John and Kathy Deisher

One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams

life

A Deliberate Decision

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Photo by name_ gravity on Unsplash

Church is an appointed gathering of named people in particular places who practice a life of resurrection in a world in which death gets the biggest headlines: death of nations, death of civilization, death of marriage, death of careers, obituaries without end. Death by war, death by murder, death by accident, death by starvation. Death by electric chair, lethal injection, and hanging. The practice of resurrection is an intentional, deliberate decision to believe…

Eugene Peterson, “Practice Resurrection”

Resurrection tends to get the headlines at Easter, and rightly so. But the practice of resurrection is a daily, intentional, deliberate decision to be the people of life. That is not how we normally think of the church, but maybe we should. Church is not a place we go; it is a practice, a position, a belief that we come from in order to live and give life. It is the practice of resurrection.

Working in the RV

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My desk in the Arv
My desk in the Arv

It is not easy creating a space to work in an RV. I am the type of person that needs a physical anchor for my work. I don’t mind working at a coffee shop or a library, at a kitchen table, or even sitting in the recliner and doing some work. But I prefer a desk, a place that is uniquely my own workspace.

Living in an RV right now means that space is limited. We had to make decisions about what furniture would be included and excluded. When we first moved in, we had a kitchen table for our meals and no dedicated desk. We soon realized that we mostly ate sitting in the recliners and rarely at the table. So, out went the table, and in came a very small desk for my workspace. It is big enough for most of my work and yet still fits into the scheme of the RV. I have windows for light and fresh air as well as for distracted contemplation (there is no one next to us right now, and the window looks out on woods and fields).

It may not be optimal, but it makes my working in the RV more productive for this season of life.

The Ladder of Success

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Photo by Xin on Unsplash

Thomas Merton, the American monk, pointed out that we may spend our whole life climbing the ladder of success, only to find when we get to the top that our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

Richard Rohr, “Falling Upward”

“Falling Upward” – A Book and a Life

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Photo by John Fornander on Unsplash

I recently started reading Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr. The first paragraph of Chapter 1 leads me to believe that I am going to enjoy this book immensely:

There is much evidence on several levels that there are at least two major tasks to human life. The first task is to build a strong “container” or identity; the second is to find the contents the container was meant to hold.

Richard Rohr, Falling Upward
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The first half of my life probably lasted until I was 36. I grew up, traveled and experienced the cultures of Europe, studied and obtained several degrees, married, had a daughter, taught in a college, and worked in churches. Each of these experiences gave me the knowledge to build an identity, or as Rohr calls it, the “container.”

The second half of my life continued from age 36 until age 63 when I served as a missionary on a university campus. Working with students from a variety of countries with varying educational degrees and helping them discover who they are in Christ allowed me to discover the contents of that “container.” The container was filled with the knowledge and experiences I had acquired, but it was bathed in what we now call Spiritual Formation, my life in God, and imparted through the relationships I formed with students.

But at age 63, I moved into a season of life that I would add to Rohr’s levels as a third: pouring out the contents of the container. As an intern director working with college graduates who have been called by God into vocational ministry, I spend each day helping them build their own identity and giving them maps so they can discover what content they are meant to hold.

It has been a life of “falling upward”, or as Rohr writes moving from “the first half of life…discovering the script” and into the second half “actually writing it and owning it”.

Covenant Relationship

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"So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and  peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." Malachi 2:4-7 ESV

It can be interesting to lead people as a pastor. Sometimes so interesting that we get caught up in the day-to-day activities of sermon prep, administration, counseling, etc., and lose track that we serve God in a covenant of life, a covenant of peace, a covenant of wonder, and holy fear. We can lose sight of the fact that we stand in awe of the very name of God, the covenant creator, and forget our fellowship with Him.

Out of that covenant relationship, we learn how to instruct in God’s truth as we walk with Him in peace and uprightness as we serve as His messenger.

The covenant relationship comes first. The instruction comes out of that relationship. And then it repeats. Constantly. Continually.

Seek God first. Everything else will be added.

Christmas Around the Fire

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This year is the “in-law Christmas” which means all our married children are with their spouses families for the holiday. Since it was going to be a quiet Christmas, we invited a Korean family that is in Kathy’s conversational English to come and spend a few days with us. It was a long day of presents, food, and throwing an American football around, capped off with hot dogs roasted on a fire outdoors. We sat and talked, enjoying being able to be outdoors on such a beautiful night. It was around 9:30pm when we finally doused the remaining embers and went back inside.

So, a very slow Christmas topped of with a time of reflection, good friends and a fire. I think this may become my new Christmas tradition.

Raise the Sail

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God provides the wind, Man must raise the sail.” 

— Augustine of Hippo

There are times when it is perfectly appropriate to say, “I’m waiting on God.”

It sounds spiritual, as if to do anything would be out of God’s will and we do not want to interfere with his plans and purposes.

But, there are also times when it is perfectly appropriate for God to say, “I’m waiting on you.”

Maybe more times for the latter than for the former.

If we are not careful, we can live in a spiritual paralysis of waiting for God to do something he has already clearly said is our responsibility. That is why we read the Bible. It has God’s revealed will. That is why we walk in community with other believers. We have God’s lived-out purpose.

God has said, “Go into all the world.” We say, “I am waiting for him to tell me what to do.”

God has said, “The harvest is ripe everywhere.” We say, “I am waiting for him to tell me where.”

God has said, “The days are short.” We say, “I am waiting for him to tell me when.”

We are waiting for God to speak in response to our question. But, God has already spoken first. The sailer does not raise the sail to cause the wind. The wind is already there.

We just need to raise the sail.

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.