Chris Vonada's Blog, page 17

The 10 + 1 Building Blocks Of Relationships: Security

The 10 building blocks are delivered in alphabetical order (with the exception of “+1″, it is last for a reason, more on that later…). Today’s post is #9 in the series… Security.

Generally, when we think of security in a relationship it can be represented by one of two factors, emotional or financial security. While we find both of these as factors in any successful relationship, their relevance is accentuated in our closest relationships. We find both of these in our closest relationship, the one we share with God. Unfortunately, when we look to other people to satisfy a need that can only be achieved by having a close, personal relationship with God we set ourselves and our relationships up for difficulty and even failure.

Feeling safe and secure in our relationships is a key factor to leading a fulfilling life. (Click To Tweet)

Today I’m honored to be continuing this series as a guest at Carol Peterson’s blog, I hope you’ll follow the link here to Carol’s blog and to the ninth post in the series, The 10 + 1 Building Blocks Of Relationships – Security

I’ve created a page compiling the links to the previous months’ building blocks too, you can catch up over here.

Carol Peterson is a writer with a heart for encouragement, sharing parables of faith on her blog From Carol’s Quill and making learning fun in Fun with Finance and other teacher resource books.

Zig Ziglar And The Daily Inspiration Of Salvation (My Guest Post)

Image courtesy of Ziglar.com

Today I have the honor and opportunity to guest post at Tor Constantino’s blog, The Daily Retort. Tor is someone who I truly admire, he writes about his daily walk, including family, faith, fitness, finance, fusion, and funny stuff too! He is an ex-journalist and best-selling author.

If you follow my writing you know that I feed off inspirational material. Zig Ziglar has a persona that I truly love and enjoy. Since he passed away recently, I thought I would write somewhat of a tribute to him, and to how he might compare in his influence to that of Jesus. I think he made a pretty good disciple. Please follow this link to read the whole shebang…

 

Carol’s Gems: Amethyst, Purple Is The Color Of Jesus

Today’s post, “Carol’s Gems: Amethyst, Purple Is The Color Of Jesus,” is a monthly series on birthstones from one of my favorite blogger friends, Carol Peterson. Carol is a writer with a heart for encouragement, sharing parables of faith on her blog From Carol’s Quill and making learning exciting in Fun with Finance and other teacher resource books.

Every month has a birthstone. The birthstone for the month of February is the amethyst.

Amethyst

And it reminds me of Jesus.

Amethyst is one of my very favorite minerals. This photograph shows the gigantic pile of amethyst sitting in my kitchen window, catching the morning sunlight and casting sparkles about the room.

Amethyst is just quartz—like what you find most everywhere. But as quartz goes, amethyst is the most precious of the varieties of quartz. And the loveliest.

Symbolism of the Amethyst Stone

Amethyst symbolizes heavenly understanding, spiritual contentment, and the unity between mind, body and spirit. Can you say Holy Spirit? God, through the Spirit lives in us—our bodies, its temple.

One of the 12 foundations of heaven is amethyst. Heaven—founded on lovely amethyst—is gonna be amazing in its heavenly beauty!

The Color Purple

Lydia, one of the New Testament women mentioned in Acts had a business selling purple cloth to rich people. Most people couldn’t afford to wear purple, because the die used came from one specific type of clam, found in the Middle East—a costly process to achieve the beautiful purple color.

One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. (Acts 16:14)

Purple cloth eventually became so expensive that in medieval times, no one but royalty wore purple. To this day, purple is considered to be the color of nobility. Jesus, the King of Kings, is most worthy of all to wear the purple color of royalty.

And in fact, he did.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face. (John 19:1-3)

The Science of Purple

Purple is a combination of the colors red and blue. In color symbolism, red is associated with war, blood and judgment. Blue is associated with law and commandment.

Jesus—as God incarnate—represents both judgment and the commandments, made new and made possible through his blood sacrifice.

Purple is the color of Jesus.

Happy birthday to everyone born in February!

PRAYER: Jesus, as the King of Glory, you have the ultimate right to wear the purple robes of majesty. Please remind us that in your creation of the beautiful amethyst, you have hidden a tiny glimpse of the glory waiting for us with you in heaven. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Know anyone who needs to hear about the amethyst?

The HA!! : The Season Of Muddy Battle And Opportunity

I remember back in the day… (jk) – Photo Courtesy of Wheaton College

I’m writing today as a contributor to the Christian Writers Blog Chain. Our theme for this month is Opportunity. Christianwriters.com is an excellent place to network if you’re a Christian writer or author.

Time for “The HA!!” – This is my mini-series on life lessons I’ve gained through my humbling sports endeavors… I LOVE sports but genuinely suck at most of them, and, therefore, I’m a “HA = Humbled Athlete.” Please check out the other posts in this series at THE HA!! page.

Having influence could come with a certain amount of responsibility… why didn’t God make it that way? Maybe He did, and we changed everything and decided to do things our way. Here’s a new opportunity…

A cornerstone of influence in our culture comes to a pinnacle on one day in the dead of winter… one day we all tune in to watch the arena, our heroes and the hoopla that makes the Super Bowl the icon it has become in our culture today.

This draw of our attention is nothing new… organized sports and its’ heroes date back to Ancient Egyptian times, and the 12 Olympian gods or heroes, including Zeus, Apollo and Hermes. If you see the statues of these barely clothed athletic studs you’ll find the origin of our connective attraction of athleticism with heroism… and part of the reason we idolize these figures. It’s all deeply rooted in history.

Fast forward to this past week and the Super Bowl and we’ll visit with the modern romance to chiseled athletes, adding a layer of cutting edge media and provocative commercialism that we’ve enamored in the most recent past, and take a glimpse to what the future may look like…

Seth Godin describes the marriage between the “epic muddy battle” and TV perfectly:

“… football, more than any other sport, is made for television. It’s better on TV than it is live. The combination of the play clock, the angles, the repetition and the opportunity for analysis all make it perfect to watch on TV. And perfect to run commercials on. TV and football grew up together, side by side. Instant replay and the thirty-second commercial, supporting each other. 

It’s not an accident that the commercials are as much a part of the Super Bowl as the game. The commercials represent both the cash component of football as well as the cultural souvenirs that go with our consumption of the game.”

As media changes from TV to Twitter, how we move forward is changing. Maybe think of this transition as a season of opportunity…

I don’t think this shift is a chasm from building corporate wealth so much as hopefully redefining corporate culture. A Chick-Fil-A has a whole lot of potential to generate positive influence in our world today for the glory of God. Indeed, capitalism works because of our ability to choose right from wrong. In its purest form, capitalism aligns very well with Christianity (I am making a bold assumption that you align with both of these thoughts also. If not, please hear me out…). Now, since I’ve mentioned “eat more chicken” let me enlighten you to my image of this entity we know as The Chicken Sandwich: They’re appearing to be good Christians as well as successful at marketing their product broadly in a competitive market (btw, you’re completely missing the message here if you don’t click the link and head over to see Dan Cathy doing football with Shane L. Windmeyer).

Then along comes our hero. I personally have many sports heroes. Check out my Pinterest page and you will find a special place for them. I chose this chapter of The HA!! to highlight football because it’s unique in popularity in American culture, and I never played this sport competitively. Yep, I’m a spectator when it comes to football.

As a Florida Gator, I participated in the college-level extravaganza on many occasions. It started as a student and continued as an alumni. My second employer after graduating from UF was a Gainesville-based firm that invested heavily in college football. Our marketing agenda included dozens of season tickets that were allotted to clients attending pre and post-game gatherings, used to develop close relationships with the key people from both public and private entities throughout the southeastern U.S.

Somewhere in the mix of College Game Day, team spirit, and heroic moments our hearts warm up to the image and feeling of a hero. We let them in like they’re well-known… but in reality we often learn that they were complete strangers living in our own home. The whole spectacle is upsetting to us when we find out the truth about our hero… that sometimes he just wasn’t quite the person that we thought he was. Please don’t take me wrong, I’m not knocking the system here. Athletic scholarships are made possible by the investment of marketing dollars by major corporations. For the most part, the system works and we can and should enjoy our heroes. Moreover, an education is provided to many that never would have the opportunity.

The only real problem that I see with our fascination with the athletes is this:

We don’t really know them,
They’re people just like you and me, and therefore, we can expect that they’re not perfect,
We tend to get upset when we find out they make mistakes and that they’re real people as well.

People who appear in the public eye are typically there for a relatively short period of time. Some of them show up by virtue of a specific talent or gift, while others may arrive with an opportunity. Sports heroes come and go. The truly great leaders and heroes stand the test of time and become icons. Our culture feeds off this entire process. Therefore, we define the process, or opportunity, to invite our heroes to perform on the stage of life. In many ways we define their egos. This is all a matter of perspective. Since we made them the heroes they are, aren’t we “driving the Bronco…“, so to speak, when we follow… love… and promote the system that produces “The Juice”?? While this football season has ended you can be certain that a new one is just beginning. Somewhere, it’s happening. That’s all cool, I just don’t want to hop behind the wheel when OJ pulls up and asks me to do him a favor. (Remember, OJ was acquitted, now didn’t that feel just like a puntrooskie?)

So instead of getting upset with the fallen heroes next time take the opportunity to help shift the paradigm to one that is realistic. That would entail justly accepting responsibility for our own attraction to the TV commercials and athletes, changing our perspective from saying there’s something wrong with culture in general to taking the opportunity to focus inward to our heart, and to God. An inward focus toward change will have more outward influence than you can possibly imagine. (Click To Tweet)

The Q: What opportunity do you see to test-drive a new approach toward having a lasting influence on our culture today?

Christian Writers Blog Chain

The When Of Class And Style

Topped off with class, style and a smile

When Jesus gave us mercy and grace He gave us an over the top example of how to do something with class and style. He didn’t have to do it this way… but he did. Time and again he showed us turn the other cheek…

I don’t know about you but the class and style of mercy and grace doesn’t always come naturally easy to me. There comes a time and place when it’s important to say enough is enough when faced with adversity. There’s usually also a time to handle matters with class and style. The when? That’s often the challenge… effectively handling the situation to bring closure, and doing so in a way that models Jesus as the example. Jesus’ way is going to be better than my way every day. (Click To Tweet)

We can’t earn God’s grace, and we certainly don’t deserve it. God giving us grace doesn’t mean we didn’t do something wrong. We should strive to offer grace to others in the same way that God gave it to us… that should be all the motivation we need.

In Matthew Chapter 11, Jesus proclaimed this is what we should hear and see… the blind received sight, the lame walked, those with leprosy were cleansed, the deaf heard, he raised the dead and the good news was proclaimed to the poor.

Remember, Jesus said… “wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” Matthew 11:19

The when of class and style… and doing it with dignity, honor and respect…

Living fully between the dash… today and everyday.

Does it really matter in the end? Here’s what the Bible says…

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing seek glory, honor and immorality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism. Romans 2:1-11

The when of class and style is simply taking the higher road to a better place, and that’s always comforting to know deep within our soul. It’s all about living right between the dashes.

The when of class and style?

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34

Doing our best to be matchy matchy with it, one today at a time!

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. Ralph Waldo Emerson (Click To Tweet)

Happy Monday

The HA!! : The Perspective Of Schuss

Time for “The HA!!” – This is my mini-series on life lessons I’ve gained through my humbling sports endeavors… I LOVE sports but genuinely suck at most of them, and, therefore, I’m a “HA = Humbled Athlete.” Please check out the other posts in this series at THE HA!! page.

It’s been said that a humble person keeps their talents, gifts and capabilities in proper perspective. (Click To Tweet)

Sports have always been an outlet, or playground, if you will, for me. Since I’m not really great at any one sport, I don’t have the difficulty of having to overcome an ego or pride when it comes to being top dog. I just don’t have all that much game when in athletics… there’s simply nothing to be proud of.

Which way to go?

My passion for travel and the mountains lead to the pursuit of a winter sport that I can’t seem to get enough of… skiing. As I progressed in this activity I realized that my natural duck-footed stance makes skiing with both feet straight and perpendicular utterly unnatural. It’s more than unnatural, I would call it downright painful to have to orient my feet in the proper position to move gracefully down a slope all day. A switch to snowboarding helped keep me on the easier (green) slopes and provided relief to my aching knees. I would much rather “schuss,” or fly straight down an easier slope, than struggle to keep my speed moderated on a more difficult one.

Going fast on a ski slope brings the possibility of injury closer to home for me and, therefore, I am overcome with an emotion that I learned early on in my skiing days… fear. After a few serious wipe outs while trying to advance to more difficult slopes, combined with stories of people dying when they made solid contact with the immovable objects we refer to as trees, got me thinking…

Fear has a way keeping me humble and putting things into perspective.

There is a moderating effect exiting a ski lift and making a decision on which runs to take back to the bottom of the mountain. I’m not an adrenaline junkie. Understanding rational fear seems to always boil down to one core issue: Control. A rational fear is one that I can face because I have the ability to influence my internal dialogue. (Click To Tweet) Conversely, an irrational fear is one that isn’t based on reality… these are beyond the scope of The HA!!

If I’m at the top of the mountain and thinking about which run to take, I can choose either the runs named Elevator Shaft, Brain Damage, Steeper Than Jesus, or The Widowmaker (double black diamond runs) or the tamer ones… Zippidy Do Da, Bunny Hop or Groomed Corduroy. What’s in a name? More than you might imagine, when it comes to ski runs. Conquering the mountain for me is simply having fun schussing on the easy slopes, and living to tell the tale.

That’s not for you?

Instead, maybe go Off-Piste today…

Wait a second…

“Off-Piste” ??

Yea, that’s just ski lingo for the backcountry. Speaking of which, the half-pipe might be a great place to chill a hot mood… (just sayin’)…

To chill… yep, there is another rational fear in the back country… the big chill… remember the movie? Stick that one in your Netflix que, we’re referring to the avalanche here… being buried in an avalanche would be chilling!

OK, so we’ve reached the bottom of the hill… back to the gondola for the last ski run of the day…

Then what? Well, everyone that didn’t end up with a torn ACL that day has one final destination…

Apres-Ski. Yep, where we’re all thankful for another safe day of schuss on the slopes. Stick with the greens and you’ll keep fear in perspective… and live to apres-ski another day…

Is there an activity that you enjoy that God uses fear to help keep you humble?

Two Changes That Occurred When Our Portable Church Landed

That’s the place!

Just over a year ago the church where I am connected found a home. We had been a “portable church” for 5 years (I’ve been there for 3.5 years now…). Being a portable church was a challenge. There was a small group of people who showed up to church very early on Sunday morning to help unpack 30,000 pounds of our environments from a truck and trailer to set up for our services. Because we had a solid group of people contributing to the effort it was accomplished in just a few hours before and after the service.

After we moved into a facility our lives changed a little and became much easier.

 

No longer were people showing up for church at 6 am. Now, we could sleep in on Production Team and show up at 7:15. Many other people who used to come in at 7:00 could now show up to volunteer for activities as late as 9:00. This was more dramatic than it may appear as our service time was moved up one hour, and we now have two services instead of just one. Before, many volunteers didn’t even have an opportunity to sit in worship service. A few would show up for the early rehearsal to sing to God.

Here are the two apparent changes that I noticed when our portable church landed:

We lost some level of connection that we had experienced before. I was having breakfast with one of the elders from church not too long ago and we were talking about how we both missed connecting with other people at the church in the same was we used to when the church was portable. I couldn’t put my finger on why and he zeroed in on the reason… we no longer spent time with the folks we had come to enjoy volunteering along side. Now, if we saw them at church it was a very brief smile and hello. We still have the camaraderie within the service teams, but it doesn’t feel as we’re as connected as before. I miss that.
Our church grew. Once we moved into a facility that seemed to be more permanent we instantly blossomed. Part of that seems to have been the location, an existing church property in an established residential neighborhood. Maybe the most exciting part of this growth is in the children’s ministries. Lots of new faces everywhere. That is exciting to be a part of.

Our pastor Rich Barrett always emphasizes trying to make an impact on our city. I see that happening at Access Church in so many ways. Praise God. This place is diverse.

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly. Henri Bergson

Sometimes being responsive to change is a healthy sign of maturity. Change usually involves uncertainty. We often get comfortable in our setting, and change can be scary. We never know what new possibility that change may bring about. Think of change as a new opportunity to see the world differently…

It is not the strongest of the species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin (Click To Tweet)

I don’t know what God has in store through the changes occurring at my church, but it is pretty exciting to watch it unfold!

The Q: Do you find yourself wanting to go back in time due to change? How do you see God at work in your world through the opportunity created by change?

Interview With Author Carol Peterson

That’s Carol !!

Carol Peterson is a blogger friend that has helped me tremendously in learning how to write and through encouragement to complete my books and continue down the path to being an author. I was able to flag her down recently to answer a few questions about her writing, she’s pretty busy as you will see below…

Chris: We ran across each other through the Christian Writers Blog Chain, a great place to connect with other believers who have a passion for writing. It was quite some time before I realized that you have a second website, carolpetersonauthor.com. It looks like you have written 4 books that are educational and used in the classroom. Are you working on any other books right now?

Carol: Christian Writers is an awesome group of talented and Christ-loving folks!

I’m not working on any educational books right now, although I still have a heart for writing for kids and am working on a couple of young adult novels. Recently, my writing focus has moved toward adult Christian women. The book I’m most excited about is a bible study on the Book of Esther. Call Me Esther was one of those God-inspired projects I tried to argue with God about. “A book, God? Really? How about a nice series of blog posts instead?”

It never works to try and persuade God that your plan is better than His. Call Me Esther became a book.

Chris: I am curious how you got started writing, did you recognize this as a gift at an early age or was it something that you stumbled upon later in life?

Carol: I have always loved writing but it wasn’t until 12 years ago that I finally sat down to pursue writing seriously. Several months later I had a 450-page middle grade novel. You can correctly assume from the page count that it was horrible! I’ve since understood that “horrible” is part of the process for a story or an idea to become something good. It reminds me of the process God goes through when He works on our character. I’m sure glad He doesn’t give up at “horrible”!

Chris: We’ve talked a little bit about publishing and self-publishing, and you actually encouraged me to self-publish my first book. Do you see people self-publishing educational books? I’m guessing this market must be a little different than mainstream book publishing, right? Are there specific publishers that specialize in educational books?

Carol: I don’t see self-publishing for educational books at this time. Teachers work from curriculum standards—requirements by grade, subject matter and content—specified by each state’s Department of Education. A writer might have a self-published book—a biography, for example—that an individual teacher might like. But if you want to really focus on educational writing, then for now, you’re better off working with an established publisher. Teachers have an awesome responsibility to educate our kids. They need the assurance that what they share with their students has a respected publisher’s fact checking behind it.

In answer to your second question, yes, there are many great educational publishers. The best way to find one that fits your specific book is through Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market Guide or the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators (www.scbwi.org).

Chris: You’re someone that I truly admire the passion that you have for learning more about Jesus. Do you ever find it challenging to keep growing in your relationship with Jesus?

Carol: Thanks, Chris.

Jesus wants to be known by us. Seek and ye shall find; speak, Lord for your servant is listening…I take those verses to heart. I figure that as long as I continue to seek God, He will continue to show me more of His character. He will also continue to show me parts of my character He’d like me to change. But that’s a good thing, too because I know He’ll be with me, loving me through it all even if it takes practically forever. And for some areas of my character, it feels like it’s forever already…

Chris: You’ve attended some writers conferences, how are these beneficial for writers? Can you recommend any good ones?

Carol: Writing conferences are fabulous! I attend as many SCBWI conferences as I can. When I began writing for kids, I was starved for information about the publishing business and the craft of writing. Now, I attend conferences for the opportunity to meet agents and editors and learn more about how to market the books I’ve sold.

I’ve not attended any Christian writer conferences. American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) has an annual conference I understand is terrific. Since I haven’t yet jumped into the Christian fiction pool though, small local Christian and online writing groups fill the gap for me.

I encourage folks who can’t attend a conference far from home to start their own small group in order to gather and share information and encouragement. There are more struggling writers “out there” than you’d imagine. It’s hard to sit in a corner and write alone. Much better to find encouragement from others who understand what you’re doing and going through.

There are “yahoo” writing groups online to get a person started. Sometimes simply posting a notice at the library will find you several book-loving writer cohorts. And, of course, at ChristianWriters.com, folks can find oodles of great Christian writers.

Thanks so much, Chris, for the opportunity to chatter on about my love of writing and, especially, about my love for Jesus. You geologists rock!

Do you have any questions that you would like to ask Carol about her writing or publishing books?

Book Review: “The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth” by John C. Maxwell

Click the image to purchase this title at Amazon

Invaluable is a fitting word for this book. It amazes me that John Maxwell has written so many good books and keeps coming up with home runs. This one is loaded with excellent ideas and examples of growth principles that will lead one to reaching their potential. The common sense and inspiring principles, or laws, are easy to learn about and remember.

Here are The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth:

1. Law of Intentionality – Growth doesn’t just happen.

2. Law of Awareness – You must know yourself to grow yourself.

3. Law of the Mirror – You must see value in yourself to add value to yourself.

4. Law of Reflection. Learning to pause allows growth to catch up with you.

5. Law of Consistency. Motivation gets you going. Discipline keeps you growing.

6. Law of Environment: Growth thrives in conducive surroundings.

7. Law of Design: To maximize growth, develop strategies.

8. Law of Pain. Good management of bad experiences leads to great growth.

9. Law of the Ladder. Character growth determines the height of your personal growth.

10. Law of the Rubber Band. Growth stops when you lose the tension of where you are and where you could be.

11. Law of Tradeoffs. You have to give up to grow up.

12. Law of Curiosity. Growth is stimulated by asking why.

13. Law of Modeling. It’s hard to improve when you have no one but yourself to follow.

14. Law of Expansion. Growth always increases your capacity.

15. Law of Contribution. Growing yourself enables you to grow others.

Here’s what John says this book is all about:

“What do I mean when I write about growth? That will be as unique as you are. To discover your purpose, you need to grow in self-awareness. To become a better human being, you need to grow in character. To advance your career, you need to grow in your skills. To be a better spouse or parent, you need to grow in relationships. To reach your financial goals, you need to grow in your knowledge about how money works. To enrich your soul, you need to grow spiritually. The specifics of growth change from person to person, but the principles are the same for every person. This book offers laws that will teach you how to approach the worthy goal of growing.”

Bravo! This book is a winner for everyone who is interested in learning how to continue to grow in any area of your life.

Religious Freedom: What Does Jesus Really Look Like These Days?

pc or mac? If religious freedom were only that easy…

I was reading about Martin Luther King Jr. the other day. I wanted to learn more about this guy who has been credited with accomplishing more for our civil rights than possibly any other man in U.S. history.

While I was cruising the internet in search of information about MLK Jr. I found something most enlightening… a website popped up prominently in google searches that seemed to serve to expose a darker side of King. I read it and thought… why? Well, maybe you’re a white guy (like me) who isn’t all that concerned about civil rights (that would be where we differ). Indeed, the tone of racial injustice has improved in our society today, in comparison to the time of the civil rights movement in the 1960′s. I know I’m thankful for that. However, if your community is anything like mine, I would wager that the #1 issue facing your community and, specifically, the common ground to unity today, is hatred. I believe the only way to overcome this is through resolving our individual shallowness and having a personal relationship with Jesus. That’s letting Jesus into our heart. This only happens one person at a time.

Someone once said, “there’s safety in numbers.” While that may be true on a battlefield, we have to be very careful in our daily walk who we join hands with. This litmus test could be this: Am I honoring God in the journey that I’m traveling? I would contend that the mob that showed up on “Bloody Sunday” to turn back peaceful demonstrators walked down a very dark road of irrational fear and self-righteousness.

Hatred many times seems to be centered in our own shallowness. We feel threatened that a revelation will occur exposing a dark side of our personality or past, a blemish that we would rather erase instead of just accepting truth and grace and the fact that Jesus came for every one of us… and that we indeed all needed Him. Jesus came for all of us so we could have an opportunity to have a relationship with God through faith.

Just a blemish?

Whenever you feel threatened by hatred or an adversarial mob here’s what to do:

Invite individuals to engage in direct, one on one conversations. Open it up to a direct dialogue one person at a time. Leave that door open… and see for yourself what happens. Hatred often hides in our communities in groups. One on one interaction invites people to develop meaningful dialogue to understanding. And peace. That’s all it takes with reasonable people.

Remember a guy named Jesus? There was a crowd involved in his persecution and lynching. And why did He have to go? A group of people felt threatened by His teaching. Hatred driven by ego… is this sounding all too familiar on MLK Jr. Day? I mean, think about it: Jesus continually put his pundits in their place. These religious people were taking a beating by Jesus as He was bringing their hypocrisy to light. They didn’t like being called out on it, so they thought He had to go. When it came right down to it, they thought Jesus came to save them from oppression of the Roman government… but in fact Jesus came to give them a more liberating freedom… He saved them from their sins and offered eternal life. That just wasn’t good enough for them, because they wanted to live by the law instead of by grace. Truth and grace… it just wasn’t good enough for them… or, should I say, they thought they didn’t need all of that because they (thought they) were too good for it. You see, Jesus came to serve the people, not enslave them. He offered civil rights… an equal opportunity to everyone.

Think about this… how much more fair can it get? Freedom equally offered to everyone. 

Well, then I started reading about religious freedom in an excellent article from The Barna Group. It seems there are a lot of religious folks who feel like their freedom of religion is being invaded and that there is more trouble coming for our society down the road.

Barna defined and 90% of Americans surveyed agree that “True religious freedom means all citizens must have freedom of conscience, which means being able to believe and practice the core commitments and values of your faith.” That seems reasonable to want the freedom to practice our faith, but here’s the reality of the situation, according to Barna: Americans feel their freedom is being undermined because some groups are trying to move society away from traditional christian values.

Hmmm, this seems suspect so let me add a quick comparison from the past…

Remember the Moral Majority? I wonder how well that would fly today? Or, is it really sinking or dead in the water? Maybe the grumbling that we hear about “religious freedom” is really a group that is feeling their influence is fading from a more prominent position that it held in the past? The Moral Majority had the idea that these good people should go out into the world and have influence. I’m suggesting that HOW that was accomplished was the disconnect between religion and Jesus. This seems to be the single biggest turn off to religion, when we’re using our influence in a manner that society perceives as self-righteousness and hypocritical.

Maybe we’re afraid to really give people the freedom of choice? 

The tide has changed, and the people who seem to be struggling the most and causing the greatest uproar are those having difficulty adapting to changes that would shift the focus from what they think others should be doing to more of a self-awareness focus of how I can be a better person. This is similar to the change we’ve experienced in leadership from an authoritarian viewpoint to one of empowerment. Think about it: The ones who are really making an impact and statement today are those like Louie Giglio who do good and say, “Hey, I’m going to be the one who sets my agenda, I’m not going to let you chose it for me. I’m focused on doing good things that are relevant.” That’s really what our world wants to be a part of, and where our opportunity to be influential lies.

Can we really say we love Jesus… and be a part of a lynching mob at the same time? Maybe it’s time to walk away from the crowd and our shallowness and hold the hand of The One who CAN walk on water?

Unfortunately, until we all decide to just get over ourselves and realize that society needs help… that we need help… we’ll continue to struggle with issues of morality, harmony and unity.

You may recall my take on morality and harmony, based on C.S. Lewis’ work:

“Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonising the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for: what course the whole fleet ought to be on: what tune the conductor of the band wants it to play.”C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity.

Can we have both Morality and Harmony?

Absolutely, it’s possible if we keep in mind there is an important connection… it’s humility. If we want to keep morality, harmony and humility in the same sentence, we have to look within. (Click To Tweet). That’s our greatest opportunity to have influence and create change within our society. Only then can we look outside our own heart, to our relationships where we have the ability to make a difference. If you’re looking to have influence outside of yourself, strive to be a person who is growing in his relationship with Jesus. Then, look to be someone who is a game changer in the lives of others who lie within your close circles. Finally, continue to reach out and have influence with others by bringing them INTO the close circles. Strive to be someone who anyone may one day say “that dude is the person who brought me closer to God.” I think that’s the greatest positive impact any of us can hope to have on society and in our world today.

What does religious freedom mean to you? How can you draw others into your closest circle of influence?