John and Kathy Deisher

One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams

God

Life with a Shadow

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If you’re a Christian you’re just a shadow of your future self.” 

— N.T. Wright
Photo by Martino Pietropoli on Unsplash

There is a picture my Dad posted on my Facebook page of me when I was 25 years old. I was 5’11”, 142 pounds, and had a very large amount of hair on my head.

Truth be told, I thought I knew all the answers to every question.

Forty years later, age has shrunk my height a little, expanded my weight a little more, and reduced my hair a lot more.

And I have learned that often I don’t even know the question.

At 25, I would not have guessed I would be where I am today. At 65, I cannot imagine being anywhere else.

At 25, I lived in the shadow of who I am now. At 65, the shadow I cast includes that 25-year-old me, as well as all the years in-between. But my life now is already a shadow of who I am to become.

It is a paradox. I cast the shadow of my past, but I am making the shadow cast by my future. My life, my actions, my decisions, my relationships with God and others, are all in the shadows of the past.

And they are making the shadows created by my future self.

Stand boldly in the light. Cast a God-sized shadow.

Made Like Him

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Sometimes I consider myself there as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue; presenting myself thus before GOD, I desire Him to form His perfect image in my soul, and make me entirely like Himself.”

― Brother Lawrence
“Sometimes I consider myself there as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue; presenting myself thus before GOD, I desire Him to form His perfect image in my soul, and make me entirely like Himself.”

I have noticed something during my lifetime. I develop something, I learn something, something of which I am very proud.

And I take it to God, the great stone carver, and point out my new thing. He looks at me for a minute. He sizes me up, and he sizes up this new piece of me.

“That’s nice,” he says. And he picks up a hammer and chisel and whacks it off.

Then he whacks off some of the old things as well.

I am not good at this “stone before the carver” thing. Why would God do this? Those were my best parts.

But I’ve learned they are not my God-parts. They are not in his image. They are not like him.

So, whack away.

People are the Plan

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God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. ”

― E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer

I like planning. I like creating projects and processes. I like creating better methods of doing things.

But ultimately, everything comes down to people.

It is about providing guidance. It is about providing direction. It is about providing opportunities.

But ultimately it is about helping people see who they are in God and his plans and purposes for them.

It seems as if at times we are looking for the method that by-passes people. Social media is one example. If we create the right profile, the right image, the right content, we can reach people without anything else. Just get them into the church.

We forget that God’s plan was for people to reach people. That was always the method.

Not better methods. Better people.

Not Average

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Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.”

― A. W. Tozer
“Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.”
Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

There was recently a story in the news about how similar all hipsters look (though I suppose the author of the story could have chosen any group and made the same claim). A man contacted the publisher of the story to complain that his photo had been used in the article without his permission. On further checking, the publisher found that it was not the same man but someone for which they had a model’s photo release.

Point proved.

According to Webster’s dictionary, average is “having qualities that are seen as typical of a particular person or thing”. Hipsters, for instance (or cowboys, or surfers, or lawyers, or teachers…).

But often when we use the word average, we don’t mean that.

We mean “mediocre; not very good”.

“The food was just average.” “The presentation was just average.” “The store was just average.” “The date was just average.”

It is as if “average” requires a sigh of disappointment after the word is uttered. We know it could have been better.

But, if we are not careful, we will settle for a lifetime of “average” because average is enough. Not good. Not bad. Average.

But who wants to live life with a sigh of disappointment. 

Have an impossible dream. Set an unreachable goal. Soar high.

You may fail, sometimes, and end up for a moment in “average”. But don’t settle for the mediocre.

Soar.

Choose Joy

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“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

Photo by Quan Nguyen on Unsplash

I appreciate those people who seem to be happy all the time. But that is not me.

Sometimes there are things going on that make happiness feel unattainable for me. There are things I face that don’t make me happy.

But I still have joy. Even in those tough times, I keep an attitude of joy.

My joy comes from knowing who I am in God, and though the situation I face may be challenging it does not change who I am as God’s child.

So I choose joy.

Everyday.

Yes, sometimes I forget to choose joy. I can be a bit grumpy.

But I always come back to it.

Stop waiting for good things to happen and bad things to stop happening. Choose joy.

Everyday.

Enjoy the Moment

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Every man must render an account before God of all the good things he beheld in life and did not enjoy.”

— a saying from the Jerusalem Talmud (Kiddushin)
Every man must render an account before God of all the good things he beheld in life and did not enjoy.” — a saying from the Jerusalem Talmud (Kiddushin)
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

I was at a theme park one time waiting in line for the newest, latest and greatest ride. The line for people getting off passed my line at one point, and I heard someone ask one those getting off the ride how they liked it.

The person replied, “I had the time of my life, and I didn’t enjoy a minute of it.”

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes wrote that there was nothing better for a person than to enjoy what they were doing because that was their reward.

The reward is enjoying what you are doing. The reward is not something that comes after you finish doing something. It is what you are doing that moment.

Each moment gives us a chance to enjoy the good things in front of us. It is a shame if we miss them because we are waiting for something else.

Don’t seize the day. Enjoy the moment.

The Family Business

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“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God’s work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.”

― Henry Martyn
“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God's work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.”

Photo by Jessica Lewis on Unsplash

Sometimes we get confused.

We think we are the master and God is the servant.

I don’t know that we mean to think that, but that is the way it works out. We pray and ask God to meet our needs. We do it with the best of intentions because we know that he loves us and has good things for us. 

Then we arise from our prayers and go live our life. OUR life.

I am the master. God is the servant.

So what if instead we begin the day by saying this prayer, “Thy will be done, Father. What does it look like through my life today?”

And then listen to the Father and go do it; a life lived “simply with God and to God”.

Just working in the family business.

Silences

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[Spiritual direction} listens to the Silences between the spoken Sounds.”

— Eugene Peterson
“[Spiritual direction} listens to the Silences between the spoken Sounds.” — Eugene Peterson

Photo by Hannah Donze on Unsplash

It isn’t hard to find places of silence.

What is hard is finding the desire to be in those places.

We fill our lives with the sounds of man…noise that follows us all day. News, social media, music, chats. Sounds that speak to us of our own importance. Sounds that we hope provide answers. Sounds that mask our true fear.

We are fearful of the silences.

In the silences, doubts can now be heard. Words that were used to harm us, shame us, repeat themselves over and over in the silences. In the silences we play over and over again the failures of our lives. We despair.

So we drown our fears in sound.

But, it is in the silences that we also find God. He waits there because he is the answer to those doubts. He is the answer to those fears. He is the one who turns death into resurrected life.

He answers not with words, but with his presence—his presence in the silence with love, acceptance, approval, direction, comfort, patience.

We have to desire to be in the silences and listen. There we will find God.