I heard a story Thursday while at the Faith and Work seminar in Denver. I didn’t catch all the details because I have a hearing deficit and even with hearing aids, the sound in the building wasn’t all that clear for me. But here’s what I picked up:

A guy had the same job in the same place for 43 years. When asked if he was passionate about his work, he replied, “I drove a Pepsi delivery truck! No, I wasn’t passionate about that, but the job provided well for me and my family.

Contrary to some current wisdom in the U.S. that people should only work at what they are passionate about, this is an ideal that’s not always possible. Some work needs to be done, and somebody needs to do it. Moreover, if this guy was a believer, and I presume he was because of the context in which the story was told, he had opportunity during those 43 years to serve his clients and co-workers in the name and spirit of Jesus. 

Some people are blessed to be able to find work that suits them and about which they are passionate. Bill Gates comes to mind! But most of us just get to be where we are, doing what we’re doing. I love what people like Bill Gates, his predecessors, and others like him built. It makes possible what I’m doing right now (writing this blog!). But I also admire the faithfulness of a guy who provides for his family by driving a Pepsi truck for 43 years. I know people whose stories I won’t tell here who refuse to work because they haven’t found “the right fit.” 

And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there…Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side. (1 Corinthians 7.17, 24, MSG)

Thursday I had a decision to make. Not an earth-shaking one, to be sure, but a decision, nonetheless. I had planned to go to Denver for an event featuring my friends Neil Hudson, from England and his U.S. representative Chris Lake, who lives in Boston. I don’t see them often. But we had 8 inches of snow at my house the night before!

It took me nearly two hours to clear my driveway, and by the time I was ready to go, it was 11a. The event ran only from 9 – 2, and I knew Neil would be last on the schedule, so I could get there before his talk and in time for lunch, which I assumed was noonish. But I was tired from shoveling. What to do? In the absence of clear direction, I opted for action over inaction!

I went, and I’m glad I did. I was able to connect with Neil and Chris, put a copy of my book The Disciple’s Work into the hands of the event organizer, Brian Gray of the Denver Institute for Faith and Work, and even touch base with a pastor friend who had moved from Monument to the Denver area.

Here’s my main takeaway: I was reminded of Neil’s definition of a disciple:

Disciples are learning to live the way of Jesus in their context at this moment.

Discipleship is not what we do in the classroom or small group. It’s how we live real life in the places God has put us, what Neil calls our “frontlines,” and the church should be equipping people with that mission in mind.

The host church was showing us what it does on its frontline. In contrast to the church I wrote about in late September which has a No Trespassing sign on its doors, this church, also located in an older part of Denver near three marijuana dispensaries and a liquor store, displays this sign.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, NKJV)

I had just a quick lesson and illustration in living by faith. Tuesday I drove out to rural Bailey, Colorado, to do a math lecture at Platte Canyon High School. No sweat. I just plugged it into my phone’s GPS and away I went. I know where Bailey is, southwest out of Denver on US 285. Everything was fine until I realized I had passed Bailey, the GPS said I had 3 miles to go, and there was nothing.

Nothing to do but press on, at least as far as GPS said to go…and there it was, as advertised! Thank you, Lord!

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3.5, 6, NKJV)

Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left. (Isaiah 30.21, NKJV)

Nothing has caused more division in the church than that which was supposed to bring us together. – A frustrated pastor reflecting on the difficulty of running a Communion service that suits everyone.

I was reading Mark 14 a few days ago and came upon the passage describing the first communion:

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14.22 – 25, ESV)

I couldn’t enjoy reading it for thinking of all the ways different traditions celebrate it, and I said to myself, “My being distracted by worrying about all the traditions isn’t right!” And the Lord seemed to say to me:

Jesus’ death on the cross to take away your sin is more important than the way you choose to celebrate it.

I find that thought liberating! The point is not the ceremony, the ritual. The point is the reality the ritual represents. I shared my new discovery with a friend who is a Catholic priest. He agreed, drawing the analogy to a beautiful building, newly constructed, still with the scaffolding in place. And people are more interested in the scaffolding than the building!

Reflecting on the “caused more division” quote I started this blog with, the priest said, “What causes the division and the barriers between people is a focus on the idea that my way is right, and yours is wrong.”

Here’s the reality:

Who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness. (1 Peter 2.24, NKJV)

Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3.18, NKJV)

In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Ephesians 1.7, NKJV)

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15.3, 4, NKJV)

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. (1 Corinthians 11.26, NKJV)

Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing–a well-known quotation in sports attributed to UCLA Bruins football coach Red Sanders back in 1950, often quoted by legendary Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi.

I’m not a Yankees fan, having a father who once pitched in the New York Giants farm system, so we were National League fans back in the simpler days when there were only eight teams in each league. The league winners played in the World Series, which was over in early October. Now there are 15 teams in each league, and to get to the World Series, you have to make the playoffs and then win two playoff series. The World Series starts in late October. The Yankees came up a bit short this year, losing their second playoff series to the Astros in six games.

The Yankees now consider this season “a failure” because they didn’t win the World Series. And it’s the first calendar decade ever that the Yankees didn’t even appear in the World Series.

It’s the “failure” assessment that bothers me. What’s the balance between a strong desire to win and seeing the season as a failure if you don’t? It’s like Alabama’s reaction to Clemson’s winning the national championship after the 2016 season. “Clemson took something away from us.” No, it wasn’t yours to begin with. 

In life, have Bill and Melinda Gates failed if they haven’t eradicated polio or provided sanitation for all? Or is it OK to make progress? There’s the well-known starfish story where the kid is on the beach where thousands of starfish have been stranded. He’s picking up starfish and throwing them into the ocean when someone comes by and says, “What are you doing? You can’t save all those starfish! You can’t make a real difference! In response, the kid picks up another starfish, throws it into the ocean and says, “I made a difference for that one!”

Jesus chose 12 and lost 1. Here we are 2000 years later, and the world is still not completely reconciled to him. But it will be someday, and maybe in the meantime, all victories are partial. After all, when a team wins the championship, the first thing they talk about is doing it again next year. So for some people and teams, winning is never enough. And there’s only one contest worth winning anyway!

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, MSG)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, NIV)

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. (Hebrews 2.9, ESV)

I just want to share a happy surprise we gave ourselves last week…

The story starts with our record collection we’ve had from the early days of marriage. We used to listen to them, first on a console record player (remember those?) and then a component system. At some point, the turntable quit working, and there we were with records and no way to play them.

Of course, by that time we had CDs, but we kept some of the records, moving them at least three times. I bought equipment to digitize them, but it didn’t work. So there they sat. Most recently, they were living in a cabinet in the garage until I rearranged and had no room for them. I was going to give them away; after all, it had been over 20 years since we’d listened to them.

But as I was sorting them to donate or give to a friend or whatever, I kept finding records I didn’t want to get rid of! At the same time, June was looking at a catalog and found…wait for it…a portable record player! We said, “Why not? Instead of trying to digitize the records, why not just listen to them!”

So the little record player arrived, and we played a few tracks of music that took us back to the early years of our marriage. June said, “I feel like I’ve been to another world!”

Now the records and the little record player fit neatly onto a shelf in the den and occupy the corner of a small table when in use.

Is there a point? I’m not sure except sometimes the simplest solutions are the best, and God graciously gives us unexpected joys! Also, music is powerful. Gary Jansen, writing in Microshifts, says:

When my wife and I are feeling lethargic or down, we’ll hit the road for an hour in a car and just listen to our favorite upbeat music. It’s enough to inspire and press reset on a dull day.

And we forget that the ability to listen to music on any medium has been around only since 1877 when Edison invented the phonograph.

…God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6.17, ESV)

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. (James 1.17, MSG)

Psalm 150:3-6 (ESV)
3  Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
4  Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
5  Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

June and I have been on the quarterly rotation for “coffee host” at our church which involves preparing snacks and making coffee for the before and after fellowship. In the past, we have always been paired with someone who knew how to make the coffee…until today, and I was in charge of making 5 pots of something I don’t even drink!

I’ve been briefed, and I knew there were written instructions, but I’ve never before today taken the first action. So I got through it, but not without the following errors:

• The pot of hot water and the first pot of coffee were only half pots since I didn’t see the “full/half” buttons until the third pot, and the system was set on “half.” (Yes the coffee was too strong, I’m sure, with the full amount of coffee in half a pot of water, but I rectified my mistake before anyone drank it!)
• The coffee they intended for us to use was in red containers in the cabinet I didn’t look in. I found coffee in the original bags in another cabinet.

As I say, I made the coffee, no one complained, and the last thing I did before leaving the church was brief the person who was going to be making coffee next week! I showed her the instructions, told her where the red containers were, and pointed out the full/half buttons. 

The lesson? We learn only by doing, and it’s OK to let someone do before they are ready. That’s part of the training. At 8:30 a.m., I had little idea what I was doing, and at noon, I was briefing my replacement!

Jesus sent out the 12 long before they were ready (Matthew 10). The woman at the well invited the townspeople to hear Jesus (John 4), and Jesus sent out the formerly demon-possessed guy to tell his story (Mark 5), both with no training. 

I believe in training. Training is a foundational part of our ministry. But let’s not let be too slow turning them loose! If I can make coffee on minimum training, anything is possible.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles…Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8.1…4, ESV, and I bet their training wasn’t finished!)

Ellen Degeneres has a lesson for us. Yes, that Ellen Degeneres, gay, Hollywood liberal (by her own definition). If you haven’t heard, she went to a Dallas Cowboys game back on October 6 at the invitation of the daughter of owner Jerry Jones. She sat in his luxury suite with, among other people, George and Laura Bush. For that, she took criticism from those in her tribe: “How could you sit with a Republican president?” Reminds me of the reaction that Peter got upon returning to Jerusalem after his God-directed visit to the Roman Centurion Cornelius:

So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” (Acts 11.2, 3, ESV)

Her response is worth watching, especially for the bottom line:

When I say, be kind to one another, I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean, be kind to everyone.

I wrote yesterday that we who follow Jesus need to be known by something other than what we’re against. We should be known by our kindness as was the dry cleaner I wrote about last week. We should be characterized by Holy Moments. We should have friends with whom we don’t completely agree. Ellen has given us a good example.

[Jesus said, ] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5.43 – 47, ESV)

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Romans 12.17, 18, ESV)

The kindness of God leads to repentance. (Romans 2.4, ESV)

The fruit of the Spirit is…kindness… (Galatians 5.22)

We’ve been studying Galatians, and a central question is, “What makes us different?” Or, “What should believers be known for?” In the early days of the church, the Jewish believers thought Christians should be known by the Jewish marks of identity: diet, circumcision, etc. In our day, some of us were raised in systems where Christians were known for what they didn’t do.

Once I spoke three times at a church in Estes Park: Thursday night and twice on Sunday. To illustrate the kind of legalism I grew up with, I mentioned one prohibition: regular playing cards were out, Rook cards were OK. After each service, someone came up to me and said, “I’ll bet you were raised in __________ church.” All three named churches were different, and none was the tradition I came from! So there’s a lot of legalism going around, apparently.

The weird thing is that the scriptures are clear in what we should be known for:

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58.6, 7, NIV)

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6.8, ESV)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13.34, 35, ESV)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5.6, ESV)

Yesterday I shared my difficulty of seeing something fairly apparent in last week’s Wall Street Journal Friday crossword contest. In addition to yesterday’s application of our potential to miss important things that are right in front of us, there’s an implication for teachers.

We have a saying in the Soifer Mathematical Olympiad, which I have written about before.

The solution is easy to see, especially right after you’ve seen it.

But before you see it, it might not be so easy to see! Just like my volcanos yesterday. It’s right there in front of you! Can’t you see it?

The same is true when we’re discipling someone. What’s perfectly obvious to us may not be so obvious to the new disciple. For example, a lot of Navigator materials pose the question: “How many generations of disciples are in 2 Timothy 2.2?”

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (NIV)

I have learned that a lot of people have trouble with that question. And I am learning (I hope!) to be patient with them. (By the way, the answer “they” are looking for is there are four generations of disciples in 2 Timothy 2.2: Paul (“me”) -> Timothy (“you”) -> “reliable people” -> “others.”

Again, the main point today is that what’s obvious to some people is not that obvious to others. A teacher must be patient!

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5.14, ESV)

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth. (2 Timothy 2.24, 25, NKJV)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. (Isaiah 42.1 – 4, ESV)