It’s been a different 3 weeks. Kay and I have been in Mesquite, Texas helping with my dad’s recovery from knee replacement surgery. He was released from the hospital and has completed 2 weeks of a 3 week stay in the rehab facility.

I stay with him at nights. My mother stays with him during the days. Kay keeps the house going, the food flowing, and the encouragement growing.

You see, the combination of anesthesia and the confusing environment of hospital sights and sounds and a multitude of medical personnel coming through every little while causes my dad to experience extreme confusion and disorientation. He becomes unable to comprehend and respond quickly. He doesn’t know where he is or why he’s there.

Hey, it happens to me sometimes when I wake up in a hotel room in some country with different sounds and strange smells coming in the window. I’m disoriented. Where am I? Why am I here? What time is it? And my mind is 20 years younger and not affected by Alzheimer’s and aphasia.

It has also been a rich time of solitude. Time to think. Time to pray. Time to ponder. Time to appreciate my mom and my dad, their lifestyles which profoundly affected mine. Their love for my wife, my kids, my grandkids. Their willingness to see their firstborn, college-educated son invest his life in fulltime service of Christ. Their selfless giving to their church, their friends, the cause of Christ, even to strangers we met on summer vacations.

My dad is the essence of the law of sowing and reaping:

You shall reap.
You shall reap what you sow.
You shall reap more than you sow.

My dad is the essence of Luke 6:38:

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Giving. Giving generously. Giving with a big heart and a big bucket.

And he is reaping. He wins the hearts of physical therapists and medical professionals wherever he goes. He’s winsome. Uncomplaining. Positive. Quietly and graciously content. As a result, medical professionals go overboard in helping him. They want to check up on him, to provide assistance to him.

A spirit of service and gratitude and thankfulness, of caring for others, lived out for a lifetime. Now he is reaping. He is reaping multitudes of people checking on him, calling him, visiting him in the rehab. Church members. Family members. People who live down the street and across the fence next door. He’s reaping winsome attitudes from medical professionals.

And he’s reaping admiration from a son whose life is forever impacted by his model of faithfulness over a lifetime, love that has no limits, service that does not count the cost. When I grow up, I want to be like my daddy.

I read an interesting blog post today over at ChurchCrunch. Based on a federal court ruling, online worship is not a church.

Very interesting. I wonder if candidate websites are not politics, hence do not qualify for use of campaign funds to operate? If Amazon.com is not business, hence the discussion about collecting sales tax should cease to be an issue?

If activities are defined by traditional trappings, then where do we draw the line?

Update: Reading the full journal article here, which is written in a very readable style, is helpful and enlightening. A critical issue in the court’s opinion is that the worshipers were not associating together in some form. So if worshipers are interacting through messages, tweets, etc., then perhaps the legal definition is different. The article makes a very good note that legally-required board meetings of for-profits and non-profits are often conducted by virtual technologies.

I’m currently reading The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global Currents that will Propel the Future Church. It’s a good book for those engaged in missions. It’s particularly a good book for those of us who have been in missions for many years and can benefit from seeing with another’s eyes.

I’ve read the chapters on mercy, mutuality and migration. I strongly agree with the author that mutuality is crucial to the meeting of the waters of traditional and current, of the north and the south, of what the Lord has done and what he is doing today. Read the author’s explanation of mutuality below…

Q: What are the seven trends that are having an impact on Christianity?

A: Mercy. Mutuality. Migration. Monoculture. Machines. Mediation. Memory.

Q: What is the single biggest shift in ministry that today’s churches are facing?

A: I’m not comfortable choosing just one, because various ones or others loom prominent in different countries or cities at different times. That is, after all, one of the most important lessons of The Meeting of the Waters-that Christians in all countries should become adept at recognizing how their country’s Body, and its witness, is being differently affected by global trends. But, since you asked, I will say that the most important Global Current is Mutuality, because it is the necessary foundation for all global ministry work. Mutuality means that believers from traditionally powerful countries (that means Americans and Europeans, for starters) must include and look to Christians from traditionally weaker countries. People from less-developed countries (think India and China) increasingly have education, technology, ability to travel, trained and plentiful workforces…and confidence. Those brothers and sisters also have spiritual experiences and depth that come from generations of suffering and wanting, and as an American I know I need to learn about that. Not only is Mutuality the right choice for Christians, it is increasingly the only choice in our flattening world. And the great news is that it is also fun, for I have found Mutuality to be one of the most thrilling and expanding journeys in my Christian life.

The blending of those who can offer the power of organization, funding, program management, a we-can-make-a-difference-perspective and the power of deep spiritual experience and lifestyle flowing from want and need and suffering and having little materially. Exciting stuff!

Kindle and iPad Books Take Longer to Read than Print

I found this article interesting. Not sure I agree, but it is interesting.

I’ve actually felt that I read more quickly on my Kindle 2. I can get into a rhythm of clicking the Next Page button regularly and intentionally moving my eyes fairly quickly down the screen in time to click Next in rhythm. I recognize that this is a subjective measurement so perhaps I’ve been deceiving myself!

I’ve noticed that Amazon has announced a new Kindle DX with a 50% higher contrast e-ink screen.

What about you? Do you “feel” that reading is 10% slower on your Kindle? I assume the Nook might have a similar result.

Note: I’ve been waiting for my Kindle 2.5 update. It hasn’t come yet. Amazon is releasing the updates in batches. Want to get yours more quickly? Amazon has explained how on their manual update page.

There are leaves everywhere. It’s spring and the leaves are falling!

We have laurel oaks in our yard. These are similar to the live oaks. They lose their leaves in the spring. It seems that when the sap rises and new leaves are budding, these oaks give up their old leaves.

There is even a period of time where the old leaves co-exist with the new growth. But their time is limited. They are dead and dying. They will drop away.

Interesting.

And very much like the Spirit-filled life. Paul outlines this in Ephesians 4:22-24. We are to put off the old and to put on the new. It doesn’t all happen at one time. For the rest of my life, I will be putting off the old, and putting on the new.

Some stuff is dead, I just don’t realize it yet. Kind of like the oak tree in my front yard.

According to my Kindle, I am 32% through Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin. I think I like it now. I didn’t like it at first. The title grated against my understanding of humility and servant-leadership. The opening sections did nothing to change my perception.

But people I respect spoke highly of the book (such as Michael Hyatt here and here, especially since his company did not publish the book). Jay Lorenzen (onMovements) is reading it so I look forward to his thoughts.

It is growing on me. I’m intrigued by the concept of emotional labor. Some statements from Godin’s book:

• Emotional labor is the hard work of making art, producing generosity, and exposing creativity.
• Every interaction you have with a coworker or customer is an opportunity to practice the art of interaction [emotional labor].
• One of the most difficult types of emotional labor is staring into the abyss of choice and picking a path. [This is especially meaningful to me as a leader where I regularly stare into the abyss of choice and am responsible for leading us in a path towards our mission.]
• Emotional labor is available to all of us, but is rarely exploited as a competitive advantage. We spend our time and energy trying to perfect our craft, but we don’t focus on the skills and interactions that will allow us to stand out and become indispensable to our organization.

Then I thought about my partners in ministry — those who engage in the mission with Kay and me through faithful prayer, funding, and encouragement. Am I indispensable to them? Am I producing generously and creatively with them? Am I practicing effective emotional labor from their perspective?

I’m still working through thoughts. What about you? If you’ve read Linchpin and have thoughts, write them in the comments.

I read a good article today. 11 Things to Consider Before You Send the Next Email.

Recently a friend sent an email that had some hard things that needed to be communicated. Email is typically not a good place for hard things, but my friend used a very creative idea.

He started his email with: Sorry for the robust nature of this email. I’d much rather have this discussion face-to-face, but given the timely nature of this issue, I felt it couldn’t wait. Here comes the truth. I’ll stop by your desks later to give you hugs of grace.

I don’t know how others received this, but for me, it worked!

Why do so many settle for commonness?

I was reading in 1 Samuel 8 this morning and came across this thought:

“We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

We want to be like everyone else. We want someone else to fight our battles. We want to be led.

I dug out an old poster given to me by Larry Poland in 1976. It has marked my life for many years.

I Do Not Choose to be a “Common” Christian

I cannot separate my faith in Jesus of Nazareth from my everyday life, conduct and speech.

I cannot justify loving only those who love me, aiding only my friends, and praying only for fellow Christians.

I have no desire to carry the name of the Son of God to the level of my own base intentions.

I aspire to be like Him, to live on unseen resources by faith, to tap the unlimited supply of His love through the life of His indwelling Holy Spirit, to emerge from my moral conflicts “more than a conqueror” through His power, and to rise above all earthly standards to the completeness of His perfection.

I acknowledge that this is an impossible quest but accept the challenge of its impossibility in the knowledge that its pursuit will force me to rest on Him.

I desire no little challenges, expect no unrippled seas, and abandon all personal “rights.”

My present failure to fulfill these intentions merely proves that God isn’t finished reshaping my raw materials.

What about you? Will you join me today in choosing to be uncommon?

I just finished reading John Piper’s book Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton. Great book. I’ve been thinking deeply about the role of suffering in the propagation of the gospel since I first listened to a Piper sermon in 2007 called Doing Missions When Dying Is Gain. If you haven’t listened to this Piper sermon, get on over to the Desiring God website and listen. It’s free. You can listen online or download to your favorite MP3 device.

Speaking of free, you can download Piper’s book for free too. How sweet is that? So if you’d rather burn 128 pages in your printer, you can print your own copy. Or do what I did. I recently purchased an Amazon Kindle 2 (I’ll write about that sometime). I converted the book into Amazon’s Kindle format and read the PDF on my Kindle. It’s not as clean as a true Kindle book, but it worked fine and God stirred my soul at a deep level.

Some of Piper’s thoughts that I can’t get over:

I am saying that this suffering is part of God’s strategy for making known to the world who Christ is, how he loves, and how much he is worth.

… this voluntary suffering and death to save others is not only the content but it is also the method of our mission.

“… Christ’s suffering is for propitiation; our suffering is for propagation.”

[Colossians 1:24] is one of the most important verses explaining the thesis of this book—that missionary sufferings are a strategic part of God’s plan to reach the nations.

In his sufferings Paul is “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for . . . the church.” What does that mean? It means that Paul’s sufferings fill up Christ’s afflictions not by adding anything to their worth, but by extending them to the people they were meant to save.

So the afflictions of Christ are “lacking” in the sense that they are not seen and known and loved among the nations. They must be carried by missionaries. And those missionaries “complete” what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ by extending them to others.

God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of his people.

Paul’s missionary suffering is God’s design to complete the sufferings of Christ, by making them more visible and personal and precious to those for whom he died.

And these thoughts are just from Piper’s introductory teaching. His exposing the lives of William Tyndale, John Paton, and Adironam Judson and they way they lived out the sufferings of Christ so that “‘the gospel of the glory of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:4) spread to all the peoples of the world and take root in God-centered, Christ-exalting churches.” Piper calls this “The invincible purpose of God in history.”

So get on over to Amazon and buy the book. Or get it free from DesiringGod.org. If you need to whet your appetite more, listen to Doing Missions When Dying is Gain. And may we not regard God’s call lightly. It’s why Kay and I are doing what we’ve done for 33 years, but now with greater clarity and purpose than ever before.

I like to see the work of my hands be built up and prosper. My guess is that all of us like to see our work built upon, not torn down.

William Tyndale’s words this morning reminded me that God doesn’t want to build on another man’s foundation. God’s building process first razes all, then builds block by block.

If God promise riches, the way thereto is poverty. Whom he loveth he chasteneth, whom he exalteth, he casteth down, whom he saveth he damneth first, he bringeth no man to heaven except he send him to hell first. If he promise life he slayeth it first, when he buildeth, he casteth all down first. He is no patcher, he cannot build on another man’s foundation.

He will not work until all be past remedy and brought  unto such a case, that men may see how that his hand, his power, his mercy, his goodness and truth hath wrought all together. He will let no man be partaker with him of his praise and glory. [Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, p. 6. Quoted in Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ, http://www.crosswalk.com/books/11606829/page12/]

He is no patcher, he cannot build on another man’s foundation [not even mine!].

He will let no man be partaker with him of his praise and glory [not even me!].