Apology to my Russian Brothers and Sisters

It has come to my attention that in one of my not so recent posts I might have inadvertently offended some of my Russian brothers and sisters.

I will not use my warped sense of humor, nor my most sincere motives as an excuse for something that can cause unwarranted pain in another human being. There is enough pain in this world as is, and I have absolutely no desire to create or add to pain to the already inevitably painful human existence since we live in the world after The Fall.

My heart's hope and desire has always been (since I came to know Christ) and continues to be that I am an empty vessel fully surrender to God's loving hand so that the Spirit of Jesus Christ who lives in me (and all of those who receive Him) can have an unhindered way to pour His love, grace, truth and healing into anyone who is open to His gracious offer of forgiveness and life eternal.

Of course, like anyone else, I am very much a work-in-progress. I fail every day. I sin every day. I confess my sins and appropriate the cleansing afforded to us through Christ's death on the cross every day. I invite the Holy Spirit to fill me again and again many times throughout the day, because I am so stinkin' independent and bent on speeding through life guided by my own sense of values, priorities and often external pressures.

I also see the Lord using my failures and weaknesses (in addition to just the plain 'getting old') to slow me down, to 'force' me to turn to Him in prayer and to rely on the wisdom of His word and the gracious ways of His Spirit moment by moment, day by day in all my dealings with His world and the people I interact, both in real life and virtually.

All this to say, if God turned the most cataclysmic event in human history - the death of His Son - into a transforming power-house of eternal life, hope, salvation and wisdom for daily living poured into our lives, it is my prayer and earnest hope that this offense and my public acknowledgment and repentance would become a source of healing and hope not only for me and my Russian friends, but also for many others throughout the entire globe who read this blog.

Needless to say that my true and honest feelings toward all my Slavic brothers and sisters are so far from any off-hand, silly comments I might have made in a feeble attempt to be funny.

I LOVE my heritage. In a healthy way, I am proud of it and of all the peoples that belong to the wide river of Slavs both in general and in their specific groupings. I love our the deep passion for life, the extravagant capacity for suffering and ability to rise out of ashes like phoenix again and again. I love our dedication to reading, to history, to amazing hospitality and generosity (these are the areas I still need to grow in and develop!).

We love to argue and still be friends. We talk sex. We talk politics. We talk relationships. We talk RELIGION!!! We talk about things nobody else on earth dares talking about except under the strictly-regulated relationship of mental-health counselor and their client (paying, of course, a handsome fee every time - 50 minute session - for the privilege we, without a thought, freely and generously offer to each other over a drink in a local coffee shop!).

I believe this world would be much poorer, shallower, more superficial place if there was no Russia, and no wonderfully (and dangerously!) wild Slavs, for that matter, on the world map. I could say so much more but I hope this will suffice to articulate some of my thoughts and feelings towards my larger Slavic family. I hope these thoughts would be tiny footsteps towards greater intimacy in our relationship with the Lord who created all of us, and greater appreciation for the marvelous complexity of the global Body of Christ and the delightful world of variety we live in.

I am grateful in advance for the forgiveness I hope you will extend to me.

Most sincerely,

Your Writer and His

CopyCat 007 - Filial Relationships... The Many Faces of Love Part 1

With Friends Like This, Who Needs Enemies?!!!

If you haven't realized this already, let me spell it out for all of us:

Filial relationships are terribly complicated.

Some loves in our lives are agents of hate and suffocation.

Some hates are agents of true love and freedom.

Now, who in the world can figure this one out?!!!

Jesus, of course, has a word or two to say on such convoluted topic - not that His words help us clarify the issues, at least not at first sight. In fact, it seems like He makes it all the more confusing!

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I didn't come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' Matthew 10:34-36 NKJ

Jesus is not talking here about our usual, daily, fleshly, self-serving bickering and fighting with each other inside our households. Some level of fighting and disturbance of our 'precious' peace and comfort may actually be quite healthy for our spiritual growth and development. This is how children become adults. Without the wrestling and working through the process until the heart resolution is reached, people remain children, no matter how many years they have lived on this earth.

What He is talking about here are deeply embedded bonds of filial affection which run through the core of our being. These affections, if left unchecked, will eventually strangle the life out of us and ultimately destroy us:

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Matthew 10:37-38 NKJ

Before we could experience true freedom in Christ, we must face the suffocating grip of our most precious filial relationships - between parents and children; husband and wife; closest friends.

Who is my true friend? I often wonder.

This is too difficult for us to figure if we rely solely on what we see and hear, or even feel towards another person. In order to discern 'friends' from 'enemies' we need strict evaluation of the fruit the other person is bearing in our life - is it leading to life and more life, or is it going in the opposit direction. We also need the spiritual discernment the Holy Spirit gives to all who ask Him. For, things are rarely as they seem. But, the Lord God Almighty is never fooled by apearances, by the sham, by the facade. He sees right through them.

Where His gaze is fixed is on our heart and the fruit-bearing capacities of our lives empowered by His Holy Spirit. This is where the battle between good and evil is won or lost. Everything else flows from this wellspring of life or pit of darkness and death.

For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12 NKJ

CopyCat 007 - Filial Relationships... The Many Faces of Love Part 2

The Many Faces of Love Part 2

Could It Be that My Most Cherished Friend is Perhaps My Worst Enemy...?

As if exposing the suffocating aspect of out-of-bounds loving feelings wasn't complicated enough, Jesus comes to us with yet another blow to our smug self-satisfaction and false sense of security.

Listen carefully to Jesus' words in recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew 10:34-39:

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Huh?!!??

Let me clarify this again.

Huh?!!??Huh?!!??

I still clearly remember even though it happened more than a quarter of a century ago when I heard these words of Jesus spoken in my hearing for the first time. At the time, I was very young, very, very ambitious, quite educated atheist and beyond description proud of all my 'amazing' accomplishments which I have achieved by exertion of self-determination, impeccable work ethic I inherited from my parents and through exercising and developing my unique gifts and sense of calling on my life. I thought I was 'all that' and actually had a resume to prove it, if anybody dared question me. Nobody did. At least not until the day I heard Jesus speak, loud and clear, in my own mother tongue, through His Written Word.

My instant gut response to the outrageous claim He had made was,

Who do You think You are to make such outlandish claims?!!! No ONE on this Earth has the right to demand such wholehearted allegiance to him or herself!

I was miffed!

I don't think He really responded in words to my anger and outrage. His response was more like a gentle breeze, like a rumor of a mountain stream carrying a message of love, grace, truth and acceptance... Something like along the lines of...

Great question... good point... Let's work on it...

Work on it?!! What are you talking about?!!! There is nothing to work on! It's a YES-NO question. It's EITHER-OR. I offer no negotiation option to the enemy, whoever he may be.

I admit it - all my life, my youthful zeal has tended to haunt and harass me as my greatest weakness... But, as I am getting older and hopefully, wiser, I've also recognized that I can channel it in such a way that it becomes a wonderful strength. Surrendering not simply to the force of passion, but to the God who has woven is fearfully and magnificently inside our mother's wombs, the God who both gives us the passions and helps us master them by His Holy Spirit to His glory and praise.

"A man of too many friends comes to ruin,..." Proverbs 18:24a

Are you with me?

Copycat 007 - No Guts No Glory

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17,18

Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord
2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:1-13

Spiritual Formation for Dummies - Never despise the power of small things (especially if they are children of God)

Never ever underestimate the power of small, seemingly insignificant and irrelevant things - especially if you proclaim that they are important... like a useless activity such as prayer, or the boring, ineffective and non-sensical word of the Living God...

Note from the author: This post was originally published on March 19, 2012 under the tittle, I want patience and I want it RIGHT NOW, as a part of a larger series Whining Fast 101 that evolved into Spiritual Formation 101, now tweaked to Spiritual Formation for Dummies. I believe that the truths conveyed in these posts are so essential to our healthy spiritual growth and spiritual maturity in Christ that I have decided to repost the entries in sequential order, with heartfelt prayer that the Spirit of Jesus Christ would connect the dots for you and all God's children so that you would be strengthened in your heart, mind and spirit and we all would be empowered by Him to live godly lives of courageous faith and humble service amidst the adulterous, self-serving, wicked and perverse generation among whom we apear as lights. Keep in mind that this rotten, corrupt world is the very same world which Christ loved and sacrificed His life for it. We are His ambassadors.

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconcilliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.2 Corinthians 5:19-21

Now back to the Gardener from Outer Space and his first person singular Dummy...

I roll out of the truck hitting the pavement like a cannon ball. In the palm of his hand there are several individually labeled small plastic bags, each one containing seeds of a different kind.

You gotta be kidding me… I groan, … This is going to take FOR-E-VER! Why can’t we just go to Home Depot and get some of their ready-to-go, instantly blooming perennials…? , but he doesn’t seem to hear any of it, lost in a world all of his own.

He picks up a seed and looks at me,

You want a miracle…? Here’s a miracle, right in front of your nose.

It’s just a seed…

Yes, that’s what you see… but inside this seed… hidden… inside this tiny, lonely, easily ignored and trampled upon, seemingly insignificant seed, there is packed away an entire universe bursting with life, and energy, fruits and flowers and more seeds… ready to explode, creating more universes all around ...

For a few moments I forget to breathe, listening to him, transfixed, feeling I was awarded a front row seat featuring the Creation of the Universe…

But, before any of that can happen, he pauses as if remembering something, the little seed must fall into the ground… and die.

Die??? I gasp, choking on my own breath, suddenly transported back to reality.

Yep, he sighs simply, no other way. Sometimes I wish there were… but, from the way he sounds, I wonder if he might be talking about something else other than zucchini and tomatoes.

Unless the little seed is willing to lay down in the ground and die... He suddenly interrupts himself, and motions with his hand,

But, let’s get to work… I follow him slowly in a funeral procession for the bunch of little seeds. He turns my vegetable garden into a small burial plot for broccoli, squash, basil and cilantro and proceeds with the flowers… My face is so long it drags along the grass as I drag my feet behind. We make small signs and put them next to the neatly sown rows. For some reason, I feel like crying. How can something that's supposed to be happy and festive, a celebration of the crowning gardening activity - planting - turn into something so depressing and sad?!!!

What’s up? He lifts his head and looks at my morose body parts sprawled all across the lawn. I am a dirge incarnate. He shakes his head and bursts into laughter,

Cheer up, you silly goose… this is not about death… at least not all about death… This is about LIFE, real life… this death is just a passage into life … that is Life indeed.

Spiritual Formation for Dummies - National Planting Day!

Note from the author:  This post was originally published on March 16, 2012 as a part of a larger series Whining Fast 101 that evolved into Spiritual Formation 101, now tweaked to Spiritual Formation for Dummies.  I believe that the truths conveyed in this and subsequent posts are so essential to our healthy spiritual growth and spiritual maturity in Christ that I have decided to repost these entries in sequential order, with heartfelt prayer that the Spirit of Jesus Christ would connect the dots for you and all God's children so that you would be blessed and we all would be empowered by His Holy Spirit to live godly lives of courageous faith and humble service amidst the adulterous, self-serving, wicked and perverse generation among whom we apear as lights in the same world which Christ loved and sacrificed His life for it.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. Philippians 2:14-16

Now back to the Gardener from Outer Space and his first person singular Dummy...

I am so taken aback by his statement about insipid gardening that the next few days I just follow him around without asking any questions. We pick up broken branches, pull a weed here and a stray crocus there, he replaces the rotten wood and fixes the sagging backyard fence.

We always take a lunch break – after my seven-year long manure fast I find all my taste buds are wide awake and eager to celebrate food in all its flavors, textures and delightful varieties. He asks me to teach him some Serbian phrases, so I make him conjugate verb ishchachkati person, gender, number and tense and threaten to make him go through all seven declensions of the word komarac – singular and plural. We laugh together as he butchers the grammar and pronunciation of my mother tongue. He fails to convince me of the value of country music and we talk politics for hours without getting mad at each other. It feels as if my life has entered some kind of a time warp and I’m shocked to discover that I actually love it. I am getting used to his pace – he is always working, and yet never rushing and somehow always resting. Even though he doesn’t wear a watch, he just knows the right time… for everything. At first it’s really hard to wake up each morning not knowing every dot, ampersand and underscore of my day. But I am learning to wait on his cue. Sometimes they are as subtle as the truckload of manure dumped on my driveway. Other times it’s as loud as the footsteps on the St. Augustine grass.

One day he taps on the window and announces,

National Planting Day! I jump out of bed like a firecracker, decide I don’t need coffee and bolt out of the front door. This is the day I’ve been waiting for! In my book, the sole purpose of gardening is summarized in one word – planting. I hop onto the passenger seat of his white truck and wait for him to fire up the engine. Field-trip to my favorite place on planet Earth – Home Depot!

What are you doing there? He asks, and clarifies it with another question,

Where do you think you are going? I look at him through the rolled-down window, thoroughly confused.
What do you mean, ‘where do you think you are going’? You said it’s the National Planting Day…

Soooo…

Well, we need things to plant. I am getting a little impatient. When I want to plant something, I go to the place where miracles happen every day, THE amazing miracle factory - our neighborhood Home Depot!

He shakes his head and if I didn’t know him, I would think he thinks I am hopeless.

We don’t need to go to Home Depot. We already have everything we need to make your garden a place ‘where miracles happen every day’ – I can’t tell whether he is mocking me or not - right here. With that, he taps his denim shirt pocket.

I squint, still firmly planted in the passenger seat of his white truck, half-expecting to see the blooming perennials in his front pocket.