The "haves" and the "have nots"

I recently spent a weekend in the wealthiest neighborhood of São Paulo. From my hotel window I could see some of the city's finest neighborhoods where some of Brazil's wealthiest citizens live in mansions and huge apartments.

I could also see from my window one of São Paulo's largest slums. The slum is home to 80,000 people crammed onto a hillside right in the middle of the luxury apartment complexes. Anyone who has been to Brazil has seen this shocking contrast of the "haves" and the "have nots".

The pastor who was my host for the weekend described the slum as an unsolvable social problem. Begun by people immigrating from grinding poverty in northern Brazil, this slum was first built by people just looking for a chance to work. That is no longer the case.

As we looked out on this unbelievable scene I suddenly saw something else. I saw the last 500 years of Brazilian history and a vision of the direction our world seems to be heading. For the last 500 years Brazil has been a land of the "haves" and the "have nots".

It seems that our world is now heading into a time where socialism is seen as the great hope for the world. For me in particular this is not a happy thought. I remember how proud my father was of not needing the government to take care of him. All he wanted was a chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. His example burned deeply into my heart and soul and so did my USA 1950s childhood, I have never wanted the government to take care of me. I just wanted a fair chance. I got that fair chance in my 1950s America even though millions of black Americans around me did not.

In my view, socialism is a a willingness of people to see and accept government as their solution. In a very real sense socialism is the greater mass of humanity believing that the government should take care of them because the government has what they do not have. Since they, the governing class, have so much they should take care of those who don't have. My father would have choked on the idea that the government has what he needs. He did not want the government to take care of him. He wanted the government to guarantee his safety and opportunity not take care of him.

The slums in Brazil are a scream for help and also a terrible form of dependence. Rich neighborhoods and the slums that surround them live in a very strained and uneasy relationship. There is a very real sense that the two worlds could explode at any second. They often do.

In the Brazilian slums most things are free. Water, electricity, internet, cable, etc. are free in most slums. In reality they are stolen and everyone has to go along with this or the 80,000 people on the hill might get out of control. There is a very real sense of guilt that is felt by the "haves." The "have nots" know this and have become a powerful political force which now threatens to take control of all the wealth by force if there is not a transfer of the wealth to a new governing class called a socialist government.

If socialism wins the day, I predict the slums will not disappear. The slums will surround the neighborhoods where the government leaders live instead of surrounding the capitalist leaders neighborhoods. Nothing will really change except who composes the rich class and lives in the best neighborhoods.

As bad as the slums are, most people who live in them resist being relocated unless all the "Free" benefits are guaranteed in the new place. It is complicated! If you ever visit the city of Rio, the best views of the beaches are from the slums. It is almost too strange to describe. One has to see it to believe it. Who would want to give up such a view for a tiny apartment away from the beach and an two hour bus ride to work?

Here is my point. I reject the socialist theory simply because I don't believe any human beings were meant to live with a "please someone take care of me!" mentality. This mentality kills the human soul in every way. I believe the right mentality is "please guarantee my opportunity to find my space to live and love."

What does this have to do with Christians? I believe that much of what passes for Christianity today is also becoming a form of "slum" Christianity.
The spiritual "haves" let the spiritual "have nots" live close to them in church because they are so permanently needy. The "haves" tolerate the "have nots" because they realize they will always be needy. They also need the cheap help to keep the spiritual gated communities running. That may sound harsh, but I have seen firsthand the deadening effects of the rich Christians and the poor Christians in what I call "pyramid" churches.

This uneasy "haves" and "have nots" relationship is not good for anyone-especially the leaders. I believe we need communities of equals in Jesus. We need vineyards not luxury apartment buildings overlooking the pitiful poor. We need communities where we are one with God and one with each other. By abiding I believe we have hope for this in our churches. I believe this problem does have a solution. That solution is called "oneness".

I don't know if there can ever be "oneness" in Brazil. There wasn't "oneness" for everyone in South Florida when I grew up but there was a spirit of healthy independence from the "haves". That was a start!

There can and must be oneness in the church. I believe we must resist every kind of spiritual environment that exalts some and makes others the permanently dependent ones. We are all branches and there is only one Vine.

Brazil may need to head for socialism in order to avoid a bloodbath, but the church needs to head to oneness because the blood of One was already shed. I have hope for the church. The world? That is another question.

What Should Christians be Good At?

I continue to be amazed at the Christian community's desire to appear better at things than non-believers. Is being better at baseball, music, politics or anything else a sign of Christian life? I don't think so.

What we should be good at is being loved and loving. We should be the world's best at uninterrupted love.

I remember this thought coming home to me the first time through the writings of Francis Schaeffer in his book The Mark of the Christian. He was the first that showed me that the Christian's credibility is found in sustained love just like Jesus said it was.

What if we focused on this one ability as our societal calling and the true basis our our witness? Would we lose all the abilities we engage in while focusing on being really good at love? No. Love needs a context. Any skill taken seriously is a context for sustained love.

I have been on this Christian journey for quite a while. I have seen every kind of ability celebrated when a Christian is involved.
I have also noticed that we don't quite know how to celebrate the same ability displayed by an unbeliever. Perhaps we don't want them to be so good at baseball, music, politics or anything else. Why? We are basing our hope on Christians being better at things because they are Christians. Should we focus on being better at these things or focus on being really good at uninterrupted love while doing these things?

I have come to the conclusion that Jesus was perfect at uninterrupted love. As far as I know, he never tried to be good at anything else to prove His point. Let's be good at love as we do our sports, music and politics. That makes a great combination and it protects what really matters which is great relationships.

Abide Retreat March 2009

It is early morning March 15th and we are getting near the end or our March Abide Retreat in the mountains of Brazil. This group of 34 is such an interesting mix of people. What they all have in common is a passion to be like Jesus. I wish all of our friends could experience a retreat with us here! Catch a plane and come.

Father forgive them!

I have always been amazed by these words spoken by Jesus as He was being crucified "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." I think I could spend an entire day in the light of those words. I don't get all of what those words mean but I do get the big picture of what God was doing in Christ that day.

Most of the people with whom we interact every day do not get any of what God is doing. That is why they do not get what we are doing either.

In the Message edition of the Scriptures we read these words in John 3.

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to.


I often want the world to take me as seriously as God takes me. I want the world to truly get what I am up to. They get me so wrong at times.

I watch the conservative news channels on cable here in Brazil and I watch Christians getting so frustrated because America doesn't get it! Can America living apart from God get it? Can Brazilians living apart from God really get why I am in Brazil?

To be like Jesus is to do what we do without expecting people to get it and affirm it.
I know that is hard, but the words "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" will come in handy if a really bad day in your world comes along.

Crucified by Christians

I remember reading somewhere a quote that has stayed with me even though I want it to go away. Here it is. Read it at your own risk. "When God wants to really love someone, someone gets crucified."
I warned you.

What I didn't count on when I read that quote was that it would come true over and over again in my own experience. And what makes it even worse is that many of the crucifixions I have witnessed have been Christians crucifying Christians. Some of my own crucifixions have been carefully executed by believers.

Delivering God's love is not for the faint at heart. Love of a certain quality is only delivered by painful betrayal and false accusations. Read the life stories of some of God's most famous saints and you will find than many of them were crucified by Christians. Even so, a great kind of love lingers in the world for centuries because of their crucifixions.

I have no idea what it is that makes us want to judge others and put an end to another's reputation or life, but it runs deep in all of us--including me. We take a kind of perverse pleasure in finding others to be less than we find ourselves to be.

When I teach the Satisfying LIfe course I often ask the group if they think God really loved His Son Jesus. They always answer "yes!" Then I ask "If so, would you want to be treated like His Father treated Him?" There is usually a very uneasy silence and few volunteers.

When God wants someone to be truly loved, someone will suffer for that to happen. I think that is what Cross-bearing is about.

Sometimes when I bring this up in a teaching setting someone will ask "Doesn't having great faith shield us from pain?" That is a popular thought here in Brazil. I respond by saying "Have you ever read who it was that gave faithful Job's address to the Devil?"

I do want to love like Jesus did. I really do. I just struggle with this quote when it is my turn to deliver such love.

Please forget you heard this quote from me! Blame anonymous.

Mom and Dad

I remember hearing Chris Matthews for MSNBC describe the Democrats and Republicans in the following manner.
"Democrats are the party of mom. Republicans are the party of Dad" He went on to say that the debates and elections were a family argument in action. He said the the party of mom was the party that always looks for a reason to not give up on people. The party of dad wants people to get a life. I think he got it right.

Brazil is a matriarchal society. The entire social structure of Brazil is based on the fact that women are more consistent and trustworthy than men. Men have urges they cannot control. Women have to hold the world together because men won't. Mary is more respected here than Jesus. The way this works out in practical life is often comical and, at times, disastrous.

A Matriarchal society is, on the surface, a forgiving, accepting society. It is a society that has no death penalty, short prison stays and a belief that men just cannot control their basic urges. Women must be the anchor in the matriarchal society. While Brazil has no death penalty and prison stays are almost never more than a few years, over 700 people were killed while being arrested last year in Rio de Janeiro. Men can't control their urges so both sides of the drug war are killing non-stop. What they can count on is that the moms will be there for them no matter what they do.

God made male and female for a reason. They balance each other in their view of reality. The great thing about the USA is that the Protestant roots of the USA produced a society of dad and mom. Protestants abandoned the idea that men cannot control their urges. They called men to responsibility and they punished the giving in to urges.

I love Brazil. I love the way Brazilians deal with life. Even so, I wish for the day that Brazilian dads would come to Jesus and assume masculine responsibilities.

I love the USA. I pray that the political structure will remain mom and dad. Right now it looks to me like mom is concluding she needs to take care of everyone since men's urges can't be controlled. A single parent USA would be tragic.

Morality or Identity

Which do you think is more powerful, a system of right and wrong or an identity rooted in true life?

Which statement is most powerful. "That is wrong. Don't do that." or "That is not you. It doesn't fit you."

Jesus said he came to give us life not morality. Jesus said he was the way, the truth and the life, not a superior system of right and wrong. Jesus was constantly concerned about pleasing His Father and reflecting His true identity as one with the Father.

Paul said "For to me to live is Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me."

Right and wrong does not work. Right and Wrong is not what God is after. God is after joining His life to us so we live from His life the way Jesus did. I don't believe Jesus spent any time at all thinking about right and wrong. I believe He was simply being Himself full of grace and truth.

When I am in a place where I want to be impatient or aggressive, I can say "This is wrong. Don't do it." Or I can say "This is not consistent with my Christian life--Jesus in me. Jesus be my patience and my kindness." I have tried both. Identity and Life trump right and wrong. Right and wrong is the fruit of a tree we should avoid.

I guess we should have seen that identity is more powerful than morality when God said "I am that I am" and Jesus said "I always do that which pleases my Father." Jesus was not trying to be good. He was good because He is good.

The next time you are wondering if you should do something or not, ask "Is this the real me?" instead of asking "Is this right or wrong." If your identity is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" you will immediately know that impatience and aggression just don't fit you. Put on kindness and gentleness. They fit you and they are in you right now.

Conversion

Not everyone has an explosive conversion experience. I did.
I was 16 years old and I had been in church off an on since the death of my father when I was 10 years old. I had experienced some level of faith in Jesus but I was certainly not free to enjoy my relationship with HIm.

On the evening of October 22, 1967 I received Jesus in His fulness. It was an explosion of light and joy. I had been working at being a Christian. When I stopped working at receiving Jesus and simply received Him, the light and joy came.
I literally sang all the way home that night as I drove my little VW bug down the Hollywood, Florida streets. People must have thought I was crazy.

Today I believe what I was experiencing that night was not just the explosion of my conversion that was meant to pass. I was experiencing the generous presence of Jesus in my life. Jesus came into my spirit and my soul was at rest and rejoicing. Believe it or not, I was given a taste of what it means to live the Christian life each day. It was a taste of what happens when a human being is receiving from God's generosity and grace. On that one glorious night I was enjoying a barrier-free relationship with Jesus with no effort of my own except being focused fully on Jesus.

In Colossians 2:6,7 Pauls writes "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."

I experienced this verse on the night of my conversion. Tragically, I was not "instructed" and therefore the "overflowing with gratitude" stopped soon after my conversion. I assumed the "overflowing with gratitude" was a once in a lifetime event.

As Mike Wells says in his wonderful book Heavenly Discipleship "Most Christians can rapidly list five things they need to do for God. However, very few can list five things God is doing for them." The first Sunday after my conversion I was given the list of what I needed to do for God. It was far longer than 5 items! It was many years later that I realized that what matters is what God is willing to do for me through Jesus the Vine that makes me overflow with gratitude like I did on the night of my conversion.

Go back and read the verse again. Has anyone instructed you to focus on what God is doing for you in Christ right now as the key to discipleship and joy?
Has anyone told you that you are rooted in the source of all good things? If not, is it any wonder the joy has gone and a burden of doing for God has taken its place?

Have the courage to wake up each day and affirm what God is doing for you before you grab the list of what you must do for God. Try this...

The entire Christian life abides in me right now. For to me to live is Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in
me. It is not what I am willing to do that makes the Christian life work. It is what He is willing to do! In Christ God is
loving me, guiding me, keeping me, enjoying me, purifying me, forgiving me, filling me, molding me and working His will
in me.

Rejoice! And again I say rejoice! God is much more generous with His perfect life in Jesus than you will ever truly comprehend.

P.S.
Mike Well's book Heavenly Discipleship and several other wonderful books can be ordered through his site www.abidinglife.com Get them!

Sinless

One of the downsides of living in a large city is the constant contact with concrete and manmade things. As soon as one leaves the city something in the human soul breathes a little easier.

I love cities. I love people. There is no denying, however, that nature speaks better for the Creator than what man has produced on top of nature.

This morning I walked for an hour in a park near our home. As I walked in this stubborn little refuge against man's desire to concrete every inch, I was struck with a thought that I have had over the years. This morning it was even a stronger thought.

Every flower, tree, bird and plant continues to glorify God just as they did in the garden of Eden. They do not sin. They are fulfilling their God-given role moment by moment. They are what they were meant to be.

Every day I live in the presence of sinlessness.

Jesus told us to consider birds and flowers in Matthew 6. He could do so because they are sinless. They have never rebelled against their Creator. No matter how much we concrete them in, they still fight to glorify their Creator and in the process bless those who do their best to cover them in concrete.

Humans were designed by God to deliver love 24/7 and moment by moment. Humans were meant to deliver love without interruption and without regard for friend or enemy. Jesus did that. We do not.

Now that Jesus has overcome sin, the world and the Devil by uninterrupted love, we, too, have hope of glorifying God again.
We can never be sinless, but our constant contact with the sinless One who abides in us makes glorifying God possible again.

There is hope for sinless humanity since the one sinless human came and lived with us. Now that He lives in us there is "the hope of glory." Never believe in your own sinlessness. Believe in His and rivers of living water will flow from your life.

Always remember it is not about concrete. It is about life and love. If you must live in a city as I do, fill it with love as you walk on the concrete. Cities can be beautiful when filled with life and love from the One sinless life.

Deciding from Biography

Watching the transition from President Bush to President Obama from 5,000 miles away gives one a very different perspective on what is really happening. From here it is clear that America's new president is making decisions from his personal biography. This is to be expected. We all make life's most important decisions from our personal biography. What worked for us and for those who have most influenced us for good shapes our biography and our policies.

President Obama's biography is impossible to understand apart from aggressive government intervention to correct wrongs and open doors for those who are trapped in seemingly impossible situations. Trying to convince President Obama that government is not the solution to society's greatest ills is like asking him to lead from Rush Limbaugh's biography instead of his.

We want to make governing or leading about ideas, but it is much more about biography than ideas. Our ideas were birthed in our biography by people who seemed to truly care about us.

None of can lead for long without referring back to what worked in our case. I know this as a fact from 58 years of my own decision making. Only a tremendous personal experience with some new biographical paradigm will cause a person to shift his policies away from his personal experience. Conversions do happen.

The power of biography is why we must be "born again" to enter the kingdom of God. That is why "poverty of Spirit" (coming without our own biography) is the place where true spiritual happiness begins. The biographical battles of Adam number one's children will never cease until we become children of Adam number two--Jesus.

Brazil's President has a 6th grade education and comes from decades of battles against the rich as a union activist. Trying to get him to see the owners, bankers and business leaders as the solution for Brazil's issues is truly a challenge. His biography of poverty and class struggle has shaped him. He is a good President for Brazil's poor because they can read his biography, but he definitely sees government as the answer to nearly everything. If it can be taxed, he will tax it. To him that is how fairness comes into a society--by taxing.

Brazil's President and President Obama will be great friends. Brazil is already in love with President Obama because they like his biography better than George Bush's biography. No one down here knows how to read anything Texan.

If you want to know how a man or woman will lead, read their biography and look for what they say made their life better.
That is what they will support. That is what they will believe works.

If you want to see how well a Christian will live the Christian life, get a good read on how deeply they have moved into Jesus' biography as their own. When His biography is theirs they will live his life as theirs. Jesus' personal biography is the key to our new life biography.

By the way, no matter what happens in Brazil or in the USA I have read Jesus biography and his policies work for all eternity. He believes in grace not taxes. He does, however, demand unconditional love from his countrymen.

Now, do I think big government is the answer? Read my biography and you will know that answer to that question. Even better, read my dad's biography and you will see the life of a man who was proud he never needed to lean on government to raise 7 kids in a two bedroom house. He also never missed a day of work in 30 years.

From 5,000 miles away I see President Obama leading from his biography and I would expect him to continue to do so.
I also pray he will take the time to read other biographies--especially the one about Jesus. We could certainly agree on that one!

The debate that is raging in the USA and here in Brazil is still not the big debate. The real debate is about Jesus' biography and everyone else who is offering hope and change. I, for one, have been born again and each day I am happier about that choice and the the eternal change in my biography.

To Skim or not to Skim

When I was a kid growing up in South Florida, the beach was a part of my life. To this day I feel at home on a beach.
One of my favorite activities was skim boarding.

Before the days of mass marketing of beach toys we made our own beach toys. A skim board was made from plywood and a lot of sweat. My friends and I all had skim boards.

The skim board was used where the waves hit the beach and made a very shallow shelf of water that you had to catch to skim on before the water ran back into the deeper water. When you caught the thinning wave just right you could get a really fun ride. The end of the ride was almost always a crash as the board dug into the sand and the rider would go flying and then hit hard on the sand.

Every day of skim boarding was fun, tiring and hard on the skin. We were young. Recovery was fast. The waves were endless and free.

I loved to skim board back in those days. Today my energy and recovery time is not quick enough to skim.

Os Guinness devotes nearly an entire chapter in his book Long Journey Home to what he quotes Pascal as calling "diversion".
Diversion is a lot like skim boarding. According to Pascal and Guinness humans skim because they are avoiding the deeper waters of life. Pascal said "If our condition were truly happy we should not need to divert ourselves from it. Being unable to cure death, wretchedness, and ignorance, men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things. I have often said that the sole cause of a man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his own room" Ouch!

Diversion is not a spiritual discipline. It is a spiritual illness or addiction. Os Guinness goes on to say, "...our modern world has expanded the array of diversions beyond anything Pascal observed. Modern society itself is one grand diversion--the Republic of Entertainment." Ouch again!

Can we stand even for a few hours to dive into the depths of the human issues Pascal mentions? Issues like death, wretchedness and ignorance? Can we dare wade into such issues without drowning our own hope in the process?
Can we swim or will we be swept away by issues for which our answers provide no strength to swim?

My wife, Pam, can go in her room alone and be happy. She has never needed to skim anything. I have envied her this great ability to surf the waves of deeper thought while I have spent many days skim boarding the issues. Little by little I have learned that there is more to life than the thin waves of dailyness that come and are quickly gone. There is an ocean and in it there are living things that take one's breath away with their beauty and power.

Put your skim board away. Go into your room and be alone with the great questions and with your great God. Scary isn't it!
So is scuba diving, surfing and sailing. You were made for the waves and winds of the bigger issues. Seek them and know that God is the God of the oceans we fear.

Brazilian Carnaval Retreat

Pam and I are in the city of Embu near the city of São Paulo participating in a 4 day retreat sponsored by the Morumbi Baptist Church of São Paulo. This is one of the most influential churches in all of Brazil.

Carnaval is the same as Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans. It is a 4 day celebration of the flesh. (that is what Carnaval means in portuguese). Needless to say, many churches take advantage of this 4 day stretch to feed the spirit and not the flesh.

My job is to preach each of the three nights to 200 participants. I am speaking about our perfect life in Jesus and what it means to be a disciple. Besides being a big honor, this is a great opportunity.

Affirmation-A Spiritual discipline

Among the many spiritual disciplines--Listening, Silence, Praise, Thanks, Confession, Intercession, Petition, Action--there is one that gets little attention. It is the discipline of affirmation. It is my favorite.

Here is an example of an affirmation.

"The entire Christian life I will ever live abides in me right. Christ is all and is in all.
For to me to live is Christ. It is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me"

Another....

Heavenly Father,
I am what I am by your grace. Grace is your provision to me of what you demand of me. You demanded a perfect life from me and you sent your Son.
You demand of me uninterrupted love from me toward you and others, so you never interrupt your love for me by abiding as uninterrupted love in me moment
by moment.

These are affirmations I continue to make day by day in order to abide in truths that set me free to live and love without stopping.

I also make affirmations about others.

"The entire Christian life you will ever live abides in you right now. His name is Jesus"


Enjoy!

Biography and Theology-New Birth

Christian formation is not about life change. It is about new life--new biography.

Having led churches for over 30 years, I can tell you there is a huge difference between helping people change their lives (old biography) and helping people cooperate with their new life. (new birth-new biography)

When Jesus spoke to Nicodemos in John 3 he completely ignored the man's observations and the man's biography. He told him that nothing less than a new view and a new biography would do. "You must be born again."

I have found that nothing is more tiring than trying to help people change their 1st biography so it makes sense. I have found nothing more inspiring that helping them get into the moment by moment joy of their new biography in Jesus. Abiding is learning to live from and release from the new biography. Teaching others to abide is really exciting.

"Christ in you the hope of glory" is new biography. "For to me to live is Christ" is new biography. "Christ is all and is in all" is new biography. It is also great theology! This theology is inspiring stuff when taken as our new biographical identity. It is theology birthed from biography and not from work for change.

Bertrand Russell once wrote "I have dreamed of a combination of spiritual and physical companionship, and if I had the good fortune to find it, I could have become something better than I shall ever be." (Quoted by Os Guinness in Long Journey Home-great book!)

Bertrand Russell could not only have been "better". He could have been "new". His new biography would have included automatically the two things-spiritual and physical companionship-- he said he could not find in his first biography.

If you want to burn out helping people, just try signing up to help them change their first biography. You can't.

If you want to be inspired while helping others, do it with an eye on their new biography in Jesus as you live from your new biography in Jesus.

Biography and Theology

Most pastors end up choosing the denomination of their childhood or conversion experience as the place where they will express their theology. Most Baptist kids who want to enter ministry will enter ministry through Baptist institutions. Why? There is a direct link between one's theology (understanding of God) and one's biography (understanding one's self).
The Baptists where used by God to find and disciple me. Since they found me--my biography--I found it easiest to find them--my ministry.

For theology to be true theology it must become our biography. It must become more than what I know. It must become what I am. In other words, my understanding of God must become one with my understanding of myself.

Consider Jesus as the perfect example of perfect theology and biography. Jesus never took a theology course about God. Jesus' entire theology was biography. "I am my Father are one". Just as my children never took a Bud McCord course, Jesus never took a My Heavenly Father course.

All theology must become biography if it is to become real to us and real to others through us.

The Apostle Paul makes this statement in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Clearly Paul's theology had become his biography.

When our theology is our biography we end the separation that exists between information and formation. Spiritual formation requires that I understand my story as emanating from His story. In true spiritual formation we are literally one with the Trinity's biography and we continue to write with them the unwritten pages of that biography.
John 17:20-22 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are one in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

I have spoken to many atheists over the years and I have confirmed that their theology is their biography. Their personal biographical disappointment with God and with other authority figures has formed their theology. Their theology is mostly emotion from biography instead of theology from thoughtful, dispassionate reflection.

To be a branch is to share the biography of the Vine. As we share biography with others we should not be surprised to find their theology the most appealing to us. This is why Jesus says we should love Him first before even mother and father-or denomination. We will never have a Jesus theology until we are one with Jesus' biography.

Make sure your personal biography is Jesus' biography and you can be sure your theology will become His theology. The family historian, the Holy Spirit, will set you straight on the family history if you will seek oneness with God above all other courses or degrees.

Timothy Times Two

In the Apostle Paul's letters he mentions young Timothy as a son in the faith. That is exactly how I feel about two young men who are teaching the abide course across the state of Rio de Janeiro. Hubert is a lawyer and Junior is a businessman.

Hubert Andre and Junior have just completed their third retreat this month. They have spoken to more Brazilians than I have in the last 30 days! That is so cool!

When I first met Hubert Andre and Junior leading a Celebrate Recovery group this past year, I never dreamed they would be such wonderful leaders of the abide ministry in the greater Rio area. They are pushing me to expand and expand in Rio. I am running to keep up with them.

Pray that God would raise up an army just like them across Brazil. I believe we are on the verge of a discipleship movement in Brazil that will give the already dynamic Brazilian church an even more solid base from which to work.

These photos are of their most recent church retreat held the weekend of February 14th. They are working among many of Rio's poor neighborhoods where I probably would not have a clue how to truly relate.

Leading leaders

Leading leaders is like leading cats instead of dogs. It is true. Leaders don't easily follow.
In our first retreat of 2009 we were privileged to have some of Brazil's finest pastors and leaders in attendance. To get them to slow down long enough for a retreat about the inner life is no small task.
During the two day retreat I found myself looking into a mirror. I, too, am not easy to lead. No leader is.
Leaders must be inspired.
I tried to lead the entire group to take a group photo. I failed. The best I got was a few pictures when they were momentarily stopped. I couldn't get them to stand sill long enough register the moment together.
I love leaders! God grant me patience with me and them.
I have no idea how Pam has put up with me for 37 years.

Leaders retreat

The opportunity to speak to Brazilian leaders is what brought us back to Brazil. Even though we have only been back to Brazil for a few days, we are already enjoying a week with two such opportunities. This morning I spoke for four hours to over 50 leaders about the abiding life in Jesus.

For four hours with only one ten minute break they were all 100% engaged. I love the Brazilian desire to learn.
What a privilege to be seeing firsthand what God is doing here.

I believe Brazilians are so open because they see God at work in everything. They see every situation as a Divine situation.
Perhaps the difficulties they face each and every day helps them depend more than most people. All I know is that they receive the words of Jesus as food for their souls.

I pray that this wonderful people will be able to spread this willingness to learn around the world.

Attention

When I was a kid--a long time ago--the kids in class that could not sit still were the "bad kids" or the "rowdy kids". They got spanked. Over the years they were transformed into the "hyper kids". They were given lots of "time-outs" When I became the president of a Christian School for 18 years they became the "disruptive kids". They got lots of attention or even isolation. Today this type of child is usually referred to as suffering from ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder. They usually get medication.

This attention disorder has become so complex that ADD now has extra letters to describe why a particular child or adult is unable to pay attention to one thing for very long.

Imagine my surprise at learning that attention is the key to the quality of one's life. I should have seen it all along.
A friend uses this quote to help others learn to abide in Jesus and find peace for their souls.

"Whatever gets your attention gets you."


He is absolutely right. Human beings are first and foremost receivers not initiators or doers. Whatever we most consistently receive-pay attention to- is what will dictate what we produce as doing or fruit.

The challenge for the person with Attention Deficit Disorder is that they are too good at receiving. Maybe their challenge should be called ERD--Excellent Receiving Disorder. They receive too much and can't focus on anything for long because they just keep receiving.

Being good at receiving is not a deficit. It is to be very human. To not be able to choose what to receive and pay attention to, is to be at the mercy of every stimulus in the world. That is enough to make anyone unable to sit still in class.

There is hope for good receivers! They just need to choose to receive from the one source that matters which is from God through Christ. When they learn to focus on Jesus, they will be able to do more than sit still. They will learn to run and not be weary. They will find there is a universe of calming and exhilarating life to live found in paying attention to Him. Learning to do this has sure calmed me down!

Faith is the ability to receive well from God. All you who have attention issues rejoice! You have the most important of all skills. You receive well.

Mom McCartney's book

While recently staying in the home of Ruth McCartney, Pam's mom, and Marcy Warrick, Pam's sister, I came across a book on mom McCartney's bookshelf. An avid reader for all of her life as a wife, mother and missionary in Brazil, Ruth McCartney has a habit of marking with pen, pencil or colored pen everything in a book that catches her attention. She turns a book into a color coded testimony of the impression the book made on her.

The book I found is by Os Guinness entitled Long Journey Home A Guide to Your Search for the Meaning of Life. When I picked the book from the shelf, I honestly thought I had already read the book since I am an Os Guinness fan. When I leafed through the book and saw all of mom's markings, I smiled at such a wonderful thirst for truth each mark represented.

Mom offered the book to me and I took it as a precious gift. I wanted it because I wanted to have it as a memory of mom's search for truth.

Once I started to read the book, I realized it was new to me and it is now a double treasure. The book is fantastic and mom's markings don't distract, they bless.

In the book Os Guinness does a wonderful job of laying out before us the options we truly have if we are seeking the truth.
He makes no apology for saying that search will eventually lead to Jesus.

In one of the later chapters in the book Os talks passionately about the power that Jesus exercises over those who draw close to Him. He calls this the "Heart-cracking goodness" of Jesus. Just about the time a seeker sees nothing but madness and tragedy in the world, he hears the story of Jesus or hears what Jesus said or did. In that moment the tears come and the "Heart-cracking goodness" of Jesus is at work again.

Os says "The evidence for Jesus is something to be sure of; recognizing what Jesus shows us of the heart-cracking goodness of God is something to be passionate about."

The heart-cracking goodness of Jesus is our true hope. When I read this book with mom McCartney's many markings, I can see the "heart-cracking goodness" of Jesus in every stroke. Even now the tears come through the cracks as I think of Jesus' and mom's heart-cracking goodness.

P.S. Should you want to order a copy of the book to mark up for yourself, it is published by Waterbrook Press/Doubleday and is simply titled Long Journey Home by Os Guinness. You will not be disappointed.