Best Laid Plans

On Tuesday morning I was ready.

I had studied the chapter of Living Water by Brother Yun. I had underlined key sentences and looked up relevant Bible passages. I spent time in prayer and contemplation.

I was ready.

And then I went to the study that I (loosely) lead. And after prayers as we were eating one of the guys had a comment about Twitter. And this lead to a discussion about social media and the impact on society and we talked about engaging people.

And we talked about how people of different ages are connecting in different ways. And forming relationships.

A couple of guys are kind of technically challenged. They would admit it. I was reminded how evangelism has changed as society has changed. Not the message of evangelism, not the goal of evangelism, but the tools that we use. Where in the 30's and 40's street evangelism was the norm, in the fifties it moved to radio and TV and then to outreach lunches and breakfasts and stadium events.

While God will still use any and all of these tools today, they are not always as effective as they once were. We have to find new and innovative ways to engage people and build relationships and tell them about our faith.

We didn't get to go over the study that I had planned to do, but I think that we got through the stuff that God wanted us to get through.

My plans are not always His plans. My ways are not always His ways.

But I do know that His plans and His ways are always way better than mine..

Tired

Been a long weekend. And I am tired.

Started on Thursday night when I reffed a couple of games on artificial turf in 80+ degree heat. Then work on Friday following with two games including a double overtime game that ended late in 80+ degree heat.

Then Saturday was two games at Heritage Soccer park in high humidity on the sloping field followed by mowing the lawn. I was wiped out.

But we had to practice for the benefit at Hope. So we spent some time doing that followed by loading the car. And then I couldn't sleep. Up until 2AM watching junk on TV.

Then I did sound at church and then off to Hope for the benefit.

So I am tired. But it is a satisfied tired.

The benefit was great. Lots of money was raised. Loralie sang very well. We saw old friends. Met some new ones. We heard stories of everyday miracles in the lives of friends of ours. I didn't stumble too much in what I was supposed to stay.

Ran a bit on adrenaline.

I realized that our participation was an offering.

And that it is enough...

Living Water: Hearing God's Voice

Chapter 13: Hearing God's Voice of Brother Yun's Living Water

Brother Yun says that his theology is simple. All we have to do is listen and obey.

All too often we Christians do not stop and listen to God.
We are too concerned with giving God our concerns and listing out our problems and not stopping long enough to listen for what God wants to tell us.

Our prayer becomes a one way conversation which is not a conversation at all, it is a speech. And that is not the way to communicate with the God of the universe.

Brother Yun also says in this chapter that the Christian who hears the Word and then does not go out and do it is deceived. Sobering thought.

The other point that really jumped out at me is that God does not often shout. And there is so much "noise" coming at us through the media, through the pace of life, through our world. And God whispers.

We have to be willing to hear, to get away and listen, be willing to shut out the world and hear what God is telling us. This is difficult.

As I drove away from this meeting I was totally convicted that I need to quit trying to please man and be more concerned with pleasing God. Even if the men I am trying to please are godly men (at least on the surface). That doesn't mean that I will go out of my way to irritate or turn people off, but instead it means that instead of caring what people may say or think of me, i need to care about what God thinks of me.

Time to be a God pleaser and not a man pleaser...

Yard

Last fall, I got tired of the weeds and bare spots in my yard. So I started following the instructions from a local lawn and garden center on taking care of the lawn.

I verticut the lawn, reseeded it, fertilized it and put down lime. I put winterizer down at the right time. I sharpened the mower blade. I made sure the leaves were up over winter. I put down preemergent and fertilizer at the right time. I sprayed for broad leaf weeds at the suggested time.

I even edged the lawn.

So by following the instructions, my lawn looks pretty good. Lush and dark green.

My yard isn't perfect though. Still have a pile of brush out back that I need to take care of in the corner of the yard. And there are still weeds and patches of spurge and henbit that haven't died off yet. And I know that the grubs are lurking and I will have to take care of them when the time is right.

I'm just reminded of how life is like my lawn. Far stretch you say?

You see: we have instructions. God wrote a book: the Bible. I can go my own way and try and do things the way I want to and ignore things and my life will get weedy and bare and parts will be neglected. Or I can follow the instructions and see dramatic improvement in a short time.

And when the time is right I will have to take care of that messy brush pile back in the corner and those pesky grubs lurking below the surface.

Going to take some effort and a several seasons to get the mess cleaned up...

Busy

Since Monday morning, I have reffed four high school soccer matches, prepared for a bible study, led a bible study, wrote an e-mail newsletter, done the laundry, mowed the lawn, trimmed the lawn, answered a bunch of music business e-mails, and done my day job - three times.

I haven't even had time to play any Half Life 2 on the XBox!

But I take comfort in that being this busy is just for a time, a season.

I know that the five hours of soccer a night will be over in mid to late May. And while I enjoy the reffing and interaction with the kids during the season (as well as the small amount of money that I get), I am sure glad when the season is over.

And I do try to keep some balance in my life by not reffing on Wednesday nights so that I can get caught up on all the stuff I can't do the rest of the week.

Unfortunately, Loralie sometimes feels like a soccer widow.

Especially when I have to leave before she gets up and get home about the time she is going to bed.

And that is never good...

Today

Today is Easter. Really different for us.

We went to church today at our daughter's new church that she just joined last Sunday. Our son was home for 24 hours from college and went with us. Lot's of people in attendance.

We go there early so that we could get a parking space.

I used the men's room prior to going into the sanctuary.

As I turned to wash my hands (yes, contrary to what some ladies may believe some men do wash their hands before leaving a rest room), I noticed a guy in a fairly distinctive shirt using a paper towel to wipe up the counter. Just getting it all nice and neat before he left. A little act of serving others.

Then once the service started there were three men and six women backing up the praise band in a sort of chorus. This guy was one of them (remember, he had a fairly distinctive shirt on).

As I reflected on this I came to the realization that I need to look for those little acts of servant hood. All too often it is about me and not others. And all too often, I miss those opportunities to show others just a little kindness, even if they don't know the kindness being done for them.

Amazing what one can learn on a trip to the men's room...

Reimagining Church

I just finished the book Reimagining Church by Frank Viola (no, not that Frank Viola for you fellow Twins fans). It might seem like it took a while (because it did) to those of you who have been following this. But I have been ready several other books at the same time.

Frank's central premise is that we need to move to a more organic church than the current model of the organized hierarchical pastor based model that currently exists throughout the United States. I couldn't agree more. Think of organic church as a house church.

But I am struggling with the radical solutions proposed by Frank.

Two things. One is that I fear the kind of intimacy that an organic church calls for from its members. Part of that is my Norwegian Lutheran stoic reserved heritage. Not that it is a bad thing, it is just a part of who I am.

The other thing, is that making the move to an organic church is a totally radical step. I have been steeped in the culture of being a "member" of a church. Of being a part of an organization. Of having "worship" planned out. Of having a liturgy.

So this all goes into the pot. Just as I am struggling with what to do about the organized, corporate church, I am struggling with where we go and who we gather to worship with. That is not elitist by the way. The who we gather to worship with should more accurately be phrased as to where are we supposed to be worshipping?

So the pot gets full of unanswered (for now) questions that go up to God and a look to the inspiration from the Holy Spirit as to the answers. It may be that this is a process of many small steps rather than a big leap.

I look forward tot he seeing what the answers are.

And I hope for the courage to follow through on those answers...

Easter Greetings

I sent this e-mail out to all those on our LL Songs mailing list and it is for you also:

Loralie and I wanted to wish you a blessed Easter this weekend.

Spring is a time of numerous new beginnings and fresh starts and nothing represents new beginnings like Easter weekend. Change is celebrated throughout the weekend. From Maunday Thursday (where the Last Supper is celebrated) to Good Friday (where Christ's death on the cross for our sins is observed) to Easter Sunday (where we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead) new beginnings are observed.

And this is an Easter of new beginnings for Loralie and myself. For the first time in around ten years Loralie won't be singing at the sunrise service on Easter morning. Our church eliminated the service this year. And with our daughter Ellen joining a new church and working strange shifts, we have decided to attend her church with her this Sunday. We will also be able to gather with Loralie's sisters on Sunday afternoon since they have both moved to Overland Park in the past year.

So this year, whether you are celebrating old traditions or creating new ones, we hope that you will keep in mind the true reason for this Easter season and have a safe, restful and peaceful weekend.

Thanks:

Eric & Loralie Tangen

Living Water: Vessels of Refreshment

A pivotal chapter in Brother Yun's book Living Water.

This is titled: Vessels of Refreshment. I was really amazed at the depth of the chapter.

The explosive growth of the church in China is explained through a sort of "power month" where every believer was asked to lead three people to Christ and each leader asked to bring five people to Christ between Christmas and New Years. Then they are supposed to disciple those people and train them to reach others. And they did it!

This is so foreign to our practices in the US. We want to be comfortable and not reach out of our comfort zone. Telling someone about Christ is scary since we want to be liked and not looked at as strange.

Brother Yun points out that before we can expect to see a revival in our nation, believers need to have a revival in our hearts. We tend to pray for revival and then ignore the work that needs to be done bring it about. Or we expect others to bring it about while we stand on the sidelines and cheer them on. Maybe write a check once in a while. Sanitizing our faith instead of living it out in a world that desperately needs us to be real and authentic.

We're going to look at the chapter more next week. Too much meat in this chapter for one week.

Mercy

Friday night I refereed at two high school girls soccer matches.

Both were Catholic high schools (not that it has anything to do with this).

One team is experienced, the other is playing its first season. In fact, this was their first game ever.

The Junior Varsity game ended at half 10-0. The Varsity game ended at half 10-0. The more experienced team won both games. This was due to the Mercy Rule: You have to play at least a half and the winning team has to be up by 10 (or more) goals.

In youth soccer there is no mercy rule. You take the licking. Not a lot of fun sometimes for anyone. I've seen teams run up the score on an over matched opponent and then have the coach justify it by saying it was done to them in a previous season by some other team.

It was obvious from the first few minutes of the JV game to everyone involved what the outcome was going to be of both games.

But as the Referee of the JV game I had to make sure that I worked harder than anyone else on the field to stay involved in the game and to call the game in a fair manner. Regardless of the outcome, it is important to someone on the field.

And I owe it to them to give it my best.

But I have to admit: it was nice to be done early...