Thoughts on the Second Half of the Year

Yesterday was the first day of the second half of the year. Six months down and six months to go. We still have Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Election Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas to look forward to. But there are many more ordinary days to come as well before the end of 2008. How will I live out those "ordinary" days?

Each of those days can slip by unless I approach them with intentionality, with purpose, recognizing that each one is a gift to be savored and treasured, one that will not pass by again. How will I spend today? How have I already spent the first four waking hours of this day? I believe that time spent with God is time well invested, but even that time is squandered if the following hours are wasted or misappropriated. I am heading out to have brunch with my wife and daughter who just flew in for a doctor's appointment. Even that reminds me of the fragility of life and the importance of seeing every day, every hour as precious. Then I go to work...especially difficult after having three days off, but even there I need to be purposeful and see it as more than just a job, a way to earn a living. How can today be significant?

I have a notion that if I treat each hour, each day as significant, especially making time with God the foundation of each day, the next six months will be the most significant time in my life...to quote my high school pastor and mentor Carles Fletcher.

Thoughts in a Natural Sanctuary

The beauty of God's creation surrounds me visually and in stereo. Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan has been transformed by spring into one of the most beautiful places I can imagine. Even an airplane flying up the Hudson River to avoid Manhattan airspace and a police siren down on the Henry Hudson highway cannot rob me of this sanctuary. A little squirrel moves trustingly past me. In this moment all seems right with the world.

Yet I know that such is not the case. I am becoming more aware of injustice and inequality, of suffering and starvation, of disease and cruelty. Whether it be the Holocaust of the last century or its latest manifestation in Darfur--all creation groans--the cyclone killing 10,000 in Myanmar this weekend another grim reminder.

The suffering comes close to home even as a relative deals with a family member going through the degenerative stages of dementia, going from a stately, dignified proper person to a pathetic shadow of their former self.

Even as I exult in the beauty of the glorious hues of the springtime flowers and innocent fragility of the leaves on the trees, I know that when I return in July, and in October, and again in January, that beauty will mature, then age, and then disappear altogether.

I am reminded of words that Jesus spoke once as he gazed at the intricacies of nature: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:28b-30, ESV).

The issue was clothing and God's provision. My anxiety today is not about clothes for my body, but clothing for my anxious spirit in light of the realities we face. I believe I am called to do more to bring about the Kingdom of God, but I am inadequate, even naked due to fear, being overwhelmed and wondering what it is that I can really do. I am tired of giving lip service to the great causes that move God's heart. What can I do to bring God's redemptive love to a hurting world? Show me Father how to answer the call to be on the front lines of your movement so that your will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

A Glimpse of the Father's Heart

For the past two weeks I knew that I wasn't looking forward to March 31. Last night at the airport we said good-bye to my youngest daughter as she began a three-year stretch on the other side of the world, answering God's call on her life. It isn't her first time away by any means, but this time it seems more permanent, no longer as a volunteer, but making a career choice. The tears flowed freely as I hugged her and whispered into her ear my love, my pride, and my loss.

While there were tears from her as well, she is going out with excitement and enthusiasm to do her part to make a difference in the world. All of a sudden I remembered another scenario 21 years earlier as I said my tearful good-byes to my parents in the Indianapolis airport as my family of four headed to South America for what would become a major chunk of our lives. I remember my mom saying that it was the hardest day of her life and yet how proud she was of us.

Twenty-four years earlier my parents with two small children (my sister and I) said good-bye to their parents and relatives in the Indianapolis airport as they embarked on a journey that would take them to the jungles of South America. I don't remember much that day as a six-year-old, except for my fear of the escalators. I couldn't comprehend why tears were flowing, nor that I wouldn't see my grandparents, uncles and aunts or cousins for five long years.

Thirty-three years before that my grandparents left the Midwest on a train to go to California where they would sail for Asia. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for them at that stage of history. They were leaving all that they knew without knowing if they were ever see home or family again. There my uncle and mother would be born.

Almost 80 years have passed since that first missionary journey in my family. While I am deeply thankful for the heritage that I have, and for the privilege of responding to the call personally, in the light of Easter, I am most thankful for Jesus who left His Father's house to so completely identify with us and make it possible for us to have our relationship with God restored.

"(Christ Jesus) had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that--a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth--even those long ago dead and buried--will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11, The Message).

Because He was willing to leave His Father, there are people here, and in places where my family has been privileged to serve that have, are, and will call out in praise to Jesus! All to the glorious honor of God the Father!

Two Books to Augment Your Easter Celebration

I just finished reading two books that made celebrating Easter even more significant. The first one is Surprised by Hope by Anglican bishop and theologian N. T. Wright. You can never look at Christ's victory at Easter the same way after reading it.

The other book, I read in one day, The Shack by William P. Young. Eugene Peterson of The Message says that it "has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress did for his." I was quickly drawn into the book and it is having a profound impact in my life. Check it out at http://www.theshackbook.com.

Cousins

Gary Wiley and Barack Obama--seventh cousins!

Six Degrees of Separation

I have had an interest in my family tree for more than 30 years. Early on most of my information came from older family members, family Bibles, and occasional trips to libraries with genealogical sections. Now the internet has brought a wealth of information, especially census records, to my computer screen.

A few months ago I was able to connect my Oden (mother's side) family tree with an early immigrant by the name of Mareen Duvall. Mr. Duvall was a French Huguenot who left France for England, and then settled in Maryland in 1650. Sarah Duvall, his great-great-great granddaughter married Elias B. Oden, my great-great-great grandfather. Mareen Duvall "The Emigrator" as he is known is my nine-great grandfather.

Saturday afternoon, before going into work, I was indulging in one of my weaknesses, watching coverage of the political process. I had tuned into "Ballot Bowl" on CNN and they were showing excerpts from the stump speeches of the different presidential candidates. I heard Barack Obama mention once again "his cousin Dick Cheney" and my curiosity got the best of me. I googled "Barack Obama's cousin Dick Cheney" and found the article that told about the family connection between Mr. Obama and Mr. Cheney. Their common ancestor is none other than Mareen Duvall "The Emigrator." As it turns out Barack Obama is my seventh cousin.

Why I Am in Manhattan...

It's 1:35 a.m. and I just got home from another closing shift at Barnes & Noble. The store was exceptionally busy tonight, due in part I'm sure to the lousy weather that kept people home Friday night and because Sunday night many people will be home cheering on the hometown Giants in the Super Bowl.

On my way home, waiting for the #1 train to take me 60 some blocks uptown before walking another seven blocks, I was reflecting on my day and what it means to live in this city and what it takes to live and responding in my head and heart to the question of why I live here. The answer is almost as complex as the city and as varied as the activities and involvements that each day presents.

Today for example, after sleeping in until 9:20 after another closing shift, I spent some time with God and with Charlotte (a rare commodity it seems these days). I was trying to clear my head from my nighttime dose of Nyquil (another pesky cold)! Around 12:20 I made my way up to la Iglesia Presbiteriana on 174th and Wadsworth where a program called Outreach Exodus Inner City meets six days a week. My first cousin once removed, J.J. Pickett, volunteers there on Saturdays. He invited me to meet the executive director Matthew Mahoney. Outreach Exodus provides tutoring after school for students in Washington Heights. On Saturdays they offer a Bible club among other things. Through our Upper Manhattan Missional Community (Origins Church) we are hoping to partner with Outreach Exodus perhaps as tutors, but especially as volunteers to invest in the lives of these at risk kids and by God's grace give them hope for a brighter future. I was privileged to meet some of the volunteers as well as have lunch with Matt, J.J. and Dave.

I left there encouraged and excited about the difference we can make in Jesus' name in our neighborhood as we live the teachings of Jesus in the culture and rhythm of the city. Then I headed off to work and while it seems routine and maybe mundane, that too is a place of ministry.

The air was crisp on my walk home. I saw a drug deal go down...at least that's what it appeared to be...I felt no danger because this is the city that never sleeps and there were others walking home after their long day of work. I am thankful for God's call on my life. I have some strong dreams and desires that I am asking of God, that I would love to see come to be as I live and minister in this city. But I know that all things are in His time. And I am learning to be content.