Boot Camp

This week I am attending my organization’s annual conference.  It has been a great time of learning, fellowship, and growth.  I have heard so many wise words from people I truly respect.  I know that I will be chewing on the meaty content they provided for many weeks to come.  Right now I want to take a moment to process one of the lesson that was shared at the beginning of the week.  

One of our speakers, Charlene, taught about growth through the concept of boot camp.  Growing up in Dad is like attending military boot camp. You cannot attend boot camp and not expect to be pushed to your limits, expanded, challenged, and ultimately rewarded. Blood, sweat, pain and tears are expected when you enlist.  However, there is this misconception in the church that when we follow Him we are exempt from pain.  There is a pervasive lie that if you are following Him and being obedient, believers will be spared pain. That is just untrue and not found in Scripture. Because of this lie we have unintentionally turned the natural process of growing up in Him to be a sign of failure.  Instead of coming beside our fellow boot camp comrades and encouraging them as they grow to become more like Him, we silently (or worse outwardly) judge people for being processed into His image. 

Like in basic training, maturing in Dad is also a bonding experience.  When you have hardships and rely on Sisters and Brothers, your relationship is deepened.  There is a critical piece of community that is missing when we do not support those around us who are growing.  When we judge those who are currently learning a lesson that we have “mastered”, we are harming the imago dei in them and ourselves.  We cannot forget the pain that comes during the growth process or we judge those who are still learning lessons we have learned and are not supporting them like we are called to do.

Charlene took the boot camp analogy one step further.  After basic training, each of us are then enrolled into Navy Seal training for specialized training in different areas.  All SEAL’s go through a few weeks of training together and then they have training in their specialty.  Likewise, each person receives highly specialized training in a specific area that the Father really needs them to become a world-class specialist at. Charlene runs multiple businesses and has had many years learning money management principles.  Everyone needs to learn to manage their money wisely, but since not everyone is called to be a professional businessperson the lesson is not as extensive as was for Charlene.  She reiterated that we need to support whatever lesson our sisters and brothers are learning.  Support people learning a lesson you might have already learned and celebrate the fact that their lessons seems harder than mine because that means that Dad is raising them up to be a powerful influence in that area.  

This word has been very challenging and freeing for me.  I cannot compare my growth journey to those around me.  I am in an individualized booth camp and SEAL training that will turn me into the person that He created me to be.  My lessons will look different from those around me because He is calling me to something unique.  As a leader this word was also very convicting.  If I judge those I am leading for “being stuck” or wish they would “just get over this” particular lesson, I am not being supportive of the work that Dad is doing in their life.  I need to celebrate each lesson that people are going through.  It is my job to encourage them to press into the lesson, to remind them that they are uniquely called and that this lessons is desperately needed for them to bring change and light to the world.  

It seems so simple but yet is incredibly profound.  I pray that I will be able to celebrate lessons and boot camp in a new way this year.

The Human Condition

22 million people, 8 million cars, and immeasurable numbers of buses, cyclists, and pedestrians.  To say that this city has a traffic problem is a gross understatement.

No one is their best self when stuck in a traffic jam after a long day at work. Knowing this fact in my head has not helped my attitude.  I have found myself easily frustrated with the sheer amount of people on the road.  I have found myself judging traffic patterns, saying things like: "This would never happen in America.....if everyone would follow the rules we would move quicker......why do people always do that?"  Without meaning to I was judging a culture and people I love so much.  I was comparing my new culture to the one I grew up with, focusing on the negatives.

One day when I was riding my bike to language school and grumbling to myself about bad drivers and how no one actually stops at the lights, He gently whispered one word to me: selfishness.  Every single human being is selfish and is only looking out for their own good, myself included.  People are born selfish.  Parents do not need to teach their children how to look out for themselves, focus on their own interests.  It's the opposite.  Parents exert a tremendous amount of energy teaching their children to set aside their own interests and consider other's.

I do not even want to know the number of times a day I only consider my own interests.  He knows that number, which is way too high, and He uses my grumbling to highlight an area that I really need to grow in.  He gave me a supernatural glimpse into traffic and then called me to be less selfish. Now, anytime I see a bad traffic situation or someone running a light, I am reminded that I need to be less selfish and that my actions effect other people.  A crowded bus is a call to live out the Fruit of the S.  I always need to be showing people more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control.