Please Empty Your Pockets

I travel a fair bit. I can't begin to count the times I've emptied my pockets before being allowed through security. It's a ritual of air travel now. Perhaps that's why I was so so taken aback by a picture suddenly appearing to my mind's eye as I reflected on the miracle of Christmas this morning.

In my imagination, I saw the eternal Son of God, the Christ, emptying His pockets. As I continued to ponder the image, I let my myself imagine the conversation in heaven between the Father and the Son, just prior to the incarnation, and I watched as the scene unfolded in my mind.

The Father tenderly says, "It's time son."

The Son looks deep into the soul of the Father and says "I know...I am ready to go. This is a good plan, and yet...I am afraid of what will happen on this trip."

I understand my son. We have always been together, but for a little while it will be different. For a little while you must lay aside what you have known and truly be one of them.

Can I take my power? The power I used when we made the universe together.

No my son, you must leave that here.

Can I take my wisdom? The wisdom I have gained in our eternal relationship, the wisdom I have gained in the years I have watched our children upon the earth."

No, you must leave that here. You will grow in wisdom while you are there.

Can I take my knowledge? The knowledge of all things from the beginning of time.

No, you must learn. You must learn how to walk and how to speak. Imagine the eternal Word learning the language of our children.

Can I take my glory? The radiant glory that dazzles and shines.

No. That too you must leave here.

Can I take my all-sufficiency, my independence?

No. You will be entirely helpless. You will not even be able to feed or clothe yourself. You will drink your first meal from a human breast and be utterly dependent upon your earthly parents. You must leave all these things behind. 

But how will I protect myself? We know how violent and unpredictable they can be! What if they try to kill me before our plan is complete?

You won't protect yourself. You will be utterly vulnerable. You will have to trust me. I will watch over you and no evil will harm you until the proper time.

So, what do I take with me then? Can I take nothing from heaven to earth?

Just yourself. Only you, your essence, your spirit poured into a frail human embryo in the womb of a teenage girl. You will start from there and show them Us through one of them. You will show them Us, our Spirit, our Character, by living just as they do. You will be Emmanuel. You will be Us with them.  

Okay Father. I have emptied myself, I am ready to go...

I don't pretend to know what happened in heaven, but I can only imagine. Imagine what it must have been like for the perfect Son to contemplate leaving heaven. Imagine what it must have been like to empty Himself as He prepared to humble Himself and live in a human body. Imagine the miracle of the incarnation again this Christmas!

The immense, eternal, limitless Creator of the Universe poured into a tiny baby in a virgin's womb.

Just imagine!

Why do you do what you do?

I have received two emails recently that have puzzled me, and that is a good thing. The confusion forces me to engage with the questions they raise. Essentially, two trusted friends have asked me why I am writing. Both have observed that I am not going to get famous or make any money writing what I do as I do. (Particularly because I have designated that all royalties go directly to charity.) At the core, their the question was, "Why bother writing?"

It is a fair question. Particularly when I look at the sales of the last book, which have not gone through the roof. When two trusted people ask you the same question, it is worth a good think.

As I have pondered this , I have come to this conclusion: I write because God has asked me to write. Several years ago God broke into my life and specifically encouraged me to write. As a part of a spiritual retreat, I asked Him, "What do you want me to prioritize in this next season of ministry?" And much to my surprise He answered me. I have found it dangerous to ask God questions! More than once I have been surprised when He has spoken up and answered what I had intended to be a rhetorical question in my prayer times.

Unfortunately, He did not tell me what to write, nor did He promise me that anyone would read what I write. He simply told me to make writing a part of what I do. I spent the next 4 years doing everything except writing. I argued with Him, telling Him that it was pretentious of me to write. After all...who am I to write? I'm no John Piper, Dallas Willard, or C.S. Lewis. I told Him that I didn't have time to write, I was too busy doing other things for the Kingdom. I filled my schedule with people and projects and steadfastly refused to write. Eventually, I started to write little things and that was how this blog got started.

However, I found that I could not encourage others to move forward in their relationship with God while steadfastly refusing to follow His direction in my own life. My fears and insecurities did not go away, but I finally chose to stop resisting and procrastinating. I did not know what was going to come out when I sat down and actually started writing. I still had no direction from on High. But, as I started writing, the book Pursuit of a Thirsty Fool took shape. It was during the process of writing and re-writing that the opportunity for publishing suddenly emerged, and that was how I "accidentally" became a published author.

I do not know that the next book will see the light of day. I know that the process of writing the last one, and this one, has propelled me into the arms of God. This process has forced me to face my own weakness, fears, and insecurities. I have grown and changed in the process of creating.  God has used this process to draw me closer to Himself. God is re-creating me as I create.

I believe it is my job to write the best book I can. I work hard, I offer it as a gift to my King, and I trust that He will use it as He sees fit. If He uses it to impact one or a million, is up to Him. I like the way that Keith Green said it, "You do your best and pray that it's blessed, and He'll take care of the rest."


I don't write to be famous. I don't write to make money. I don't write to have an impact. I don't write because I think I have something profound to say. I write because I believe it is part of the work that God has prepared in advance for me to do. (Eph. 2:10)

Why do you do what you do?

Houdini the dog

When we first brought Oreo, our dog, home, she would find amazing ways to get out of the garden. I took to calling her Houdini, after the famous the escape artist.

I came up with several different plans and adaptations to her environment to try to keep her in, only to get a call from a neighbour to come and pick her up, yet again. We trained her and eventually, she stopped escaping.

She is now full grown and has no problem leaping onto and over the wall, but she doesn't. In fact, we often find her peering over the wall at us from on top of her dog house as we return home. Even when the gate is left wide open, she won't leave. Over the last 18 months she has decided that she likes it here and isn't interested in leaving. 

Suddenly, this seems to have changed. My dog is doing her best impression of Houdini again.

She has run off 3 times in the last 2 days. Twice people in town have found her and called the number on the tag for us to come retrieve her. The third time was this morning when we found her patiently waiting outside the gate to be let back in for breakfast. We have no idea how long she had been roaming the neighbourhood.

Our theory is that the dog is searching for my wife. They have formed quite a bond. My wife is in Asia for a week, and Oreo seems to be pining for her. On one level this is very sweet, but whatever the reason for the wandering, we have to stop it for her own good. 

What the dog doesn't understand, is that it is dangerous for her to be wandering around out there. She could be very easily hit by a car, or get into some other dangerous situation. She is not particularly dumb, for a dog, but she simply doesn't understand the ramifications of her choices. That is why we have to protect her with walls and gates. That is why we have to put her on the chain when we bring her back. That is why we have to manufacture small consequences to protect her from the unthinkably bad consequences. 

Once again, I find myself thinking about God. 

Why do I run off? Why do I feel the need to wander when everything I need, everything I really want is freely offered to me by my Master? If I'm honest, it can be fun to roam, but that's only because I haven't tripped over the consequences yet. So, God puts parameters around us. He says, "Your life will be better if you stay close to me and if you live within the fences I put around you." But somehow the fences beg to be jumped. Something in me wants to leap over and see if it really is as dangerous as all that. 

God graciously, kindly metes out the discipline that I need to train me. He doesn't want me to pay the price for my sin. He has already done that. He doesn't punish His children, but He does train us for our own good. He gives us small consequences to prevent us from bringing the larger consequences on ourselves. He has already paid the ultimate price and received the consequences in Himself. Now, He offers abundant life, a life within limits...good limits. 

I hope that my dog will remember that she likes it here. I hope that she will stop wandering. I hope I'll stop wandering too.

What's up with Saul!?

Today, as I was reading, I found myself asking this question.  "What is up with Saul!?"  Don't you find yourself asking that sort of question of biblical characters from time to time?  "What could have been going through his head when he did some of the things that he did!?!"  Today, for me, it was Saul.  But then I went back and re-read the story.  I put myself in Saul's place.  As I did that, I found myself giving him a much more sympathetic reading.

Saul faced real problems.  Things often didn't go the way that he planned.  God repeatedly spoke to him and worked in and around him, but he was often in way over his head.  He was thrust forward into an incredibly challenging leadership situation that he neither desired nor sought.  He actually started out pretty well.  He led with humility and obeyed the Lord.  He felt God's anointing on Him and was empowered by God.  He refused to avenge himself unrighteously on those who mocked his leadership.  Not a bad start.

Then, Samuel was late.  Samuel had promised to show up and didn't.  The enemy, however, did show up on time.  Saul's men were deserting him, the enemy host was swelling, and Samuel was nowhere to be seen.  Saul waited as long as he dared.  He knew that the battle would be starting soon, with or without Samuel.  He knew that he dare not go into battle without seeking the Lord's blessing.  So, he looked as his situation, planned a strategy, and executed a perfectly reasonable leadership decision.  He was compelled to do something!  Just then, Samuel arrived and brought a stinging rebuke with him. 

It is easy for me to sit comfortably in my office and render judgment on an Iron Age king.  I am so far removed from armies and battles, the pressures and daily realities of Saul's life.  I also have the benefit of supernatural hindsight.  I can see Saul's whole life neatly summed up in a few chapters f divinely inspired text.  Saul had none of my distant objectivity.  Saul was living the life that God had given him as best as he knew how.  His life was made up of one natural and reasonable decision after another.He started out well, but ended badly.  The real problem with Saul was that he made each decision without calculating God into the equation.  He was a real man, but a man who failed to involve God in the details of his life.  He relied on common sense but failed to heed the uncommon graces and revelations of God. 

Now that is something I can understand.  How often do I fail to view my life through heaven's eyes?  How often do I examine situations and analyze solutions without taking the wisdom and power of God into account?  How often do I feel compelled to do something, the thing that comes most naturally perhaps, when God's will is clearly something else?  Or how often do I find myself sailing through a whole day as a practical atheist, simply failing to invite His input?  I can't be too hard on Saul because Saul looks an awful lot like the man in the mirror.  On the other hand, I can choose to learn the lessons the Saul had to learn the hard way.  May God have mercy and draw me near to Himself!

Of Sheep and Obedience

Yesterday I was out with the dog, crossing a field filled with sheep.  As it is Spring, there were many bleating lambs in the field with the flock.  As we entered the field I could see the dog's muscles grow taut beneath her shiny coat.  She was excited and ready for the chase.  But these are not my sheep, not my lambs.  I cannot let her run wild, as fun as it might be for her or for me to watch.  She could well injure one of them, or worse yet, develop a taste for them. I have heard more than once of a domestic dog in the area chasing down and killing sheep or even injuring cattle.  

So, I need for the dog to obey me.  I have been training her to obey my voice.  I have been giving her treats and rewarding her for choosing to obey rather than just running off and doing whatever she feels like doing at any given moment.  It is clear that obedience doesn't come naturally.  She is pretty sure that she understands what would be best for her, or most fun for her, in any given moment.  Only she really is a dumb animal.  She doesn't recognize the subtle threats of disease or long term consequences for disobedience; heck, she doesn't even see an approaching car as dangerous.  She just doesn't get it.  So, I need her to obey for her own good.

As we enter the field I debate whether to put her on a lead.  I reflect on how well she has been obeying on the walk thus far.  I wonder if she can handle the freedom of being off lead, or if she would be best served by having the experience of freedom and the rewards I will lavish on her when she obeys.  I decide to give her a chance to choose obedience.  I pull the lead out of my pocket to provide a visual reminder of consequences for disobedience.  I can see from her submissive posture that she recognizes the possibility of consequence.  Ten, I give her a treat to remind her that I am the giver of all good things.  We start across the field as I call her to heel.

I can see the tension within her as she starts to quicken her pace and move toward the sheep.  I call her back.  She looks back over her shoulder...and returns to me.  I give her a treat.  As we start walking on, I can see that she has her eyes fixed on a little lamb nearby.  She is watching it move and drifting towards it.  I call her.  She does not look back.  I call her again, but it is as if she doesn't even hear me.  Then, quick as a flash, she is racing across the grass toward her prey.  Now I am shouting her name and running after her.  I can imagine the consequences that have never entered her mind.  The lamb hears the commotion and turns to flee, but this only encourages the dog to pursue.  Instinct has taken over now, like something out of "The Call of the Wild" she is a primeval hunter returning to her roots.

I keep calling to her and, just as she is about to close on her quarry, she looks back.  I am shouting, gesticulating wildly, and fervently insisting that she return.  After her quick glance back she continues on, careening into the flock.  The lamb disappears into the mass of hooves and wool and so she takes one of the sheep down.  She stands over her prize, unsure what to do with it now that she has knocked it over.  Then, she looks up at me rapidly approaching and slowly starts to return.  Moments later I am relieved to see that the sheep is back on it's feet and rejoining the skittish flock.  No harm done.

She comes back, groveling all the way.  She knows she has disobeyed and she sees the lead in my hand.  She knows she deserves the lash.  She is right.  I give her one swat across the bottom with the leather lead and give her a tongue lashing that I only wish she could understand.  She makes a big show of submission and obedience, but I can see that even then, in her moment of punishment, her attention was divided between me, her master, and the tempting flock still close at hand.   Even in the midst of the consequence she was thinking about how she might be able to slip away again.

Lord have mercy!