Field Notes On The Jesus Way

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”   John 7:37-38

How is that going for you?  What kind of life are you living?

Many years ago when my sons were quite small, we were eating at a restaurant in Denver and the two older boys were acting up. My frustration level was inching upwards like a pot getting ready to boil.  Clinton, who was three years old at the time, needed to pee and so I asked Cole, who was seven, if he would take Clinton to the bathroom. A few minutes passed and Nette and I heard screaming so loud every head in the little restaurant turned towards the bathroom.  I had had enough.  My shame at being such a pitiful parent that his kids would be so unruly and my frustration at the bickering that happens between brothers at that age came to a point of explosion.  I jumped up and exploded into the bathroom where I saw Cole holding Clinton’s hands  under the running facet in the sink.  Clinton was screaming.  I was furious, grabbed Cole by the arm, jerked him away from Clinton, swatted his bum, and chewed him out.

Through sobs Cole said, “But daddy I told Clint to wash his hands after he peed and he accidentally turned on the hot water and burned his hands. I was putting them under cold water when you came in.”

Cole and Clinton

I felt as low as whale dung.  What was going on in my life that would let frustration build up causing me to be more concerned with peace and quiet and to rush to judgment? That bothered me for days (and bothers me right now).  It caused some real introspection on my part and I remember thinking, Why would anyone want to be a Christ follower if they made their determination by watching me with my boys?

Is the life I am inviting other people to live, the life I am living myself?

Lots of folks in the church are just as anxious, angry, driven, unsettled, exhausted, and envious as everybody else in our culture….why…because we have settled for identity markers (baptism, church attendance, said a “sinners”prayer, vote conservative, dress a certain way, listen to certain music, etc.) rather than the Gospel that changes lives!

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”   John 7:37-38

Last summer when I was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail one thing that surprised me was how scarce the water was on the trail.  In August there were several weeks where temperatures averaged in the 90s and sometimes there would be 20 miles between potable water.  One day around Mount Theilsen, it was one of those white hot days.  I was out of water and had been for five miles.  My mouth was so dry that my lips were cracking and my tongue was beginning to swell. There was nothing to do but to keep walking because the map said there was a creek ahead.

Theilsen Creek

Sometimes the maps would say “seasonal stream.”  That meant it would be a dry creek bed because it only flowed in wet seasons.  I crossed many of those that day.  As I circumvented Mount Theilsen and rounded a turn in the trail, stretching out before me was this beautiful bubbling stream.  It flowed from way up on the shoulders of the mountain down a lush green valley, and tumbled past me into the forest.

I smiled and felt my pace quickened; I hurried to the bank of the stream, took my pack off, and sat there for a moment just savoring the sound of tumbling water. Then I scooped up a cup full in my hand and let it tingle and moisten my mouth before I swallowed it.  Then I got on my belly and sipped some from the rushing water.  It was so cold it gave me a headache, but I drank on.  Then I stuck my head in it.  Nothing on the trail that summer brought me such untrammeled joy as that cool stream on the side of that mountain.

Cooling the dogs in Theilsen Creek

I rested beside that stream

I soaked my aching and burning feet in that stream.

I laughed beside that stream

I fellowshipped with other hikers that stopped at the stream

I ate lunch beside that stream

I prayed beside that stream

I sang beside that stream

I felt safe and fully alive beside that stream

I quoted scripture beside that stream, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O my God.”

A river runs through all of Scripture “There is a river whose streams made glad the city of God.”  Psalms 46:4

What if Jesus was right and a life-giving force could flow from us that could change the world?  How do I stay in the flow?

What if every time when you touch water tomorrow you let it remind you to pray,  “God, let your Kingdom come in me today.  Let the river flow.” All day long.  From one meeting to the next.  From one moment to the next.

There was time when a people started to do this…

Tell them to be quiet and they would shout the louder

Throw them into prison and they convert the jailer.

Whip them and they sang hymns.

Starve them and they shared what little they had with less fortunate.

Persecute them and it would fill them with joy.

Hate them and they would love you back

Exclude them and they would invite you in.

Kill them and 100 would rise up and take their place.

How do you stop a people like this? It happened once—it can happen again.

I recently was invited by my good friend Keith Carpenter to preach at his Church, Epic Life Church.

Here is the video of the sermon:

http://epiclifechurch.org/2014message_pages/1-26-14.html

God has come in Christ to share His LIFE with the believer. This LIFE will produce a soul-deep shift from self-centered life into one which is other-centered. This becomes an irreversible change which is progressively realized. ~Dr. Nat Tracy

I recently asked my parents to tell me who has had the greatest impact on shaping their souls and why. Their answers were not surprising; I’ve heard these names for years.  Common among both my parents, who have been divorced for over 20 years, was my mother’s father, Oscar Johnston, and a professor at Howard Payne University, Dr. Nat Tracy. No two men could be more opposite.

Oscar was an old cowboy from west Texas who had no more than elementary school education. He was crass, rough, and direct in his communication. He told stories as well as anyone I have ever met. He had a high regard for the Bible as the Word of God and made it clear to my parents how vital it is to live out your knowledge of Jesus. To him, this was critical to being a Christian. His Bible is shelved in a prominent place in my home.

Oscar Johnston age 19

I worked for Oscar on a cattle ranch in northern New Mexico four summers in a row. On one of those summer days, a letter arrived in the mail from back home. I fingered the corner of the envelope.  It was from my girlfriend.  I’m in love, I think; I’m not sure. I’m 16.  The day before, I had tried to explore the idea of love with my granddad after supper. While the dishwater was heating up on the cookstove, he sat in his chair smoking his pipe and staring out the window when I thought it a good time to ask him a question.

“What do you look for in a wife?”

I don’t know where he was in his mind but he didn’t want to come back.

“What’s that?” he said.

“What do you look for in a wife?”

Sensing this was an important question he cleared his throat and took his pipe out of his mouth and said, “You want to find a helpmeet.”

“A what?” I asked

“A helpmeet.”

He said it like I ought to know what that meant.  It did have a King James kind of sound to it, so I didn’t ask him again, what with me having been raised in the church and all.  I was sure I ought to know what a helpmeet was, but I didn’t.

“She helps you live a life you couldn’t live by yourself,” he said. He thought he had helped me so he nodded his head once like he was putting a period at the end of a sentence.

I know that sentence sounds paternalistic, but given the life and times he grew up in, I think it is a pretty good statement.  I tell people all the time that the best thing I can do for anyone as a Christ-follower is to help them hear God. In many ways being a husband, father, friend, and follower of Jesus is tied to that idea of helping others live a life they couldn’t live by themselves.

Dr. Tracy was a gentle soul, but a towering intellect. He taught philosophy and the New Testament in college. I had heard of him for years through my dad’s preaching.

Dr. Tracy was my greatest influence. I spent time with him in a small group of young preachers in soul searching and praying together.  I would go to his office and the two of us talked; he always lovingly and gently corrected my thinking. He was one of the greatest encouragers in my walk with Jesus.  He asked me if I thought of being a Bible teacher in a college. I said learning is so hard for me. He said “Well, some have quick mind and they sound very smart, but it’s shallow and it doesn’t change who they are. Others have a slow mind but what they learn, they learn well and deeply; it reshapes them. You think deeply.”  His teaching challenged my thinking, opened up God’s word to me in a way that changed how I looked at life and taught/preached. ~Dub Chambers

My mom has quoted Dr. Tracy thousands of times over the years. I was fortunate to meet him before he died when I went to college in the 70s. He remembered my dad and spoke kindly of him. But what struck me about Dr. Tracy was that he was interested in me. What did I feel God calling me towards? What did I think of Jesus? His encouragement:  to pursue Jesus as long as I have breath.

Two men, two very different men — shaping the souls of my parents, and me. God uses such variegated instruments to make us into what He wants us to be. In many ways God is the ultimate pragmatist. He will use whatever we offer Him to shape us.

He is no respecter of soul-shapers.

Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”                      Josh 1:9 (NKJV)

Henry Kissenger, who was afraid of flying, used to say that he always felt better when Nixon was on the plane.  Do you know what makes me feel better?  Knowing that I belong to the God of this universe.  That I am one of His favored children.  That He lives inside of me.  When I fly, He flies.

Did you hear about the Baptist pastor who was flying and was asked if he wanted a drink?  He said, “No, I am too close to the home office.”  Even on an airplane, the presence of God is there and it makes a difference.  It makes a difference in our lives too.  But we are often too busy to listen.  We are hustling too much to know it.

A Native American and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening.

Suddenly, the Native American said, “I hear a cricket.”

His friend said, “What? You must be crazy. You couldn’t possible hear a cricket in all of this noise!”

“No, I’m sure of it,” the Native American said, “I heard a cricket.”

The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket.

His friend was utterly amazed. “That’s incredible,” said his friend. “You must have superhuman ears!”

“No, my ears are no different from yours.  It all depends on what you’re listening for.”

“But that can’t be!  I could never hear a cricket in this noise,” said the friend.

“Yes, it’s true.  It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.

“See what I mean?” asked the Native American. “It all depends on what’s important to you.”

Sometimes people say they can’t connect with God.  They say they can’t hear him.  Do you suppose that is because God is not talking these days?  I don’t believe that.  I think God is communicating all the time.  Too often I am just not listening.

My son Cole asked me one time when he was about 6 years old how I can tell when God is talking to me.  In a rare moment of insight, I said, “Cole, when you see your little brother Clint fall and hurt himself and you go over to him and ask him if he is alright and then help him up, who tells you to do that?”  He thought for a moment and then smiled and said, “Oh, that’s Him.”

Learn to say in your life, “Oh, that’s Him.”  It’s an awesome power resource for the Christian, but you have to be still to hear and enjoy it.  You have to spend time with Him, getting to know His voice.  Then you have to listen in order to hear Him.

Often its just a whisper.