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Chapter-a-Day

Go Big! (or Maybe Not)

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/4YikEMy7OkxAe1JLO8zwrd?si=H_yVDG7PSX-7pgTwubr5SQ

When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
Deuteronomy 20:10 (NIV)

A few years ago I found myself at a crossroads having to make a decision about my business. A tremendous opportunity presented itself for me to transform it into something much larger. Larger cashflow, larger staff, larger marketing plan, larger client base, larger revenues, and larger profits. I had been promised the financial support and guidance to go big.

I confess that it was tempting.

There is something innately human—and perhaps especially American—that equates big numbers with success, status, and safety. This thinking even creeps into perceptions of “church.” Mega-churches and celebrity pastors wield wealth, attention, and influence. “Go big or go home,” as the saying goes. Bigger is better. More is better. Big numbers mean triumph.

Today’s chapter stands in contrast to this mentality, even as God through Moses prepares his people for a military campaign of conquest. In fact, God’s tactical commands are downright foolhardy when you consider military strategy that has raised empires throughout history.

God begins with pre-battle instructions.

Deuteronomy 20 is the Hebrews’ theology of war, though it is far more pastoral than brutal.

  1. Do not be afraid when facing larger, better-armed enemies. God reminds them: You are not alone. I brought you out of Egypt; I’ll walk you into this too.
  2. The priest speaks before the battle, not the general. Courage is framed as a spiritual matter before it is a tactical one.
  3. Mercy precedes mobilization:
    • Offer peace before siege.
    • Protect fruit trees—even in war, tomorrow matters.
  4. Exemptions abound:
    • Just built a house? Go home.
    • Just planted a vineyard? Go enjoy its fruit.
    • Newly engaged? Go love her well.
    • Afraid? Go home—fear is contagious.
  5. Limits are set:
    • Distant cities are treated differently than those within the Promised Land.
    • War is not permission for chaos; it is bounded, restrained, and accountable.

This is not a call to bloodlust. It is a leash on it.

Underlying all of these instructions is a subtextual whisper from God—one I heard loud and clear in the quiet.

“Large numbers don’t impress me.”

God is not interested in crowds. He can raise an army from stones.
God is not hoarding wealth. Everything is already His.
God can assure victory. He proved it with Egypt.

God is molding a people with a purpose, and Deuteronomy 20 has me asking myself a few important questions:

What battles am I fighting that God never enlisted me for?

What battles am I facing and have been trying to fight alone?

God’s ancient words to His Hebrew children resonate with clarity for my life and circumstances today:

  • Name my fear—because unnamed fear leads armies astray.
  • Offer peace first—in conversations, conflicts, and grudges.
  • Honor my limits—not every season is for battle.
  • Protect the trees—don’t burn relationships, health, or hope just to feel victorious.
  • Trust the presence of God more than the size of the problem.

This chapter is not a call to aggression.
It’s an invitation to holy courage—the kind that knows when to stand, when to step back, and when to let God do the fighting while you simply refuse to panic.

As I stood at the crossroads weighing my opportunity to go big with my business, God’s Spirit whispered to my soul in the quiet. Hidden among all of those large numbers that my head desired were two large numbers: large debt and large headaches. What would shrink—and likely get lost in the forest of large numbers—were the very purposes and promises on which the business was founded.

It’s time for me to shift into my work day quietly doing what we do to faithfully serve our clients and follow the purposes to which God continues to lead, one small step at a time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

The One Thing

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The One Thing (CaD Rom 1) – Wayfarer

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Romans 1:16 (NIV)

I had a class in college in which the professor assigned us to write a paper of at least 10 pages about a historical figure. One day in class he returned our papers with his corresponding grade written at the top with a bright red Sharpie. One of my classmates was livid that he’d received a failing grade. In front of the entire class, he called out the professor for failing him. As I recall, the professor attempted to help our classmate save face by quietly telling him to read through the notes he’d made and it would explain. The classmate pressed on, insisting that there was no way he should have been given an “F” on the paper.

“The assignment was a ten-page paper. My paper was 35 pages long!” Our classmate yelled.

“Yes,” the professor replied calmly. “You wrote a 35-page paper, but you didn’t say anything.”

Over the past several years, I have had the privilege and honor of mentoring several individuals in our local gathering of Jesus’ followers in the art and craft of preaching. It’s given me great joy. I believe I may have learned more through the process than my protégés.

Among the things I have stressed in my mentoring is that when you have to say something it’s critical to clearly articulate what it is you have to say. I call it “the one thing” and I asked them “If there was one thing you wanted every listener to walk away and remember, what is it?” Among the most common struggles I observed with my charges was having too much content. Often fueled by fear of not being able to fill the allotted time or coming across as lacking knowledge, individuals would pack their outline or message with all sorts of information, references, and illustrations. However, the more content that was packed in, the easier it was for “the one thing” to get lost.

In the rom-com Sabrina, the chauffeur’s daughter says to her billionaire father’s employer, “You know, Linus, more isn’t always better. Sometimes more is just more.”

Today this chapter-a-day journey enters Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome. Paul has a lot to say to his friends. But in his opening words he clearly articulates his “one thing:”

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Roman society of Paul’s day was all about honor and power, shame and weakness. The idea of a suffering, servant-hearted Messiah dying on a cross was antithetical to citizens in the heart of the most powerful, most wealthy, and most worldly of human Empires. Most Romans looked down upon Jesus’ Message as foolishness. Paul is about to explain to the believers in the heart of the Roman Empire, in great detail, what real power and foolishness look like in the Kingdom of God; Power that leads from death to life, from chaos to shalom, from earth to eternity.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on my circumstances relative to the original Roman recipients of Paul’s letter. I live in the “heartland” of an American Empire in what is considered a post-Christian era. Many among the educated elite now consider Jesus’ Message not only foolish but evil. The world, they argue, would have been better off had Jesus and His followers never existed. Meanwhile, affluence affords me the luxury of focusing time, energy, and resources on a host of silly things and foolish notions. As I look back at my life journey, I’ve never felt such a contrast between the direction Jesus’ Message leads and the messages the world tells me I must believe under the threat of social and cultural cancellation.

I think it’s a good time to read the “something” Paul had to say.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Trials of Transition

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The Trials of Transition (CaD 1 Sam 11) – Wayfarer

When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out together as one.
1 Samuel 11:6-7 (NIV)

I have a vivid memory of election night 2016. I was in a hotel room in Chanhassen, Minnesota watching the election returns. As the surprising results became clear, I received a text message from our daughter. She, like many Americans, was distraught with the outcome. My daughter and I have different views on many things including things political and spiritual, but as our text messages flowed back and forth, I recognized a couple of things.

First, my daughter was a relatively young adult. This was only the second presidential election in which she could vote. It was the first in which I observed her being politically aware. I watched as her personal journey over the previous four years had opened her eyes and heart to political issues that affected herself and particular people for whom she cared deeply. The previous one-third of her entire life journey to that point, our country had been led by one leader whom she admired and respected. That night, she was entering a major season of transition.

Along my life journey, I have experienced several seasons of transition. There are transitions that come from new experiences in life, such as the move from elementary school to middle school, then to high school, and the big transition to moving away from home to attend college. There are transitions in proximity, moving from one place to another which brings with it the loss of security, familiarity, and community and the process of establishing new footings, patterns, and relationships. There are transitions that come with the loss of family and loved ones. I distinctly remember when the last of my grandparents passed away and I had the realization that an entire generation of my family was gone; The rest of us had graduated to a new stage in our life journeys. Then there are transitions of leadership when a human system in which we are a part (e.g. government, family, work, church, community organization, etc.) gets a new leader that will affect our experience in that system.

In this chapter-a-day journey, we find the Hebrew tribes are in a time of intense transition. They had known one system of government for hundreds of years and were entering another. They had known the steady, strong leadership of Samuel for many years, but had been told that this young man named Saul, a nobody from the smallest tribe who happened to be tall and handsome, was going to be their king and rule over them. He’d been appointed and anointed by Samuel, he’d been chosen by the “luck of the draw” by the casting of lots. But, Saul was young. He lacked confidence. He was unproven as a leader.

Today’s chapter tells of Saul’s first real test of leadership. Having faced a continuous military threat from the Philistines in the west, the Ammonites on the east seize the opportunity to attack a Hebrew town on the east side of the River Jordan. When Saul hears of it, God’s spirit descends on him. He makes an immediate decision to act. He rallies the fighting men among the Hebrew tribes and humbly calls them to follow both he and Samuel in this call to action. After the successful, daring rescue, the people call for a lynch mob to round up all those who questioned Saul’s anointing as king and kill them all. Saul puts the kibosh on their plan, stating that the victory was not his, but the LORD’s. As I read the chapter, I thought to myself that Saul’s leadership was perfect. It couldn’t have been better. It was his first at-bat as the anointed king and he crushed a home run that left the park.

For the Hebrews, this had to have helped all the tension, fear, and anxiety they had been feeling in their season of transition. How nice it would be if all our seasons of transition experienced that kind of hopeful sign. But, they don’t. And that brings me back to my text conversation with my daughter that lasted into the wee hours of election night 2016 as she felt all the tension, fear, and anxiety of one of the most tumultuous transitions of political leadership in our nation’s history.

While I have very different views than my daughter, I have complete and utter respect for knowing that she is on her own journey. My love for her is not lessened by our differences of views. And, if I truly believe what I say I believe (and I do) then I trust that God is at work in her on her own journey even though it looks very different than mine. I also happen to believe deeply in the American ideal of free speech, respect for others, and the process of our representative republic. In my 50 years, I have experienced multiple presidential transitions that created tension, fear, and anxiety in me. I have watched the political pendulum swing back and forth many times at different levels.

That night I reminded our daughter that in just four years there would be another election. I reminded her that our system allows people to get involved and influence the outcome of elections. I encouraged her to turn her tension, fear, and anxiety into action. We might not always agree on who to vote for, but I wholeheartedly believe in her right to believe, think, speak, and act on her personal convictions in our political process.

In 2020, I couldn’t have been more proud of our daughter, her husband, and their friends. They successfully held one of the few international sites of the Iowa Caucuses and had Iowans from all over Europe travel to join them for their Caucus in Scotland. What I observed was my daughter turning the tension, fear, and anxiety of a season of transition into positive, active momentum.

And, that’s just what God tells us over and over again throughout the Great Story. The trials and struggles of transition can either send us into the pit of paralysis and despair, or they can produce in us important character qualities of perseverance, maturity, faith, trust, and active growth. Sometimes, a little of the former ultimately leads eventually to the latter. The further I’ve gotten in this life journey, the more I’ve been able to skip the former altogether and move right to the latter. I pray that our daughter’s experiences will enable her to do the same.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Every Tribe and Tongue

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Every Tribe and Tongue (CaD Ps 129) – Wayfarer

“they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
    but they have not gained the victory over me.”
Psalm 129:2 (NIV)

Wendy and I watched Godfather: Coda a few weeks ago. For those who aren’t familiar, it is the recent re-edit of the final film in the Godfather trilogy by the film’s director, Francis Ford Coppola. Originally released as The Godfather III back in 1990, the film has always been largely criticized for not living up to the first two films. Coppola claimed that he was at odds with the movie Studio on how the story should be told and was forced to rush the film to market. He was finally allowed, 30 years later, to recut it and tell the story as he and Mario Puzo imagined it.

The trilogy is really the story of Michael Corleone. Raised in a mafia family, he swears early on in the first film that he’ll never be part of the family business. The overarching story is how Michael descends into the underworld with the intent to save his family and then can’t escape, as his family is slowly torn apart.

One of the subtle storylines in the third film is that of Michael Corleone’s son, Anthony. Anthony, like his father, wants nothing to do with the family business. “I’ll never be part of the family business,” Anthony states. He then adds, “I have bad memories.”

“Every family has bad memories,” his father replies.

That line has always resonated in my soul because I find it to be true. Just the other day I wrote about my journey of discovery and uncovering some of my families’ bad memories when I was a young man. But there is also the larger reality that we are the product of the systems into which we were born. We are a product of our people. Michael wanted to escape, yet he chose in and tragically couldn’t find the exit.

Wendy and I are both products of a Dutch American tribe who risked everything to come to America, settled as a tribe on the plains of Iowa, and prospered. That prosperity was fueled by our tribe’s deeply rooted values of faith, frugality, and hard work. Wendy and I often acknowledge that we are products of our people with both the blessings and curses that come with every human system.

For the Hebrew tribes, history and identity as a people is one of constant struggle against other tribes and nations and their subjugation by human empires. That is what the writer of today’s chapter, Psalm 129, is pressing into with his lyrics as he describes being enslaved and beaten:

Plowmen have plowed my back
    and made their furrows long.

Psalm 129 was likely written after the return of exiles from captivity in Babylon. The sting of the experience would have still been fresh in the memories of those singing this song on their pilgrimage. It is the cry of a people that first acknowledges that God has blessed them and they have not been overcome, then asks God to justly deal with their oppressors.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself confessing that there are a host of human experiences that I can’t completely fathom because I haven’t experienced them myself, but that doesn’t mean I can’t seek to understand, to empathize, and to learn lessons from the experience of others. Our Dutch American town holds an annual festival of our Dutch heritage. The motto of the festival is “Everyone’s Dutch for a day!” and visitors are encouraged to learn the history, try on a pair of wooden shoes, learn a Dutch dance, and eat lots of pastries. When invited in to learn and embrace the knowledge of other cultures and people groups, I observe that everyone benefits. When excluded from doing so, I observe that the walls of prejudice are fortified to the detriment of all.

One of the sins of the institutional churches and the abuse of their power in history is the perpetuation of prejudice, injustice, violence, and indifference for the sake of power and empire in the kingdom of this world. The Jesus Movement that was about tearing down walls of prejudice and spreading love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness to every human tribe became a human empire. In the black-and-white binary choices to which the world likes to reduce everything, Christianity has been summarily dismissed by many.

I have found, however, that the heart of the Jesus Movement has always continued in the hearts and lives of individuals who embrace it and seek to carry out the original mission. A mission in which every human being of every people group can experience love, forgiveness, and redemption. When given a vision of eternity, John described the crowd as persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. When U2 described it in their psalm they sang, “I believe in the Kingdom come, when all the colors bleed into one.”

My heart this morning is crying out with the prayer of St. Francis. Perhaps it expresses more succinctly what my heart is trying to say in this post:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.