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Lessons from the Monastery

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It was better than a fishing trip together–and that is saying something.

My ten-year-old boy, Zeb, and I spent several days this week at the Monastery of the Ascension retreat house–a true Idaho treasure.

Our primary take-aways:

1. Kitchen work was accomplished quickly and efficiently. The monks go about their chores without complaining and without arguing. Lesson: When everyone pitches in and does their part, the work is not burdensome.

2. Rush and hurry come from being driven…peace comes from being called. Lesson: Slow down, pay attention to your call, and turn your back on the voices that demand your immediate attention. Seek first the Kingdom of God and everything else will work out just fine.

3. Life at the monastery revolves around set times for prayer. Lesson: Don’t try to squeeze time for prayer into your life; schedule your life around prayer. Nothing is more valuable and more powerful than prayer and meditation.

The last two lessons, especially, I hope never to forget. Zeb and I ordered a copy of Christian Prayer : The Liturgy of the Hours and have set up our own plan for joining in prayer with the Church.

At work (where I am called–not where I am driven), I have access to the Universalis site, where I can keep up with the prayer cycle on breaks. The attitude is crucial, it seems to me: I am not a worker finding time for prayer–but a man of prayer who also works.

Nothing Zeb and I have ever done–not even our fishing trip to Oregon two springs ago–has helped more to tighten our bond and open up dialogue between us than the trip to the monastery. We both look forward to a return trip soon.

How to locate a monastery or retreat center

Would you like to find a place to get closer to your children–or your spouse? Try a monastery. This link can help you find one: Retreat Finder.

May His love bless and keep you and yours on the journey.

Filed Under: Reflections on Life

Jesus Camp: two kinds of people

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It debuted in 2006 and was nominated for an Academy Award the following year. I saw it last night: Jesus Camp.

Some say the film proves Christians are lunatics (e.g. Becky Fischer telling children to repent), or hypocrites (Ted Haggard speaking out against homosexual behavior, then getting busted for practicing it), and most assuredly right-wing propagandists (Mike Papantonio throughout the movie, where staged scenes of him as a radio announcer portray him as engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the film).

Some say Jesus Camp is a powerful witness to the power of God at work in young people–and that Becky Fischer is spot on in her admonitions.

If you’ve seen the movie, what do you say?

Magnolia Pictures proclaimed“”One of the great strengths of the film is that it doesn’t come with any prepackaged point of view…”.

I’m not buying that. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Reflections on Life Tagged With: , , , ,

The Time of Your Life

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When I was an undergraduate at the University of Oregon, I was having trouble budgeting my income. So I decided to keep track of my spending for a month to see if I could figure out a plan. What an eye-opener! I discovered, for instance, that I was spending 40 bucks a month on . . . ice cream. And that was back when 40 dollars was a fair chunk of cash. Especially for a college student.

That experience caused me to think about another valuable commodity: Time. Does it ever seem to you that time is disappearing like water from a leaky bucket? Do you ever wonder, “Where has the time gone?” Do you still feel like a kid, but look in the mirror and wonder where in the world the kid went? Are you where you had hoped you would be in your life by now? Are you beginning to despair of ever getting there?

The best thing I’ve found–and I looked at every time/life program out there–to get a grip on time is the Dream Into It program. It is cutting-edge, powerful, and effective. And I’m not saying that because I’m the author. I’m saying it because it’s true, and I know it will work for you.

Check it out. For you, for your family, for your future and your present. Don’t get to the end of your life and regret that you never got around to digging deep and doing what you’ve always wanted to do.

Dream Into It.

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Rest in peace, my friend

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My friend passed on to the other side yesterday. Way too young: 37 years old–leaving children behind, heartbroken parents, and a future with every possibility.

I call him my friend–and he was my friend–but our relationship was based on business. Oh, we would inquire about family–maybe share a story of something special that had happened in our lives–but business demanded that we stick to the task at hand. We were busy. Real busy. No time for chit-chat.

We met for discussion the day before he died. Maybe I could tell there was something a little off with him. Maybe. I’ve gone back over that meeting a hundred times in my mind. I wanted to inquire deeper, to go further on a personal basis than our business relationship allowed. But I didn’t. I held back. I didn’t want to offend him, or to come off as being nosey. We parted with our customary “Thank you,” to one another “see you soon.”

Friday morning came the news: He is dead. He is gone.

I went to his office. His normally open door was closed. No one there. I slipped a note underneath, “May His arms hold you . . .  Shalom.” And I promised myself that I would never, ever let business stand in the way of my compassion and concern for another human being again. Never.

[S]ome things are more important than business. The world is concerned about the global economy, when what we really need to be concerned with is loving one another. If we did that, just that one thing . . . the world’s economy would take care of itself.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3)

Filed Under: Reflections on Life

What the World Needs Now

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It may well be that the sentiment expressed by Henry Ford has come to fruition–well, at least part of it. The intricacies of the banking industry remain a secret to most of us, but the economic reality of bail-outs gone bad affects us all . . . well, 99% of us anyway.

When I heard an Occupy Wall Street demonstration was coming to our little town, I saw it as an opportunity for my children to witness a public outcry in action. My daughter, after all, has been working on a project that would give students a voice in the debate over educational practices–what better way to spur her imagination?

The event was an eye-opener, for sure. On a micro-scale, we got to see a part of the global dynamic that may best be described as “Frustration combined with a scantly hidden agenda.” Sprinkled in amongst the common folks who just want fair pay for a fair day’s work and a shot at the American Dream were anarchists and socialists and citizen militias. While the many were out to vent frustration (and God knows there is plenty to vent when many of us have lost our homes and the few have profited by it), there were some who used the occasion to lobby for a total overthrow of “the system.” The final speaker suggested things were going to have to get real ugly–murder and mayhem–that’s when my boy, Zeb, turned to me and said, “Dad, I don’t think I want to sign up for this group.”

Me either, Zeb.

I loved the signs, though. Us 99 percenters can surely understand the feelings behind them:

You have enemies? GOOD. That means you stood up for something in your life (Winston Churchill)

Corporate Plan for America: Loot it and Leave It!

The three branches of government: Financial, Petrochemical, Pharmaceutical.

It was an inside job!

Take back the American Dream!

Jobs for America Now!

Separation of Corporation and State.

Everything is fine. Keep Shopping.

Ironically, I had been to the local Boy Scout Council store to buy a uniform that day. The purchase price was outrageous, the material was inferior, and the tag said, “Boy Scouts of America. Made in Indonesia.” I was dumbfounded and more than a little upset. My, how things have changed in this country.

The bottom line, for me and my family, is that–while we agree something needs to be done…and the sooner, the better–we will fight the battle at the ballot box, not on the streets. Our government of “by the people, for the people” needs two things in order to function: candidates who care about this nation and its people and voters to go to the polls and elect them. We have an ample supply of both. Let’s set them in motion.

From my perspective, the really amazing thing is that no one seems to have the answer. The solution has been around for centuries, though. The Beatles sang part of it: What the world needs now is love, sweet love, it’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. The path to peace and justice is plain in Scripture. Jesus of Nazareth put it like this:

When the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question:

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22, NLT).

You see, lots of folks want the second part of the solution at the expense of the first. They want to push the Creator out of our schools and out of our government. But our founders didn’t advocate freedom FROM religion–they demanded freedom OF religion. “In God We Trust” isn’t necessarily true (or popular) anymore. And the truth is that, without Him, we don’t stand a chance. Without Him, we are unable to step out of selfish ambition and personal agendas.

We need Love… and God is Love.

Filed Under: Reflections on Life, Turnaround Theory
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