The Gift of Receiving

I recently heard a story about a missionary who was working in a farming community of a very economically depressed country.  One day, one of the local men the missionary had gotten to know asked if he had a farm back at home.  The missionary lived in a large city and replied that he did not have a farm and then thought no more about it.  Several days later when the missionary was getting ready to return home, this man came to him and, with very sincere concern, told him that he and his wife decided to give the missionary some of their land since, because he had no farm where he lived, he was obviously in greater need than they were. 

As poor as this family was, their priority was to give of what little they had.  It would have been an understandable response for the missionary to refuse the gift, to assure the man that he had no need of the land.  After all, the missionary’s purpose was to give, not to receive.  Fortunately, the missionary understood the value for this couple in being able to give as well as receive.  His response was to thank this man for his generosity and accept the gift.  Wisely, before the missionary got on the plane to return home, he requested that the man and his wife do him a great favor and care for “his land” as their own since he would not be able to do it himself.

How comfortable are you with receiving?  I can only speak for myself, but I don’t do it very well.  Whether it’s a compliment offered after a project I’ve completed or a birthday gift given to me by one of my children, I tend to deflect.  “No, it was really nothing.”  “Seriously, you guys shouldn’t have done that.” 

As a Christian, I believe giving is a part of who I am called to be.  However, I think the unintentional message I may send when I don’t receive well is that those extending their kind words or gracious gifts actually don’t have anything of value to give me.  And that’s the furthest thing from the truth. 

The Christmas season is a time of gift giving, but it’s also a time of gift receiving.  God is the greatest Gift Giver, and the only appropriate response for the gift of Jesus is a humble, “Thank you!”  Maybe these are the only words needed as we learn to acknowledge the great need we have for each other as well.

Tami Cinquemani

Looking for Thomas Kinkade

I've always enjoyed the paintings of Thomas Kinkade.  Also called the Painter of Light, Kinkade is known for glowing warm light and idyllic picturesque settings.  Many of his paintings evoke in me a sense of cozy warmth and love, with family members gathered around a warm fire while the snow falls outside.  It’s an ideal Christmas setting, and one for which I find myself wishing at times.  

And yet, every year at Christmas, the reality is quite different.  Schedules are hectic, stores are crowded, and money is tight.  Family get-togethers are often busy and over too soon.  Even the music that I love so much can start to get old.

But before you label me a Scrooge, please understand that Christmas is actually my favorite time of the year.  I love the picturesque images from Thomas Kinkade and Norman Rockwell not because they are real, but because they are a glimpse of the ideal.  At Christmastime you can see acts of kindness towards strangers, gifts of love to family, and simple joy and wonderment in the eyes of a child.  You may have to look past the selfishness and greed that are also prevalent at this time of year, but it is there. 

Glimpses of divinity in the midst of human brokenness; a fitting description of what happened on the first Christmas 2000 years ago.

Chad Hess

Water - God's Signature

Great artists are usually associated to specific characteristics found in their masterpieces. These characteristics are used to distinguish them and associate the piece to the artist. For example, the structure of Michelangelo’s Pietà is pyramidal and the vertex coincides with Mary's head, sharing certain similarities with his Madonna and Child, which was completed shortly after. The long, oval face of Mary is a reminiscent of the Pietà. Mozart’s music is a wonderful representation of the Classical style; however, clarity, balance, and transparency are very specific characteristics of his work.

Interestingly enough, the same trend is also seen in science. The uniqueness of certain organisms are only found in specific species,  For example, the botulinum toxin, which is the most acutely lethal toxin known to man, is only produced by one species of the genus Clostridium, the Clostridium botulinum. Many people may not recognize that name at first, but mostly everyone has heard about Botox, which is a commercial product that contains the toxin in minute concentrations used as a wrinkle reducer.

Looking deeper into science, which by the way is my favorite subject, we can find the signature of the Creator everywhere in His creation; we just have to look for it! Let me open a little parenthesis here.  Being a scientist, I cannot (and emphasize the CANNOT) understand why scientists around the world and across generations do not believe in our Creator God or lose their faith, many times claiming that they could not find enough scientific evidence of His existence. On the contrary, the more I study science and living beings (from microorganisms to humans), the more I find God in His creation.

Water . . . so many people underestimate this simple substance. Water is composed of two molecules of Hydrogen and one molecule of Oxygen.  Very simple, right? Well, not really. As with the simplicity of Mozart’s work, we may underestimate the exceptional power of His finest masterpieces with simplistic notions of its delicacy. Water is so important that Jesus compared Himself to it (John 4:10-13, NIV), and He also said “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5) The word “water” is mentioned more than 700 times in the Bible. The first mention of water in Scripture is found in Genesis 1:2 and the last in Revelation 22:17. In between those two books, water flows right through the pages of Scripture. Amazingly, there is no specific mention of when the water was created.  Water was there with God even before light was created. Genesis 1:1-2 (emphasis added) says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

A little bit more science . . . everyone knows that our cells are made of about 80% water, but that does not happen only with human beings. Earth is about 80% water.  All living creatures have about the same percentage of water, from a single cell bacterium to a complex body of a mammal. Therefore, we are basically water! Before creating the world, God was hovering over the waters, and after creating everything He still hovering over the waters. Just imagine the intimate relationship each creature can have with the Creator if we allow Him to hover over each cell of our bodies.

When God designed the living beings, including us, He placed His little signature, water. The composition of our body is so perfect that, by being made of water, we do not boil (literally) under the climatic conditions we have.  Animals can live under frozen lakes, rivers, or oceans because the water does not freeze completely (with few exceptions). In a frozen lake, the water below the frozen surface is always 4°C (39.2°F), which is suitable for life. In contrast, it is plausible to assume that the absence of water is, therefore, absence of life. There is a continuing debate in science about viruses; some scientists believe that they are living creatures and some do not. Personally, I believe that viruses distort the definition of life. Viruses lack most of the internal structure and machinery of cells, which characterize 'life', including the biosynthetic machinery that is necessary for reproduction and metabolism. In addition to all that, they lack water in their composition.

We also use the properties of water to teach children about the Trinity. Just like God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the same molecule of water can exist in three forms. We can get a little more technical and say that, as the Trinity, water can be three in one at the same time, and this is called the triple point of water. In thermodynamics, the triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which the three phases (gas, liquid, and solid) of that substance coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium. The single combination of pressure and temperature at which liquid water, solid ice, and water vapor can coexist in a stable equilibrium occurs at exactly 273.16 K (0.01 °C) and a partial vapor pressure of 611.73 Pascal. We may have gotten too technical here, but all of that tells us that, if water can coexist in three different forms in equilibrium, why can’t God?

God uses simple things to show us that He is always present and that we can find Him in all creation because He was the One that designed everything. He is not an “unknown” artist. He wants us to know Him and understand Him through His marvelous masterpiece.

Fernanda Santos

PhD and Member of FHC

Seeing People As God Sees Them

A few months back I was headed home and got a text from my wife, Jane, to stop and pick up some milk.  A convenience store was close by, so I pulled in.  To be honest, I don’t know if I would have noticed the guy behind the counter, but the Christian university where I serve as chaplain had recently done a service on the theme of “Seeing People as Jesus Sees Them.”  My first thought was to feel bad for anyone who had to work the night shift in a convenience store, stuck behind a counter by yourself all night with nothing to look at but lottery tickets, chewing tobacco, and beef jerky.  

He looked to be in his thirties, and that those years had been a little rough on him.  For some reason, his scanner wasn’t reading the barcode of the milk, and he was having a hard time ringing up the sale.  I asked if he wanted me to get another, but he rather harshly said “No!” even though he was getting more and more frustrated.  I tried to engage him in a bit of conversation just to “lighten” the mood, but he was not responding.  When the sale finally went through, I smiled and said, “Thanks!” but he never even looked at me.

As I drove home in the dark, I couldn’t get him out of my mind.  I know that man is loved and valued by God, but does he know that?  I know there’s a community of believers right down the street at 2800 North Orange Avenue that would warmly welcome and love him, but does he know that?  I know that God has important work for him to do, that he was put on this earth for a reason, that he could glorify God in a way no other human being can, but does he know that?  I don’t think so.

But what am I supposed to do? Reach over the counter, grab him by the collar, make him look me in the eye, and tell him that God loves him and has a wonderful plan for his life?  Would he hear me?  Would he believe me?  Personally, I think doing something like that would be as scary for him as it would be for me!

So what do I do?  How do I love?  I’m discovering that “seeing” what Jesus sees and “feeling” what Jesus feels can really mess up your drive home at night! And that was just one person.  What about the sarcastic co-worker?  The rebellious teenager?  The elderly neighbor?  The millions who go to bed hungry every night?  What about the orphans and widows, and sick, and in prison?  What can one person do?  What can one community do?  It’s easy to get a little overwhelmed by people’s needs—to be paralyzed by the magnitude of the world’s problems, right?  Ever felt like that before?  Seems to happen to me more and more.

Bill Crofton

Did I Just Butt Dial God?

We’ve all done it.  We have no intention of actually making the call, but somehow we lean against something with our phone in our pocket, and someone in our contacts list receives our unintentional call.  Sometimes we realize it while the call is still going on, but most of the time you don’t know you did it until the person you called calls you back. 

“Hey!  Did you know your butt just called me?”

“You’re kidding me!”

“Nope.  Sounded like you were checking out at Publix.”

“Weird.”

“I tried calling your name to get your attention, but I guess you didn’t hear me.  So I just hung up and called you back.”

You feel pretty silly afterward.  And you wonder what you might have said that the person on the other end of the phone may have heard.  Most likely, the voices were pretty muffled, but if it was a private conversation, it may be a bit unnerving.

I’m reading Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline, because our church is doing a series on the 12 spiritual disciplines outlined in Foster’s book.  The chapter on Prayer seems a bit too formulaic.  I strongly believe in prayer and am committed to it as a practice necessary for Christians.  However, I have no idea how it works.  One thing I’m certain of, however, is that it doesn’t work or not work dependent on the “formula” you use.

If I’m being totally honest, I’ll tell you that most of my prayers do not get answered in the way I would most like.  I believe God’s answers to prayer are “Yes,” “Not Now,” and “Not in That Way.”  So, it’s not that I don’t believe God is listening and answering my prayers.  I just think, for the most part, He and I disagree on how they should be answered.

In his chapter on prayer, Foster talks about using imagination.  He suggests praying in a way that visualizes the answer actually happening.  For example, let’s say you know of a child who is ill.  Your prayer imagines the child’s body being healed and them rising from bed to run and play.  This was another example of the type of praying I find disingenuous – more manipulation and less “thy will be done.”  However, in an effort to fully immerse myself in the process, I decided to give it a try.

I had a friend in a personal crisis for which I had been praying.  As I closed Foster’s book and picked up my computer to check my email, I half-heartedly imagined what a solution to my friend’s problem would look like.  Without any intention of it actually being a prayer, I played it through in my mind – step by step – imagining how each person in the situation would make changes to bring about healing and restoration to my friend’s world.  Okay, I gave it a shot.  On with my day.

I have always viewed cynically the prayer stories of miraculous answers, so I wasn’t prepared for the message I received the next day from my friend.  In one of the longest texts I’ve ever received, she explained how her situation had been changed in what could only be understood as a God-provided miracle.  The details she provided were an exact reenactment of my imagination prayer from the previous day.

I was overjoyed and speechless.  What an amazing coincidence!!

My pastor chuckled when I told him the story, gently trying to help me accept this miraculous “coincidence” as an answer to my prayer.  But . . . my prayers don’t get answered like that.  Besides, it wasn’t really an “official” prayer – it was unintentional.  I never meant to “call” God.  There was no “Dear God” in the beginning or “In Christ’s name, Amen” at the end.  It was really more of a “butt dial.”

I’m still grappling with this.  I don’t understand prayer, and I’m not sure if I ever will.  But I know I need it, and God knows I need it.  Maybe I'm not meant to understand it all.  Maybe all I really need to know is, even when I’m oblivious that I make the call, God’s still calling my name and trying to get my attention.

Tami Cinquemani

Ruts—Risk or Reward?

I’ve been on some really muddy roads in some very deep ruts.  In those slippery, muddy situations the ruts can be helpful. When your wheels are tracking in the rut, they protect you from slipping into a ditch—just follow the rut, and eventually you are led to a more drivable section of road.

However, by and large, I’m not a big rut fan.  It seems all of us can fall prey to life ruts.  Some might call them routines, and there is a similarity, but I imagine routines easier to break than escaping from deep ruts.  Life ruts aren’t normally something we chose but something that just happened while we were living life.

It might be the rut of a nice family tradition. That special place the family rendezvous annually. Could be a holiday rut. Or maybe one Sunday morning years ago one of the men in the family was up early and decided to make pancakes for the family.  It was a hit, so a few weeks later it happened again, and then again.  Before anyone realized it, there was this pancakes-fixed-by-one-of-the-guys-on-Sunday rut.  And over time when someone in the family wants something else for Sunday breakfast, or to go out, there is resistance because we find comfort in the rut. After all, it is “our” rut.

Whether we call them ruts or habits, routines or traditions, we’ve all got them.  Even the most avant-garde family member has them, even if they are simply the arguments against having them!

I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t have them, but I am suggesting that we could be healthier, freer, and more engaged with people in our communities if we would intentionally consider our ruts.  Since so many of them just happen while we are doing life, it is probable that some are really worth continuing, even fostering, while we would do well to jump from the deep track of many of our not-so-helpful ruts.

So I suggest that maybe you make list of your routines, habits, traditions, or ruts.  Then, as you have them in front of you, ask yourself these seven questions:

1.     If this wasn’t a rut, would I choose to spend my life this way?

2.     How does this rut make my life more difficult?

3.     And conversely, how does this rut make my life easier, better, richer?

4.     Would I have trouble defending this rut to a close friend or total stranger?

5.     Is this rut so important and valuable that I would invite others to join my rut?

6.     What might be a better option than this rut?

7.     Thinking wisely with good counsel in line with scripture, do I now consciously choose this “rut”—habit, routine, or tradition—as a valuable rut for me?

Since so many of our ruts “just happened” from living life, we have the freedom, the power, and maybe even the responsibility to think about life’s ruts.

A verse comes to mind with which I’ve taken a little liberty in the translation:

“There is rut that seems like the right rut but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12

Just seems like a word of advice to all of us whose ruts may have become just a bit too comfortable.

Andy McDonald