Hands-on Knowledge

“If you love me, you will obey my commands. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:31b-32

When I was in college, I had a chemistry class. The chapter happened to be on chemical reactions and there was the formula for touch explosive there, along with information about the chemical reaction that caused the explosion. I called my brother, who was an avid fan of explosives and said,

“Dude, I know how to make touch explosive”.

His response? “It’s easier in deer hunting season.”

“Huh?” I thought… “What does he mean by that?”

He went on, “Yeah, the hardest to get chemical is then at Walmart, because people use it to cover their scent when hunting. Oh, and don’t make too much of it at one time, otherwise it can set itself off on the toaster oven and scare your roommate half to death.”

Who really knew touch explosive? Sure, I had read about it in a textbook and 100% of what I learned was factual, but I didn’t really understand it. I didn’t have the experience my brother had. I think that’s like a lot of believers today. There’s an understanding of God and a deep understanding of scripture, but nothing replaces that experiential practice of living out the word of God.

We want to know the truth before we act. We want God to convince us that what He’s told us to do is right, but Jesus said it doesn’t work like that… It’s only after you obey that you’ll understand. When you read a scripture, are you looking for more head knowledge? Are you looking for scriptures that say what you already believe? Or are you looking for answers for how to live? 

When you read about Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac, are you glad He hasn’t asked you to do that, or do you search yourself for the things he is asking you to give up? The real power of the Gospel isn’t found in the words, but in the application and the obedience. We can say we know Christ like I thought when I read that formula in a textbook, or we can really get to know him, daily, with all of the reality and pain that entails.

My health has been deteriorating over the past couple weeks and I realized that my workload was the #1 thing I could do to fix it. There was really no way around the fact that I was doing too much stuff. The past two weeks, I have spent quite a bit of time telling people no. I have called to cancel a couple key contracts, including the one that was keeping our family financially afloat. It was good money but the stress and always-on hours inevitably occurred during my quiet time or on vacation. Carla has complained that many vacations had been ruined by it, and I struggled to delegate it. A phone call could be in multiple languages from multiple countries about anything from networking to system analysis to a crashed server, and unlike our website business, it was 100% on my shoulders. I knew it was bad when she said she would support me cutting the contract even if it meant moving into a smaller house or getting by without a personal car, but thank God for that kind of support.

I am again in a place where I need faith, again in a place where I am waiting for the Lord to break through. But instead of dreading that place, I think we should all greatly desire it. After all, when things are going well, I end up spending less time with God, and my prayers aren’t as fervent!

 

More Features

I was sitting down for quiet time today… when my son, Kyran, came in and showed me the paper airplane he just made. It looked really strange, and the middle part opened up to be kind of a sideways cup. I asked him to explain what was going on there. He said “it didn’t really work as an airplane, so I turned it into a popcorn holder too!”

I thought it was funny, but a real life lesson for me. How often, when something isn’t going right, do I add things to it to try to fix it, even understanding that’s not the solution?!? How often do I get distracted from the real task of making a working airplane and end up doing something on the side that feels productive but takes even more focus away from where it should be? For me, it is clear that making the airplane a popcorn holder will always make the airplane worse than it would be if it had a single purpose, but that wasn’t clear at all to Kyran. 

This has really caused me to think, I do the same thing except with people and projects. Is it needing to appear productive for other people? Is it the ease of doing a small side-project I know I can win instead of tackling the greater projects I’m not sure about?

When I think of this I am reminded of Warren Buffet’s advice: write down your top 25 things you want to accomplish in life. Now, circle the top 5. The top 5 are your goals. Your other 20 are your avoid at all costs list. Most people never accomplish anything in life because there are too many competing goals and goals absolutely have diminishing returns.

What are my top 5? Focusing on being the leader of Equip Mozambique. Yes, I can be filling out grants or applications or financial records or coding. But I need to be leading. I need to take a stand and, instead of saying “no one else is doing this so I guess I have to”, say “no one else is doing this so it won’t be done until I find someone who can do it”. I always try to be helpful but that means in a given day I am fixing printers, working with email and doing a bunch of things that other people really should be working on.

I also need to get my God time sorted out. I used to do it in the morning when I woke up, but now I have a giant list of issues to deal with as soon as I wake up, and I only have 2 hours where Mozambique and the US business times overlap. NO checking my email or WhatsApp before I spend time with God.

An intensive/rest time with God can give God the opportunity to work with you to root out what’s causing this to be such a stronghold in your life. The challenge here is to press through and actually start doing it.

If it doesn’t fit into my top 5, forget it. It’s like adding a popcorn holder to an airplane.

 

 

Easter Thoughts

Then the disciples who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed - for until then they still hadn’t understood the scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.
John 20:8-9

The resurrection of Jesus was an event that transformed the world. But it was really the culmination of a plan of several thousand years to redeem God’s people. However his disciples only understood on THAT DAY. Imagine - God dropping hints throughout the entire Old Testament, and then being super plain with Jesus when he was talking to the disciples, but they didn’t understand until it actually happened.

I feel like this has many parallels to leadership. God gives you a vision and you work on it for years. Some people are blindly following you or they follow you because they are being paid, but they don’t understand the vision. Even at your Gethsemanies and your most difficult moments, they don’t understand and are there sleeping. It’s only after the fact that they understand the vision.

But there is hope. The disciples didn’t stay like that. The next moves of God, they were right there along with Him. Acts describes the disciples as being in step with the Spirit, doing God’s will in God’s timing, and understanding the vision. Revelations goes even further and describes a people who see beyond their own time and to God’s plans for the future.

If we are always being surprised by God, it’s a good indication we are not spending enough time with Him, or that we are missing something He is trying to tell us.