Deänne Keeps Busy

It would be logical to guess that you have questions about what our work includes. When you hear that Deänne is the Director of Membercare for OC it would be natural to wonder just what that is. Not too many companies have Membercare departments!

Recently our Communications department did a special on what Membercare in OC actually is. The result was a video featuring Deänne. Though it was included in one of our electronic letters I thought I would also post it here.

http://vimeo.com/44744162

Happy viewing. We trust that you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration this week!!

We are broken!

Since the political barrage of ads and the election is behind us, I thought I might reflect on something political…or not! There is a reason why political systems fail…though they may have perfect logic behind them. People aren’t perfect!!

The Republican philosophy of resourcing the wealthy because they understand how to invest money and grow the economy by creating jobs etc. sounds great except for one thing. Many of those rich people lack the character to do so. We only need to look at the character failures of some of those people in the last 5 years to see that.

The Democratic idea that giving money to the poor will better their living standard falls to the same reality. When people get extra “free” money they tend to waste it on things that they have wanted but couldn’t afford…not on things that they actually need…that would better their life. Once again, a lack a character could be to blame.

There are two things I know for sure. I am generalizing and I am speaking of myself in all of this. We all show a lack of character in one way or another. For some it is “cheating” on their taxes while for others it is keeping the extra amount an insurance company pays for a loss though it exceeds the repair. We could also mention the charges for some of that repair elevated because the repairer knows how much the insurance company will pay. We have ways to justify our lack of character, of course. In short, though, it boils down to brokenness.

We are broken and we have been since the beginning. All human systems fail because all humans are “failures.” Not trying to be fatalistic here, just realistic. We all desperately need grace from God and others. We all desperately need to give grace to all.

If we, in the family of God, would be the ones to actually set ourselves aside and be the grace givers…beginning in our own families and our own churches...to all others, friends and “enemies” alike, we would turn the world on its head. This is mimicking Jesus; who gave it all up so that his “enemies” might have the opportunity to be restored, remade into his image…unbroken.

Grace to you.

Do you trust Me?

The thought for this week revolves around how far down the trust road we can walk with God. I realize that this is different for each of us, but I think the pivotal question becomes:

"How far can we trust God's ability to bring about His will, in His time, through His people for His glory?"

I know that almost every one of you is answering, "We trust God completely." That was my first thought. However, as I have reflected on this with vulnerability, I have wondered about my track record of trust in these areas:

Our kids, grand kids and parents
Our finances
Our work situation
Our retirement

Maybe you are getting the same feeling that I did. As long as things are going well it is easy to "leave it to God." When things are not going well, from our viewpoint, we feel the need to take over...step in and give God a helping hand. How many times have we bailed out our kids (not from jail, yet, fortunately); used a credit card for something we "needed" that God was a little slow in providing: took to the rumor mill about issues at work because the HS was not working in someone fast enough; or, reduced our giving to the Kingdom to focus more on our future because, after all, don't we need to be responsible?

I trust that you realize that I am not promoting being irresponsible here. I just wonder how many times our trust of God takes a detour when his timing, or answer, differs from what we have decided is best.

Honestly, my trust record is pretty poor. May God have mercy on me and help me to make the better choice next time!!

So, I'm not who you expected...what now?

As I have blogged before, unmet expectations make for a rocky relationship.

I had a great discussion with a buddy at work a couple days ago. During the discussion I had another one of those moments when a light seems to go on somewhere near you and you spend days scrambling in the darkness to get near enough to it to illuminate some of the spiritual and emotional landscape that you are trying to navigate.

It seems that God, in his relationship with us, is inconsistent at least and undependable at worst. Now, please understand that this is from our, or at least my, viewpoint...not his! He doesn't always meet the expectations that I have set for him in my mind; products of my upbringing and my education in church and Christian schools. My friend shared that we have believed a lie about God and that is our undoing. What lie you ask? The original one, that we could be like God; that all of this is really about us...the one that our enemy is still playing over and over in our minds, that God is holding out on us. "Did God really say...insert slightly altered truth..."

Through all of this discussion and the processing that followed, Jesus has been asking me, "So, I'm not who you expected, huh? What are you going to do now; leave me?" Sounds familiar. John 6:67. The fact (for me) that God does not always meet our expectation; that he allows things to happen that are certainly not "good" by our definition; that he operates by "rules" in an existence that is beyond ours should not surprise us. C.S. Lewis, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, called it "deeper magic."

Treason, sin, demands the shedding of blood as payment for the offense. And so, since all have sinned, all must die. That is the magic around which the world operates. But, if one who is without sin offers his blood as a substitute for the traitor's, a deeper magic is put in play; one that goes beyond our comprehension and that supersedes the former. House rules no longer apply. The totally unlovable are somehow beloved.

So, how did I get into this in the first place? A random line of thinking, of course, led me hither. By law, Mary (the mother of Jesus) should have been put to death when it was discovered that she was with child without being married. She must have committed adultery. The lawful payment for adultery, God's law, was death. So, I guess God knew that his people, at that moment, would disobey his law and in doing so, keep Mary and Jesus alive. We believe, of course, that Mary did not commit adultery; that she was THE virgin prophesied so long ago who would carry Emmanuel. In all truth she did not deserve death.

A higher law....a deeper magic...an incomprehensible mystery. God didn't send his Son to us to convict and sentence us. No! That is normal magic. That was expected. God sent his Son to buy us back...and what a deal; the Worthy given as payment for the worthless.

Where would I go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68.

Unexpected God

Have you ever pondered that almost everything God has done, does and will do is unexpected? Now, I am not talking about how creation works, mostly dependable and predictable...well, except the weather (with the exception of places like Seattle where for at least nine months ofthe year you can expect some kind of rain at some time during the day - you're welcome, Seattle. I know you REALLY don't want all those Californians moving up to the NW!!).

But seriously, think about it in the context of Biblical history. People have tried to go about their daily lives from the beginning of time dealing with the expected. When God promised Abraham that he would have a child, do you think Abe realized it would be 25 years. Of course not. He was already 75. He had to have expected this miracle to happen, like, now! But a couple of 75/65 having a baby was not enough of a "God thing." No, it needed to be a couple of 100/90 to be unexpected enough.

Do you think the children of Israel expected 400 years of slavery when they were "saved" to Egypt by Joseph (though prophesied to Abraham in Genesis 15)? What were they thinking when God led them down a dead end canyon with Pharaoh right behind them and the sea in front of them? Even Moses, God's "friend," was confused. God knew how he was going to glorify himself. Dividing the sea, even if it was the Sea of Reeds, and drying it out enough for millions of people to pass through to the other side (not to mention finishing off what was left of Egypt's might by drowning their army) would qualify as unexected.

Fast forward past countless other examples over thousands of years to Jesus' birth. Even though it was prophesied, who really believed that Mary was telling the truth? Seriously? And consider her station; a nobody from nowhere. Couldn't God have chosen better than that? Even those who knew the prophesies and were looking for the Messiah didn't recognize Jesus as the one.

Jesus made a habit out of breaking out all over people's expectations for him. What was expected about a Rabbi who hung out with the rabble. Didn't he understand the rules about being "clean?"

What about us today? It seems that we are still surprised by God doing the unexpected...or probably more difficult...when God chooses NOT to do the expected. If you read this blog, you know that one of my favorite queries is, "What can you do with a God who won't behave?"

What if we could train ourselves to expect God to do the unexpected? What if we lived each difficult situation with an anticipation that God might, at any moment, break through and shock our socks off?

May it be true of me.