Recently, I shared on the blog about the development and genesis of our upcoming Crash series, What a Waste: A Series on Suffering.

For me, this series is an example of God speaking in an undeniable way.

In 2008, a friend recommended a DVD of a talk by a favorite author of mine, Donald Miller.  Don was teaching on the role of story in our lives and how story provides a framework for understanding meaning and purpose.  The Scriptures validate this, from Don’s perspective.  I was moved by the DVD and went on to purchase Don’s newest book, which explores this concept, entitled, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  I went to see Don speak on his book tour this past fall.   Don’s discussion of CONFLICT in our life story has challenged me to rethink some things.

For some time, I have been following the work of Rob Bell, a pastor and author from Michigan.  This past fall, Rob released his latest book, Drops Like Stars.  The book was a fairly quick read, but its theme of SUFFERING providing a context for art and creativity intrigued me.  I have been chewing on it ever since and am excited to see Bell speak in Tempe next weekend.

When I was in college, a friend recommended that when I encountered someone who moved, inspired, or intrigued me, to explore the people who did the same thing for them.  I followed this advice for the previous two people and others and found a common spark: the author and screenwriter Steven Pressfield.  The Pressfield book that produced the most buzz among these people was entitled The War of Art.  In this book, Pressfield outlines his thesis that RESISTANCE stops all artists from creating their work and that pushing through the RESISTANCE is necessary to do what you were created to do.

Finally, I applied the “who inspired them?” principle in late 2008 to some other mentors-at-a-distance and discovered the blog of Seth Godin.  I have been reading Godin’s daily musings ever since, even reading two of his books.  However, recently a friend of mine got a pre-release copy of newest book, Linchpin.  I started getting texts from my friend.  ”You HAVE to read this book.”  ”I was just reading Linchpin and he is totally writing about you.”  So, when my friend got a chance, she passed the book to me and I spent about three weeks moving through it, finishing it last weekend during a trip to Sedona.  Godin’s chapter on RESTISTANCE (he and Pressfield are friends) included a discussion of what he refers to the LIZARD BRAIN, which Godin cites as the source for the FEAR and full-court press we experience mentally and otherwise when we begin to move in a new direction or launch a new project.

So, as I said in my earlier blog, “Ok God, I get it!”  And I thought I did.  Yet, as I was working on my talk for this upcoming Sunday both yesterday and today, I realized that I was growing more and more scared, easily distracted, fighting for control and safety, and struggling to accept this unwanted season and experience.   I stared at my computer screen, wondering, “What will others think?  How will they respond?  Who will I get in trouble with?”  Now, I realize these questions may not be rational, logical, or realistic.  But those realities do not invalidate my experience or emotions.

These conversations I am having (that Maxie and I and others hope to spark through Crash services starting this Sunday) are ones where I think I have a theoretical grasp on certain things, but I am just beginning to know by experience. And honestly, I don’t know them completely.  I am scared to teach things that I haven’t lived fully.  Yet, more than any other message or series we have done since June 2006, I am confident this is where God is leading us and I am here, ready to share what He is showing me and to create a space where people can…

Well, let me put it this way.  God is using Crash to transform people.  While discussing how this is happening in the life of one specific person who is a part of that community, one of my friends put it this way when describing her friend.  “She is going to be okay, but she is opening up about some tough life experiences. This is one more example of the CRASH community giving people a place to face life and heal. This IS church.”

Snakes.  I hate snakes! Like Harrison Ford in Egypt in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  I loathe that scene every time.

I am currently reading Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin.  In a section I read last night, Godin speaks about the power of fear in our lives, especially as we are creating the things our talents, giftedness, and skills produce.  The things we know we must do or some part of us will die or resign ourselves to less than the life we were created to live.

Fear has the power to lead you to throw away that letter or book or song you were writing, that program you were creating, that business plan you were constructing, or that elaborate gift you were dreaming.  So many times, we stop before finishing or abandon before completing because we are afraid of the consequences of what Godin refers to as “shipping”.  Shipping means mailing that letter, performing that song, presenting that plan, selling that program or giving that gift.  Doing that thing that produces the most fear in you.  (Godin would say do what makes you most afraid because fear is an indicator of what you were created to do).

There are always factors we cannot plan for.  We never know enough to be 100% certain.  Every big decision involves risk. And many times, we fudge the truth and shift the blame to some random factor, when we refuse to come to terms with our FEAR.

Fear wins when we don’t do it. When we throw it away.  When we pull back. When we settle. When we waste that opportunity and play it safe.  We must accept that “everything we do is draft.” There are no final drafts in life. Everything is a work in progress and if we insist that rough draft 5 and 6 must come in everything, we will never actually submit a final version of anything.  Fear wants us to continually revise and revisit and tweak, when we simply need to ship it and make changes as we go.

What does all of this mean?  For me, at least, I am pushing fear back by doing things I was afraid of.  I am “shipping” even when I am afraid and unsure.  I am taking steps that I was uncomfortable with six months ago.

How about you?

What are you afraid of?

What’s one difference between a good talk  and a bad talk?  Well, the Facebook status updates of the people who listened is one good indicator.  The title of this post made it on the status of one college student who engaged Maxie’s Crash talk last night on “What is church?” – we are a bunch of crackpots doing an awkward dance.

Speaking from 2 Corinthians 4:6-12 (which is where the “crackpots” idea comes from), Maxie shared about how fundamentally the church is a community of clay people, created by and for Jesus.

Like previous talks in this series on Prayer and Scripture, Maxie shared that the church’s focus must zoom in on transformation.

A few specific thoughts from the talk:

-When church becomes an ideal, it’s purpose is to meet my needs all the time or I check out.

-When church becomes an institution, I exist to meet it’s needs and maintain it’s existence or I get someone to do that for me.

-When church becomes a community, I become a part of a people that are for me, but not about me.  The community becomes a place for me, but it is not about me.

-(when describing our interaction with one another) It is kind of like an awkward dance.  It’s one thing to get your groove thing on by yourself on a dance floor with lots of other people amidst loud music…it’s a completely different thing to learn to do a waltz with someone else.”

-Being a community of clay people, created by and for Jesus, looks like belonging, openness, celebration, and healing/growth.

-Belonging looks like “you love and accept me for who I am.”  But love opens both of us up to be disappointed.

-We must stay vulnerable, humble, and compassionate because our natural tendency is not openness, but to close in on ourselves.

-The church is often really good at standards and expectations, not often so good at celebrating stories of transformation and real change.

-Church as community happens when wounded people stop hiding or pretending or attempting to impress.  At some point, the choice becomes, “do you want to hide or do you want to be healed?”

-You don’t get healed on your own. (This is why it is important to read Scripture and pray together because these practices open us up to another, ending our hiding and making healing possible).

Maxie read from a new paraphrase that we have been using occasionally at Crash.  It is called the Voice, and the New Testament is only available at this point.  It is the product of Biblical scholars, artists, and poets, and we feel it is a great addition to your library and set of study tools.  Amazon has a copy here for a bargain price of $7.20 (plus shipping and tax).

Remember, next Sunday night, we will not be meeting at Bethany Home and Central, but at four homes for Super Bowl viewing parties.  You can get more info on these parties by emailing love@rhinocrash.org.  And we launch a new series (taking us to Easter) on Sunday, February 14th, which you can get more info on here.