No Grinch, no Glory

Those few days when Christmas movies begin to show on regular TV, Christmas music starts playing in stores and holiday décor begins to go up, is simply the sweetest few days of the year.

Tonight, I accidentally watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", and I'm ashamed to say that I never really cared to watch it before, much less tonight. The 30 minute cartoon, however, was quite impressive as Dr. Seuss poetically unfolded a timeless truth wrapped in a heartfelt, humorous short-story.

The "Who's" of Who-ville, to me, represented a community of people (hopefully believers) who find no lasting value in material things; yet venture to allow the giving of those things be an outpour of the love already overflowing in their hearts.

"Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would start singing!"

I'd like to think their singing came from a place of deeper joy over their relationships amongst each other. And though, to the Grinch, it was viewed that Christmas to the Whos was more about presents and décor; that community of Whos knew better. Christmas was a representation of something deeper and a reason to celebrate rather than a celebration, itself.

It took affliction to reveal this truth.

"Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos' feast!
He took the Who-pudding! He took the roast beast!
He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash! "
The removal of the material; the absence of the tangible and the loss of the physical gifts, however, were unable to rob the Whos of what really mattered--love.

"Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!

He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!"
So whether it was Dr. Seuss' intention of revealing an underlying spiritual truth or to simply reiterate the meaning of Christmas (as it were to pagans); I contend that believers can take a timeless truth from this short-poetic story:

True joy can be found only in Jesus Christ. Once we've accepted the gift of God's Son as our payment for sin & understood the value of walking with Him as we wait to spend eternity with Him, how we interact with others will begin to be the overflow of our hearts. No material possession or temporary gift can rob us of WHO lives in our hearts and lovingly cares for us. The enemy might bring affliction, loss, and live up to his mission of 'killing, stealing and thieving' (as God allows), but the absence of 'things' shouldn't halt the singing of our hearts. May your trials, issues and affliction, however, reveal the true joy that lies deep within. And maybe, like the Grinch, this holiday season will remind you of or reveal to you that...

"..Christmas," ... "doesn't come from a store. 
...Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"
~Dr. Seuss "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

{Proverbs 17:1; Romans 8:38-39}

Keep calm & have faith!

We used to play this team building game where some people would wear blindfolds and pick a partner to lead them through a maze safely using only their words. It was always very scary for the person wearing the blindfold, yet very comfortable for the person giving the instruction.

People say all you have to do is have faith as if faith is easy.

From my vantage point, faith increases as you step out and dare to believe.
But it's not as easy as it sounds.

If a person was seeing all of their life and suddenly went blind, their world, as they know it, would change. Complete independence would swiftly change to complete dependence. Their lifestyle patterns would change. Things they use to do on their own, would now become something they'd need to trust someone else to do. Help with walking, paying bills, working on their job, eating and all the other day to day routines would revamp.

The same is true of a person who needs to have faith. We have learned to provide for ourselves, and fend for ourselves, operate on our own timelines, get up and go when need be.

All these routines set in place are, to a degree, expected to drastically change when faith is implemented. Faith is very similar to trusting someone else with your life and the details therein. It's hoping, without knowing whether answers will come or if doors will open. It's believing that God has your best interest at heart. It's the expectation you have in that stressful wait time between asking for your need and the answering of that request.

Going from seeing (providing for yourself) to blind (trusting someone else to see for you and guide you) is never easy. It's scary, it's uneasy and unsure. It's relinquishing the control we so desperately want to have.

Yet God lovingly requires it from us, stretches us to that end, proves His faithfulness through it and is pleased with us when we execute it. (Without faith it's impossible to please God.)
And with every trial that requires our faith, we are squeezed just a bit tighter than the last trial. That pressure, in turn, forces us to stretch our faith just a bit further than the last. What's amazing is, if in fact we utilized faith in the previous test, we have the "umph" needed to conjure up the faith for the current test. Not only that, but we can draw upon Gods record of faithfulness in our past, to get us over that chasm of uncertainty.  Either way, it's still blind, and still just as difficult and uncomfortable.

In light of these discoveries, I often find myself relating to the guy in the gospels, who confessed, "Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief."

Multiply or Divide? Discipleship is Math!

This was a difficult concept when I taught 5th grade. My students would always stare at a word problem like a deer caught in headlights and immediately I knew I had to give them the tools to decide whether the problem was a multiplication or division problem.

I faced a similar question when I was handed the reigns in college to facilitate a bible study group of young college women that would later become the Impact Movement on Baylor's campus. The lady who discipled me would encourage that as the bible study group grew in number, it would be time to "multiply" (splitting the group and allowing the lady who I discipled to lead a section of the group whom I facilitated). However, the ladies and I never could see it that way because we had developed this close knit family that had grown comfortable through fellowship and sharing our lives every Thursday night from 7-10pm. We didn't want to multiply our group because it felt too much like a division of our bond. We were like a deer caught in headlights deciphering whether this was a good idea or not. Yet we trusted her advise because she, being in the same season as us (singlehood), had already built such a relevant bond with us.

Here I sit, some 13 years later, wondering what would happen if we had not heeded the wisdom of our fearless leader encouraging us to multiply our group. What if we had stayed together? Our multiplying led to ladies discipling other ladies and I see the fruit of that as some of my best friends live lives devoted to full time ministry, some infuse ministry in their corporate jobs, others worship the Lord through their married lives and in raising their children.

Saturday night, I sat with a few of these ladies and in fact with the lady who began it all--Lori Joiner. Not only is she the author of "Disciple Women", but she is the very woman who has walked out every practical piece of advice in the book! Of which I am a witness to and product of! Her faith as she meandered her relationships with the opposite sex, is what has strengthened me to wait on my future mate this long.

Now, she is married (8years strong) with 2 boys and still finds a way to gush out advise relevant to this small group of women who are in (now) very different seasons of life. As we went around the table sharing the ins and outs of our current lives, she intently listened and found ways to encourage us both individually and collectively. As she divulged her own life to us (weaknesses and all), she still managed to teach us about the Lord and what He requires from us through her transparency.

Yes, discipleship is transparency and multiplication. Make no mistake. No division can be found within this type of relationship. The four women who sat around that table are reaching more lives today, because one woman reached ours...years ago! Now, that's math!