Carey Nieuwhof

How A Charcoal BBQ is like Working with God

In the Spirit of Canada Day, here are a few thoughts on my experience in switching from natural gas barbecueing (or grilling, as our USAmerican friends call it) to real charcoal barbecueing.

Maybe there's a lesson about faith in it.

• You can light charcoal naturally. Rather than laying the charcoal out on a grill, dousing it with tons of lighter fluid and throwing a match on it like we used to to do it,or the push start of a gas grill, I use a chimney starter for my charcoal. It's all natural (no lighter fluid).  It cooperates with the forces of nature (air intake, the way flames rise etc) to get the charcoal lit fast.  Analogy: instead of artificially trying to get God moving in my life, it's much better if I cooperate with the way God naturally wants to move. Scripture tells us how God works and what matters to Him. I just need to figure out how and cooperate with Him.

• Charcoal creates a real fire that has a life of its own.  You get real hot spots, and the temperature of the fires can vary from day to day depending on how you build them and what the weather is.  That means it's a much more interactive process than gas grilling.  Analogy: so much of what we try to do in our spiritual life is related to controlling God.  It's way more rewarding to respond to God.

• Grilling with charcoal creates more smoke.  Our friends have had to duck smoke and even move off the deck at times.  Analogy: God is not always convenient, and when He's present, He's hard to miss.

• Charcoal-grilled food tastes so much better than gas or propane-grilled food.  It's that simple.  While grilling with charcoal takes more effort and is much more interactive, the flavour is in a whole other category. Analogy: do we need one?

As I think about the activity of God in my life, I'm glad I follow a slightly unpredictable, interactive God over whom I have little control, but who produces an incredible work in me when I cooperate with Him.

Praying Like I'm Grown Up

As I get further along in this journey with Jesus, more and more I want to learn how to pray like a grown up.  What do I mean by this?  I mean I want to learn to pray about things matter to God, not just to me. 

It's like what happens when a child grows up.  Our toddler years are spent demanding our way and and wanting what we want - even hitting, grabbing and biting to get it.  Even polite toddlers have a hard time thinking beyond themselves daily to care for the needs of others.  There's a lot of toddler in the church today if you monitor the prayers and behaviour of Christians.  Why do we always want God to do what we want?

Hopefully as child matures, he or she begins to care about others - family, friends, neighbours, the world.  Life stops being about "me" and "mine."  Do Christians really get that?  Not sure.

I think Jesus was powerful in prayer because he used prayer and scripture to access the mind and heart of God, and to pray for the wisdom to align His life with that mind and heart.  We are at our best when we do the same, and at our worst when we use prayer and scripture to get God to do and say what we want.  We talk about becoming spiritually mature, but maybe part of growing up means that we choose to change to a new way of praying.

I love your prayers on the blog this week.  As we head into the weekend, what if we shifted our prayer to align our prayer more and more with the heart and mind of God as we understand it through the Bible?  What if we prayed that our lives would spill over with love?  What if we prayed for God to use us to extend His love to others?  What if we prayed for our actions to be Christ-focused and others-centered?  What if?

What would need to change for you to begin to pray differently?

If You Could Only Pray About One Thing...

Had this crazy thought, inspired somewhat by the idea behind the One Prayer initiative.  If you could only pray about ONE thing in your life...if you had to narrow it all down to one request, what would you pray for/about?

My thinking: is there a common heartcry?  Do we yearn for the same thing?  Deep down, what do people actually want most?

I would love to hear from all of you on this one.  Please be honest - don't be afraid to post what your deepest heart cry is. I'd love to hear your thoughts.  When we're done, I'll share mine.

Post away....

Follow the Instructions

I picked up a new Bluetooth Jawbone Earbud today so I can drive handsfree.  Lost my old one two weeks ago. Time to get a new one. 

I was reading the instruction booklet that came with it.  This is what it said (direct quote, not kidding):   

"Do not tamper with or abuse the Jawbone headset. For example, without limitation, do not drop, disassemble, open, crush, bend, deform, puncture, shred, microwave, incinerate, paint or insert foreign objects into the Jawbone headset."

That so wrecked my day!  I was completely looking forward to microwaving my new jawbone, then painting it, shredding it and incinerating it.   Now I can't.

Okay...what were people thinking when they wrote this?  Why did they choose "microwave"?  Why not "do not run over this with your lawn mower" or "do not fill with plutonium" or "do not feed to rabid squirrels"? 

I guess at some point, someone thought that microwaving your new earbud was a serious risk.  Popcorn and cats are just too boring I guess.

On a half serious note, I guess that's why the Bible is as thick as it is.  Because obviously, we are thick. We really do need instructions, don't we? This is so much like Wednesday's post.  But I had to tell you.

Why People Change

Last year in a conversation with a friend who was explaining why he was shifting ministry paradigms, I walked away with this principle: 

People change when the pain associated with the status quo becomes greater than the pain associated with change.

I just find that so true.  Not good, but true. Think about it:

• Am I motivated to change if people tolerate my poor behaviour? Nope. I change better when I or others can't stand the way things are.
• Am I motivated to change if I find a path of lesser resistance? Nope.  Only when the current path is too tough will I change.
• Will I sometimes settle for good because the cost associated with good seems like a bargain compared to the price tag for great? Sometimes.
• Do I stop growing spiritually because I mistakenly think God approves of my mediocrity? Yep. I grow best when I am down, not when I am up or in the middle. (That's not good!)

I've found this principle painfully true in church-world where people instinctively gravitate to things they like rather than sacrifice their whims for the sake of an other-centered mission.  I've even found it true when people have a moderately successful church they know should change, but the cost associated with becoming more effective seems too great.  So they sell their souls and settle for okay instead of incredible.

Do you find the principle at work in your life?  What do you find true/not true about it?

Finally, if you were to look at one main thing you're tolerating in your life today because it is "easy", not because it is good, what is it?

Show Me a Sign God

I was out on my biking tonight and saw some signs. 

I passed a bunch of the typical "No Trespassing" signs with red or yellow letters on a black background. Often those signs make me think "So what if I trespassed?  Whatcha gonna do - shoot me?"  (I'm sure in some cases the answer would be yes, but I digress.) I rarely if ever venture onto private property with No Trespassing signs, but a law without a reason kind of ticks me off.  It makes me want to break it, even if I don't end up doing it.

Then I passed this sign tonight (click on it for a clear view).   Rarely do you see a sign like that with a reason attached... but trust me, my desire to trespass on that property was zero after reading this baby.

When I saw that sign, I thought back to our staff meeting earlier today; we were talking about one of our values: biblical authority. We were chatting about what parts of the bible were easy for us to obey, and which proved more difficult.

This sign reminded me that nine times out of ten, God provides a reason behind his law.  Grateful for that, and this sign!

Questions about Jesus, Anyone?

I am totally grateful for everyone's help with our current series at Connexus, I Doubt It.  In many ways, you crafted it! You generated a lot of ideas.

Now I'd love to drill down a little further. This weekend I'm talking about the doubts we carry about Jesus being God.  As I wrap up writing in the next 72 hours, I'd love to hear what your questions/doubts are about whether Jesus is God?

What, if anything, haunts you about Jesus being the way to God?  Do you find it hard to believe in the resurrection...in God becoming man...in there being one way...in the scriptures being reliable?  Are there elements of the Jesus-story that just don't work for you? 

Fire away.  I'd love to hear the specific question(s) that linger in your mind about how/whether Jesus is God.  Love to hear from those who follow Jesus and those who aren't yet sure!

Over to you....

Alongside Grace

Been off the blog for a couple of days. Thanks for your prayers for our big weekend.  The launch of I Doubt It went better than I expected.  I wrestled for days with the message and in the end felt underwhelmed by it, until the feedback started flooding in.  God really seemed to use it.  Grateful for that!

Irresistible was a pretty awesome venue.  Well over 100 adults who call Muskoka home joined many of our people to worship together and talk about planting a Connexus Muskoka.  To call the evening energizing and exciting would be an understatement, and it was incredible to preach Acts 10 last night. It was great to see a vision begin to turn into reality.  It will be exciting to see where God takes this.

On the weekend it felt like we were really feeling God's pleasure in what we were doing.  Even though the hours were long last week, the reward is sweet when you have a sense that God is more than in the middle of it.  I woke up to read this from Psalm 127 this morning:

It is useless for you to work so hard
      from early morning until late at night,
   anxiously working for food to eat;
      for God gives rest to his loved ones.

It was a long week last week, but I got this incredible sense that we are doing what God wants us to be doing - and that gave a real sense of peace and even rest.  I think that's the way it works - when we are doing what's close to God's heart, the rest can be sweet.

Made me think once again that there's nothing I'd rather be doing with the days God has given me.

How about you - what hard work gives you "rest"?

It's How You Handle the Crap

My Rwandan-Canadian friend Charles Deogratsias once preached a sermon where essentially told most of the church leaders gathered that they were full of crap (I'm hardly paraphrasing).  He then said that in Africa, where he was raised, people threw their crap outside the window of their house.  It smelled terrible, but it was also where the flowers grew to be the most beautiful.

I was reminded of Charles' words when I was reading about David. It's time time of year where I read the story of King David, one of my all-time biblical heroes. King David is famous for his successes (greatest King Israel knew until Jesus, etc), but this year, I've been struck deeply by how David handled the defeats that came his way.  Some highlights:

• He was crowned King as a boy but had to wait in 'exile' until he was 30 to become King.
• He waited seven more years to become King of all the tribes of Israel.
• He was deeply persecuted, even hated, by the powers that be before he was King.
• His band of followers was so angry with him they were ready to kill him.
• People were almost constantly divided over his leadership.
• His own son (Absalom) overthrew him as King forcing David into exile again.
• He died cold and feeble.

What amazes me about David is how he handled himself amidst unbelievable adversity. He had unbelievable integrity:

• Despite King Saul's rottenness, David would not lift a hand against God's anointed King.
• When his men turned on him, David turned to God and refused to lash out at them.
• He knew power was temporary and a trust from God. So when his son Absalom rebelled, David left the city quietly and deferred to God's judgment.
• David seethed deeply at his enemies on the inside and before God, but rarely took it "out" on anyone else.

I know that David really failed in how he handled Bathsheba and Uriah, but in so many other areas, David's heart and character were just bang on amazing.  How he could withstand so much from so many and avoid the usual verbal or physical assaults is incredible. 

I think I have so much to learn from David.  Too often, my faith and optimism are based on things "turning out great".  Things often turned out poorly for David, but he handled those situations with unbelievable grace and wisdom.  Which is why, I think, God did eventually elevate him to greatness as a leader. 

For David, the flowers really grew in the manure.  God saw that, and honoured David.  Too often, I just complain about the crap.

What have you learned from David or from manure?

Do I Ever Really Believe What I Sing?

Worship words are kind of crazy, if you think about it.  Think about it next time you're at church or at a conference or something where Christians are worshiping.

Check these lyrics out:

We have all we need in You /And all we need is You /All we need is You

Rich or poor God I want You more / Than anything that glitters in this world

Or try these:

    Your grace is enough /  Heaven reaching down to us /  Your grace is enough for me

    God I see your grace is enough /  I'm covered in your love / Your grace is enough for me

Great songs...but really, who actually lives like they believe that? If God's grace is enough, why did I buy that new car/get so frustrated that my friend is treating me this way/stay angry with God because the diagnosis didn't go my way?

For a few years now, I've thought the words I sing on Sundays are deeply dangerous - they might change me if I actually lived that way.

This week started with a couple of surprises that honestly upset me.  I found myself a bit scared, somewhat discouraged and frustrated...and then I read this passage in my morning devotions about King David, one of my heroes and writer of many worship songs:

David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30.6

No one was ready to stone me (at least as far as I know), but I was disheartened. The fact that David found strength in the Lord his God when everything else in his world was collapsing hit me so hard. I was like "David, when I study your life I'm amazed that you just didn't quit - the odds were so against you.  But you found real strength in a real God when everything else around you looked tough."

My world wasn't nearly as dark as David's, but I so appreciated the insight.  You know when worship words make the most sense to me? When I am pushed to the edge of my strength and have to actually rely on God's strength.  That's when.  That should be every day, but often it's not.  Sadly, I'm too 'strong' and stubborn for that.

I was grateful for the issue I had to face, because it made me draw deeply on God (the way I ought to anyway). He came through and is coming through big time. This Sunday, I'm looking forward to better resonating with the words of whatever we're going to sing.

What do you sing that you have difficulty believing? And are there moments when all of sudden, you believe them?  What changes to make that happen?