Outside the Bubble

This is gonna be short and sweet. Day 3 was full.

I was on the road, away from my desk, which can be disorienting and tiring to someone with the spiritual gift of administration. Believe it or not, I actually like sitting at a computer tapping away--be it blogging or my current assignment of managing the minutia required to register 2,400 people for 116 service projects on our church's Community Serve Day. The deluge of interest in this huge undertaking is remarkable. People are driving from L.A. (2 + hours away) to volunteer with us!

Lately, I might be tempted to equate my "job" of serving the Lord with clearing my email inbox of change orders, cancellations, duplications, and other miscellaneous modifications to the Serve Day website. (I am proud of those logos.) Being on the run today--dropping Kat's car off for service, delivering breakfast to someone in crisis, reporting for my weekly library duty at Allie's school and then back for "College Night"--felt like shirking my responsibility.

Actually, I got my authentic Christian payoff when someone in my path midday said, "Wow, that was like divine intervention that you were here to hear that. Who else could I have told?" All I'd done was a little reflective listening and candid sharing of my own perceptions about something non-spiritual, I assure you. How gratifying to watch God show up for this person who I thoroughly enjoy, have actually come to love, and am nervous to offend with any holy roller vibe.

Being an authentic Christian rarely happens at church or on Sunday or even with other Christians. It can I suppose, but more often to really serve Him, we must follow Christ, trusting Him to lead us outside the bubble where authentic seekers seek. I might admit to preferring the safety of church ladies and comfort of cookie exchanges. Nobody loves a holy huddle more than I do. I'm not particularly outspoken and I prefer harmony to conflict. In a spiritual gift inventory, I think evangelism is 13th on my list.

Nonetheless, by showing up, being myself, and abiding in Him, others call out my faith and start using the very lingo I am trying to avoid to make sure they're comfortable!

Wild and crazy! And outside my own doing. I like that.

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:3-5

Vision Accomplished

Life holds many ironies. Here's the latest I've noticed in our life.

When Reid reached about 3rd grade, Sunday school became a virtually impossibility. Worship time was engaging but breaking into small groups for discussion was Reid's cue to wander the campus. The entirely auditory exercise without visual support was beyond his ability to comprehend.

That year, I was serving as an Age-Level Coordinator, so that I could "float" and supervise, not teach, thereby be available to troubleshoot the classroom where Reid was. Sounds great in theory but one awkward Sunday morning it all came to a head. I never officially resigned, but they knew I was done. With one desperate glance and a furtive sigh, I looked up harriedly at the interim director of Children's Ministry and said, "I can't do this!" We haven't spoken since, beyond a polite "hello," nor have I been solicited to volunteer again.

The most expedient way for us to "do church" from that point on, was to have Reid join us in the sanctuary. Although we did it under duress and stubborn refusal to skip church, let me itemize the reasons why this might be preferable in the grander scheme. I realize them only in hindsight.

1. Reid practices the adult life skill of attending in a large group

2. The service is predictable and structured, therefore "safe"

3. Leaders from the pulpit are more consistent than the Sunday school volunteers

4. He experiences worship and more music--his best comprehension channel

5. The pastors recognize Reid

6. Reid knows his pastors

7. Our church family participates in Reid's progress

8. Friends are reminded of "the least of these" Jesus came to save

9. Friends around us are blessed by Reid's uninhibited singing

10. Reid is around people with typical language and behavior to model

Any others come to mind?

Here's the irony: Our church has recently embraced a shift in perspective on Next Generation ministry. Junior and Senior High students are being included in worship once a month and there is an expressed goal of flipping the ratio commonly associated with Children's Ministry and childcare settings. 1 adult to 5 children seems a safe and nurturing ratio. The church is aiming to reverse that so that 5 adults know every 1 student by name, care about them, even pray for them as they leave for college.

For once, (or as usual?) Reid is ahead of the game. Practically everyone knows his name! Even the Panera clerk where we religiously head afterwards. She has his "usual" bear claw and lemonade plated up before we reach the front of the line.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways. And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:7-9

Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there. Genesis 32:28-30

Introducing.....Top 10 Tuesday!

Reid has a precious few friends. One of them is the youth pastor at our church. He'd like to have a playdate with Billy Jack, or a sleepover. I am hard pressed almost every Sunday to explain, "we can't really do that." "But, why not?" he implores." "Billy Jack is a good man." Social mores, fooey?!!?! You try to explain the invisible hidden fabric of our society.

Perhaps one reason Reid is so enamored with this pastor in particular, is a command performance he gives every May. Billy Jack runs up the center aisle of our church as if into the end zone to deliver the "Top 10 Reasons to Volunteer at Kids Games."

KidsGames, is a much modernized version of Vacation Bible School, requiring record numbers of adults to staff. In order to pull it off, Billy Jack must start early, make a big splash, and get everyone's attention. Reid absolutely LOVES the fanfare! (The actual week of KidsGames has long been too much commotion for his central nervous system, but he eagerly awaits the 2 minute simulation of its rollicking antics.)

It can be the middle of December and he will ask an unsuspecting Billy Jack on the patio, "when will you do the announcement?" He doesn't want to miss that Sunday...nor does he want to be caught off guard.

Maybe this is why his arrival routine (after high fiving Billy Jack) is to rush up the stairs to the ushers' pew, grab a program and immediately check who's on the docket. Is he checking who's preaching? What songs we'll sing? Or whether it is time for the Top Ten List? All of the above, I'm sure.

In that spirit of anticipation, I am instituting "Top 10 Tuesday" as a place to vent some items that have been accumulating in my mind. Jim reminds me that means 52 lists a year. I may have to ask for a little help along the way.

Tune in next Tuesday for "Top 10 Reasons to Look for a New Doctor"

OR

Leave me a comment suggesting a "Top 10 List" you'd like to see.