"And here's where I chill when I'm done rock climbing in my bathroom..."

I got scared out of my mind watching television yesterday.

I was flipping through the channels, trying to find something interesting to watch so I could justify not doing something more constructive, like writing, or praying, or sleeping. I stumbled on a show on MTV titled something like, “Top 15 Mostest Fab-est Teenager Cribs.” I was immediately engrossed.

As I joined the excursion already in progress, some ill-spoken teenager (sorry, oxymoron) was giving the MTV videographer a tour of his house the size of a shopping mall. He showed off the indoor go-cart track, his IMAX movie theatre and both stories of his bedroom. He took us to the fully-stocked video arcade game room and the water park in the back yard. I kept waiting to see what this kid had done that allowed him to buy all this amazing stuff. I had never seen so much opulence for someone who had a hard time talking and walking at the same time.

But before I could figure it out, the cameras took us to the next home where a pleasant young woman led a tour of an even larger mansion with even more jaw-dropping accoutrements. Her bedroom was in a refurbished medieval tower, complete with helipad and circular escalator.

As watched these tours by adolescent exhibitionists, I kept trying to learn what they had done to obtain the coin that allowed them to live in such excess. I’m not particularly current with pop culture, but none of these young people looked like anyone I recognized from the Partridge Family or the Osmond Brothers. How did these kids earn so much money? Did they launch an Internet lawn-mowing business or babysit for Brangelina?

Finally, I figured out that these young landowners didn’t earn that money – their parents did. Periodically during the video tours, the affluent parents of these teens would pop up on the screen saying something like, “When we built this over-the-top house, we wanted to make sure we would overindulge the kids, too. Because, you know, it’s all about the kids.”

These kids didn’t work to earn any of these amazing homes. They just happened to be born into families with such astounding earning ability. Through no effort of their own, the teens got to reap the rewards.

Now don’t get me wrong – I love amassing stuff as much as anyone. I like lots of things in abundance – money, tin roof sundaes, sleep. But the very act of teenagers showing off their preposterous possessions – which they didn’t do a thing to earn – really caught me off guard. Is the point of this pageant of possession to make other teenagers jealous? I guess it’s not fair that some poor kids are stuck with slacker parents who refuse to work harder so Billy can have a yacht in his moat.

Not surprisingly, the Bible takes a different approach. David decided that counting his stuff – in this case, the number of citizens of Judah and Israel over which he reigned – would be a good idea. But he had in Joab a commander who knew that counting what he had wasn’t the way to achieve enlightenment, and was an affront to God. “…why does the lord my king delight in this thing?” he asks in 2 Samuel 24:3. A few verses later, David realizes the futility of keeping score of his stuff and repents.

We’ve gotten really upside down when celebrate not only excess, but excess that was a windfall that we did nothing to earn. (It’s almost like Proverbs 19:10 from was made for this show’s tagline – “Luxury is not fitting for a fool.”) Wouldn’t it be more elevating to have a show that chronicles the 15 Mostest Fab-est Selfless Acts Done By Teenagers? That’s a show I’d watch. Right after the Partridge Family.

Have you ever felt that your pursuit of "stuff" had gotten out of control?

Making My New Year’s Ruminations

I’m really not big on New Year’s resolutions. They really aren’t effective for me. It has something to do with my complete lack of discipline and self-control. Those character flaws cause me to give up early in the New Year. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I do New Year’s resignations.

Still, because I lack discipline and self-control (ironically), I generally can’t help myself when New Year’s rolls around. I am drawn to the whole new-year, fresh-start concept thing. I can’t help but to reflect on where I fell short in the previous year and where I can improve.

When I thought about where I fell short in 2008, this blog came to the top of my list. Apparently a blog needs to have regular posts if it is to have any kind of value, let alone attract readers. I tried justifying that by only posting something every six months, I was actually doing readers a favor, not clogging up their Google alerts. But that falls under the heading of New Year’s rationalization, which is something I am much better at than resolutions.

So I was mulling (which is a great word) why I was averse to posting blog entries in 2008, when I received some insight from my pastor. (I suppose that’s what I get when I mull during the sermon.) Pastor John spoke Sunday about creativity and why we need to be creative in our relationships, in our work, and in our spiritual pursuits. He compared creativity to a birth. Like a child, a creative idea is conceived, then it must go through labor before it is delivered. Pastor John made the point that many creative ideas fade away the moment they are conceived, if they aren’t yoked to a work ethic that sees them through to delivery.

Bingo! That’s my problem! I have lots of creative ideas. Every minute of every day I think of something witty or clever or insightful or cleverly insightful or wittily clever. But every minute of every day I also neglect to do the hard work to turn a creative idea into something that lasts longer than a moment. My problem is I’m all idea, no action. Call it New Year’s relaxation. Or recuperation.

That was reinforced to me when I read the fourth chapter of Matthew, describing the disciples’ decisions to follow Jesus.

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. (Matthew 4:18-22)

I was struck by the word “immediately” used twice as Peter, Andrew, James and John responded to the call of Jesus. They didn’t think about doing something. They did it. Immediately.

So my New Year’s resolution is to apply the work ethic to my creative ideas so that I produce something tangible. I resolve to be more diligent putting my ideas onto paper, er, the screen. And so far, it’s working. I’ve already got one blog entry this year! So now I should probably take a New Year’s recuperation.

See you again in June!

What are you resolved to apply a stronger work ethic to in 2009?

Disobeying Directions

As my week with the rental car wore on, I got more and more confident with my onboard friend. I could ask her to show me the nearest bookstore, how to avoid interstates when driving back to my hotel, or how to find an Outback Steakhouse.

In fact, one night I decided Outback sounded like a nice dinner choice, so I typed that into the machine, and she enthusiastically guided me on my way. But as we got closer to Outback, I saw a TGI Friday’s, and decided fish and chips sounded like a better choice. When Ms. AutoMap told me to turn left, I kept going straight. She did that a couple more times while I ignored her. I could tell she was a bit put out. Eventually, she told me she was “recalculating route,” but I didn’t give her the chance. I pulled into the Friday’s parking lot. Her response was icy silence right up until I turned off the ignition. And I felt kind of bad. I told her where I wanted to go, she dutifully prepared the directions, and then I ignored them and went my own way.

That was the second way that I decided this was like my relationship to God.

See, sometimes God tells me exactly what I need to go to make progress on the path He set me on. And sometimes I don’t just make a mistake. I intentionally go in a direction that I know isn’t His preferred route for me. And that’s when I get the still silence, the lack of response, the aloofness that sometimes drives me crazy. When I’m in those places of my own making, I’m usually surprised for a bit that He’s no longer shouting out directions. But I eventually figure out that I put myself into this spot. His response shouldn’t surprise me.

My Bible reading recently brought forth one of my favorite examples of disobedience (That’s sad that I have favorite examples of disobedience. I could probably come up with some examples of obedience... if I thought hard enough). In the book of 1 Samuel, Saul is giddy happy with the success he’s experienced in his pursuit of the Amalekites. He was on a mission from God to destroy them and he did… sort of. Because despite the instructions to wipe out everything, he decided to bring home a few spoils for himself. And the prophet Samuel, in one of the best examples of scriptural understatement, calls him on it.

“But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!"

Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel, and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.' "Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

"But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal." (1 Samuel 15:16-21)

Another sign of faulty leadership - blame others for the mistakes.

In the following verse Samuel reminds Saul that what God wants is not spoils, but obedience. He doesn’t want us to sin in the process of pursuing something that God doesn’t want in the first place.

Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king." (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

At the end of my business trip, it was with some sadness that I returned the rental car to the carport and boarded my flight home. It was a safe bet that I knew how to get where I wanted to go. The question is, will I follow directions?

What part of your life is most susceptible to ignoring the right directions?