We didn’t “Face Our Fears” last night.  The lack of enthusiasm was disguised as sleepiness, but I know better.  I’m told we’ll face our fears tonight, with this being our last available night to do so.

Who knew intentional displacement was so hard?  Sherry would even attach  words like suffering and death as her children and husband plunge their tenderized, baked bodies into a dark ocean where sharks and giant squids have caught wind of our aspirations.  All I can see are high fives as we emerge from the wet blackness having conquered our inner fears.  All Sherry can see are family members being eaten by callused sea monsters.

Is intentional displacement hard?  Is there suffering attached?  Death?

I would say the answer is “yes.”  Anytime you get people to move beyond comfort zones and pursuits of me-ness, there will be some pain.  Mobilizing individuals and small groups to encounter culture with Jesus will be messy, time-consuming, resource exhausting, exhausting, and selfless.  Does this conjure up mental images of sea monsters or high-fiving Jesus followers?

In chapter one of James, I was reminded this morning that trials which test our faith should be seen as occasions of joy.  A lasting maturity develops for such believers.  Intentional, gospel displacement is one such opportunity when testing, joy, and maturity come together for Jesus followers, and a movement begins.

Paul told the Corinthians (I Cor. 2:6-8) that such servant thinking about lasting maturity is counter-cultural, but nonetheless Godly.  Serving may be hard, but it produces maturity and joy.  For many, God’s kind of thinking and wisdom is somewhat hidden on all of this, but for Jesus followers, this kind of thinking destines us for glory.  And God is the Lord of glory!

It’s the dance of glory. When we mobilize beyond our own blessings and serve on macro (corporately) and micro (individually) levels, we enter into the joy and glory of the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.  Is it hard?  Yep.  Will there be suffering and sacrifice?  Probably.  Will you and I have to die to ourselves… again, and again?  Absolutely.  Will there be joy?  Oh yeah.  Will this intentional gospel displacement give God glory?  Yes, and we will live in His.

During recent, past study breaks, I have read about the lamented, sad decline of the Western church.  This year, I’m seeing rebirth, renewal, and Kingdom power again.  It’s something we’ve been seeing at Cumberland as well.  The full come back of Jesus’ Church wont’ be without more change, discomfort, messiness, suffering, and death.  Unleashing the power of the gospel through serving the 67% of our community who are done with church will in fact be gloriously challenging.  But what if…

The last third of “On The Verge” (Hirsch & Ferguson) was much more compelling.  Dave Ferguson, a church pastor/planter, wrote these final chapters with great application, story, and ideas.  The book does unfold a great question about normalcy.  Let’s say you were at the beach, and a nice young couple walks up to water’s edge.  They both pull their shirts off to reveal their perfectly normal swim attire.  Nobody on the beach would think twice about such common behavior.  However, take that same couple with the same attire, and place them in a church on Sunday morning.  It just wouldn’t be normal when the t-shirts come off, swimsuits are revealed, and this just minutes before “How Great Thou Art.”  Different cultures… beach, church, and otherwise… make different things normal.

What will become normal at CCC?

We did, in fact, face our fears tonight.  Only four of the clan actually got in the water.  It was scarier than I had imagined.  We got out about knee deep in the dark waters and pitch black sky.  It was then we saw something… uh, black… swim by.  We decided to stop right there, sit down in the water, quickly get out, and call it a night.  Those who stood on the beach watching began to laugh.  Those dripping with ocean began high-fiving even though the fear facing didn’t go as swimmingly well as we had hoped.

Each Jesus follower has the changing power of the gospel inside of them.  Some will mobilize and unleash the full potential of Jesus’ church.  This may go great at times, while other attempts will be slightly better than an official bust.  Those staying safe within the confines of church walls may even laugh at our culture crashing intentional displacement efforts.  But in the serving… in the displacement… in the giving… in the dying… in the mess of salvation… there will be joy.  There will be the dance of glory, and probably several of us high-fiving.

Seth Godin writes, “At first the new thing is rarely as good as the old thing was.  But if you need the alternative to be better than the status quo from the very start, you’ll never begin.”

The Church must never be content with status quo.  As God is always in motion, so must we be.  Let’s go… “AS WE GO”…even if the going isn’t as polished, professional, and deemed successful as some would label.  There’s a new thing that God is doing.  Let’s face our fears.  Let’s dance!

CONCLUDING NOTE:  This study break has been great.  It’s been great for me, my soul, my family, and hopefully for the Lord’s church.  I have read four very good books (Church Planter; The Reason For God; AND – The Gathered And Scattered Church; and “On The Verge”).  I read one chapter from George W. Bush’s “Decision Points,” and will finish this when I get back home.  I studied through James, again… and will begin a series on James called “Faith Works” this September.  I took long walks with and without my friend Lucy, with and without Sherry, with and without kids, and always with God.  I listened to 4 Timothy Keller sermons, two John Ortberg messages, one message each from Darrin Patrick, David Platt, and John MacArthur.  I’ve also played, swam, snorkeled, ate, relaxed, and had great fun with my family.  As always, I’m so appreciative for the leaders, staff, and people of Cumberland for giving me this annual time of soul feasting.  These times keep me fresh, enliven my family, build into my marriage, and enable me to continue doing what God has called me to do.  Thanks.

I think they call it intentional displacement.  Seems like I read about this somewhere recently.  Getting out of your comfortable life rut, and displacing yourself into a circumstance where something is bound to happen is the goal.  We did it last night, and we’ll do it again tonight.

Our annual midnight breakfast was last night.  At 12:20 a.m. the Scott family was ordering from a Denny’s menu.  We’ve always had so much fun with these.  Last night was no exception as we laughed, ate, took a photo of our waiter whom we swore was Ralph Macchio, and made lasting memories.  We intentionally displaced our dragging bodies from our beds to Denny’s, and there was life to grasp.  There’s a latent story waiting to happen in us all.  A little movement, a little displacement, a little intentional discomfort and voila, you find yourself smack dab in the middle of some audacious new chapter.

Tonight we’re swimming in the ocean at night… in the dark… at around 11 p.m.  I’m calling it, “Face Your Fears.”  For some reason few stick their toes in the ocean when it’s dark, but those same waters and sharks are up to our necks when the sun is out.  Go figure.  My BRAVE family members will be intentionally displacing themselves again, and I’m betting something is gonna happen.

Blaise Pascal wrote: “Our nature lies in movement, complete calm is death.”

Today I blew through the second third of  Hirsch & Ferguson’s “On The Verge.”  The authors write: “A church of a thousand disciples has a thousand potential churches contained in itself.   There is dormant potential in all of God’s people.”

In order for CCC to move missions from a departmental level to a personal level, more and more people will need to be intentionally displaced into our culture with personal, integrated spirituality “as they go.”  We’ve done this corporately as a church, but now we must do this more and more individually and within groups as a church.  Community groups need to become on mission groups, or groups of missionaries that hold each other accountable for being on mission the rest of the week.  A silent witness hoping someone will see Jesus is not what this is about.  Serving, loving, meeting needs, and giving verbal reasons for the hope we have IS the idea.  It is a full out mobilization of God’s people into everyday ministry.

Two thirds of my way through, I’m a bit frustrated how Hirsch and Ferguson really make all of this very complicated with charts, lists, and elaborate systems marked by a plethora of acronyms.  I’m sure it’s all good stuff, but Biblically sensible and simple makes more sense in my head, and keeps ministry creative, free, and wonderfully organic.

As I was setting up my daily work station on the beach, an older gentleman approached me and said, “Try this.”  He handed me a dog corkscrew tether, and then proceeded to show me how to dig a deeper hole for my umbrella.  I’ve seen people bring cordless drills and a long drill bit for the same sandy job.  There are beach store tools to set umbrellas deep, or you can just dig by hand like I do.  However, the corkscrew tether thingy was great.  It was simple, it worked, and the guy had two so he gave me one!  Awesome.

Hirsch & Ferguson lay out systems, practices, paradigms, flow diagrams, and long lists of values to create a gospel movement in our churches.  There are things here that spark my thinking, but I’m wondering if simpler is better.  With Jesus being Lord, disciples making disciples, and individuals and smaller groups intentionally displacing themselves beyond their living rooms and our church walls… something is gonna happen.  Our gathering will be even more powerful and necessary, and our scattering will finally begin to change culture instead of culture changing us.

I’ll finish off “On The Verge Tomorrow.”  I’ll wrap up study break for this year.  There are God threads through this two week ordeal that I want to try and pull together tomorrow.  For now, I gotta go face my fears in a dark ocean.  More intentional displacement.  I just know something is gonna happen!

Any new and brilliant idea is met with resistance.  Innovators make up a piddly 2.5% of the population, while strong resistors make up about 50%.  Such was my burden in attempting a new and different kind of family photograph to grace our Christmas card this year.  I like to capture our annual photo during study break.  This year I wanted an underwater portrait.  When’s the last time you’ve seen one of those come through your holiday mail?   An underwater photo would definitely stand out among all those other boring cards and faces that stare at you in December.   Tell that to some some ornery members of my family.

I had some convincing to do,  and so I created the obvious problem.  We haven’t sent out a family Christmas card in two years, and so this year’s has really got to be good!  I had minimal buy in.  I cast vision for being trail blazers in visual rendering of familial sub cultures.  Nothin’ doing.  I convinced a few early adopters to join my cause.  Statistically they make up 13.5% of our population.  Practically, that’s not quite one whole Scott.

Take a look at the picture posted.  Who do you think embraced this wonderful idea immediately? Who is absolutely having a blast?  Who went through the ordeal just to get it over with?  Which one do think had to die to themselves so that I could fully live my dream?  Who is struggling but hanging in there, and who is still upset with my attempt at creative leadership… and I have to take her out for breakfast tomorrow morning just so I can make it all up to her?  Hmmm.

This morning I got stuck on James 1:1.  James, the brother of Jesus, has turned from sibling skeptic to Kingdom servant.  The Apostle Paul said he was a servant, and set apart for the gospel (Romans 1:1).  James, a part of the gathered Jerusalem church, also served the scattered church with practical application of the good news of Jesus.  He was, however, a late adopter to all of this.  James would have hated having his picture taken underwater.

I started reading my third study break book,  “On The Verge” by Alan Hirsch & Dave Ferguson.  The authors write, “… one of it’s (20th century church) sad legacies was the growing schism between missiology and ecclesiology.  This has led to a missionless church and a churchless mission.”

At Cumberland, we’ve taken the past several years to shift our paradigm and coded thinking from only attractional (they come to us) to more missional (let’s go to them).  We’ve done a great job at becoming a church for our community and not just in our community.  We’re serving great at a macro, larger level.  Four to five times a year we close down Sunday morning shop, and serve with our highly motivated army.   This has been such a great and healthy thing for CCC.

Now, and this is very confirmed by “On The Verge,” God’s next push and challenge for His Bride at Cumberland is to own things on a micro, smaller level.  As much as CCC has placed her roots in the community of Smyrna, individuals must do the same with the gospel of Jesus in a regular, “as we go,” integrated way.  The challenge for community groups will be to become missional communities that live out the gospel through serving the needs in a hands-on way, independent of what Cumberland does corporately.  This is where our gathering and scattering will unite and grow us even further.

Key to this imaginative thinking is becoming gathered and scattered servants of the gospel.  Hirsch & Ferguson strongly suggest, “Everyone in a movement, and not just the so-called religious professionals, must be activated and thus play a vital role in extending Jesus’ mission on earth.”  With more disciples making disciples and becoming Christ-centered, scattered servants, we will synergistically move CCC from attractional, to missional, to movemental.  I prefer movement over institution any day of the week.  The organism of the Church demands it.

I can see it, but maybe I need to convince more that the current problem with church is there’s just got to be more to church.  I know there’s still more change coming.  I liken it to underwater fun.  There’s such opportunity for innovation and Jesus’ church to return to a place of great influence in our culture and desperate communities.   However, I know few will adopt such excited thinking early.  Many will endure, but all will have to die to themselves, again.  It’s in the dying that we’ll find even greater life, growth, purpose, and mission at a place many of us call Cumberland.

In my ipod this morning was “I Will Die For You” by Mercy Me.  It rang true with where God has my heart…

And I know that I can find You here
‘Cause You promised me You’ll always be there
Times like these, it’s hard to see
But somehow I have a peace, You’re near
And I pray that You will use my life
In whatever way Your name is glorified
Even if surrendering
Means leaving everything behind

My life has never been this clear
Now I know the reason why I’m here
You never know why You’re alive
Until you know what you would die for
I would die for You

And I know I don’t have much to give
But I promise You I will give You all there is
Can I possibly do less
When through Your own death I live?

No greater love is found
Than of those who lay their own lives down
As sure as I live and breathe
Now I know what it means to be free

I’ve been wondering why God has made this unique connection between Lucy and me during study breaks.  For the past several years, a vaguely familiar beach walker has become a good friend.  Why have I connected more and more with this 86-year-old beach dweller from Clarksville, TN?  Why do we talk about everything under the sun for about three miles each morning?  What’s the purpose of this?

This morning Lucy seemed to stop and talk more than usual.  Maybe it was the blustery north wind kicking up the waves that made it harder to hear.  Maybe it was an attempt to prolong our walks with my study break having only a few days left.  I don’t know.  Why do I get so intrigued by the phrases and quips of this seasoned island girl?  I asked Lucy how she maintains her strong health.  She answered, “I don’t talk about it.  You’ll never get an organ recital when you get my Christmas letter.”  (I had to think about that one for a sec.)  She was talking about a former pastor at the local Baptist church she attends.  Lucy remarked, “He was a dynamic speaker, but he had the morality of a small, green pea.”  She was wearing a well-worn t-shirt this morning that said, “We are not good because we are old, we are old because we are good.”

What’s this connection and intrigue about?  Lord, what’s your intent here?  Why has this elderly woman been woven into my annual time of renewal and study?

James 5:13-20 was an intriguing passage for my early morning hunger.  Jesus’ brother seems to be integrating our spiritual walk with our everyday walking about.  If  there’s trouble, pray.  If you’re happy, worship.  If you’re sick, pray with an elder.  Elijah was a normal man like you and me.  He lived, walked about, and God did crazy supernatural things.  The text is so laid back, so everyday life, and yet so very powerful.

It’s exactly what seemed to be missing at Victory church we attended last Saturday night here in Florida.  There was much hype, jumping, money creeds, shoutin’, and Jesus words… but what was life like for these people outside their emotional arena?  I wondered if their gathering affects remained as the individuals scattered throughout the week.

And then it hit me… that’s the point of Lucy.  Integrating my spiritual walk into my everyday walk as I walk along the beach with someone I barely know… is exactly the point.  The “go” of making disciples points to integrated spirituality “as you go.”

I finished “AND – The Gathered and Scattered Church” today.  I blew through this book with great appreciation for the “genius of the and” attached to the Church gathering and scattering as laid out by Halter & Smay.  There is a harmonious tension related to going into the community missionally, and gathering the saints for worship.  So many have taken hard sides on both sides of this coin.  It really has eroded into an either/or argument.  I read a book two study breaks ago (The Shaping Of Things To Come) which believed all established churches must die, and only new, missional church plants will be successful as western Christendom moves forward.  I SO refused to believe that.  It’s a simple matter of serving beyond our walls, and gathering to continue inspiring people to serve and give ourselves away.

We’ve begun this outward push at Cumberland.  We’ve established 4-5 annual F.I.A. Sundays where we make Church not about the church.  We are taking more and more people cross-culturally and around the world as a part of giving themselves away.  We are planting an inner-city, incarnational church plant with Chris & Leah Case.

Some wonder how CCC will sustain all of this giving ourselves away.  Halter and Smay write:  “It’s a known statistic that the churches that give away, that take risks, that send out, and that sacrificially push their people out, create vacuums that God fills with even more.”

And so we gather to bask in the glory of God, and for the purposes and people outside our gatherings where we scatter.  This is our key to moving ahead at CCC.  “The church is beautiful when she is sent, and the sent church will always be beautiful when she gathers in a way that highlights and complements her sending nature.”

How will we lead and motivate the folks of Cumberland to go beyond an F.I.A. Sunday?  How can we keep pushing outward until spirituality is integrated into all we do?  In what ways will we encourage each other to die and live for others?  “AND – The Gathered and Scattered Church” concludes by saying,  “This beautifully sent and gathered church cost Jesus his very life, and it is certainly worth our best efforts.”

Our best Kingdom efforts will be as we go… walking… listening… taking someone, even a stranger, out for a normal, supernatural meal.  We picked Lucy up at 6:30 tonight for dinner.  She gave me the gate code to her gated community.  Amazing.  Longhorn Steak House is just what this S.M.U grad ordered up.  Isn’t this scattering stuff great and adventurous?  I’ll tell you all about it when we gather come Sunday.

I walked the beach very early this morning and saw something I have never seen before.  Bursting out of the still ocean water was a huge, grey and white Manta Ray.  It jumped fully out of the water for a brief couple seconds, and then disappeared.  I took this as a God-gem designed only for my soul.  This day, I began thinking, would bring something new to my heart and thoughts about the church.

The newness and smile of God I was feeling was confirmed when I studied through James 5:7-12.  Jesus’ brother took me back to Job and what God brought about as the difficult chapter of Job’s life came to an end.  The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.  I locked onto that verse (Job 42:12) like a starving charismatic looking to sew a $5 seed offering at a Steak ‘N Shake.  Could Job’s blessing be mine?  Is that what you’re saying, Lord?  With Gungor’s “We Will Run” and Jesus Culture’s “Revelation Song” rhythmically pounding out some deep thoughts within me, all I could do was smile at what seemed to be God smiling at me.  I took the Manta Ray show, the worship, the thoughts from Job, and began anxiously anticipating my day.

I told Lucy that Sherry and I had watched “The King’s Speech” last night.  This was a GREAT movie recommended by Cumberland’s own Academy hopeful, movie critic, and worship leader, Megan Sullivan.  I was recounting the history of it all to Lucy as we walked.  King George the Sixth was crowned king after his brother Edward abdicated the throne to continue being a playboy.  King George VI had a speech impediment that hampered his leadership.  With the help of a quirky speech therapist, King George conquered his greatest fears and delivered a rally call as England was on the brink of war with Hitler.

One movie and suddenly I was a U.K. history expert.  Lucy stopped dead in her sandy tracks and said, “You know I was alive during all of this?’  I asked her how old she was around the time of King George the Sixth coming to power.  Lucy was a teenager who read the papers and listened to radio broadcasts of the real deal going down.  I moved our conversation on to the next topic, but smiled inside.  When God begins tying little threads of things together on study break, I know the day is going to be good.

Today I shifted my focus onto the church… the Bride of Christ at Cumberland.  I love the church.  I love what God has been doing at CCC.  We have shifted, and, as Halter and Smay writes (“AND – The Gathered and Scattered Church”),  are being consumed about fighting consumerism within our walls.  It has been a slow, steady process to turn hearts from being consumers to contributors.  The pendulum has swung from being a seeker-targeted, Sunday morning attractional church, to a beyond our walls missional church.  At Cumberland, many have taken up the challenge to stop being receivers only and have grabbed onto becoming Luke 8:15 reproducers.  That is a very cool thing to watch.

Just a couple years ago, I was reading study break books suggesting existing churches will never be able to make the shift from “How do we keep people coming to our church,” to “How do we help every person become more like Jesus?”  Far from having arrived, we have begun that kind of impossible shift at Cumberland.

Part of the shift has come from our 4-5 annual Faith In Action Sundays where we exponentially serve our community.  CCC’ers know we’re adding value to our community.  They know our building is not JUST for gathering on Sundays, but also to bless our community.  We’re healthier, spiritually, than we were just a few short years ago.  God has brought CCC to a place where we now believe the Smyrna community would miss the Bride at Cumberland if she were no longer here.  In recent years, this hasn’t always been the case.

But… there’s more.  There are jumping Manta Rays we’ve never seen, heart pounding worship ready to stir us, and the smile of God saying Cumberland’s next 20 years will be better than the first.  Is that what you’re saying, Lord?  What will be next?  I’m getting glimpses of God’s vision as I work through my study break and read things like:  “AND – The Gathered And Scattered Church.”  Halter and Smay don’t necessarily give a step-by-step action plan, but they sure are triggering my thinking exactly like Lucy does with her historical prowess.

Next for Cumberland must be taking what we’ve learned inside and outside our walls, how we’ve grown through our F.I.A.’s — and now making it personal.  Gary Swabe is quoted in “AND”:  “We need to live as salt and light so as to add value and blessing to our streets, to our neighborhoods, so that if one of our families were to move, the street would miss us and grieve when we left.”

Bringing the heart of God, the dance of the Trinity, the ways of Jesus, and the Kingdom into our normal, everyday lives is what’s next.  It the spiritual formation path forward for CCC and for her individuals.

There are details and specifics coming to the surface, but those kinds of things are not for blogs.  The specifics of vision and where God is leading will come face to face as we gather before we scatter.  In the mean time, look for leaping Manta Rays of your own!

We finally succumbed to the hedonistic ways of the heathen island dwellers.  We gave in, and I must say it was marvelous.  The experience was dripping with delight, while a handful of bashful onlookers could only blush with envy.  I still display a devilish smile just thinking about it.

We shamelessly bowed at the shrine of Big Olaf.   For my family, Big Olaf’s ice cream shop is worth the nine hour drive for it’s special brand of decadence.  In 90 degree heat, our single dip cones lasted all of about 15 indulgent minutes.  Afterwards, most of the family was caught doing that familiar, selfish dance called “I want more.”

Soaking in the dawn and an uncrowded coastline, it hit me this morning how selfishly indulgent theology can become.  What’s designed to point us to God, can fall short and point only to ourselves, our knowledge, and perhaps our dripping rightness over other lesser people.  Timothy Keller aptly muses that so many only want things from God and not God.  Our motives, even when it comes to theology and God, can often point to merely “spending what we get on our own pleasures” (James 4:3).

With coffee, a Bible, and a prayer for God to speak, I was also prompted this morning about God’s glory.  For some time, there’s been a dull something rattling around in my head about God’s glory.  Why does God want glory, and why is His glory my purpose for being created?  Does God’s Spirit live intensely envious inside of me because of the glory thing?    David Platt and his book, Radical, gave me a glory morsel to chew on.  Some wonder if God is an ego-maniac for wanting glory, but Platt quips that we need and want a glorified God.  We need a God who gets the Glory.  We want a God who is mighty to save and receives glory.  I was somewhat content with that thought until today’s a-ha moment.

Timothy Keller eloquently writes  (The Reason For God) about God’s glory in a way I’ve never heard.  God, unlike any other god, has always operated in the wonderful, dancing community of the Trinity.  The circling boogie between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit elicits submission, serving, and putting each other first.  It’s in this incredible dance that joy lives and breathes.  Infinite, eternal happiness is found at the center of this cosmic ballet, and it’s not through self-centeredness, but rather through a shared other-love.  THIS is the glory of God!  THIS is what makes the kavod (glory) of God heavy, significant, and weighty.

We are created to bring God glory.  We are created to join the dance.  God wants glory because we receive joy and eternal happiness in the deal.  Now we see why God wants glory.  He’s doing the dance with us!  This is why we feel so much joy when we serve and give.  This is why sacrificial people return from a mission trip to Kenya and believe they were the ones who benefitted the most.  They had entered the Trinitarian dance, brought God glory, and found His joy.  We were made to bring Him glory.  We were made for the dance.  God can’t wait for us to have His joy!

And God gives us grace every day to see and get this.  The ocean separates the sky, the sky contrasts the sand, and the sand gives borders to the ocean.  They serve each other and dance.   A snare drum drives the guitars, the guitars give melody for the bass, and the bass gives punch back to the snare. The dance can be seen in our music.  Are you seeing this?  Atoms and molecules… a mother and her baby… planets and stars… and on it goes.  Keller writes, “The love of the inner life of the Trinity is written all through it (universe).   Creation is a dance!”

Wasn’t Jesus dancing with us as he came to earth to serve and die for us?  And then he said, “I have given them the glory that You gave me.”  He was dancing with us in the same way He had danced with the Father and Spirit.  THIS is the glory of God.

This also explains my life when I’m focused on my own goodness or my finding my own path for salvation.  My self-indulgent ways in the end, are dripping with frustration and leave me very discontent and poised to bust out the “I want more” dance at the shrine of Big Olaf.

Thanks, Timothy Keller.  “The Reason For God” is a great read.  It’s a new, fresh, practical apologetic unlike the standards that have been on my shelves for years.  I finished Keller’s work today, and was left hungry for more.  Considering my heavy hesitation in the first ten pages, how it all ended for me was very cool.

The weekend is here, and I will change my pace a bit for the family.  I will sleep in.  I will begin reading George W. Bush’s autobiography.  I’m going to snorkel with Michael and Morgan.  I love my study break.  Thanks, God.

There is a wisdom from God that I pursue.  Many don’t understand it, but still I try.  God’s wisdom is counter-everything.  The more I try to understand it, the more I realize my thinking is just different from my Creator’s.  That’s an incredibly good thing for all of us.  According to James, this heavenly wisdom is given to me in pure, impartial, considerate, sincere, submissive, peace-loving ways — and allows me the opportunity to have a wisdom that operates likewise.

One of the most mind blowing thoughts is that I can know the thoughts of God.  Although His thoughts are most often opposite of mine, I can still know His.  THAT is the kind of wisdom my early morning began pointing me to.

There is a huge, recently constructed mansion just off the beach and down by the sea wall Lucy and I walk to every morning.  For the past few years, my family and I have watched this monstrous memorial to capitalism come to life.  We have wondered what celebrity is holed up behind the commanding front columns.  What business mogul has set up shop there, what did they invent, and how can I meet this guy?  I’m guessing the inside of the mansion is even better than what you can see on the outside, and I really like what I see on the outside.

This morning I asked Lucy about the mansion.  She quickly replied, “Isn’t that the most awful thing you’ve ever seen?  The only place that thing should be seen on is the back of a dollar bill.”  She pulls no punches.  She hated the mansion and it’s invasion on her home seaside turf.  Lucy explained how a  local, big dog chiropractor spent millions building this quaint bungalow, and ticked off the local beach community in doing so.   I kept my own opinions quiet and very close to my Coppertone.  I was grateful Lucy could not know my silent thoughts in the same way I can God’s.

After saying goodbye to Lucy, I walked back to the stately beach house.  I wasn’t sure why I made the trek back, but God seemed to be confirming Lucy’s architectural evaluation.  This mansion was no mansion in God’s booming economy.   God’s thinking was just the opposite of mine.   God was whispering something about how His idea of a mansion made this one a Kenyan shack.  Certainly ironic, but definitely providential, I realized my morning wake up t-shirt sported the Greek word, “prosdechomai” (waiting forwardly).

Waiting forwardly is certainly the opposite of how most think.  Quite often it’s not how I think, no matter how much I wear the t-shirt.   However, on this morning, I seemed to be tapping into a soul-pausing thought about living for another world.  Where does that kind of thought come from?  Where do those lofty, deeper thoughts about life and beyond come from?

In “The Reason For God,” Timothy Keller writes:  “If God exists, we would expect to find that He appeals to our rationale faculties.  If we were made in His image as rational, personal beings, there should be some resonance between His mind and ours.”

Something was stirring and resonating with my mind, and I believe it was God.  His thinking… His wisdom… His mind was at work within mine, and it felt like heavenly wisdom was coming down in the way the book of James was espousing.

Although Keller’s book is a bit slower to read, I have found myself being enthralled on my beach chair with theology, thinking, and practical brain exercises found within my bent and marked pages of “The Reason For God.”

Keller seems to capitalize on how our thoughts, questions, and ways are not God’s.  Most often, Keller points to the exact opposite of culture’s thinking to prove and understand God.  For example, some people believe Christian fanatics prove that there really is not a loving God at the center of all.  Fanatics have brutally pillaged and raped in the name of a purported God.  Keller would claim that those fanatical Christians are actually not fanatical enough.  They need to be even more fanatical!  They have not gone “all the way”past laws and legalism to get to the ultimate tenets of God such as grace, mercy, and love.  That’s some good thinking, I don’t care who you are.   And on and on Keller’s book unfolds in opposite thinking ways.  I really like that.

I really like how thinking and theology is making me hungry for God these past few days.  I want to know God’s thinking, and have the ability to explain it.  I want my brain cells to continue to be stirred like this.  I want the mind of Christ.  I want to stay at the big mansion next year on study break… but that probably just shoots all kinds of contradictory holes through this blog.  Sorry!

It really is an amazing thing to watch grown men on vacation working like they weren’t.   I’ve watched several dads setting up and draggin’ all the necessary beach paraphernalia for the family, but also pulling out a full-sized, Home Depot fresh shovel for themselves.  Apparently these are working vacations I’m seeing unfold.  Work is exactly what these dads did in building impressively detailed sand castles.  It was like the beach was dotted with competitive fathers doing their kids science projects, and each were made of sand.

Once a castle (or shark, snowman or mermaid carving) is completed, proud fathers retreat to their folding chairs to watch all those tourists covered in oil snap digital photos of these monuments of glory.  From a distance, each dad watches other people admire their work.  Is there really anything like a vacation to take you away from the stresses of… uh, work?

On an evening stroll, we saw a young mom and her boisterous son explore one of these labor intensive sand castles with their feet.  They climbed on top, and the construction fell apart.  From a secure distance I heard, “Hey, get off that!  That is just not right.  JERK!”  Apparently the creator was still guarding the castle, but the proximity was to aloof for any kind of real damage control.  We Scotts were literally caught in the middle of this enlightening exchange.  The mother and son saluted and quickly walked away.  The castle’s creator seemed to be gathering quick public opinion and forming a very weak counter attack of additionally anemic curse words.  My kids were wide-eyed and hoping this would become an even greater sermon illustration, but the whole thing just fizzled and washed away in the high tide.

Unmistakably, God was whispering to me this morning to guard my heart, for it is my castle — the wellspring of life.  A teacher, I was reminded through the book of James, will be held accountable to higher standards.  At the center of those holy standards are words, language, and speech.  Some pastors lull people to sleep with apathetic words.  Other leaders rob churches of hearing God’s Word because they use stolen, plagiarized words.  Teachers can be enemies of grace with legalistic words, and leadership explodes when God gives pastors visionary words.

What will come out of my mouth is a direct overflow from my heart.  And by nature of what I do, there are a lot of words that come flying out of my mouth one way or the other.  The Bible says when words are many, sin is not a absent.  Yikes, I’d better guard my castle.

I need to guard my heart.  Back in early May I took in a one-day conference.  The underlying theme of the day was “guard your heart.”  Michael Hyatt promptly reminded leaders:  1) Your heart is your authentic self;  2) Your heart is the most valuable leadership tool you have;  3) Your heart directly impacts your influence;  4) Your heart is either healthy or unhealthy;  5) Your heart is under constant attack.

My early morning walk with Lucy was good for my heart.  Our conversation got so cranked up, we walked past her condo and had to cycle back.  My ipod worship time enlarged my heart.  “Revolution Song” is even more powerful when cranked to “11″ and oceanside.  My study of James was personal and took me to several other passages throughout the Bible.  Like David Platt’s “Secret Church”, I began thinking about a six-hour crash course through James called “Hungry.”  Would anyone come?

After breakfast I set up for a day of reading Timothy Keller’s “The Reason For God.”  I picked this book as a personal soul builder tool.  I was anxious to see how this would help me guard my heart.  I just about closed up shop on Keller within the first 10 pages.  This is a theology book. THEEEEOLOGY ya’ll.  I was hoping for something a little more warm and fuzzy along the lines of a Chris Tomlin ipod serenade.  Nope.  This was straight up apologetics and theology.  This was turning into more of a working vacation than I intended.  I began digging with my shovel, and quickly looked to the last page of Keller’s supposed New York Times Bestseller.  310 was the glaring number stamped on the last page.  It’s never a good sign when you count the pages before you start.  I counted again once I was 10 pages in.  If I subtracted the index and end notes, I was down to  254.  However, the introduction I tediously read was 16 pages long, and weren’t counted as actual pages.  Ugh.

I like to read one book every two days on study break.  That’s a good pace for my processing.  “The Reason For God” will take me three days even without the index and end notes.  It’s a slower, more methodical read.  It’s theology, ya’ll.

It is a very good book.  There are some great points of theology and extremely practical apologetics that Keller makes relevant to our culture.  As I was underlining and marking, I was reminded how theology is an attempt at understanding God.  That’s good for my heart.  Studying gives me credentials as a pastor and workman of God.  That’s a really good heart thing.  Renewal and freshness of my thinking keeps my heart transformed and protected from some ugly patterns of the world (did you hear the one about a political Weiner?).

I reluctantly put down Keller, and went for a walk.   God had spoken, and there was some guarding of my castle going on.  I was processing one true religion, a good God allowing suffering, Christianity as a straitjacket, the church being responsible for injustice, and a loving God  attached to hell.  My heart and not just my head was full.  It was a Spirit AND truth thing in the way true worship is supposed to unfold.  In the end… I HAD guarded my heart by challenging my head with theology.  Theology has a way of guarding and enriching our hearts from a very close proximity.  Absolute truth practically applied is a great guardian of the heart.  The lack thereof allows for castles to be overthrown with only an unheard curse word to respond.

My study break strategy is a bit more strategic this year.   Most years I’m anxious to dive into the newest read on the latest and greatest church world tactical plan.  My first books attacked would normally stoke the fires attached to my role as church leader.  I would then sneak in a few days towards the tail end of my getaway to read something simply for my soul.

This year, I’m starting off with a couple books geared more towards my soul.  (Church Planter by Darrin Patrick, and The Reason For God by Tim Keller)  In keeping with an ocean theme, I hope these first books become filets for my hungry soul.    I finished up Patrick’s book this afternoon, and it proved to be a great gauge of my heart towards who I am as a man, how I approach the message of Jesus, and the mission I’m called to.  Ultimately, the Man is Jesus, the Message is Jesus, and the Mission is Jesus.  There’s nothing better than Jesus-centric stuff to be good food for my soul.

Towards the very end of Patirck’s book, thoughts were turned towards Jesus’ church.  This was a good thing, for I realized again how you can focus on the Church without regard to your soul, and be found ineffective.  You can also focus first on your soul being in the care of Jesus, and be even more prepared to lead His Church.  My strategy… God’s strategy… is working.

And then there’s this additional thought of fish and fishing.  Some are content for some breaded, land-locked Mrs. Paul’s on their plate.  Others will not touch a filet without it being fresh and recently pulled from the sea.  My son, Michael, will stick a small, hand held net in shallow waters to try and catch a fish.  When one brushes his feet, he jumps.  He was sure he saw a Tiger Shark in his ankle deep attempts.    Another more serious fisherman standing next to Michael cast a line into deeper waters, but remained on the shore with a spattering of pitifully small fish in a bucket.  A boat just 300 yards off the beach seems to take the fishing thing still further.  And late this afternoon, I saw a deep-sea boat headed out to waters where the safety of land becomes alien, but the possibilities are of whale-sized proportion.

I wondered why most prefer small nets or simple lines cast from the shore.  Was it a safety thing?  If you really want to fish, isn’t there some kind of calling that propels you to catch more and bigger fish in even deeper waters?

My calling is sure, and for that affirmation I’m moved and grateful.  I’m a teacher, leader, and vision caster.  That’s not meant to sound as arrogant as some may read.  It’s just  how God wired and placed me within His Bride, the Church.

Often it feels like I’m fishing too close to shore.  A small-minded focus on attendance and church success can be so consuming.  The message I carry of Jesus’ payment of our sin and cleansing from the stain of sin, however, is not a small thing.  The mission of compassion, care, and a church that reproduces unleashes forces more powerful than can be contained in any one church bucket.

So why do I insist on remaining safe on the shore with limited ability to catch anything but a spiritual sunburn?  It would seem with increased faith and years of walking with Jesus, there are deeper waters containing more risk and God’s glory than ever before.  My 42 year-old faith demands, it seems, greater action.  Not for salvation or approval, but because I need to live up to — not shrink back from — what God has done, who Jesus is, and what I’ve already attained.

Today has been good to renew my heart and increase my vision… exactly because of the man, message, and mission of Jesus.  My thinking has been too small.  I closed my day of study, prayer, and worship by owning, confessing, and repenting through Patrick’s concluding words:  “I begged God to renew my heart and mind with a vision for our city that was more like Christ’s.”

Ironically, I’m hungry for some fish at dinner tonight.  Will it be Mrs. Paul’s or something fresh off the pier and from the mysterious depths?  My preference would be a fresh filet for body and soul.

(ipod this morning was ringing of Gungor and Jesus Culture.  my Bible study is in James.  i rocked the ear buds with Adele later… i love “Rumor Has It”)

During the past year I’ve been emailing my beach friend Lucy. We even packaged up a Christmas gift to send south and continue building our friendship. Lucy has lived here in Sarasota since 1981. I believe, if my math is surprisingly working, that Lucy turned 86 this year.

This morning she was looking for me as she strolled up the beach around 6:30. She was walking more briskly than I remember, and without her walking sticks. I wasn’t sure if this was really Lucy heading my way. I sent up a tentative wave from about 50 yards away. Lucy reciprocated with a big smile. She had emailed earlier in May that she wanted to walk with me on the beach during this year’s study break. I quickly replied with our study break dates and confirmed her walking plan.

We walked to the sea wall and then back to the white sand in front of her property. We covered about a mile and a half, and I worked to make sure I wasn’t a deterrent to Lucy’s previously determined pace. Lucy is a wealth of history and traveled world culture stories. I couldn’t help but think how unique it has been to get to know this eclectic beach walker over the past few years. Our conversation seemed to lack the awkward pauses one might expect from a 35-year gap of generational differences.

After I made it back to my lonely chair and slipped on my ipod, it hit me that most of the early morning beach walkers seem to be “lifers” not unlike Miss Lucy. They were the lucky folks who were living their retirement beach dreams. Their addresses were etched in the crystal sands. They worked all their life for this. This is what the good life had afforded them. Leather skin, salty walks, and all the nasty tourists they can handle has become the much anticipated payoff.

I’m certain that’s not what God has called me to. This seemed to be affirmed in me when later in the day I floated by a young, newly wed couple doing that familiar two heads, one body, water-treading dance. I heard the confident husband say, “We should retire here before we hit 30.” An agreeing giggle was all I could hear through a crashing wave. This little stolen exchange was equivalent to my usual Starbucks eavesdropping, only wetter. With this one, however, something profoundly wrong was stuck in my water-logged crawl.

I don’t want to be livin’ the same dream when I’m sixty-five. Darrin Patrick has challenged my thinking with his book, “Church Planter.” Being a rescued, called, qualified, dependent, skilled, shepherding, and determined man demands such a better, more God-exalting ending. Do I end my life in a barely noticeable fizzle where grains of sand forget my very footsteps within hours of my demise? Or… do I allow God to continue to point my life and ministry in more radical ways that recognize the power of the resurrection, the preeminence of Jesus, and the desperation of 4.5 billion without Christ?

Don’t get me wrong. I love the beach. This is where I recharge. This is where I listen. This is where God will speak into me. This is where He’ll re-create me as He has faithfully done in years past. I always look forward to these concentrated, intentional times away to think, read, study, worship, pray, write, and reconnect with family. I’m grateful to have met such a wonderful lady as Lucy. This beach, though, is not my home, nor do I think it will ever be (much to the chagrin of Sherry). I can only hope that my good life will afford more people more of the gospel and more of me, the older I get. THAT would be livin’ the dream!