Grace Allowance

Ephesians 7 reads "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" When I consider Grace, I initially envision a soft, caring, supportive, encouraging, merciful image in my mind. According to Webster's, grace is "unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification"—additionally defines riches as "things that make one rich : wealth"—then, wealth as "abundant supply".

To yesterday's posting where I thought about the Grace for the moment vs. the future, I am encouraged to know that there is an abundant supply and that this is something we can receive without our merit. And that this is intended for regeneration and sanctification—to rebuild us and change us.

A while back I wrote about allowing for change (http://rickfossum.blogspot.com/2010/03/allowing-change.html) and how we, or those around us, respond when change in ourselves or others occurs. As God provides grace for the moment, we should all in turn should do the same.

Its been said that "one man's garbage is another man's treasure". I suppose this means that we all should consider what we consider garbage or riches.

Nearly Graced

A friend of mine whom has a child facing a degenerative disease was encouraged with this statement. "God provides grace for the moment. Not for our imagination".

God won't waste his Grace on our worry. He is asking us to live each moment—utterly trusting and resting in Him. As our mind gets active, and worry or concern sets in, our focus is elsewhere, and God doesn't tolerate elsewhere very well—nor will He Grace it.

Moving Things Along

My wife and I started a new study series at our church yesterday. Its in a classroom setting. Lots of chairs facing the front. A guy standing at a small podium in front of a whiteboard. There was a handout which had the guy up front's name and had his title as "facilitator". Not teacher, or leader. He's not standing up there teaching us, reading from his script. Just ensuring that things move along. And that there is some structure towards an end game.

I am a designer. People are salesmen, mechanics, housewives, teachers, students. I think I'd rather my vocation, or even a non-professional moniker be "facilitator". Perhaps we should all move ourselves to be facilitators. Folks who ensure that things are moving along with some sort of structure. Providing some sort of cross-pollination throughout our lives that has us assisting the process of thought, word and deed*.

I think often times I/we can see our "time at the podium" as a time to lead, teach or make our mark. And we don't see opportunities for facilitation. If we could all be so in tune to recognize cross-pollination or facilitation opportunities—particularly when action is required—maybe we'd lead more robust lives and impact more people.


*Of course that which is facilitated towards could be positive or negative.

Something Out of Nothing

I am in my minivan driving my second born to school today and, as we pass by a neighbors house, he shares: "Yesterday, my friend and I were bored so we went by Miss Clemmie's house, knocked on her door, and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her.". Are you kidding me?! Who does this?!

Miss Clemmie is a recently widowed woman of 70 or so. A real sweetheart who bakes a mean cake. In James 1:27, we are called to "look after orphans and widows". I asked my son if she liked it. He said she did.

I wish I were more like this. Climbing out of repetition and boredom to sing a song to someone. Not necessarily literally—though that would be cool—but creating something out of nothing. To make a moment—to make a mark.

Everyone's a Critic

For the life of me, I can't remember who stated it last week, but I was struck enough to take notes on my smart phone—Create vs. Critique. It is all too easy to have an opinion, or share what you believe is right or wrong with a situation vs. doing something about it.

• Critiquing is easy. Creation takes effort.
• Critiquing is all too often the default response. Creation takes consideration.
• Critiquing is typically negative. Creation searches for opportunity.
• Critiquing is drop and run. Creation is investment.

Clearly I am/can be/have been quite a critic. Somebody says or does something that I don't care for and I'll quickly point out my disagreement. Nothing wrong with disagreement, but is there an opportunity to take action—to do something about it? Here, I know I fall short...most of the time.

I critique my kids, my wife, my colleagues, my clients, my friends, my enemies, my church, my television, all sources of opinion and simply that which occurs while I am awake. I believe most of us don't take advantage of the our opportunities to create something. What would happen if we did?

What Do YOU Want?

I had the opportunity to spend last Thursday and Friday at Catalyst (www.catalystspace.com). A two-day Church/Christian leadership event. And what an event it was! Highly creative, Highly introspective, Highly motivating, Highly informative, Highly inspirational, and now I am Highly confused. Not in a bad sense, but in a "what do I do with all of this" sense. I took pages and pages of notes which will take time to digest and meditate upon.

Now I am the type of person that can easily be swayed into a "Yes! What he said! Let's go for it—let's do it!" reaction. My Sr. Pastor, Crawford Lorrits, recently tweeted that "the difference between reaction and response is listening".

So, instead of packing it all up and moving to Africa to feed the orphans (though who knows what the future holds), I need to take the time to actively and patiently listen—spend time in God's Word—and figure out what He wants me to do with all of this. Clearly, there are some things certain: My responsibilities as a husband and father. But after that, who knows? Needless to say, I am challenged.

Anyway, more to come blogwise I am sure...

Social Medium

So I wanted to tweet that the Donald Miller "Blue Like Jazz" movie is actually gonna be made due to the donations of many, and not a studio's funding. Then I asked myself "why?". Was it just to tweet? To let folks know that I was aware? To acknowledge that I was a donor?

This Twitter/Facebook thing is perhaps the most narcissistic medium ever. Yet, what about a blog?

Waiting Room

It's been said in sports that a good defense beats a good offense. Perhaps their is no better defense than patience. Sometimes sitting back, quietly and patiently, and taking what could be perceived as a loss can prove victorious. Particularly in the area of parenting.

I recall coming home for a first break from college,I sat at the dinner table with the family and ranted about something or other as if I, a seasoned college student and young adult, had all the answers—had life figured out. I am sure that my folks sat there, quietly, and thought (perhaps shared between the two of them later that evening) he'll see. Dictionary.com defines a patient as a "person or thing that undergoes an action". As a parent, we often undergo a lot of actions.

Now I am a talker, and oftentimes find it difficult to sit quietly. You know, Fire, Ready, Aim. Certainly patience is a virtue both inside and outside of parenthood. Oftentimes in many personal and professional instances, I wish I would undergo more actions without worry, voicing an opinion, or reaction.

Proverbs 19:11 states "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense."

Yes, patience is for sure a virtue. And it matures with age. Use it or lose it.

But Why?

My first born has quite the propensity to ask "why". If I ask him to stop doing something—why?. If I ask him start doing something—why?. It can be a series of whys that builds and builds to a potential boiling point on occasion. He may want to skip out on the task at hand, but the boy is also just a curious cat. Sometimes I have to remind myself of this in order to turn the boiling down to the general household simmer. Occasionally I pull out a "because I said so". Which, in my opinion, should be enough. Unfortunately, we don't always see eye to eye on that rationale.

But what about us. Do we ask ourselves "why?".* What are the motives behind what we say and do. Do we truly examine our thoughts, our actions and what directs or influences us. I am not talking blue or white socks, but more like "why did I just say that?". "Why did I just think that?". What are our motives. Are we self aware enough to know this? And when we do examine the motives, are we happy with that which has motivated us?

When I do consider my "why", all to often it can be "because I say/think/did so", or "because I felt like it", and not truly understanding or considering my influences, which tend to lean towards the selfish nature. I need to take more time to ask the "why" in my life.



* I'm not talking child/parent dialogue about cleaning a room, here. But a broader scope of decision making, commenting, and a general living out of things.