done you have a chance to reset and try it again.  (Even as I typed this blog, my computer froze, and I was forced to “reset” and re-write all that was erased…irony that isn’t too funny).  The most successful time in any sort of competition can be wiped away with a simple press of that reset button.  In that same regard, a poor, unimpressive time in a competition can also be cleared out by a press of that same reset button.

Reset has a way of taking us back to a beginning, before accomplishments or failures made their first showing.  This thinking started this morning by taking it back to the beginning…like the very beginning…like “In the beginning”.  Reading in Genesis 1 and 2 sparked a lot of thoughts on this idea of reset, and going back to the start.  Random thought – what if you could go back to your beginning?  Would you want to?  Given the chance to go back and start over, erase all the mistakes you have made…and with it erase every good moment, every precious memory…would you make that choice?  It is a weird dynamic to think about.  Would you want to try and live your life over again, so things could be a little different?  To be able to go back and act differently in relationships that are now bruised or broken…but at that same time to forget every precious memory of friendship, of holding the hand of the one you want to be with, of laughing without restraint.  To reset and be able to re-learn so many of the things you have missed along the way, but to also be put through the process of having to re-learn everything.  The power of reset is both wonderful and frustrating.

I think reset may be one of the most important things we do every year, month, day and so on.  When I look back at the beginning, and the work of our Creator, I am struck by the reality of His rhythm of reset with creation…and we are part of that creation.  I can look and remember the way in which He created me…I came from dust.  BUT, I can also reset and remember that He created ME!  This creator brought me up from dust, but He specifically worked to form me…giving attention to the smallest details of me. 

It is in light of this Creator and His reset that I am inclined to allow myself to reset.  Each morning, I have a chance to allow the regrets and frustration of yesterday to be just that – “yesterday” -  and learn to move on into today.  Those same moments mean saying goodbye to all of the good things of yesterday, because they are memories of realities past – but reset allows me to fully experience the memories to come, from today’s realities.  Reset brings a sunrise, and a zero-ing of the clock, to freshly experience new work, new mercies, new love.