Tag Archives: Relationship

Chapter-a-Day

My Choice

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My Choice (CaD Lev 1) – Wayfarer

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.”
Leviticus 1:2 (NIV)

Imagine an entire nation of people wandering in the desert. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children; Perhaps millions with their flocks and herds. For four hundred years these people had been slaves in Egypt. They were told where to live, what to do each day, and they were given little or no choices in life. Their ancestor, Abraham, had made a covenant with God hundreds of years before, but they knew little about the God of Abraham. It had only been stories passed down through the generations.

Then, the God of Abraham showed up. He revealed Himself to Moses and miraculously delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt. Now they find themselves living in the wilderness. Everything has changed. This nation of people have an opportunity to begin a whole new way of living life together in community with their God, and with one another. It is, perhaps, the greatest social experiment in human history. It still resonates in our daily lives if we will but recognize it.

Today our chapter-a-day journey wades into perhaps the most ignored and misunderstood book in the entire Great Story. The book of Leviticus was a set of instructions for the newly appointed priests among this fledgling nation of newly freed slaves, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There were twelve tribes of them, and God through Moses appointed one tribe, the tribe of Levi, to handle priestly duties. Within the tribe of Levi, the descendants of Aaron (Moses right-hand man) would be the official priests who handled sacrifices. Keep in mind, just a month or so ago these Levite dudes were just slaves like everyone else doing what they were told to do in Pharaoh’s construction projects. Now they are priests of the God of Moses with no earthly idea what that means or what they are supposed to be doing. Leviticus is their guidebook.

The book opens by describing the five major types of offerings (burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, and guilt) that the people will bring to God, and how the priests are to handle them. Today’s opening chapter deals with burnt offerings. There were two things I noticed immediately as I read today’s chapter.

First, it says “when” people bring a burnt “offering” followed by “if” that offering is one of three potential types (a bull, a sheep, or a bird). This is not compulsory. The burnt offering is first and foremost a choice that is made by the person or family bringing it. The Hebrew word for “offering” means literally to “bring.” It is a choice. The entire act is one of willful devotion to God.

Next, there are three potential burnt offerings representing different economic realities. A bull could only be offered by a family with herds, which were objects of great wealth in their socio-economic system. A sheep or a goat were more common and represent a more “middle class” reality among the people. Birds were relatively cheap and plentiful for those who were on the poorer end of the economic spectrum of that day. In other words, God is allowing for people across the entire socio-economic spectrum to show their devotion at whatever level they can afford. Everyone is welcome.

As I meditated on these things in the quiet this morning, I was struck by the fact that God is amazingly consistent in His message and method. He initiated everything by appearing to Moses and freeing the Hebrew tribes from slavery. Now He is asking for them to make a free and willful choice to express their devotion and gratitude by coming to God with an offering, whatever they can personally afford.

“I chose you. I loved you. I saved you. Now, I want you to choose me and here is how you can do that.”

It is the same paradigm that God would display through Jesus a few thousand years later.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17 (NIV)

Or, as John would put it in one of his letters:

“We love because He first loved us.”
1 John 4:18

As I head out into a new and very busy work week, I’m reminded this morning that it is the same for me as it was for the former Hebrew slaves trying to figure out how now they should live. God has lovingly done everything for me. He has loved me, saved me, delivered me from my slavery to sin, guided me, provided for me, and blessed me. Now, I have the opportunity to choose to, in return, offer my love, gratitude, and devotion by living my life and relating to others with His love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.

It’s my choice.

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Best of ’24: #6 When Rest Becomes Work

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For two weeks, while Wendy and I are away enjoying some warm weather, I’ll be counting down the top ten chapter-a-day posts of 2024 (based on total views anIt’ s always interesting which posts resonated with readers and listeners. The chapter for tomorrow’s post will be listed at the bottom.

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
Mark 3:7 (NIV)

Wendy and I are in the process of selling our place at the lake. For those who know us and for those who have followed my blog for any length of time, this may come as a surprise. “The Playhouse” has been a part of my family for over 25 years, and for the past 15 years it has been regular place of retreat, refreshment, and relationship for ourselves, our family, and many, many friends. The featured image on today’s post is our final farewell to the Playhouse as we moved things home.

The truth is that Wendy and I have been praying about the end of this season in our lives for a few years. We’ve talked about it with friends, but circumstances consistently told us that it wasn’t time. This summer, we once again prayed in earnest whether it was time and everything rapidly fell into place in a way that told us the time was right.

One of the themes that God weaves into the Great Story from the very beginning of Genesis is the blessing of rest. God creates everything in six days, and on the seventh day He rests. Then, in the book of Exodus when God through Moses prescribes how His people should live and conduct themselves, He emphasizes rest in multiple ways on multiple levels. This was a radical idea. For 400 years God’s people had been slaves in Egypt without a day off. Now God prescribes that they need a day off every seven days. In fact, whether you’re a believer or not, you can thank God every weekend because the weekend was born when the Roman Emperor, who was a Christian, followed God’s prescription and declared that everyone in the Roman Empire gets Sundays off.

In today’s chapter, Mark’s choice of scenes reveals several things. Jesus’ teaching and miracles are drawing huge crowds from all over. Word has spread and people are traveling from far away places. Between the crowd scenes, Mark shares that Jesus “withdrew” from the crowds. Once He withdrew to a lake. Another time He withdrew up a mountain. What that tells me is that Jesus knew He needed rest from the crowds, the teaching, the miracles, the exorcisms, and the chaos of His Miraculous Mystery Tour.

But Mark plants another seed when he begins by telling the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue. Jesus challengers, who I wrote/talked about in yesterday’s post/podcast, have now become His outright enemies. No longer simply challenging Jesus, they’re seeking a way to accuse Him, discredit Him, and bring Him down. So, they lie in wait to see if Jesus would perform a miracle on the Sabbath day of rest. Because the good religious fundamentalists had deemed that performing a miracle was work.

Mark says that this “angered” Jesus, and He was “deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.” Why? Because they had perverted and profaned the plan. The Sabbath, which had been prescribed as a blessing of rest, had been transformed into a burden in which people had to expend time, energy, and resources to track and follow all the rules that had been made around it. What was meant for rest became work.

Which brings me back to our place on the lake. As Wendy and I prayed and discussed it over this past spring and summer, we realized that things had changed. What was meant to be, and used to be, full of retreat, refreshment, and relationships had slowly become a burden on multiple levels. And, the opportunity arose to pass it on as a blessing to others in answer to their prayers

So, in the quiet this morning I’m reminded that the prescription for rest remains. Like Jesus, Wendy and I need to find our new places to withdraw and find retreat, refreshment, and relationship amidst the chaos of work and worry. We are excited for the new season ahead. And, in the wake of a long and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, I’m also grateful as I think about what a blessing God has woven into the plan of creation in prescribing, and exemplifying, regular periods of rest.

Tomorrow’s Chapter: Romans 9

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

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

When Rest Becomes Work

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Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
Mark 3:7 (NIV)

Wendy and I are in the process of selling our place at the lake. For those who know us and for those who have followed my blog for any length of time, this may come as a surprise. “The Playhouse” has been a part of my family for over 25 years, and for the past 15 years it has been regular place of retreat, refreshment, and relationship for ourselves, our family, and many, many friends. The featured image on today’s post is our final farewell to the Playhouse as we moved things home.

The truth is that Wendy and I have been praying about the end of this season in our lives for a few years. We’ve talked about it with friends, but circumstances consistently told us that it wasn’t time. This summer, we once again prayed in earnest whether it was time and everything rapidly fell into place in a way that told us the time was right.

One of the themes that God weaves into the Great Story from the very beginning of Genesis is the blessing of rest. God creates everything in six days, and on the seventh day He rests. Then, in the book of Exodus when God through Moses prescribes how His people should live and conduct themselves, He emphasizes rest in multiple ways on multiple levels. This was a radical idea. For 400 years God’s people had been slaves in Egypt without a day off. Now God prescribes that they need a day off every seven days. In fact, whether you’re a believer or not, you can thank God every weekend because the weekend was born when the Roman Emperor, who was a Christian, followed God’s prescription and declared that everyone in the Roman Empire gets Sundays off.

In today’s chapter, Mark’s choice of scenes reveals several things. Jesus’ teaching and miracles are drawing huge crowds from all over. Word has spread and people are traveling from far away places. Between the crowd scenes, Mark shares that Jesus “withdrew” from the crowds. Once He withdrew to a lake. Another time He withdrew up a mountain. What that tells me is that Jesus knew He needed rest from the crowds, the teaching, the miracles, the exorcisms, and the chaos of His Miraculous Mystery Tour.

But Mark plants another seed when he begins by telling the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue. Jesus challengers, who I wrote/talked about in yesterday’s post/podcast, have now become His outright enemies. No longer simply challenging Jesus, they’re seeking a way to accuse Him, discredit Him, and bring Him down. So, they lie in wait to see if Jesus would perform a miracle on the Sabbath day of rest. Because the good religious fundamentalists had deemed that performing a miracle was work.

Mark says that this “angered” Jesus, and He was “deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.” Why? Because they had perverted and profaned the plan. The Sabbath, which had been prescribed as a blessing of rest, had been transformed into a burden in which people had to expend time, energy, and resources to track and follow all the rules that had been made around it. What was meant for rest became work.

Which brings me back to our place on the lake. As Wendy and I prayed and discussed it over this past spring and summer, we realized that things had changed. What was meant to be, and used to be, full of retreat, refreshment, and relationships had slowly become a burden on multiple levels. And, the opportunity arose to pass it on as a blessing to others in answer to their prayers

So, in the quiet this morning I’m reminded that the prescription for rest remains. Like Jesus, Wendy and I need to find our new places to withdraw and find retreat, refreshment, and relationship amidst the chaos of work and worry. We are excited for the new season ahead. And, in the wake of a long and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, I’m also grateful as I think about what a blessing God has woven into the plan of creation in prescribing, and exemplifying, regular periods of rest.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Word Budget

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Word Budget (CaD Eph 4) – Wayfarer

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

Yesterday, like most Sundays, Wendy and I were the last ones out of the Auditorium after worship. We were talking to people. It was more than just casual conversation. One friend is having surgery tomorrow, and it’s a rather complicated procedure to remove a cancerous mass. Another friend is having tests this week to identify what could be a different form of cancer. Another friend is struggling with a stubborn, aging parent. These are good conversations. We’re sharing the things of life with one another, encouraging one another, and bearing one another’s burdens.

Eventually the crowd thinned out and it was just Wendy and me with another couple. Our conversation continued as we walked out of the Auditorium. It continued on the steps outside the building.

I remember thinking to myself, “One of us needs to call an end to this conversation, or we’ll be standing here all afternoon!”

Talk about a good problem to have!

It is said that the average person speaks 16,000 words a day. I am going to say something today, but do I actually have something to say that’s worthwhile? The further I get in the journey, the more I find myself mindful of how I invest my words. I have a daily budget of words that I’m going to spend. How am I going to spend them? Will they be a worthy investment or will I waste them? Am I going to say things that are worthwhile and contribute to relationships and goodness to others? Are my conversations about the things of Life and Spirit or are they wasted on trivial nothingness? Are my words positive and encouraging or negative and critical?

In today’s chapter, Paul urges Jesus’ disciples in Ephesus to give consideration to the words that are coming out of their mouths. He wants them to invest their words so there is a return on investment. He wants them to speak the words others need to hear. He expects a beneficial outcome for the receiver of the words.

I’m reminded in the quiet this morning that Jesus said, “Everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” (Matthew 12:36) Funny, I’ve never seen that one plastered on trinkets at the Christian bookstore. Come to think of it, I’ve never heard a message preached on it either. I might have to do that when I’m given the opportunity to give a message someday. It seems to me that it would be a worthwhile investment of my words.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Shalom

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Shalom! (CaD Ezk 47) – Wayfarer

Then he led me back to the bank of the river.  When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.
Ezekiel 47:6b-8 (NIV)

When most people hear the Hebrew word “Shalom” it is understood as a greeting like “Hello” or “Bonjour.” And that’s because “Shalom” is used as both a greeting and a departing salutation, more like “Aloha.” But what many people don’t know is that Shalom which is literally translated into English as “peace” has a meaning that cannot be simply contained by one comparable English word.

Shalom is a word that embodies a larger sense of wholeness, well-being, good health, rest and tranquility. It is both a greeting but also a blessing to the person to whom you say it. Shalom is derived from the root word “Shalam” which is used repeatedly in Exodus 21 and 22 regarding instructions for “making things right” between people when there has been material loss or injury. God was instructing his people to “make it right” (Shalam) which becomes the foundation for the wholeness, well-being, peace, rest, and tranquility of Shalom.

This is important in understanding what is being described in this vision Ezekiel is having of the restoration of his defeated and destroyed nation in these final chapters. On a macro level, everything Zeke is describing is the “making things right” on multiple levels. His vision is of ultimate Shalom.

In today’s chapter, there are three amazing concepts being communicated.

First, Zeke sees a river that flows out of the temple he’s just described. The temple is the source of a river of life that flows out of the temple into the Dead Sea and turns the Dead Sea into a living, flourishing source of life and provision for all. This foreshadows two things. First, it foreshadows Jesus, who says Himself that He is Living Water springing up to transform any who are dead in their sins to eternal life (or, you might say, ultimate Shalom!). It also foreshadows the vision John is given of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21-22. In fact, I encourage you to read and compare the first part of today’s chapter with those last two chapters of the Great Story.

Second, in Zeke’s vision he’s given the general boundaries for the restored Promised Land that God had always promised to His people where they would find Shalom. Throughout the history of humanity, land means life. From the land we find security, shelter, provision, and prosperity.

Finally, and this is huge, God tells Zeke that “foreigners living among you” are to be considered “native-born Israelites.” In other words, there is no longer any distinction between Jews and the Gentile outsiders. God’s shalom is for everyone. Everyone becomes a child of Abraham. Everyone is given an inheritance of God. Everyone is an heir of the Divine. Everyone is given an allotment of God’s ultimate shalom.

In the quiet this morning, I am overwhelmed with God’s goodness and the desire He has expressed from the beginning for humanity to experience shalom. I’m reminded what Jesus told His followers just moments before His arrest and just hours before His execution. He told them that they can expect trouble and suffering in this world, but He also told them “Peace (Shalom) I leave with you; my peace (shalom) I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Yesterday morning, Wendy shared a song with me that I had never heard before (I’m really awful at keeping up with current culture!) by Jelly Roll called “I’m Not Okay“. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It gets to the heart of what Jesus was saying to His followers, to us, to me. Even when things are not okay, everything is going to be alright.

Shalom, my friend.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Lost Sheep, Living Hope

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Lost Sheep, Living Hope (CaD Ezk 34) – Wayfarer

I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
Ezekiel 34:15-16 (NIV)

Zeke and his fellow Israelites are strangers in a strange land. Having been forced to make a thousand mile march some ten years before, they have been making due eking out a life for themselves far from home. There’s no temple for worship. The thing around which their entire lives were centered for centuries. There are no pilgrimages. No feasts. No sacrifices. Everything they had is lost. They themselves are lost.

For ten years there was at least the hope of returning home one day. Then, in yesterday’s chapter, word came that Jerusalem had been destroyed. Solomon’s temple had been destroyed. Even the little hope that remained is now lost. There is no longer a home. In short order there will be more exiles arriving. King Zedekiah, his eyes gouged out after witnessing the slaughter of his own children will arrive in chains with the other leaders and “shepherds” of their people.

There are no shepherds. The flock is scattered with no one to protect the lost sheep.

That’s the backstory of today’s chapter. It’s important to know what Zeke and his fellow exiles are feeling as the prophet begins to share his message from God.

God Himself will be their Shepherd. God Himself has always been their Good Shepherd.

The temple and the sacrifices were never really the point in an of themselves. They were an object lesson to point His people to something much larger. He said so Himself in Psalm 50.

I have no need of a bull from your stall
    or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine,
    and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains,
    and the insects in the fields are mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
    for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?

In today’s chapter, God foreshadows the Good Shepherd, the Messiah. There are so many parallels to Jesus’ teaching and parables I hardly know where to begin.

“When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

“I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.”

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’”

Right at the moment when Zeke and his compatriots are feeling hopeless, God reminds them where their true hope lies. Their hope is ultimately not in an earthly city or a temple made with hands. Their hope is in the living God who has always been a Good Shepherd

Who led Abraham to Canaan and made a covenant with him

Who led His people out of slavery in Egypt.

Who provided for His people for 40 years of wilderness wanderings.

Who led His people to a Promised Land.

They may no longer have a nation, or a city to call home, or a temple around which to worship, but it was never ever about the rituals or the religion. It was always, and still is, about the relationship. They still have a Good Shepherd who will “search for the lost and bring back the strays” who will “bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking back to stretches of this life journey when I was lost and trying to find my way. I often hear people say that they found God, but the spiritual reality is that God found me. I was the lost sheep, but I have a Good Shepherd and because of that I have a living hope no matter where I find myself, even if like Zeke I find myself a stranger in a strange land.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Choosing to Know

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Choosing to Know (CaD Ezk 30) – Wayfarer

Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he brandishes it against Egypt.
Ezekiel 30:25b (NIV)

One of the changes in reality of life that I’ve observed along my life journey is how spread out family has become geographically. When my great-grandfather settled in northwest Iowa from the old country, his children all lived within a small geographical area their entire lives. My parents’ generation started spreading out around North America, My generation continued to spread, and our children’s generation has spread around the globe. While technology has made it easier and easier to communicate, there is no doubt that geographic distance makes it more difficult to know and be known.

Yesterday, Wendy and I enjoyed time with family. Our nephew, Elias, celebrated his first birthday. Wendy and I headed to Ankeny where we hung out with five of our nephews and nieces. Wendy’s sister and her two kiddos are back in Iowa from their home in Mazatlan, and we’re feeling really blessed to have them staying with us in Pella for a few days. It was our first opportunity to meet our niece Rosie, and only the second time we’ve been physically present with our nephew, Ian. Of course, the first order of business was for the two of them to get comfortable knowing their Aunt Wendy and Uncle Tom.

We have 15 nephews and nieces. We love them all, but have varying degrees of relationship with them. Some of that is proximity, but some of it is also choices that are made.

One of the overarching themes of the entire Great Story from Genesis to Revelation is God’s expressed desire to be known and to have a relationship with the pinnacle of HIs creation, human beings who have the free will to choose or refuse to be in a relationship. Complicating this is the nature of evil which sets itself up against such a relationship.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel continues his seven-part prophetic rant against Pharaoh and Egypt. Four times God through Ezekiel says, “Then they will know that I am the LORD.” I was once again struck by the synchronicity with the story of the ten plagues (or “strikes”) against Pharaoh back in the story of Moses, which I talked about in my message yesterday among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. Pharaoh refused to know or acknowledge the God of Moses, though he had over a thousand gods of Egypt and was considered a god himself. In this, Pharaoh becomes an example of those who choose personal empire over a relationship with the God of Creation. Seven times in the ten plagues God says “then you will know that I am the LORD.”

One thousand years later, Egypt is still refusing to know and be known.

Ezekiel’s prophetic message was fulfilled. The Babylonians did invade Egypt, did defeat Pharaoh, and did a lot of damage. It would be the Persians, however, who would finish the job and complete the prophetic message. Ezekiel’s prediction that “no longer will there be a prince in Egypt” was fulfilled when Pharaoh Nectanebo II became the last Pharaoh ever in 340 B.C. The Pharaohs of Egypt remain an example to this day of hearts that remain hardened in their refusal to acknowledge and know Yahweh.

In the quiet this morning, I fast forward my thinking to Jesus, the Son of God, who came to earth that we might know God. The Story is the same. God inviting His creation to know and be known in an intimate spiritual relationship.

““I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
John 10:14-15 (NIV emphasis added)

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve come to understand that the degree to which I know God is proportionate to my willingness to choose into a relationship with Him and the degree of my refusal to do so.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Division

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Division (CaD Acts 15) – Wayfarer

Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.
Acts 15:37-40 (NIV)

I have a dear friend I have not spoken with in almost 20 years. This friend told me that I had done something, or said something, that wounded him deeply. He said that he knew that I had no clue what I’d done to wound him, but he also refused to tell me what it was despite attempts to make amends and to make it right. I eventually concluded that I couldn’t continue in a relationship under the constant cloud of guilt/shame of knowing that I had caused an injury but was given no opportunity or recourse to make it right. I love my friend and grieve the loss of our relationship. Nevertheless, I decided that I would wait for my friend to be willing to tell me what I had done.

I’m still waiting.

Along my life journey, I’ve observed and experienced conflict and division between believers, both interpersonal and corporate. The conflicts have ranged from silly, to personal, to matters of faith and/or belief. In some cases, the conflicts were amicably resolved. In other cases, they resulted in amicable division. In yet other cases, they resulted in division and anger that eventually became amicable respect. In some cases, I have observed conflict and division that appear never to have been resolved.

Today’s chapter describes two forms of division. The first one has been brewing for some time within the events Luke describes in Acts. The Jesus Movement began as a Jewish sect. Jesus never hid the fact that He intended His Message and His mission to be for all people “to the ends of the earth.” Nevertheless, there were good Jews who wanted to keep the Jesus Movement to remain a strictly Jewish sect. To be Jewish, men had to be circumcised. So some began teaching that non-Jewish believers had to be circumcised to be part of the Jesus Movement. They were essentially saying, “Become a Jew first, then you can be a believer in Jesus.”

This dispute is handled capably by the leaders of the Jesus Movement. Everyone got together. Both sides were discussed. The leaders made a judgment that non-Jewish Gentiles did not have to become Jewish and males did not have to be circumcised to be believers.

The second division is personal and unexpected. Paul and Barnabas decide they should travel to visit all the local gatherings they’d started on Cyprus and Asia Minor back in chapters 13 and 14. Barnabas, ever the encourager, wants to include John Mark, who began that first journey with them but left them early in the journey. Paul, offended by John Mark bailing on them the last time, refuses to include him. Tempers flare. Voices are raised. The disagreement is sharp. Paul and Barnabas part ways. Barnabas takes John Mark and sets out on his own. Paul recruits Silas and sets out on his own.

We don’t know why John Mark bailed on that first journey. We do know from the letters of Paul and Peter that eventually John Mark became a close associate of Peter and was later reconciled to Paul. Paul wanted John Mark with him in his final days. Paul also would later write with respect and admiration for all Barnabas was doing within the Movement. One commentary I read this morning said that Paul and Barnabas’ conflict resulted in four people on the mission instead of two. God sometimes uses even human conflict and division for divine purposes.

In the quiet this morning, I realized that I have come to embrace the reality that there will be division among human beings and groups of human beings. It’s part of the nature of this fallen world east of Eden. But I have also embraced Paul’s metaphor of the “Body of Christ.” The body not only has many appendages, but it also has many entire systems that function pretty independently within the whole. Some cells and organs function independently of one another, but both are essential for the health and well-being of the body. So it is with individuals and groups. We sometimes learn that we can function independently of one another while both contribute to Jesus’ Movement and its mission.

I said a prayer for my estranged friend this morning. Over the years I have received reports of where God has led him and rejoice that he appears to be well and doing the things he’s been led to do. I love him. Perhaps we will one day see one another again. Perhaps he will finally be able to tell me what I did to wound him so deeply and I will be able to seek forgiveness and make amends. Perhaps whatever that was will have passed away with time. Sometimes that happens, too. In the meantime, I rejoice that we are both well and contributing to the health and well-being of the whole.

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

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Best of 2023 #1: I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know

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I’m on vacation for three weeks. While I’m gone, please enjoy the top 15 posts from 2023 based on total number of page views and podcast plays. Cheers!

I Don't Know What I Don't Know (CaD Job 34) – Wayfarer

‘Job speaks without knowledge;
    his words lack insight.’
Job 34:35 (NIV)

It’s been almost two decades since my first marriage ended. Back in those days there was quite a public stir around the divorce. A lot of speculation was making the rounds on the local grapevine, most all of it incorrect. I remember the feeling of helplessness to stop or control any of it. I learned many things during that stretch of my life journey.

One of the lessons that I still carry with me from those days is the fact that when it comes to what others are going through, I don’t know what I don’t know. I think of all the ignorant speculation that swirled around my divorce from people who knew very little about me, my marriage, or my circumstances. I also can easily make ignorant speculations about others despite having very little knowledge and without having all of the facts. I have become much more reticent to make speculative judgments of others. As a disciple of Jesus, my default is to be love not judgment.

In today’s chapter, Eli the younger continues his discourse. Once again, he recalls Job’s own words in an effort to refute them. Once again, he gets Job’s words mostly, but not completely, right. Young Eli then defends God from what he perceives to be Job’s insistence that God had done evil in his circumstances. He passionately defends God’s goodness, rightness, and just judgments.

Young Eli then makes the statement that Job “speaks without knowledge.”

This caught my eye because he is correct. Job has no knowledge of the conversations that took place between God and the evil one. But the same is also true of young Eli and his three elders. They have all made speculative arguments in reaching their conclusions.

In the quiet this morning, my mind conjures up the names and faces of individuals in my own circles of influence who have been at the center of public scrutiny for a variety of reasons. I’m thinking back to my own thoughts, words, and actions towards those individuals both in their presence and when they have come up in conversation. My endeavor is to be gracious and humble in the knowledge and acknowledgment that I don’t know what I don’t know.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Best of 2023: #9: Relationship & Communication

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I’m on vacation for three weeks. While I’m gone, please enjoy the top 15 posts from 2023 based on total number of page views and podcast plays. Cheers!

Relationship & Communication (CaD Job 11) – Wayfarer

“Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless
    and I am pure in your sight.'”
Job 11:4-5 (NIV)

Much of my career has been spent in the analysis of conversations between the employees of our clients and the customers who call them. I have analyzed conversations ranging from a receptionist getting a caller to the right department to a collections specialist trying to recover money from a customer who literally owes them millions of dollars. I can tell you with certainty that virtually every customer service problem can be traced back to a breakdown in communication: the message that was given, the message that was heard, the information that wasn’t provided, the information that wasn’t received, and the assumptions that were made. Add human emotion, temperament, and attitude on both sides of the conversation and you’ve mixed yourself quite a cocktail.

In today’s chapter we meet the third of the trio of friends sitting with the suffering Job. Zophar, whom I will refer to simply as Z, is as blunt as Bill was in his response to Job. As with Eli and Bill, Z is contends that Job must somehow deserve the suffering he finds himself experiencing; There must be sins that lie at the root of what’s happened to him. Z even says that God has forgotten some of Job’s sins, implying that if all Job’s sins were taken into account, he deserves worse than what he’s experiencing.

What I found fascinating about Z’s discourse is that he opens with an accusation that Job is mocking God and claiming that he is flawless and pure. In both cases, Z has heard what Job never said. Job has questioned whether God has acted justly in his circumstances and whether God really cares about him and his suffering, but that’s not mocking God. Job has not cursed God as Satan expected him to, even if he has emotionally questioned what he as assumed to be God’s actions. Likewise, Job has never claimed sinlessness or moral purity. In fact, just the opposite. Job has owned up to being less than perfect. He said he was “blameless” (9:21) of anything deserving the level of suffering he’s experienced.

Ironically, Job’s claim of being “blameless” is the same Hebrew word that God used when telling Satan that Job was “blameless” (1:8).

In the quiet this morning, I am mindful that my observations about what lies at the root of the customer service conflicts I examine and analyze in my vocation also applies to virtually every human conflict and misunderstanding. In what is said and unsaid, done and not done, lies a breakdown in what is being communicated between two parties and what is being received. On top of this is a layer of misunderstanding and assumption between the two parties regarding motives and intentions. By its very nature, relationship is built on the quality of communication between two parties.

Of course we get this in terms of two human beings, but I believe it is equally true of myself and God. My friend, Matthew, has observed in his daily vocation as a therapist: “Everyone is having a conversation with Life.” God says that He is constantly communicating with me through creation (Rom 1:20) and a host of other ways. His stated desire throughout the Great Story is to be in a relationship with me. That relationship, or lack thereof, is also built on the quality of communication between me and God.

Chapter to read for tomorrow’s Best of 2023: Job 17

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