Where do you go to figure out who you are?  In a world full of options, far too many to list, and far too diverse, this becomes a question of paramount importance for every living adventurer.  If you have paid attention (and if you’ve seen the movie), its the question resounding in the heart of Alice in Tim Burton’s new take on the classic Alice in Wonderland.  The recent movie, a new look at a classic story, is grappling with a question for the ages.  Have you found your “muchness”?

Reality TV, the FaceBook phenomenon, and other social networking platforms, for observant participants, can be quite a study in our modern day search for our “muchness”.  If you are connected to a decent amount of “friends”on FaceBook, or if you have access to those who have not blocked their life from outsiders, its worth doing a little research project of your own to find out where and how people in our culture are searching for their own muchness.  Parents, if you want to know where your own kids are on this search, brace yourself, do your homework, and take a look at their social networking lives.  You may be in for a wake-up call.  Its an education for anyone truly looking for social, societal, and spiritual insight.  

Now, you say, “But we are not to judge a book by its cover, and we are not to look on outward appearance!”  And to some extent this is true.  But the reality is, just as on network TV, the world of music entertainment, the movie screen, and any other cultural outlet open to observation, the themes that are clearly evident and on display for the world to see tell much about our lives, and the lives of others around us.  Entertainment industry analysts will tell you that ratings grow as resonance heightens within a demographic audience.  That is to say, people watch what they like, aspire to, identify with, and in some real sense, embrace.  

Before you jump to conclusions here and think I am suggesting that we can or should evaluate people’s lives based on outward appearance only, I am not.  Nor am I espousing some moral police program for evaluating the lives of others.  That being said, remember the oft quoted truism, “Your life may be the only Gospel some people ever read.”  What are the adventures we are living telling others about who we are, what our compass is, and who our God is?  Take a look at your own adventure pics, entertainment expenses, social scene, calendar, friendship networks, and bank statement if you really want to know what your life is about and what it may be telling others about your own muchness. 

We all crave a life of adventure, and we all want to know we matter.  Few would argue with this.  Too seldom, however, do we actually pursue the kind of adventure story that betrays our desire to live out the quest according to God’s plan for “muchness”.  Parents, what kind of adventure are your kids seeing lived out in your life?  Is it one of passionate pursuit of Christ-likeness?  Do they see a humble, loving, nurturing, tender, vibrant, consistent, joyous, holy, honest, and courageous pursuit of God in your daily life, your weekend excursions, your relationships, your work, your goals, and your encouragement to them?  Are you able to coach them toward what Godliness looks like?  Teens, what are your muchness pictures and adventures telling the world about you?  Is every adventure, every adventure pic, every adventure story about the last party, fling, thrill?  Can your friends, and outsiders, see a difference in you?  Could anyone looking in on your outer life get a sense of who you are inside?  What does your inner muchness look like?  

We all need to be reminded that our outward reality points to an inner truth.  This is a biblical principle.  “From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”.  What are you talking about?  What’s your muchness conversation about?  Anything remotely resembling biblical muchness?  “If anything is pure, holy, good, right…think (and talk) about these things”.  Are you a rumor mill, or is the beauty of Christ-centered talk what people hear when you speak?

Along the way, like Alice, we will all encounter many interesting twists and turns in our lives.  There will be crossroads where we must decide how to find and pursue our muchness, again and again.  In reality, every day, our lives are filled with these opportunities.  Its the millions of little moments and choices which define our ultimate muchness, actually.  Will I go on that date, will I go there, will I say that, will I give in to that thought, will I watch that, will I strike back, will I pursue the scriptures today, will I worship when times are tough, will I be true to His call when things are good and I’m not in a bind, will I …?

What Alice in Wonderland makes us aware of is the reality and draw of adventure in our lives.  We crave it.  We must all have it actually.  Its not if we will live an adventure, its about the quality and nature of our adventure.  Our muchness is all about our heart, our soul.  Are you at a crossroads?  Have you been defying the muchness to which God has called you?  Are you ready to consider again, perhaps for the first time, a full embrace of the muchness of God?  Are you ready to do relationships, work, missions, fun, money, and all of life with a passion for the muchness of Christ?

We all need to be reminded at times that we need to get our muchness back.  We all need to be hit with the reality at various moments in our lives, that we have not taken the right route to the land of muchness.  When we find that our own inner map-quest has led us astray and sent us throttling along a dangerous road to nothingness, we have a choice.  As the story illustrates, “Which way shall I go from here?”  “Well, that all depends upon where you are going?”  If you are not sure where you are going and where you are called by God to go, then most any road will get you to that land of nowhere.  Its not a place you want to be.  When God calls it changes everything, literally and profoundly.  His muchness touches thoughts, words, deeds, motivations, human interaction, life pursuits, mate choices, child-rearing, sexuality, emotions, …

Life lived to the full is found in pursuing our God given quest for muchness.  As we throw ourselves into that adventure an entirely new world full of color, characters, drama, passion, purpose, meaning, and hope unfolds.  The life God has for us, lived out, will call all the onlookers to marvel at the work of Christ in us, and will compel others to find their own muchness in Him.  There is no other adventure big enough to satisfy our souls.  Anything aside from the biblical model for muchness is a distraction, a detour from the best God has for us.  Any many, if not most, certainly most, of the characters you encounter along the way will steer you away from a truly Christ-centered quest.  “Wide is the road, and many who are on it, that leads to destruction”.  If you’ve taken those detours in the past you know that only pain, confusion, pettiness, and misery awaits.  If you’ve ever taken God up on his muchness, you know what the scriptures say is true, nothing in all of creation compares.    Indeed, we close with the scriptural version of the account of muchness,  “No eyes has seen, no ear has heard, nor mind conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  Amen and amen.

Looking for adventure?  Find you muchness yet?  Need your muchness back?  Its all in Him.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

Spiritual Autopsies, the series continued.

The coroner entered the room.  This cadaver, dressed in white, somehow seemed strangely beautiful, almost alive, yet, dead, and yet again, maybe not.  He had never encountered such deadly beauty before.  What was it about this one that was eating at him so?  He looked, he thought, he looked again, he could not take his eyes away.  There was something missing from this story, but he was not sure just what exactly.  She lay there.  Clearly dead, or at least dying, maybe dying to be alive?  It seemed as though she were telling a story and crying out to live at the same time.  Beautiful.  Deadly.  Dead.  Beautiful.  But how?  What would he put on the report?

As he reached for his investigative tools he was struck with a thought.  Its the eyes!  No, its the face.  No its the expression.  Hoping to pull his eyes away, he was suddenly taken in, and the story came to him, almost as if she were telling it herself.

In her eyes, which had not fully closed, the coroner saw glorious pools, deep, brooding, intoxicating, sorrowful, yet bright.  They told part of the story.  In those eyes, like he had rarely seen before, and had at once seen many times over, he found a tragic tale.  The eyes were telling him of how she came to die.  The death she spoke of, however, was clearly more than her recent demise.  This was a death which began a long long time ago.  

As he looked deeper in her eyes with his penlight he began to see it vividly.  This glorious specimen had been hurt long ago, as a child even.  The death began long ago.  The traces of her tears were still evident well behind the veil of death covering over those lovely pools.  The eyes were telling this coroner of the rejection, beatings, confusion, pain, anger, resentment, self-protection, and longing.  It was all clearly there.

After investigating the eyes, it was the mouth which caught him next.  The mouth, pursed open as if beginning to scream, yet reflecting an attempted discipline to hold something back.  He noticed the lips still had color.  They were ravishing, and nearly made him touch them.  He licked his own lips as he thought how they must have tasted when fully alive.  He was taken aback when he noticed they had been altered.  Tragic he thought, “they are so perfect”.  He reached out to touch them again, and it struck him, part of this beauty’s death was her insecurity and longing to be seen.  He began to cry, but caught himself, remembering he was a professional.

The eyes had told him part of the story, the lips had revealed another part of the drama, but it was the position of her head which struck him like a boulder rolling down the side of a mountain slope careening into a car unexpectedly.  Her eyes, fixed toward him, were positioned so softly and timidly, while the head was slightly turned away as if trying to escape the scene.  She was hiding, and yet hoping, all together in one movement.  What was she hiding from he thought?  What was she hoping for?  So much was untold here.  Then it happened.  In a moment, as he pulled the sheet back and revealed her hands, the picture unfolded in a wave of truth and overwhelming revelation.  The hands told the rest of the story.  Her left hand and the right.  They each portrayed a different side of her, and they both told the truth.  Her right hand was clinched so tightly the nails were burrowing into her flesh.  The right was still fighting, still holding on to something, many things.  She was going to the grave with this fight, this much was clear.  But the left hand. Oh, what a different story this hand was telling.  Supple, soft, gentle, and at the beginning of a movement upward.  It looked as if this hand was starting its submissive offering to the heavens.  The left was trying to undo the fight on the other side.  The left was attempting to allow the pains swimming within those beautiful brown pools to escape once and for all.  The left hand clearly wanted to let the pains go.  Had there been more time, perhaps, the left hand may have proved strong enough to actually save her, he thought.  

As the coroner took all of this in, his soft cry became a violent sobbing battle.  Her left hand could have been her way to redemption, he thought.  If only… he sobbed.  He was undone.  Never had he been so drawn, so captivated by his vocation.  Without thinking, he took her left hand, and he began to pray,

Oh, God!  Did this one have to die?!  She was, is, so beautiful.  Why?  Why? Why?  This one, so beautifully dead, yet so nearly alive, a hand away, she was so close.  I know she appears gone, I know its too late.  But, I am asking you, YOU, to make a way back for her.  Was the story of Lazarus real?!  Was it?  What about the woman at the well?  Did she really find life, and healing from her life of abuse, promiscuity, and pain? Did she?!  Well, if so, if those things really happened, and if you still change things, then change THIS!  

This is not fair!  She is a remarkable creature.  She died in a fight for her life.  I see it in her eyes, God.  She was lost in a prior life, and yet, moving toward a new one!  I ask you now, in the name of your Son, who raised Lazarus himself, raise this one.  Raise her now.  I am tired of seeing death win.  I am sick of it!  YOU take her left hand now, and lift her up.  DO IT!!  I SAID DO IT!  Please.

Oh, God, my Father.  I have seen you move in the lives of so many.  This one did not have to go.  I still see signs of life there.  Don’t allow this gift of remarkable beauty to be stolen.  The enemy has stolen too many already.  Raise her up, heal, restore, right here, right now, on this table, while I am standing here.  And when she gets up, make the fight be gone.  Make her right hand like her left.  Raise them both in sweet softness and in the strength of great joy toward you.  Then move them toward your purposes.  I don’t know why, God, but I am begging you to do this.  

I am believing that you will remove the fight in her which brought this beautiful life down.  I am believing that you will bring ever increasing light in those marvelous eyes, and that the brooding waters would yield once and for all to tenderness and mercy.  I am believing that glance would lose its shame and look life and love square in the eye with the strength of grace and relational peace.  And I am believing that those lips, those luminous lips, will soften ever more, will awaken, and will offer the world life and love that is sweeter than honey from the comb.  

At that moment, without even realizing it, the coroner leaned over her and threaded the fingers of his right hand through the fingers on her left, bent down softly, hovering over her and breathing deeply, and using his left hand forced open the fingers on her right.  He paused to look at the cuts in the palm of her right hand left there by her nails.  Having opened each finger and gently caressing each wound, he placed his left hand under her head, stroking her hair gently, and then raising her torso upward, he kissed her.  He kissed her.  

Losing consciousness, having never been caught up like this before, the coroner kissed her, and as he did he simply prayed again, “Bring life. New, beautiful, clean, restored, vibrant, joyous, tender, and true.  Just bring her life, the life she was beginning to reach for.”  He repeated this simple prayer for what seemed like hours, the tears never slowing.  And when he “awoke” from this place of longing, he awoke to find himself in the arms of a radiant woman, weeping along with him; her new dress, white and flowing, soiled with tears of joy.

Its just a story right?  But what if God is in the business of bringing us to life abundantly as the scriptures tell us.  Do we believe its real?  Does He still heal?  Does He involve Himself in our drama?  Does He use us?  Does He hear our prayers?  Does He sometimes grant us answers to those things we long for?  These are important questions for each of us to answer.

There are those around us everyday who need people to stand in the gap and bang on the doors of heaven for their sake.  Some of us need people as impassioned as the coroner in the story.  Some of us need to be the coroner in the story.  And some of us need to realize we are the ones in need of newness.  Maybe its not spiritual newness in terms of needing salvation.  But perhaps its newness of understanding into our past, how it affects our present.  Or perhaps we need newness in our desires, our relating patterns, our personalities, our social life, our thought life, our motivations.  Sometimes, the death which the enemy of our souls sends our way is allowed in and allowed to take up space all too easily.  Left alone, ignored, or not taken seriously, the death trap of the enemy can over take us.  

Wherever it may be in us or in those around us, may we allow ourselves to see the full picture, and passionately pursue life and healing in every case.  And may we, like the coroner in the story above, “wake up” to the reality of overwhelming joy.

Grace and Peace,

Bruce Smith 

optimuslife.org

Death by After Shock, Living in the land of Tremors

As anyone who has been watching the news lately is aware, our world is shaking, literally shaking, as our planet’s tectonic plates converge with violence.  The aftermath of the earthquakes in Haiti and now Chile is difficult to watch.  The tragedy which has unfolded leaves one squeamish in a tangible sense.  Bodies lying, decaying on rubble strewn streets, tales of the stench in the air, children dismembered.  The site is gruesome.  Do doubt, far more gruesome for those witnessing it and living in it firsthand.

It is difficult not to be moved by compassion unless one’s heart is totally calloused and hardened, when viewing such sites in our world.  Seeing this kind of life-shaking thing unfold, something inside most of us screams, “Those poor people!”, “How can I help?!”, “I want to help!”, “Let’s rescue them!”

This being so, and because this news is fresh in our minds, I think its an apt metaphor for our series on Spiritual Autopsies.  Why?  Look around you.  Have you not seen the very same thing, in a spiritual, emotional, relational, and psychological sense in the people you have known?

All around us everyday people are living beneath the rubble of victimization, violence, abuse, demoralization, and inner quaking.  In a spiritual sense, many have had no choice but to endure the victimization they have experienced.  They need someone to come along side of them and bring the hopeful resurrection power of the gospel to their lives.  Many others, perhaps still impacted by the pain of their past, have chosen to live amongst the tumbling ruins of life.  These are those people who have seen the difficulties of life, and have chosen to live amidst the death and decay, rather than embrace the rescue which has been extended to them.

Perhaps you have seen these quake victims around you.  Perhaps you are one of them yourself.  Broken by the tumbling world around them, these spiritually dead ones have made a conscious decision to remain in the epicenter of the pain despite being offered help and healing.  Its a tough thing to witness.  It breaks your heart through and through.

The girl who was abandoned or abused by a parent or loved one, the spouse broken in two by the shaking of infidelity, the man or woman living in the aftermath of a broken lifelong dream.  The profiles are endless, but the story of these living dead is the same.  The way out from under the rubble is to acknowledge that we live in a shaking world, and that bad things do happen, but then to make a decided run from the area of disaster toward a new way of living.  

To live, or rather to die, amidst the chaos and carnage of inner quaking is to continue in the same patterns which brought the very disaster in the first place.  For some its a continuation of relating patterns which can only bring division and strife.  For others its to embrace the catastrophic pursuit of fun at every turn and to ignore the unfolding of wounds which result from that approach.  Still others refuse to see the impending quake which is sure to come if they start on an all out pleasure trail early in life or early on in the aftermath of mistreatment or failure.  Whatever the day to day realities are, the result is the same.  Life in the land of ongoing tremors only breeds more brokenness.

Part of this death story is that the walking wounded refuse to see our groaning world for what it is.  They refuse to admit that the pathways of this world’s fun house are littered with debris.  For them, the falling rubble of life lived in nightclubs, immoral relationships, anger, bitterness, self-absorbing focus, and the like, is ignored despite their dysfunction, pain, and ongoing loss.  All the while, God sends His rescue team to comb through the chaos and offer help.  Too often the wounded only hide from and disregard the rescue effort.  This is born out in research conducted studying those that are being rescued from the sex slave industry.  Too accustomed to the gross abuse and misery, they cannot imagine a different life beyond the twisted “care” of a pimp.  Satan seeks to pimp us all out to one form of imprisonment or another.  We have to see it.

The scriptures tell us in Romans 8:22 that we live in a world that is groaning, longing for the day when things are set right.  We are also told in Romans 8:37 and following, that those called by God, and in His hand, can face anything this world brings and yet come out full of life, health, joy, peace, and with the fruit of the Spirit (God’s character) defining us.  

Death by aftershock, then, remains a choice for each of us.  Are we, as secular psychologists suggest, doomed to a life of miserable and broken interaction, if we have endured a tough past?  Are we, based upon our past lifestyle, unable to change our stripes after decades of behavior patterns?  

The answer to these questions, from a biblical perspective, is a resounding “NO!”

We are not doomed to repeat the failures and mistakes and patterns of the past.  We do not have to carry our brokenness with us.  We can flee the scene and run toward the light of newness.  We can do pleasure differently.  We can have more enduring and enriching friendships.  We can experience the kind of love only God offers us.  We can lead others toward the same.

The greatest problem for many is not the desire to get out from under the rubble.  Rather, its the moment by moment desire and commitment required to make it out and far away.  For most, really, the desire is there, yet only one foot makes it over the rubble and into the new world.  Too many who crave a new way are still drawn back to the old broken way of life.  They stand straddling the perimeter between life and death, past and future.  If this is you, you must know that your only hope of escape is to stop looking back, stop dragging your feet, and to get moving like never before toward the life God has for you.  If you are spending your time with others who are straddling the perimeter with you, you are asking for more of the same.  Again, your way out is to grab onto those who are fleeing the scene, at all costs, and run with them to safety and shelter.

You may be damaged so severely that you need a spiritual medic.  Find one.  You may be so entrapped in patterns of the past that you need a mentor to help you find a disciplined pattern of newness.  Get one.  You may need to educate yourself on what life really could look like on the other side if you have never seen it in all its glory.  Find someone to help you get it done.  

Death by aftershock is a gruesome reality in our world.  Can you imagine being in Haiti or Chile yourself, and being rocked by the earthquake?  Can you see yourself trapped beneath the rubble for days, what seems like years?  Can you then see loving, courageous, and devoted people coming for your rescue?  What would you do?

Maybe this very thing is happening for you now.  Maybe this is exactly where your life is and you have not fully owned it.  Can you, again, envision, on CNN tonight, a scene where rescue workers are feverishly attempting to rescue victims beneath the rubble, victims dismembered, bleeding, gasping for breath?  And yet, as the rescuers get within arms reach, the victims look them in the face, smile, and turn away to die with each other.  Is there a more horrifying scene than to see others minimize the desperation they are really dealing with?  

Sadly, many in our world live this very scene day in and day out.  They actively embrace a life filled with tremors.  One aftershock after the other, never learning or moving on.  They actually, by daily choices, pursuits, relationships, patterns, choose to run headlong into the rubble to die a slow and painful death.  There is a rescue.  There is a hope.  New life is out there.  What, in God’s name, are you waiting for?  Are you thriving in the land of aftershocks?  Do you really think things are going to get better where you are, how you are?  Wake up from your death.  Run from the trap.  Find healing from the pain.  The groaning which overwhelms you is your soul crying out for newness.  He is extending you a rescue plan.  

Will you take it?

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

“He who saves one life saves the world entire”. Jewish Proverb

One of the things I aim to do as we continue this series on spiritual death autopsies is to provide the positive and hopeful side of the story.  While spiritual death is a formidable reality in our world, we know that God has a plan to bring about life where death once reigned.  The bible does in fact say that outside of Christ we are in fact spiritually dead.  It also says that in Christ the old is gone (death) and the new has come (life).  

The quality of the new life we lead is directly in proportion to the quality of our thinking and listening ability, our teachability.  That is to say, the level at which we are able to open our hearts to Godly leadership and committed discipleship, determines the rate, character, and ongoing reality of our soul health.  We must be able to allow others with our best interest in mind to speak into our lives, and we must eventually become followers who are self-feeding, leading ourselves, that is, into deeper intimacy with God.  This being so, we must be reminded of what the bible says about the importance of “saying” or “telling”.  The Old Testament culture was steeped in the call of the people of God to “bind the world upon their hearts” and the call to share the covenant realities with their families everyday as life unfolded.  The New Testament picks up where the Old Testament left off and throughout we see “households” coming to faith as the formative model for life and cultural change, not just individuals.  The faith of mature believers, and those in places of relational leadership is meant to be shared.  Always.  As a way of doing life with others.

The following conversation, a real life episode (the names of the guilty withheld to protect the guilty!), is an example of how spiritually mature believers are to lead others, and a good lesson for those struggling to find their way to spiritual health.  If we are neither willing to lead or to learn, we are doomed to seeing ongoing decay, frustration, brokenness, relational madness, and broken fellowship with God.  Not a fantastic set of results by and large. 

So here is the scene, and hopefully an example of how we might have meaningful and life transforming conversations even if its tough.  There’s a lot on the line.  Everything in fact.  While the scene below is teen focused, with minimal variation, it could be changed up and be clearly applied to people of all ages an backgrounds.  It is not so much the particulars of the background, but rather, the focus of the conversation and the emphasis on dealing with reality as God defines it.  Its about lives being on track and in deep intimacy with God and others.  Here we go:

A teenager who has grown up in a vibrant Christian home from the beginning, and who has attended youth functions, small groups, Christian schools, …you  name it, is clearly struggling in the latter teen years to stay on track.  A concerned adult or friend, looking in with care and longing for the good of the teenager, and seeing many potentially destructive patterns taking root, decides its time to step in and sound the alarm bells.  A number of options may unfold at this point.  

What should a Godly conversation look like where a teen is missing the mark, pursuing relationships, social settings, and various activities that are not in keeping with the biblical plan?  What’s a concerned leader, friend, parent, teacher, family member to say?  Anything?  Nothing?

Here are a few approaches which could be taken:

1. The friend or parent or family member tiptoes around the situation, not wanting to upset or inflame the teenager off track…just keep the peace.
2. The concerned party mentions occasionally that the activities of the teen are not healthy, but not terrible, and suggests ongoing moderation and general responsibility to the teen.
3. The concerned party goes ballistic anytime improper behavior surfaces and threatens drastic intervention on every turn.
4. The concerned party draws clear boundaries, couches it all in light of biblical teaching, highlights the personal responsibility of the wayward teen, makes the teen aware of immediate, short-term and long-term consequences of the behaviors, makes the teen aware of the love and concern which is in their heart, and refuses day in and day out to look the other way or to ignore the reality of the situation no matter how angry or defiant or unwilling to listen the teen may be.  Its important.  And its a God thing.  This is the tone.

If the best approach looks obvious, its not as easy to play it out as one might imagine.  Personalities get involved, daily grind has its affects, walls go up, other parties complicate things, and life gets generally messy.  These realities can cause one to lose focus when dealing with an issue like this.  This being so, I would compel us to remember what is at stake.  If the realities listed above get the best of us who are in a position to lead others to spiritual health, we run the risk of losing those we most care about.  It can and does happen every day.  Kids fall through the cracks, and adults, because those close to them are too self-absorbed, bitter, angry, tired, confused, over-worked, spiritually shy, emotionally or relationally immature…and on and on.  And there are others who tend to evaluate situations and behaviors from a worldly grading curve perspective rather than a biblical perspective and so they minimize things for years and then its too late.

If you know anything about coaching or leadership you will remember just how important modeling is.  The most successful coaches and leaders are not merely “tellers”, but rather modelers of behavior.  Coaches, teachers, parents, friends, who wish to impact the lives of others (and we are all called to do this, like it or not) must be models of character, not merely orators of rules.  Children will not follow a parent’s admonition to stay out of night clubs, bars, and other soul-risky settings if parents are themselves socializing there.  They will not stay away from sexual promiscuity if mom or dad jump into bed with anyone they date.  They will not abstain from anger and bitterness if it is seen in the home on a daily basis.  They will not pursue godly relationships if mom or dad don’t have a radical commitment to the biblical plan for dating and marriage.  They will not work hard if those leading them are lazy.  They will not embrace a vigorous use of the mind if mom or dad are always entertaining themselves with mindless television programs reduced to the most common denominator.  Our greatest task as leaders of others is not to tell them, but to walk in the very activity and character we encourage.  If this is not in place nothing we say really matters.  And when we fail in a given area we must own it, tell it, turn away from it, walk the other direction entirely, and demonstrate what life change, grace, repentance, and change actually looks like.  We are called to champion the grace of God to others as we tell them how He changed us from the inside out.  As we go, it should be talked about all along the way.  This is the biblical model for life, leadership, and loving relationships.

So, back to the practical scenario as it plays out.

The teen comes home one afternoon to announce he/she is headed off to a big bash to celebrate an event, mile marker, for a friend.  The marker, as culture dictates, is to be celebrated by a night out at various clubs, bars, and other social venues where a clear diversion from the biblical plan for life is unfolding in graphic fashion.  The announcement comes on the heels of ongoing and increasing patterns which are getting the teen further and further away from a sensitivity and passion for God’s call for life and lifestyle.  If it all plays out, down the road this will be just another life who tasted God’s plan, but who was swept away by the tsunami of culture into a life of secular living.  A tragedy from God’s perspective, regardless of what others say.

Here is perhaps what a loving, Godly, concerned person ought to make this wayward friend aware of, and how it might unfold:

So, yeah, we are going “out” and …( insert details here)

You are doing what now?

Yeah.  Its just fun.  No big deal.

No big deal?  Really?  Why not?

All teens do this every weekend.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t.  Well, almost no one.

So its no big deal you will be in a setting where drunkenness, profane music and speech, and amplified sexual energy is all around you?

Just cuz I’m there doesn’t mean I am a bad person!

It does not mean its good for you either.

I can take care of myself.

Really.  What does that mean?  

It means I don’t have to do what everyone else is doing.

But if everyone else is doing what they should not be doing there, basically, and the whole situation is about enjoying those things, you don’t think any of your thoughts, desires, actions will be similar?  That you will be tempted to join the “ fun “, or that over time the same could become normative behavior for you?  And you don’t see a problem with ignoring, enjoying, or reducing unbiblical living to “fun”?

Maybe. But don’t make it such a big deal.

Don’t make it a big deal?  And how does that help you?  As a person.  More importantly, in terms of you becoming the person God has called you to be.

I don’t want to be bored!

So, if you are not doing something contrary to God’s standards you have to be bored?  There is nothing more meaningful to do?  And non-boredom is officially defined by people who have abandoned biblical teaching?  

Its just fun!

JUST fun?  You sure there is not more to it than JUST fun?  Because, as you know, fun is not how God describes a life devoted to drinking every weekend, dancing like you are having sex with someone, listening to music that promotes everything contrary to goodness, shallow relationships, relationships with no biblical basis or depth, and all the other stuff that goes along with it.  And much goes with it, as you know.  

Yeah, but.

But?  What am I missing here?  

I’m almost 18!

Almost 18 means you are exempt from God’s plan for life?  I did not realize there was an age of exemption from Christian character.  At 18 the official life rule book states, “Fun, even fun without boundaries, is now the guiding force for life”?  Pleasure is the bar for living now?

I’m almost an adult!

Adults are not held accountable by God to live properly and find what life is truly about and to pursue it?  And did you realize that 18, just from a legal perspective, is not a legal age to drink?

Everybody drinks!

Everybody does not drink.  And certainly everyone does not go out to find a place where everyone else is drinking, for the purpose of drinking, and the other “purposes” people are in those settings for.  I have many exceptional, fun, intelligent, vibrant friends who want no part of that shallow and unproductive lifestyle.

O.k. …well, I’m going!

No, you are not.  Not while you are still a child under my care and living in my home.  You are accountable for your life, motives, desires, and actions, but I am accountable as a parent called by God to lead you, to do just that, lead you.  And protect you.  And while you are here, you will know that I love you and care for you, AND  I make the rules and will do all I can to encourage you to consider the life you are building.

This sucks!  I hate you!  I can’t wait to be out on my own!

Understood.  I love you.  I will always love you.  I want all the world for you.  But I’m not caving in to your tantrum.  And one day, I pray, you will look back on this time in your life and be thankful I was not a soft, unconcerned, coward of a parent.  If nothing else, I will be able to look at myself in the mirror and know I did what I felt God called me to do in terms of loving and leading you to His plan.  Its up to you to follow it.  I don’t do it perfectly myself, but its my goal to follow Him fully.  I have learned that’s the best way, the most fulfilling way, and even the most fun way, actually, to do life.  I hope you will, sooner rather than later, come to see the same.

**now the sound of a door slamming shut is typically heard, and for now, the conversation is over.  It will be revisited many times to come.  But in the end, this concerned loved one did the job God called them to, and that has to be enough in this instance.  That will have to be enough in every instance, surrounded by prayer, compassion, grace, personal lifestyle, consistency, and Godly interaction.  We have the biblical promise that the word of God does not return void.  It registers, even if it does not appear to outwardly.  Its a biblical fact.  But if we don’t say it, share it, tell it, the word cannot have effect.

If we have enough of these kinds of conversations with others, and sometimes with ourselves, we are much more likely to bring others and ourselves into greater spiritual maturity and health.  In many instances souls, and sometimes lives, will be saved in the process.  Life-changing events can be averted, teaching moments embraced, deep and abiding relationships nurtured, respect built, and God’s plan unfolded in the long run.

As has been said, “Your life may be the only gospel some people ever read”.  As our lives and our words encourage others to consider God, we entreat them to find the life they were meant by God to live.  When they, and we, fail, that’s when grace and forgiveness must be applied against the backdrop of the ongoing call to find His way again.  Every step in our lives and in the lives of those we care about has eternal significance and radical present day implications.  Our goal is never to run another’s life or to run over another, but rather, to point to the matchless life God offers each of us, and the wonder which opens up as we take Him up on His offer for life abundantly.

Again, as has been said, “The problem is not that the Gospel has been tried and found wanting, rather, the Gospel has been found hard and left untried”.  May we try, indeed, with all impassioned sincerity, to allow God to show Himself faithful as we walk in His steps… and as we encourage others to do the same.  Their entire world depends on it.  Our entire world in fact.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

In the weeks ahead we will be profiling what spiritual decline, and death, looks like.  Why?  I become more convinced every day, especially as my calling to be a father, life coach, and mentor continues, that the average “good person” you and I know is asleep, often by choice, to the reality of soul decline and spiritual death.  That is to say, most people so crave the idea that life is about fun and moment by moment self-fulfillment, that very few are willing anymore to consider the brevity of choices or the importance of deep, consistent, and meaningful thought.  Shockingly, this is largely true within the “church” as well.  Even within the walls of Christendom, professed “believers” live lives indiscernible from the average secular humanist.  Christianity in many cultures has been reduced to the religion of individual opinion, and biblical truth, let alone truth as it relates to character formation, has been sacrificed upon the alter of our own lusts for pleasure.

This series will investigate how a soul loses its way upon the slippery slope of spiritual neglect.  Lest you think now that this will be a series of messages hell bent on slinging bibles and condemnation upon a well meaning group of hearers, let me be clear: it is the love of God which draws us to repentance.  I know this full well.  It is this love, spoken of in the scriptures, which has captured my heart, did so at a young age, and has held it ever since.  I am equally, and thankfully aware, however, that this love is the very love which warns me of mortal soul danger and chastises me when needed in order that my soul might be saved many pains, and my heart might experience all that God has for me.  I know I am in good company in pursuing this series of spiritual autopsies, for the scriptures themselves are full of “warning passages”.  The Old Testament, and the New Testament, are replete with warnings, loving warnings, cries and promises of God, directed to His children, whom He loves, to avoid the tug of this world.  We are prone to ignore setting, motive, temptation, proper thinking, and we have a general lack of hunger for holiness and purity in daily life.  These are deadly realities.

And so, as we begin, I ask you to consider where you might find yourself in these stories while reading.  The bible instructs us to test our faith, and the prayer of a righteous man beseeches God to search the heart and purify the soul.  May we all do so as we look deep inside profiles of those who have suffered a death we all seek to avoid.

Autopsy No. 1 –  “ Its no big deal…I’m an adult…or almost anyway…its just a little fun”.

Description of cadaver: middled-aged person, recently divorced, burned out, good career, unfulfilled life, mid-life crisis, multiple lovers, addicted to drink, experiments with drugs, night life player, kids are a mess, angry, bitter, porn habit, respected in community, disrespected by family, disrespects himself/herself, believes a lot of things but nothing really, no purpose, no life-giving relationships, self-absorbed, bored, ready for life to end.

Immediate Cause of death?  Soul bankruptcy.  

Extenuating Circumstances?  No leadership, no thought, no concern, no measuring stick, “no problem here” approach to life and thought

Here’s how it happened.  

As a teenager the deceased would come home at night, after a night out, having done and experienced whatever the moment brought, without any thought, roadmap, or compass other than comparison to others more “bad”.  A few drinks as a teenager seemed harmless and fun.  After all, mom and/or dad or other adults had no problem with them drinking if being “responsible”.  A few more months into being so grown up a little sexual experimentation seemed fun and natural.  Responsible use of a condom seemed smart enough, and mature enough for this loving teenager.  After all its just part of the process, right? No harm no foul.  A few more months in and the weekends ramped up a bit and the fun kicked up a notch in the night clubs and bars.  Part of growing up, after all, is about experiencing life and being young while one is young.  Clubs are just fun, nothing really wrong there, right?  A few more months into the latter teen years leads to a little experimenting with other substances while out at the parties and clubs and campus frat houses.  Again, its just a stage while young, and again, mom/dad don’t really have a problem with it as long as I can handle myself.  Mom/Dad actually talk fondly about their time doing the same thing, and even tag along sometimes in order to stay young and hip.  All the music celebrates it, the television shows rejoice in it, its the talk at school, on the ball field, on the cheer team, and in the home…what’s not to like?  Surely this is just normal life.  Everyone partakes.

The college years are more of the same only more mature fun now.  Feeling even more responsible and capable now, the activities of the past are becoming set patterns and ways of thinking.  This is life, becomes the motto.  Those earlier years in the church seem a world away, archaic, frozen in some time warp and not able to be accessed.  Now as the only relationships known for years have all been secular and worldly there is not even a resource for considering anything different.  Dating is just part of life like eating and sleeping.  It does not matter who you date or why you date, just that you date, and have fun doing it.  Sex becomes just another activity like driving, brushing one’s teeth, or dining out, or dancing.  Booze is part of the routine.  Who actually thinks about any of these things?  

College rolls right into real “adulthood” and as all real adults do, they get jobs and get married or live with someone, so… that’s what takes place.  A few live in relationships don’t pan out, and finally a marriage is tried.  Kids, cars, suburbs…all part of the mix of life as the fun continues, the parties, the dance clubs, the porn, the flirting, the business trips hidden from the spouses, … they are all there, but now more strategically placed and perhaps spaced out “more responsibly”.  Nothing has really changed in the mind and heart, just the schedule has changed for when and where the moments are pursued.  Sooner or later all the patterns of relating come home to roost, the fun leads to conflict, the lifetime of never asking “why?” produces bigger questions.  Life is beginning to unravel.  This makes no sense.  I been so good and so responsible for so long!  How did this happen to me!

The problem is, half of a life has been lived void of any real measure of truth save “responsible adult” behavior.  And now this responsible “adult” living has left one empty, confused, broken, divorced, and bankrupt of soul.  There were warning signs along the way, but there was too much invested in the cravings of the moment to pay attention.  Now, the teenager who proclaimed his/her adulthood early on, and who charged forward in full confidence of their own agenda, sometimes blessed by mom/dad, have found adulthood, real adulthood, utterly exhausting and confusing and the internal challenges insurmountable.  And now the would be fun is no longer providing the kind of charge it once brought.  Now the fun has left only a heft price tag.  The mind is suffering under the weight of moral confusion.  The heart is wrecked amidst the carnage of failure.  The soul is ripped open wide by the knife of reality.  There are no resources for this.  Why does fun not answer the question of existence any longer?  Why does my own idea of love not provide for fulfilling relationships?  Why does money not remedy my soul cravings?  Why does a mistress not meet all my needs?  Why did the last date not heal me?  Why does the psychologist not fix me once and for all?  WHO AM I?

You may think the case above an oversimplification of reality.  But I will tell you from 20 years of ministry experience, it is very accurate.  I see it played out in homes where secular humanism was the tone of the house, and I have seen it played out where church going parents neglected their role to lead, clearly and biblically lead, their children.  Wherever there is a void of biblical teaching and a compass based upon scriptural reality, lives are doomed for this kind of unfolding.  I have seen this very thing unfold where godly men and women and have loved and led their kids, and the kids slowly turned away and followed the masses of their own volition.  Make no mistake, where the gospel is abandoned at the altar of fun and human independence, lives are doomed to spiritual bankruptcy and soul death.  

Where are you?  Are you the one who has lived for nothing but the moment?  Are you the teenager who spurned godly counsel?  Are you the parent who has celebrated worldly fun with your kids and thereby reenforced the framework of spiritual death in your kids?  Have you allowed the practices of a godless world addicted to pleasure and self to take up residence in your very home?

Read the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians as he calls us to demolish the strongholds of sin, confusion, lust, sexual immorality, pleasure, anger, bitterness, lazy thought, greed, and the trivializing of truth.  Its more than fun, so much more.  We are called to a life of meaning, virtue, passion, and spiritual vitality.  The call to that kind of life has nothing to do with age, life stage, or anything else.  We are called to that road, plain and simple.  Young, old, rich, poor, white, black, broken, strong, abused, content, simple, educated, single, married, divorced, male, female… the call is for each one of us.  

Do you want to live again?  Hear the words of Jesus, the One who literally lived, died, was buried, and was physically and actually resurrected from the dead, “I have come to give you life, and life more abundantly.” John 10:10  He who said that was none other than God Himself, in the flesh, come to earth to point the way back to Him.  He is the only one who can bring new life where the pronouncement of death has been made.  And make no mistake, if you are not living for Him, you are dead indeed.  In love He points out the death to us, and offers us new life in Himself.

Next up:

Conversations that can stave off spiritual death.  

Parents, friends, mentors, teachers, and anyone who seeks to impact the lives of others, you will want to tune in for this one, pulled right out of real life experiences. 

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

blog.optimuschoice.com

There is a distance, a gaping void, between the person I yearn to be, and the person I really am.  It is this distance which resonates in my soul amidst every moment of life.  Each sound, speech, sorrow, song, and sigh, is filled with the distance.  The distance is, perhaps, what I really am.  The distance is, largely, my humanity.  The distance is why I cannot allow people to see the real me, the full me, the whole me, the broken me, the great me, the puny me, the intelligent me, the ignorant me, the vital me, me.  The distance is why I crave my full self to be revealed.

There is a distance within me that is growing.  The distance, a longing and a prayer at once, is calling me to be more the man He wishes me to be.  The distance I have yet to travel to be a truly human man is far, but shortened by the bridge of grace.  God, the all too distant One, draws near, and draws me nearer the goal, as He overcomes the distance through incarnation.  

There is a distance, an expanse light years in length, and yet a prayer away, which signifies that I am alive and open to a distant God very near.  The distance is my source of longing, and my altar of grace.  Within this unresolved yearning my heart finds healing, hope, hunger, and honesty.  It is the marred me which longs for the gap to be closed and thirsts for the renewed ego.  It is the restored me which cries out for the distance to be closed for others, others yet unaware, of the distance within and between them.

There is a distance.  This distance is my reminder that I am not the measure of all things.  There is something, someone, in my world, and yet beyond, bigger than me, bigger than all of this.  The distance forces me to consider eternity.  It pushes me to acknowledge the significance of the now.  The distance connects my present and all that is to come forever.  The distant thread weaves the tapestry of my life.

The distance reminds me I am not what I am called to be, and yet, I am not what I once was.  It is God’s distance, His longing, His healing, His thirst, His mark upon my heart which is ever there.  The journey continues.  I travel on.  From the distance I run.  Toward the distance I go.  I shall go the distance.

Bruce Smith 

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

blog.optimuschoice.com

Famed  British Fashion Designer Alexander McQueen, dead, an apparent suicide

The headline above, just released in the last couple of days, is yet another headline which speaks to the chasm which exists in the hearts of affluent, pleasure crazed, and otherwise worldly glamour lifestyle seeking celebs.  What is so deeply disturbing, however, is that so many of us look longingly toward these people who wind up in train wreck after train wreck.  Of course, it is not only those well known fashion designers, actors, and athletes who endure such crashes.  It happens every day on Main Street America as well.  Somehow, we continue to be duped into thinking that the “fabulous” life awaiting us consists of no restraint, all out fun, unrestricted pleasure, unfettered creativity, and the abandonment of moral certainty.  This thinking seeps into every home in our culture through various media outlets, and if not filtered and viewed through the lens of scripture, will destroy the fabric of any home.  We have an unprecedented challenge upon us in this media and experience age, and if we are to have any hope in building a future for our families and culture, we must have an intentional strategy in place.  

Statistics point to the importance of running after wisdom as early in life as possible.  Studies demonstrate that most people who come to faith do so by the age of eighteen.  The scriptures instruct us to “train up a child in the way he should go”.  The admonition is to teach wisdom early on in order that a child might embrace a life of faith and not depart from it.  While our passion to teach our kids as much as we can about living a life of devotion to God does not guarantee they will not go the way of the prodigal, as parents we are called by God to give our best effort to instill values that will last a lifetime.  Some of the critical values we should aim to teach our kids follow here.  

Before we look specifically at those core values we want to have our kids embrace, we must look at the foundation for all deep rooted Christian character—our understanding of calling.  Ultimately, our aim is to provide an environment in which our kids can grow into an understanding of the calling God has for them.  This is the foundation upon which the entire edifice of Christian character is built.  If we are to motivate our kids to avoid all the allure of sin around them, they must be convinced of the “ultimate why”. 

This, of course, begins with our own lifestyles.  Do they see the pursuit of a godly calling in us?  Do our lives, over the years, reflect a heart in love with God and His purposes?  Is our advice to them filled with a compassionate, intelligent, and coherent call to understand the “Why?” of life in relation to who God is calling them to be?  Or are we just calling them to some vague and gushy idea of “living a good life” and being “good people”.   We must be reminded that a good life is defined by God, and God alone.  Anything less is merely a human opinion or preference, which means nothing ultimately. Scripturally, none of us, have any true goodness apart from living in relationship with Him, and being remade by Him.    It is, therefore, not enough to lead our kids to the idea that goodness is culturally determined or up for grabs.  Neither should we allow the distortion to enter which suggests that goodness is measured by our standard of living compared to the activities and actions of others.  Its not about others.  Its about God’s standard and call to life, life to the full.  His way is the only way there.

Rick Warren, author of the all-time best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, has challenged millions of readers to base their lives upon a “why”, a purpose.  The earlier kids understand the purpose for which they were created, the earlier they commit themselves to character development.  Os Guinness, a brilliant author, in his book, Rising To The Call, writes the following:

How do we each find and fulfill the central purpose of our lives?  No theme I know strikes a deeper resonance with more people today than discovering life’s purpose.  It’s a question, of course, but it’s more—far, far more.  It’s a question that’s a passion, a longing, a hunger, a restless stirring in our souls, a driving motivation that fires the deepest parts of our lives and taps into the most powerful sources of our energy.

This passion, this deep hunger for our purpose, is fulfilled only by an understanding that we are created for something—and someone.  To know early on that we are the apple of God’s eye and that He has specific intentions for us, can and does utterly reorient our life.  I know this personally.  This knowledge of God calling us to Himself, and calling us to accomplish certain tasks, is what builds the corresponding drive for character and is what gives us strength for any battle which may lie ahead.  The lack of such compelling belief is what has lead to an American culture so replete with unfathomable pain amidst such wealth.  If you doubt this reality just read the recent Newsweek special on the rising Crystal Meth epidemic in our country.  Guinness points to the problem when he writes, “…the trouble is that, as modern people, we have too much to live with and too little to live for.”

And so, we must teach our youth to understand early just what it is, and who it is, that gives them a reason for living.  We must teach our kids that the chief end of their lives is to know God and to enjoy Him forever.

Once convinced of their calling, our kids will run after character.  When they see a passionate sense of calling lived out daily in our lives they will understand and move toward the core values we champion in our homes.  What are some of those values and why are they important?  I thought you would never ask!  Here are a few core values we ought to be trumpeting in our homes.

1. Courage—our kids must understand and embrace the pursuit of courage.  Like us, they will face many daunting challenges as they grow.  Big battles will come and the odds can often seem overwhelming.  The courage to look difficulty in the eye and press on is an indispensable trait.  Nothing good is accomplished without courage for the fight.  We must determine to lead our kids toward courage which emboldens them to press back against the force of peer pressure and cultural mood.  They need the courage to think maturely and biblically when all around them attempts to sell them on the call of the moment and feeling.
2. The Will to Fight—some things are worth fighting for.  Some battles are pivotal.  There are moments in life where we must summon up the resolve to fight for a Godly agenda.  It may be a fight for fidelity in marriage, a fight for honesty, a fight for friendship, a fight for truth, a fight for financial survival, and more.  These fights will come to all of our kids, and the earlier our kids learn to fight the better off they will be.  If they fight the integrity battles early on they will save themselves a world of heartache.  Our kids must see our fight for holiness, even when we fail, against the backdrop of God’s grace.  The fight for a pure and fully devoted life must be clearly seen in us and instilled in our kids.
3. Leadership—we must teach, and indeed call our kids, early on, to be the compass for those around them.  Our kids must learn to develop the focus to point the way for others.  We must encourage them to be the ones to set the example for others.  They ought to be the ones that other kids look to and say, “that’s what I want my life to look like”.  Free advice, leaders are readers—encourage, and yes, make, your kids read widely.  Teach your kids to filter what they see in magazines, secular education, and other “learning” outlets.  They must be prepared and able to engage the institutional bias in the university setting which is counter-biblical if not rabidly anti-biblical.  
4. Character—as our kids allow God to build character in them they bless those around them.  While they bless their parents when they exhibit Godly character, and this is great, they also bless their peers in that the example of purity, honesty, compassion, and integrity encourages others to pursue the same path.  Let the others get the accolades for “best dressed”, “best looking”, “prom queen”, and the like.  I want my kids to be the ones to whom others turn when life gets confusing.  Teach your kids to pursue the eternal crown of glory.  Call them to set the bar for others.  Character, we must explain to them, is the ability to consistently do the “good” thing even when it’s not “popular”.  The madness of the pleasure quest seeks to eat them up every day.  Encourage them to consider the importance of influence, friend networks, setting, and temptation.  The scriptures are clear, “Bad company corrupts good character.”  

While this is, of course, not an extensive list of traits we want our kids to embrace, it is a starting point.  If our kids, and we as adults for that matter, can master these core values, they, and we, will certainly be able to taste and see that the Lord is Good.  Living life abundantly, that’s the goal we are called to set for our youth.  We have got to point them to the Pearl of Great Price early on.  Teach wisdom early, live it now.  The dividends will be enormous.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

There are many grand themes throughout scripture.  One of the most grand, as it pertains to the purposes of God for His people and for His world, is that of the providence of God.  That God is intimately working in the affairs of His people is one of the most substantive realities we can look to in times of great tribulation.  Without the deep-rooted knowledge that God cares for us, we are too easily tossed about by the sea of life.  With this assurance of God’s perfect plan for us even the darkest of days can be endured with faith and hope.

Through the pages of scripture we are told of God’s favor for His people.  The promises of God are many.  The blessings of God are innumerable.  His goodness is abounding and His love forevermore.  We long to hear of such things and we love to be reminded of all God offers to those who are found in Him.  But we must ask ourselves how firm we stand when we are called to trust His heart toward us when His hand seems distant.  When we find ourselves in the desert of life do we listen to the temptations of Satan or do we, like the Christ we serve, with patience and endurance, fight the good fight rejecting the devils offer for a cheap way out?  Are we constant in our devotion amidst persecution, mistreatment, rejection, malice, and threats of all sorts?  When we are misunderstood, or worse, misrepresented, do we have quiet faithful resolve for the purposes of God?

These are all important questions and ones which really get at the heart of our true intentions.  It has often been suggested that one can only see the real person when hard times come.  Hard times, we are told, separate the “men from the boys”, the “wheat from the chaff”, and the good from the bad.  The bible tells us that life’s difficulties are what God uses to “refine” us just as precious metals are refined by the testing of fire.

Hebrews chapter 11 tells us of the “faithful” servants of God who trusted, fought, and endured for the purposes of God having never received the “promise” on this side of heaven.  The life of one of history’s greatest writers, John Milton (who wrote in the 17^th Century), demonstrates to us that “they also serve who only stand and wait”.  The life of Joseph reminds us that even the evil intent of those around us cannot thwart the purposes of God for a life devoted to Him.  Joseph’s brothers devised a plan to put him to death.  In God’s providence the plan was altered and they sold him into slavery.  By “chance” those who originally purchased him sold him into the hands and household of the master of Egypt.  Through God’s orchestration Joseph found favor in the household and was elevated to a place of high esteem.  Once there the master’s wife attempted to seduce him and upon his refusal to give in and thereby offend His God, she lied and had him defamed and thrown into prison.  But God was not done.  Through it all God brought him back to a place of prominence and one telling verse screams of the divine ability of God to turn the worst of life’s messes into God’s grace filled plan; the verse reads, “…and all the earth came to Joseph”.

Where has your life gone “right” and where has your life gone “wrong”?  Whether you have seen victory after victory or defeat upon defeat, hold steady in the arms of God and trust that He is up to something.  If you place yourself in His hands, and like Job wrestle through the tough questions long enough to see that no one knows better than God, then you will know the providence of God.  

Remember, throughout biblical history, it seems that those who walked with God in the most intimate of ways endured much hardship.  Do you want to know the providential hand of God?  His favor is assured and His blessings are many and we ought to praise Him for each one.  He longs to give good gifts to His sons and daughters.  Let us also be mindful, however, that sometimes the “best” of His plans are drawn up on the blueprint of suffering.  Jeremiah was the “weeping prophet”; Hosea was called to marry a prostitute; Isaiah was undone and lived among an unclean rebellious people; Paul was imprisoned and beaten and shipwrecked and left for dead numerous times; Daniel was thrown into a den of lions; John the baptizer wore a really irritating hair-shirt and ate some obnoxiously noisy bugs; and Jesus, who cried out to the Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” was the suffering servant. 

His favor is with us and His plans are for our good and the good of His world.  His providence is assured and He is to be rejoiced in.  Romans 8 is our promise, “…who shall separate us from the love of God?  Shall trouble, hardship, famine, nakedness, peril or sword?…no, no, no, no, no, a thousand times “NO!”…in (that little word in the original language is important as it literally means “through, as a result of”) all these things we are more (abundantly more the language suggests) than conquerors.”  And the big ending, “through Him who loved us”.  And lest we forget, nestled in that amazing passage is the reminder that Jesus Christ, “who died and more than that was raised to life” IS INTERCEDING FOR US.  That blows me away.  Jesus, is interceding for me before my God in the heavens.  Oh, that we would remember that more!  How ridiculous is the love of God!

Bruce Smith

Optimuslife.org

“Who are you?” Can you hear the question resounding from behind the persona of the man called The Wizard of Oz?  “Who are you…who are you?”  The question, asked throughout the ages, is of course, of paramount importance.  Others have suggested, “I think, therefore, I am.”  Others, “I yam what I yam.”  The question lingers for each of us.

Who are you?  The temptation for all of us, in reality, is to answer that question based upon what is happening in our lives at any particular moment.  Some, upon the heels of success, would answer the question by saying, “I’m a deal maker!”  Some, perhaps, would suggest, amidst the throws of failure, “I’m a loser, defeated, worthless.”  Others, depending upon the season of life they find themselves in, might correlate their sense of being to a relationship, bank account, altruistic endeavor, athletic accomplishment, hobby, or something else.  But who are we fundamentally?  Its worth considering on the deepest of levels.

The bible suggests that our “being” is determined, not by what we have done, faced, or experienced, but rather, by who we are in relationship to God the Father.  This is a critical truth on so many levels.  For, like Job, to name one, if we face a season of life where we are plagued with defeat after defeat, our only hope for solace, joy, and enthusiasm, will come from our understanding that God, despite our location in life, still loves us and is working His plan in our life regardless of what the world around us looks like.  Contrarily, like the rich young ruler who Jesus encountered, if we assume our place and “being”, our fundamental existence, is defined by what we have, then when the thought of losing all of that, or giving it away, comes rushing into our consciousness, nothing but panic, insecurity, and grief will confront us.  There must be something more.

Jesus said it plainly when He suggested that all who have seen Him have seen the Father, and all who have Him, have the Father.  He suggests that this is the definitive reality of our lives.  Life with God or life apart from Him; on the most basic of levels, this is all that will ever remain.  That is the bottom line.  All other realities of our lives play second fiddle.  This is why men who have known untold success have lived ruinous inner, moral, spiritual, and relational lives.  And it is why women like Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith, and so many others, have found no real inner peace despite the beauty of their form, the size of their celebrity status, or the worship of culture.  

I ask you plainly today, who are you? Has your life been characterized by success after success?  Do people look at you and applaud all you do?  Do people whisper how great you are?  Are you really?  Are you the person God has called you to be in your inner, personal, and spiritual world?  Do you understand your worth is not located in the opinions of others?  Or, alternately, are you living a life less than everything you hoped for?  Have you failed morally, financially, relationally, professionally or otherwise?  Is a dream you have always craved remaining merely a dream?  Does this reality define your moods, emotions, esteem levels, and relating patterns?  Have you allowed the scars of the past to dictate your present inner reality?

Here is the good news for each of us; a life lived apart from God can be redeemed as we turn toward Him, embrace Him, and pursue His loving plan for us.  Our success or failure in this life can become a critical part of the plan of God to use us to make an impact on our planet.  Our success, defined by God and led by His hand, can be a huge source of blessing and leadership for others.  Our defeats can become a cornerstone of the mercy, grace, and compassion of God in our life and in the lives of others as we exemplify His restorative power.

We are not defined by the shallow pronouncements of a broken and distracted world that has abandoned its spiritual moorings.  Our identities are established in our relationship with Christ.  If we never measure up to the dreams we set for ourselves or the dreams imparted to us by our families, our hearts and souls can yet thrive in Christ.  If all the accolades and money and fame possible come our way, we can weather the storm of such pleasure and excess which seeks to distort our souls, and we can be defined by something bigger than that also.  Life, true life, is found in the eternal realm.  Our eternal lives are secure in Him if we have surrendered ourselves to Him.  He is the shoreline we all crave when tossed upon the tumultuous seas of life.  He is our refuge amidst the exhausting fight of daily life.  He is the sobriety we all need amidst the excess of pleasure and comfort.  He is our all.  He must define us.  One way or another, we are, indeed, defined by how we relate to Him.

And so, here is your life thought for the day. 

Life Thought: I am defined by God’s view of me. The varying impressions I have of myself are not the definitive or last word on my life nor are the opinions of others. The reality of His mercy and grace and truth, alone, are final for me. 

May we live in the light of that foundational spiritual anchor.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com

Bill Dallas, in his book, Lessons from San Quentin, tells of the enormous success he acquired as a real estate mogul on the west coast.  This good looking, party hopping, social networking, sexually active, relationally distorted, and politically connected go-getter eventually saw all of his achievements, prowess, savvy, talent, and high octane living bring him down, very hard.  The thrill ride he once craved, and lived on a daily basis, eventually came off the tracks and landed him in prison.  Relationships shallow and severed, trusts broken, deals illegally shaped, and his soul neglected, Bill Dallas  found himself locked up, depressed, suicidal, and without hope.  And then, he found life…amongst the “lifers”.

Lifers, as they are known inside the prison walls, are those hardened criminals who have committed such horrible crimes that they have been handed the most severe of sentences.  Feared by Dallas as he entered the prison system, and looked down upon by him as worthless animals, these men became the very means of his transformation into a person of character, purpose, and hope.  How does such a thing happen?

As Bill Dallas tells it, it was the maturity, poise, depth, hope, and wisdom of these lifers who came to know God which captured him. Unlike the short-timers (the prisoners who were in and out regularly never learning from their mistakes), these lifers had come to see life with the kind of clarity which few ever attain.  As a result, they saw people, circumstances, and all of life in such a way, and lived in such a way, with grace and sincerity, that Bill Dallas could not help but aspire to it.  Once feeling superior, better looking, better dressed, better educated, …just better, Bill had come to see how small and shriveled he was as a person compared to these men.  And he cried out to God for a change.

If you read the book, and I encourage you to do so, you will find an amazing story of transformation, and a few principles on what it means to really live, as a “lifer”.  I would suggest to you, in fact, that each of us should live with the “lifer” mindset as our benchmark.  What is this “lifer” model for living all about?  Let’s look at a few principles, drawn form Dallas’ story with the time we have left.  

1. Life, true life, God intended life, is much bigger and much deeper than what we see around us most often.  The life reflected in the nightclubs, bar rooms, board rooms, corner offices, reality television, and that which is embraced by most people we know, is not the kind of life God offers or desires for us.  The wide road, as the bible suggests, is littered with empty lives, lives which are founded upon the “me” factor, lives which leave little room for depth, soul enrichment, and meaningful relationships.  Lifers live for something counter-cultural, something more.  The seek a richer existence.  The masses don’t motivate them.  In finding God, they find themselves and come fully alive for the first time.
2. Its what is inside that counts.  The exterior, though Desperate Housewives, Victoria Secret, The Bachelor, Hollywood, and the countless covers of so many magazines may suggest otherwise, is not the ticket to fulfillment or ego realization. No amount of physical transformation or adornment of ourselves will ever result in inner peace.  No sexual relationship with a man or woman, regardless of their exterior, will ever bring us lasting satisfaction.  The soul will always get bored with him or her no matter how alluring initially.  The inner workings of our soul need more than a well painted exterior.  And our thirst for meaningful relationships can never be quenched by a hot date or a trophy spouse.  We need more.  We yearn for more.
3. The mind must be maintained and enriched.  Our minds, what we do with them, largely dictates the quality of life we live.  Most lifers wind up in prison because they were prisoners of the mind long before they ever wound up behind bars.  If we do not learn to take control of what we think, what we watch, what we desire, and what we learn, we will be subject to the mindless living which so characterizes our world.  Have you listened to top 40 radio?  Actually listened?  Ever really listened to the music and conversations in a nightclub?  Ever really thought through what M TV is saying?  “Reality TV”?  Really??  There is a bigger reality, and a better way to engage our minds.  God calls us to a life of discerning observation, self control, and strategic use of our minds, wills, and emotions.  If we always just react to the moment or the urge without any depth of former thought or insight, we set ourselves up for relational, psychological, mental, physical, and spiritual destruction.  Use your mind.  Learn. Observe. Engage.  This is a big world worth learning about and experiencing beyond the shallowness we typically see.  The wonders of God are unfathomable.  We were not made to be passive couch potatoes, being led around by the yoke of common entertainment and coarse desire.  Were were created with a mind, and we are called to use them as God intended.  Our spiritual pursuit is the key to enjoying and growing our mind.  Without the spiritual part intact the mind is open to anything.  Dangerous.
4. The extent to which we offer ourselves to others determines our impact in the world.  Are we here just taking up space?  Are we so self aware, and self serving that we fail to see the amazing realities of the lives around us?  “Lifers”, as Bill Dallas came to see, were intentional, and thrilled about the opportunity to speak into the lives of others.  They took every chance possible to engage those short-termers who were so off track.  If they found a receptive heart, they gave of themselves in order to keep others from making the same mistakes they made in the past.  With grace, and tenderness, these wounded prisoners reached out to extend care and compassion to those who had lost their way.  They saw it as their privilege and their mandate.  They embraced it wholeheartedly.  And they impacted an entire system, an entire people. They never feared or shirked back sharing the lessons of their failure.  They always sought to champion the grace and redemptive love of God for mistake-laden souls. They, through the lives of Bill Dallas and others, have literally changed the world.  Bill Dallas now leads a ministry which reaches leaders and believers around the world.  That began with Bill Dallas encountering men who had come to grips with life and eternity.
5. Its all about Him.  Where ever we may find ourselves in this life, we must recognize its about Him.  We were made for relationship with God.  Life lived in obedience to Him, whether behind bars or in an office on the 50th floor of a major skyscraper, is what makes life worth living.  No title, position, bank account, or experience, will ever replace the God ordained hunger which resides in the heart of every human being.  We were made for intimacy with Him.  Obedience to His calling is where that intimacy is found.  No matter where you are in this life, you have access to that reality.  He is there.  And on the most fundamental of levels, its all about Him, and who He wants to be to us.  Is your life moving you toward Him?  Is your life in Him your compass?

God extends to each of us, every day, the opportunity to experience life to the full.  What are you doing with the life He gave you?  Are you living for the short-term?  Or do you have the view of a true “lifer”, one who sees the big picture in light of bigger realities?  Life lived outside of God’s call for obedience and maturity is a life imprisoned by the bars of unrealized potential.  Each of us experiences those moments when we know our hearts were built for something more, something beyond our natural ability.  We all long to escape the tedium of mediocrity and life as usual.  We search so many false options.  We travel down so many twisted and dead end routes.  We hurt so many along the way.  We lead so many who are watching us to the empty highway of the most traveled path.  If we could, in our mind’s eye, along with Bill Dallas, place ourselves in that cell with a lifer who has fallen and been redeemed by a God of grace and love, we too could experience what it really means to come alive, fully alive.  Can you see yourself there?  Can you examine your heart and your journey as you do so?  What now?

Turn a deaf ear to the ways of the world, and listen closely for the whisper of the Spirit of God.  In doing so, you just might find the kind of life you always dreamed of.  Not a life of ease and constant accomplishment and success, but rather, a life lived fully attune to every situation, circumstance, person, and purpose… a life lived as a true “lifer”.  

Live for the long haul,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

soulstormsite.com