31. May 2011 by BruceSmith.

SuperHuman Faith?

You have probably heard or heard of the following scenarios.  A man walks into the doctor’s office for a routine check up, and walks out with his entire life changed.  The diagnosis-terminal.  Or, perhaps, its this one: a family, on holiday, traveling with the kids, enjoying life, runs headlong into tragedy on the interstate, major collision, lives lost.  Or, perhaps, you’ve heard of the man who lost his job, lost his home, lost his family, lost his will to continue.  These, and so many similar events in life, test a soul to its core.  What is worse, sometimes those around them, like Job’s accusers, however well intentioned, can inflict more biting pain on the open wounds of these struggling travelers.

Too often, in the church, people buy into the idea that if one is fully serving, fully engaged with God, fully alive in the Spirit, then life will be one victory after another.  The poster-child or poster-family for the Christian world, in this culture for sure, has become the proverbial wife-husband-two and a half kids-dog-cat-three car garage-gated community-business mogul-straight white teeth ideal.  We have, in too many settings, reduced the true Gospel to the size of a church, the smile of a leader, the number of books sold, and/or the pseudo-Christian-American dream quest.  In so doing, we have lost the kind of Christianity spoken of in the scriptures and we have spat upon the majority of human experiences on our planet. In our lust for what we think a select few “blessed” people have attained (a misconception to begin with), we trade super-heroic faith for a smiley feel good experience.  Its a farce.  Its a cliche to be abandoned.  It truly perverts the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and confuses people looking for truth in a tough world.

You may be asking yourself at this juncture, “What is the point of all this?”  That’s a good question.  Its the question that should be asked, fundamentally, of the Christian life.  Is the Christian life about finding a better quality of experience?  Is it about the American ideal?  Is it about getting all our kids through school, college, and set up for a nice career, unscathed by the harsh realities of life?  Is the Gospel a good idea for social gathering, club membership, better dating?  What is it about anyway?  I sincerely hope, and I have a hunch you do also, that the Gospel is much bigger, far reaching and life transforming than what we see in many Christian circles.  The Gospel is bigger than bigger churches, bigger than bigger church budgets, bigger than more well dressed and smiley Sunday attenders, and bigger than a pulpit ordained self-improvement ideology.  The Gospel is about radical spiritual, intellectual, personal, and societal revolution.  We will never find that reality through three point self-improvement sermons, stronger Christian clicks, and a false theology that suggests to struggling people that if they had their act together life would just come up roses for them.

SuperHuman faith, supernatural faith, consists of seeing God transform lives even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  Remember Psalm 23?  This Psalm, the experience of the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs (Jeremiah was known as the Weeping Prophet for example), Jesus’ experience and His own teaching (“In this life you will have great trouble”…), and certainly the experience of the New Testament’s most significant writer, Paul (beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, blinded, left for dead, imprisoned, …), all demonstrate that spiritual vitality exists not in what we know as “blessedness” and problem-free experience, but rather, in intimacy with God, and powerful Spirit-inspired living through our difficulties, some of which may never be removed from our daily lives (again, remember Paul and his thorn in the flesh).  Paul, in fact, struggling with illness, lack of provisions, persecution, and more, suggested his goal was not a removal of these realities, but rather, “…for me to live is to know Christ, and for me to die is GAIN…”.  Externals are not Christianity.  Its what is going on inside.

The crushing distortion of the power-health-wealth teaching of our day is its fundamental contradiction of biblical teaching and everyday reality.  As far as I can tell, no one has escaped trouble and everyone still dies at some point.  The heroes of faith we all aspire to be (in reputation only, as we refuse the biblical journey toward that goal) lived through immense struggle.  Hebrew chapter 11 reminds us of all those giants of faith who never received the promise in full on this side of eternity.  A theology which places a false hope for healing, goodness (circumstantial), economic prosperity, and the alleviation of all suffering cannot hope to bring the true Gospel to bear upon those who embrace it.  At some point confusion, despair, and abandonment will set in because life does not pan out that way even for the most spiritual.  Bad things do happen to God-following people.  Always have.  Always will.

Such a notion should not be a catalyst for fear-based living.  Supernatural faith lives joyfully, knowing that whatever may befall us, God is with us (Romans 8).  If you read Romans 8 closely, in fact, you will find that its actually through, as a  result of, because of “all these things” that we come to know the God who is for us and who overcomes for us (in us) despite who or what may be against us.  We overcome internally, spiritually, no always externally in terms of circumstance.  

Think back on those throughout history who have gotten our greatest affection and admiration.  Think of those who fought the battles against slavery, have sacrificed to meet the needs of those starving and dying, fought against the tragic march of Hitler and suffered in the camps and died, those who have endured great hardship and yet have called entire cultures to a higher Christian ideal.  Some of life’s greatest leaps forward come amidst severe anguish.  Paul, David, and Job despaired even unto the point of wanting to die.  Yet, God did great things.

And understanding of biblical faith is critical, not only for you and I personally, but for those we come into contact with.  What will you tell the husband who is losing a wife to stage 4 cancer?  What hope will you provide the father who just lost his son in a drunk driving accident?  What comfort will you offer the wife whose husband just ran out on her?  Will you tell them to suck it up, be a bigger Christian and smile?  I hope not.  Yet, the pronouncements, if understood, of too many pulpits, do just that.  Faith in these circumstances is not about our desired change of the facts.  Faith, here, is about knowing, intimately, the God who has your back in all of this pain, and lavishing in His arms amidst your exhaustion, fear, and tears.

God does still intervene.  God does still heal.  Miracles do still happen.  No doubt.  Yet, as is brilliantly clear in the scriptures, He does not always heal.  He does not always remove our difficulty.  He does not always “fix” things as we understand it.  Yet, again, He is IN all things working His majestic will.  The thrill, the joy, the victory of true Christian experience is found in knowing HIM, not in knowing comfort.  Many people die in comfort and “blessing” apart from a true knowledge of God.  A superior 401k, an intact family, a big business, a big church, a perfect body, a healthy body for an ideal number of years, …none of this is a mark of Christian maturity or depth.  I’ve known exceedingly shallow “christians” who looked the part, had the checkbook to prove it, and were poster-ready, and they were no more an example of truth and goodness than the man in the moon (is he real?).  

Superhuman faith, supernatural faith, Godlike faith, is found in the heart, mind, soul, and spirit of a person.  It shines forth with brilliance amidst all we experience in life.  The accusers and smiley promise makers will come our way, sometimes hoping to direct us to or bring us to “healing”.  They may even be well intentioned at times, though decidedly in need of theological education. Some will tell you its all on you!  As if to suggest, perhaps unknowingly, that its not all about God!  And it may sound like this, “If you just have enough faith…if you believe enough…”  And you can fill in the blank.  Need a healing?  Its your faith.  Need more money?  Its your faith.  Need that addiction cured?  Its your faith?  Need anything at all?  God is going to give it to you when your faith is just right and you master the technical christian formula. 

That, my friend, to put it plainly, is theological bunk.  Scripture nor real life support this.  Does God desire we worship our health, our bank account, our success, our kids, even our own “faith”, our anything more than Him?  Our prayer through everything, good or bad, our passion through it all, should always be a deeper longing and love relationship with Him.  Anything else is what the bible calls idolatry.  God works in ways we cannot fathom.  He brought good in the lives of biblical heroes through great pain.  He made Paul a giant of a man while allowing His thorn to remain (maybe blindness which remained from his being knocked off his horse by God and blinded in order for God to get his attention and his heart).  Jesus allowed all of his inner circle to die, horrible deaths, in defense of the Gospel, and the result was a Gospel that is still transforming the world.  

Keep praying for people’s healing, and your own, but long more for God in them, and you, to be their and your hope and compass.  Keep praying for relief for those near you who are struggling, but pray more that God totally transform them by His love as they navigate the waters of life, and that He use their beautiful faith to inspire others as they suffer with grace and joy in Him.  Keep praying, single men, for that perfect 10, genius I.Q., Mother Theresa figure of a woman, with a retirement size bank account, who will feed you from her hand daily and meet all your sexual fantasies while singing like an angel and quoting Shakespeare!  Uh, don’t expect this one to pan out!!  And women, single moms, keep praying for that brilliant, gorgeous, strong, dark, perfect father, E-harmony poster male, with the Ferrari, three homes, chiseled abs and chest, and lust inducing accent.  Um, yeah, no, that’s not gonna happen either!  You get my drift.  I hope.

Superhero faith, the kind that lasts and inspires, is about our love relationship with God, our mustard-seed sized trust in His ability to control our lives, and His rabid all out desire to see us thrive in spirit and in truth.  If all the world falls at our feet and we can love Him all the more, wonderful.  But don’t count on it.  It we lose everything that this world worships and yet have Him, we are most rich.  

If you are looking for a faith that is based not on your assumptions and ideas, not upon the vending machine theology of many pulpits in our culture, and not upon the whim of those things written and nestled on bookshelves galore, then turn no further than an exploration of biblical truth.  Read the book from cover to cover.  Allow the Spirit of God to reach you as you see Him work in the lives of those gone before, and ask Him, as you read, to do the same in you.  As recently as this week, I have had conversations with others who have done this very thing, amidst life altering change, and come into a light of truth they have never known before.  It is something to behold.  It is beautiful.  It is Godly.  I, for one, want to see more of it.  

Let’s press on toward superhuman, supernatural faith.

Grace and Peace, 

Bruce Smith

blog.optimuschoice.com

soulstormsite.com

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24. May 2011 by BruceSmith.

Joplin

The Gospel is clear, God offers us grace and compassion for all our needs.  It is equally clear in that God calls us to extend grace upon grace and compassion upon compassion to those in need around us.  Yet again, CNN and other news agencies have made us aware of ongoing tragedies in our world.  The Joplin tornado has wrecked an entire city and an untold number of hearts and lives.  As the stories unfold its hard not to be shaken from our reality of self-preservation.  Whether we are in settings of comfort and abundance or struggling within our own pain, events like Joplin force us out of ourselves.  That is the way it should be.  God, as we know, walked into our pain, allowed our pain to be poured upon Himself, and carries our burdens still.

We have another chance to get in the game and make a difference in the lives of others in deep distress.  God’s love and compassion is most often shown through the kindness and love of His kids.  Let’s get in the game.  Whether through my websites or some organization of your choosing, please, get in the game and extend compassion, today, to those in need in Joplin.

 If you are so compelled, you can buy, at a discount, my book, Soul Storm: finding God amidst disaster, at my site (www. soulstormsite.com) and have it donated to the relief effort.  We have connections to many relief groups who will be on the ground in the Joplin area and will forward the books to them.  You can also donate funding by hitting the “donate” button if that is your preference.  

Our hope is that as people begin to walk the journey of recovery, Soul Storm will inspire and sustain them and equip them to help others around them.  Please, help us help others.

 Grace and Peace,

Bruce Smith

P.S.

look for my new author website coming soon! 

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9. May 2011 by BruceSmith.

Hope Brought Me Home

Hope.  I have written about her before.  Smart, beautiful, blonde, athletic, killer smile, great personality, cute nose, sloppy kisser, and a spirit of joy like no other.  She is no ordinary companion.  She is my Lab, my steadfast, loyal, slobbering, shedding retriever.  And she has a way of helping me find my way back when all seems lost.  Hope does that.

Last week I had “one of those” weeks.  Monday started with fatigue, back pain, and a few minor annoyances.  Tuesday, the frustration kicked into gear.  After awakening to a leaking refrigerator, a flooding kitchen, no shut off valve, running late for an obligation, getting ready, unannounced and unexpected delays at home, dogs getting out and jumping on me after showering and heading to the car, restarting all over again, and seeing business deals that looked sure fall apart in totally unthinkable ways, I was exhausted before hump day arrived.  The saga continued into Thursday as I drove to help my son pack up his dorm and move back for the summer.  After a sleepless night on Wednesday and road trip ahead, Benedryl kicking in, and eyes heavy, I cut the drive to Memphis in half and tried to get some rest.  Despite hitting the pillow at about eleven, I may have gotten three hours at most.  Back on the road Friday morning, now with back spasms ignited by the driving, stress, and a less than perfect bed, I was only kept going by too much coffee.

The pressure continued to mount as I drove toward Memphis while working on the phone and wondering what the check engine light meant.  Finally, after getting to town, seeing the rising Mississippi in downtown drawing visitors, I found a little respite at the Gibson guitar factory in downtown Memphis.  It was a nice diversion for a rough week.  A few chords licked out on a freshly crafted Hummingbird, and all was well…for a few minutes.

After reaching the campus and getting my son loaded up we hit the road after a quick dinner.  Two hours into the drive, struggling to survive the sleep deprivation, a discouraging conversation with a family member, and fighting mental exhaustion, I received a phone call from home.  The words, in light of the past week, were more than a grazing blow, “Dieter has been hit by a car, and we cannot find him!”

My wife had called, our new Christmas Boxer pup, our first mutual pet for the new “blended family”, an attempt to help all the blending, and a thrilling gift for the wife and three twelve-ish year olds, let alone myself and the “big” kids, had been struck by a car, ran off screaming, and was nowhere to be found.  I was more than three hours away, and could do nothing, nothing but wonder what in the world was going on in my world.  Typically, I am a man of disciplined restraint and composure (at least I think so), but I will admit, on this occasion, my tongue lost its commitment to the better part of verbosity, and I gave the empty SUV a mouthful.  I said things I am not altogether proud of at this moment.  

After hours of searching, I was told, upon nearing home, the family had made no progress, even with tons of neighbors helping.  He was gone.  No sound of pain or whimpering could be heard anywhere, and the wooded areas made it near impossible to find him if he were struggling and dying.  And from the details about the accident, it did not sound as if there were any hope for him.  Adults, teens, small kids, …all were in tears, some of us were angry, some were closing up, others blaming, others wanting revenge on the driver who did not stop, it was not a pretty sight.  As this reality was settling in my wife was just getting the news that her uncle, ill with cancer, had passed away.  What next?  Really?!  Is it fair to grieve the loss of a dog when the family has just lost a loved one?  Do we keep searching?  How do we handle the kids in the middle of all of this?  The questions and despair were mounting.

As my son and I drove into the neighborhood after midnight, I called him on his cell phone and told him to go home, … I was going to find our pup.  After nearly two hours, still fighting exhaustion (mentally, physically, and otherwise), I gave up, I gave up hope.  It was becoming clear that we would not see our Dieter again.  In preparation for Christmas, I had searched for weeks, all around the country, for just the right pup for us.  And now…

After hitting the bed, tears rolling onto the pillow, I crashed.  I had set the alarm for the break of dawn so I could give the search one more try.  Again, this time, after searching neighbor’s yards, in ditches, in woods, and everywhere I could think, not a sound or a clue.  Tired, needing coffee, I headed to Starbucks for a double dose.  Upon leaving, in tears again, I called the Vet, animal control, and others to see if a wounded Boxer had been found.  Nothing.  

After I got the kids some breakfast, I decided one last attempt would be made before we all accepted what looked obvious.  Animals tend to go off to a secluded place to die.  I knew this.  The Vet reminded me of this.  The details of the wreck, witnessed by my teenage daughter, assured us all there was little hope.  Needing help to even go out again, I decided this time it would be me and Hope, my trusted Lab.  The family had gone out with her the night before and had told me she was “no help at all”.  I knew Hope better than that.  Against all odds and against all hope, I was taking Hope for one last search.

An hour went by, then another, and then Hope, as we started to pass yet another house for the tenth time, calling out as we went, started to whimper.  We had been down this street countless times, in fact.  Why was she whimpering now.  And the side of the house was thick with vegetation which ran all the way to the back of the property and then along the back side.  What if their dogs came after us? I thought.  What if they don’t want us trespassing? my mind continuing to discourage me from allowing Hope to lead.  However, I knew Hope was smart.  I knew she was finally starting to figure out something was missing, something was wrong, Dieter might be in trouble.  I could tell she was on to something.  This same searching posture I see in her when she is sniffing out a toy, a bone or a ball.  We ventured further into the property and into the wooded landscaping.  

As we got further into the shrubs and trees and deeper onto the property Hope’s whimpering became more animated and her breathing picked up excitedly.  We followed the tree line all the way to the back of the property and Hope was clearly looking for something.  I petted her and tried to listen.  As we stood still, and still unable to see anything, I quieted Hope and heard the faintest cry from my right side.  

Until this point, I will confess, hope for me was gone.  I was on a search now for Dieter’s body, so I could bring it back home and we could bury him and have closure.  I was utterly astonished when I turned around along the back of that property and saw him sitting, whimpering and shaking in the bushes, but clearly very alive!  So as not to frighten him, I slowly tied Hope to a tree with the leash and walked gingerly toward Dieter.  Leaning over a chicken-wire fence, he looked up at me and let me lift him up and cradle him in my chest.  I could not believe he was in such good shape.  Limping, shaken, and clearly in a lot of pain, he actually walked back to the house with Hope and I.  Just around the corner from the house, I called home and said, “I found our puppy!  Hope found our puppy!  We are coming home.”  As I turned the corner on our street three crazy happy eleven and twelve year olds were running full speed straight toward me yelling, “Dieter! You’re alive!  I love you!”  It was something to see.

Whew.  I am exhausted just writing and reading this account.  It was quite a week.  The effects linger.  The realities and implications of loss and life’s difficulties remain.  That will, of course, never change.  But here is what I learned amidst a week of chaos and loss and pain.

First, without hope, all seems dark.  Hope is that gift which searches out lost and fading hearts.  As the pressures of life mount, as business fails, as dreams seem broken, as loss appears irrevocable, it is hope that keeps a soul safe.  Hope leads the journey onward when you just want to lay down and die.  Hope will not allow a loving heart to quit, no matter what.  Hope demands light where life pushes you toward darkness and despair.

I also learned that even when all around you life is crumbling, the cry of the heart is actually a knowing yearning for things to be set right.  Pain tends to remind us of how desperately we all crave goodness and love.  Relationships become paramount when stuff is in jeopardy.  We were designed for love, nurturing, and relationship first and foremost.  When we see loss all around it becomes clear that goodness, mercy, kindness, and human touch are what matters most.  Hope pushes us toward clarity and perspective.  Hope leads us to what lasts.

Perhaps the greatest lessons I learned, again, during this hellish experience of a week, is that hope searches for me when I am too tired to search for hope.  We all go through things in life that take the wind out of us.  We all get to a point when its easier to say, “I am done trying.”  It is there that hope, the hope of a loving and searching God, finds us.  That God would search us out, stay on our trail, and make His way toward us when we are broken, beaten, sore, scared, and alone…there is no truth so encouraging.  Even when we have ventured onto roads and byways we should not have gotten near, and when the consequences have left us in a deadly predicament, Hope looks for us.  Hope just wants to see us brought back home.  Hope cares for us, nurtures us, and ultimately heals us.  Hope, God’s hope for us, is the only thing that offers us a compelling way forward when the journey has gone bleak.  There is always one more chance with a God of hope.  He always has one more search in store.  He will not allow us to suffer and die alone.  He seeks us out, longs to heal us, and longs to be our guide.

Without Him, all hope is gone.  With Him, hope is never lost.

Bruce Smith

blog.optimuschoice.com

soulstormsite.com

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2. May 2011 by BruceSmith.

Bruce Smith

Hey folks!  We have a chance to send books to the tornado struck areas in the south this Friday.  A relief team is headed out from the New Orleans area and want to take books with them to give away.  Please, go to the link below, buy, and gift books to those hit by this tragedy.  Many thanks!  Let’s make a difference.

Tornado Outbreak Relief: please go to the following link to help us get books, Soul Storm: finding God amidst disaster, to those in areas affected by the tornadoes. You can order multiple books at a discount to be shipped to those in need of encouragement or donate online. We will be working with several relief groups to get this help in place in the weeks ahead. http://soulstormsite.com/html/order.html

Order the Book-Soul Storm: Finding God Amidst Disaster

soulstormsite.com

Soul Storm- Finding God Amidst Disaster by Bruce Smith

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