No fear, just Love

Turning 40 is leading to a re-exploration (spell check doesn't care for that word) of my faith. Not in a "my-life-is-in-crisis" way, more of a "dude-your-40-you-should-have-some-of-this-figured-out" way. What to do? How does a middle aged guy who has been raised in a Christian family go deeper? Couple of ideas.

1. Roll Up My Sleeves & Get into the Word: Watching a rerun (spell check is fine with that word) of the West Wing, I was struck by how easily President Bartlett could quote chapter and verse. I cannot, even with my favorite verses. For years, I have blamed my faulty memory. (that will improve now that I'm 40, right?) I think the deeper truth may be that I've never read the whole book. (I apologize if Mrs. Egolf, my 4th grade Sunday School teacher reads this.) To that end, I bought and am one week into a Read The Bible in a Year Bible. One week down, 51 to go.


2. Find Other Folks Who Want to Go Deeper & Dig With Them: This morning I attended a Jump Start Men's Leadership training that is working through the book "Primal" by Mark Batterson. Good read. 22 men gathered on a Saturday morning to struggle with the Great Commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength - Mark 12:30" Our most fundamental commandment is to love, yet so much of what Christians spout is fear. Love is hard. It takes commitment, work and growth. Fear is easy. There are no disciplined cowards. The company of my brothers in Christ is giving me a forum to rethink my life choices.


3. Get Beyond Myself: It may sound funny for a guy who spends his days working for a social service organization, but often I get caught up in the statistics. I break God's heart when I minimize the struggles of his children. Grace Community Church has built and is sponsoring two orphanages in Asia. A missions team just returned and my heart has been moved by the lives being changed there. The children refer to all the church representatives as Mommy & Daddy. Our congregation is loving our neighbors as ourselves. I am trying to find a way to impact these little children of God too. No fear, just Love.