John and Kathy Deisher

One Call, One Harvest, 50 Teams

life

“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.

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.

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.