Where Are You... Right Now?

In her book, “Eat, Pray, Love”, Elizabeth Gilbert is spending several months living on the Indonesian island of Bali, as a part of a year-long experience of self-discovery. As she’s beginning her time amongst the Balinese, she realizes that there are 2 questions that are always asked when someone of the Balinese culture meets someone else:

“Where are you going?” and “Where are you coming from?”

Asking these questions, Gilbert says, helps the Balinese people to locate you, to see where you stand on their grid of comfort and security. The worst thing you can do, she says, is to answer either of those questions, “I don’t know”, because of the disorienting distress that answer might bring on.

Though we in our culture are much more likely to comfortably say that we have no idea where we are coming from and where we’re going, we also ask those questions of one another. But maybe our questions are more along the lines of, “What are your future plans?” and “What kind of dysfunctional family did you come from?”

Alright, I guess we don’t really say the second one out loud… but it’s become important for many of us to look back into our family histories to learn more about ourselves and what makes us tick. Unquestionably, it’s been a gift to many searching souls to ask, “Where did I come from?” in order to answer the real biggie, “And where am I going?”

But we know so well… every gift has its backside. Or every good idea can be taken too far. And some end up so stymied by what they find in the past that they can’t find their way to the future. Or even to the present.

Today’s Bible passage (click on the title to find the link) about God’s ancient press secretary, wildman Ezekiel, shows us that this reality is nothing new. When God’s people of old were taken from their beloved hometowns to the land of hated superpower Babylon, it was understood that the reason their country was defeated is that people screwed up and everyone was living the consequences of those mistakes. As the next generation was growing up, they felt trapped in the web of their parents’ sins. Our parents ate the bad apples, and we get a stomach ache. IT’S NOT FAIR!

Ezekiel’s got some hard words for the people. But in the end, they’re good news words. Yes, your parents made a bad investment and lost the farm. But you’ve also made some stupid mistakes. Look at your own behavior for a change. That may hurt like hell, but at least you can make some choices, if you dare to look honestly at your life. You can choose to turn toward God. Sulking is not your only choice.

The God you turn toward isn’t looking back. This God’s looking at you right now, for who you are in this minute, not for who you were or who you will be. And this God wants to give you life.

It’s plenty hard to take responsibility for your actions and make big changes. Downright impossible to keep it up. We can’t do it alone. We need God to love us into each new day. We need God’s people to hold us up and keep us strong.

Like Elizabeth Gilbert said of the Balinese, we need a grid to stand on, a community to help locate us. But most of all we need a God who takes us seriously in the moment, forgiving us, graciously turning us around, again and again and again.

Join Steve Wednesday next week

Next Wednesday, Steve will be at the Panera off Exit 1 (behind the Barnes & Nobles) in Nashua. Stop by to say "HI" and check-in.

We are in the process of discerning a physical location for our ministry this Fall so stay tuned for more developments!

Steve-o's Devos: Woe is...Hunh?

There is a saying that "hindsight is 20/20," perhaps meaning that we make lots of decisions that potentially could cause us pain. When they do, we tend to regret ever having made them instead complaining about it to others, or wishing we had chosen differently. A lot of the time our friends and family may simply smile warmly and help us get through the pity party, or they may just say, "See, what did I tell you?" Either way, it rarely makes a whole lot of difference in how we might feel.

I am struck this week by one of my favorite moments of complaint in the Bible. It happens smack dab in the middle of the Exodus and it is a wonderful example of what happens often in our lives when we can look back and try and wish we had made different choices.

You can catch the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt in the Old Testament book of the same name (or the Hollywood version in films like The Prince of Egypt or The Ten Commandments). But let us for a moment think through this situation. People are being enslaved. They have a miserable existence where they can be whipped, overworked, and killed, or simply die from exhaustion. Could anyone in those conditions ever look back and say, "Ah, those were the good old days..."?

Yet, this is exactly what was happening with the Israelites. You know they headed out into the desert in the largest Honda ever constructed...(because they went in one accord...). But seriously, the excitement of all those miracles that Moses performed, the strength of his leadership and a tremendous amount of momentum brought them all to this point in time. In the rush to get out of town, to escape oppression, to find a new freedom unlike any of them had ever seen, they evidently did not take the supplies they needed for the journey.

Moses in faced with a crowd of complaining people. They are running out of food. So they manage to discover a sort of bread that is "rained down from heaven." Wow, they can eat! But it is not enough. "Man cannot live on bread alone! We need meat!" So, soon a flock of quails descend into the camp. The Israelites are fed.

What I love about this story is that Moses states clearly that they are complaining. All of them have blamed God for the situation they are in and expect an answer, no basically demand an answer. You have to wonder what their other options were. There was no place to go, no town nearby...they were in the middle of nowhere. Yet, they demand and expect God to help them. God does. The miracle we see is that the Israelites are fed. But the greater miracle is that God listens.

God listens to our complaints. God does send us the way to change how we are living. God provides ways that can get us out of bad decisions if only we look closely. Even when a food stuff appears on the ground, someone needed to say, "Look, we can eat this!"

It is not uncommon for us to take time and lift our complaints up to others. But this story encourages us to lift them to God. It is a reminder that we make decisions...what a blessing!....they are not predetermined, and they are fluid in that we are not stuck with where we are in any given moment.

"Woe is me? I wish I had never _______________." Can you fill that in?

Perhaps look back at a time when those words, or some like it, came out of your mouth. When you do, you'll likely see that a way out appeared and life went on with the crisis averted. Because when we are in the middle of our journey, it is difficult to see just where we are headed. It was true of Moses and the Israelites journey into the desert, a journey that would lead to the birth of a savior...all in good time.

If we think back to those critical moments of pain or joy, the fleetingness of them is like the blink of an eye. It is a simple instant in our lives that moved us further in the right direction, or momentarily off course. But, if we lift our complaint up to God, there will be a "Hunh" moment when the solution to our situation is staring us in our face. When life takes a turn in unexpected ways with unexpected results, we can lift our complaints to God and be willing for the surprise of our lives. Amen.

BTW Updates

Believe it or not we are hoping to locate a more "real" space in Nashua in the coming weeks. So watch for updates as we go.

In the meantime, Steve will be at Panera next Tuesday from 3:30 - 5:00 PM down off Exit 1. Feel free to stop by and say hi, or spend some time in deeper conversation. Bring a friend too!