Tag Archives: Vocation

Chapter-a-Day

Putting the Mission to Work

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John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
Luke 3:11 (NIV)

In over thirty-years of my career with Intelligentics, I have been incredibly blessed. I do, however, have a small number of painful memories. Most of the agony traces back to mistakes we discovered involving client data — mistakes that were consequential. In each case, our company’s modus operandi was to do what our mission states:

“…by applying the principles of God’s Word to our lives and work, we become examples of servant leadership and integrity…”

Go to the client.
Honestly confess.
Agree to make it right.
Refund what they paid for the project.

I am happy to report that I can easily count on one hand the number of times we were required to do this. It was never fun, and the amount of money we refunded was not small.

Today’s chapter is all about setting and preparation. Luke lays out the historical setting for Jesus making his entrance in ministry. He lists seven actual names of people at the top of the org charts of the kingdoms of empire, commerce, and religion — individuals who will conspire to have Jesus executed in just three years. Luke then introduces Jesus’ cousin John, a herald in the wilderness preparing the way for the Messiah.

As I meditated on John’s words, I found it fascinating that Luke specifically notes that tax collectors and soldiers went to hear John’s message. These were both despised groups of people. Tax Collectors were despised because they were seen as working for the enemy (Rome) and they profited by extorting their own people. Soldiers were despised as occupiers, and those who leveraged their power to oppress innocent people.

When they asked John what they should do, John gave specific answers.

“Don’t collect more than you have to.”
“Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

John didn’t tell them to get a different job. He told them to act differently in the job they already had.

When I was a young man, I was convinced that I would spend my life in vocational ministry. God had other plans. I’ve spent my career helping clients measure and improve their customers experience. Along the way, God taught me that my job gave me the opportunity to work with all sorts of people, from all walks of life, whom I would otherwise never meet. He revealed to me the opportunity I’d been given to teach people principles that would not only improve the quality of their work, but the quality of their lives and relationships.

And, I would also be given the opportunity to exemplify what I say I believe…

Honestly confessing a mistake.
Making it right.
Refunding money.

John’s message was the warm-up act for Jesus — but their messages dove-tailed perfectly. John called all people, saints and sinners alike — to take a spiritual heart check. Then turn a changed heart into tangible, specific acts of goodness in every day life.

Repentance, according to John, wasn’t a feeling. It was visible. It showed up in the way people treated others, handled money, and used their authority.

On this Monday morning, entering another work week, that’s a good reminder. It’s one thing for my company to have a mission statement. It’s another thing for me to actually do business like I believe it.

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

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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!
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Chapter-a-Day

Not Our Ways

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Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.
James 1:9-10 (NIV)

I’m in the final edit of my forthcoming book, which tells the story of how I, as a young man, had the unshakable belief that I was called to pastoral ministry and had zero interest in business. Then, God let me slog through six long years of personal purgatory in pastoral ministry and made it divinely clear that He was calling me to business.

That business? Analyzing phone calls. Over 100,000 of them from companies of all sizes and industries. Receptionists, customer support, inside sales, reservations, outbound sales, accounting, tech support, collections, emergency services, and just about any other function you can think of. I’ve learned about business from the inside out, in tens of thousands of moments of truth when a company interacts with their customers.

I’ve been blessed. I’ve done well. I was hired in 1994 with zero experience or interest. Now I own the company.

God has a sense of humor.

Now let me let you in on a little secret. I don’t really like to talk about business, or economics, or finance that much. I love my clients. I love serving them. I love applying my experience and knowledge to help my clients and their employees succeed in listening to their customers and improving their serve. What I really care about is the people. I care about the flesh-and-blood of business where clients, customers, and colleagues connect, conflict, and communicate.

Life has informed my business. Lessons from my business have fed the Life within me. That’s what my book is about. The career I never wanted — and the one God knew would save me.

His ways are not our ways.

Today our chapter-a-day trek takes a quick pass through the letter of James. This is not James as in one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, but rather James the Just — Jesus’ younger brother. He once thought Jesus was crazy, then he watched and listened. He saw his big brother risen from the dead. He became one of the strongest and most influential leaders of the Jesus Movement and was killed for it.

There has been a crackdown. Both Jewish leaders and Romans are persecuting believers, so followers of Jesus have scattered abroad to escape the threat of imprisonment, seizure of their assets, torture, and potential execution. James writes this letter to be copied, sent out, and passed around to all of those who have fled and are living life on the lam.

As I read through the chapter in the quiet this morning, I couldn’t help but pick up on a strong undercurrent in James’ encouragement.

His ways are not our ways.

The world tells us that comfort and ease are what we should strive for, that they are signs of success in life.

In God’s economy, trials and difficulties are profitable — necessary means of spiritual growth and maturity.

The world tells us that money and wealth is the most important and desirable thing in life.

In God’s economy, worldly wealth is spiritual poverty. Eternal treasure is found in contentment. Spiritual investments compound when I humbly find satisfaction with less.

The world views religion as the repetitive ritual motions around a set of doctrinal beliefs.

In God’s economy, true religion is faith in action on the street and in every day life. Caring for those in need. Tangibly loving others at home, in my community, and even in my business where I serve my flesh-and-blood clients and their team members.

His ways are not my ways. I’ve spent my entire spiritual journey learning this truth. In fact, the further I get in this life the more I come to understand just how pervasively true it is in every way. The more I understand it, the more it changes how I see and perceive everything in life.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get to work. I have a big research presentation I’m working on for a client tomorrow. Not because of the paycheck it affords me, but because of the people I am called to serve.

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

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
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

Paul’s Pissing Match

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Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory.
2 Corinthians 10:15-16 (NIV)

I began my vocational journey back in the 1980s in full-time vocational church ministry. I shifted for a short time to full-time “para-church” ministry (a non-profit ministry organization outside of a church). I eventually was led in my vocational journey to the business world which is definitely a ministry, but my experience is that it is commonly not regarded as such within the ministry world of institutional churches. Nor was it regarded as such by my own mother who would have always preferred that I got my paycheck from a church rather than a corporation, God rest her soul.

For over 30 years I’ve served various roles in the institutional church as someone who is not a paid staff member, while spending the vast majority of my time and earning the vast majority of my income in the business world. What I’ve experienced as a result is occasional misunderstanding and mistrust. I don’t fit inside the normal paradigm, which I have learned makes people uncomfortable and/or there is confusion about motives, needs, paradigms, and boundaries. I’ve observed that human beings tend to like things operating within simple, well-defined boxes that fit their own comfortable expectations. When you factor in that we’re operating within an institution of faith it can take on all sorts of religious overtones.

Occasionally, the consequence is that I have found myself in an old-fashioned pissing contest prompted by individuals who have questioned my motives, credentials, authority, and sincerity.

I’ve equally observed that most people fail to understand that Paul was constantly experiencing identical struggles.

  • Paul was not part of The Twelve, so he constantly faced opposition from some who felt he didn’t measure up because he wasn’t part of the Movement from the beginning. He didn’t hang out with Jesus by the Sea of Galilee.
  • Before Jesus appeared to him and called him, Paul had been an enemy of the Jesus Movement. He imprisoned Jesus’ followers and oversaw their executions. For some individuals, no amount of repentance or evidence of Paul’s sincere faith were good enough to overcome their nagging mistrust.
  • Wherever he went, Paul didn’t behave like The Twelve and other leaders within the emerging church who were paid staff members vocationally focused on the Jesus Movement. Rather, Paul spent most of his day earning his income by plying his family’s tent-making trade. He learned the trade growing up. He became a full-time religious lawyer in the institutional Jewish establishment. After becoming a follower of Jesus, he went back to his childhood trade and made a living daily at “Paul’s Quality Tent & Awning, Inc.” while still serving the church ministry as an Apostle. Paul did this because 1) he believed and taught that everyone should work and earn their own way and 2) he didn’t want to be a financial burden on the church. People didn’t like this, however. It was strange and made him suspect. It wasn’t the normal way that Peter and the others “real” Apostles do it. I can hear it now: “If he was a real Apostle, he’d be on paid staff. I don’t know. There’s just something weird about it.”
  • Even within the broader circles of leaders within the Jesus Movement, there was a sense of those who were more acceptable, more polished, and more gifted at this or that than Paul. Paul confesses that he wasn’t much to look at, nor was he a particularly gifted speaker. At one point, a kid fell asleep listening to him, fell out a window, and died. Paul had to miraculously raise the boy from the dead (you can find the story in Acts 20). People seem to have perpetually remembered the bad sermon and forgot the miracle.

Today’s chapter is rife with an undercurrent of all these conflicts. Two, make that three, quick observations:

First, three times Paul references “some people.” He’s pointing at those who are questioning and criticizing him. Without naming names, he’s addressing the pissing match that he finds himself in that was not of his own making. It was “some people” within the Corinthian church who were promoting the authority and credentials of people like Peter, Apollos, and others while being mistrusting, critical, and dismissive of Paul. He didn’t ask for this, but he felt he needed to address it. Reading between the lines, Paul seems to have won the support and confidence of most of the Corinthian believers. That said, I’ve learned along my own life journey that there will always be “some people” we must deal with.

Second, Paul speaks of not wanting to boast “about work already done in someone else’s territory.” The implication here is that different individuals had taken responsibility for different “territories.” Even when Paul was sent out by The Twelve in Jerusalem there was a distinctive territorial element. Paul was to go to the Gentiles outside of Israel and focused on Greece and Italy. Jesus’ brother, James, took leadership of the Jerusalem territory. Even around Corinth, there appears to have been some territorial designations of those sent to proclaim Jesus’ message and start churches. Even back in the early days of the Jesus Movement there were issues of boundaries, territory, and egos. People are people. There is nothing new under the sun.

Third, I couldn’t help notice that Paul continually uses the plural when referencing himself…

“We do not dare to…” (vs. 12)
“We, however, will not boast…” (vs. 13)
“We are not going too far…” (vs. 14)
“Neither do we go beyond our limits…” (vs. 15)
“so that we can preach the gospel…” (vs. 16)

Paul has become a “we” that includes his colleagues Titus, Timothy, Luke, Barnabas, and others. This is subtle, but I also think it significant. Paul is not just representing himself in his letter, but an entire team of people dedicated to the spiritual well-being of the Corinthian believers. Today’s chapter begins with Paul referencing “the humility of Christ.” It strikes me that he exemplifies it in continually referencing that “he” is a “we.”

In the quiet this morning, I find in Paul a comrade who understands some of my own life experiences, like finding myself in pissing matches not of my own making. I also find in him an example to follow in how he handled them with humility and deference to the Lordship of Christ.

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

“Much is Required”

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“Much is Required” (CaD Lev 21) – Wayfarer

“‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes.’”
Leviticus 21:10 (NIV)

As a young man I spent five years in vocational pastoral ministry, a total of six years in professional ministry when you add one year of purgatory in a para-church men’s ministry.

Six years.

Six is the number of man, and it was yours truly’s determination back in the day that when God called me to proclaim His Word that it must have meant being in vocational, professional ministry. I have fond memories of those six years and, to this day, I continue to be blessed by the fruit of my labors within them. Nevertheless, those years will filled with many hard lessons as God made it clear to me that He had another plan. I was still going to proclaim His Word. It was just going to be nothing like I had been determined it should be. My ways are not His ways.

“To whom much is given, much is required,” Jesus said, and goodness gracious did I experience that during my six years of pastoral ministry. The question I learned to ask during that stretch of my life journey was, “Exactly who is requiring this of me?”

As a youth pastor and pastor I learned that many people required many different things from me. And, many of them made it clear that they were the ones doing the “giving” that paid my salary so I had better toe the line of their personal requirements. It didn’t take long before I realized that I was beginning to pretend to be someone I wasn’t in order to be the person others were requiring me to be. So, I fulfilled my contract and chose to walk away.

I then worked for one year for a ministry started and led by charismatic and popular celebrity in local Christian circles. In this professional ministry I learned that what was required of me was to be loyal, do what I was told, not to complain, and not to ask uncomfortable questions, especially about how the ministry’s finances were being handled. I actually got fired from that job. It put me and my young family in a tremendous financial pinch at the time, but it was among the best things that ever happened to me. God provided what we needed.

In the next two chapters of God’s priestly manual for the ancient Hebrews, God addresses the priests, and the High Priest, in particular. Jesus words are just as apt here. There was nothing that Aaron or his sons had done to deserve or earn being the priests. It was a calling given to them by God. And, it was a pretty sweet gig. They wouldn’t toil like all the other tribes to make a living and provide for their families. They got a portion of the offerings and sacrifices that were simply brought to God. As the tribe of priests grew, it also meant that they actually only did their priestly duties on occasional shifts. And, the priests had God-given authority over the people. They had the power to declare people clean or unclean, to banish people from the camp, and to declare a person’s offering acceptable or not. In other words, the priests had the power to keep people in fellowship with God, or to cut them off from God’s favor. What is clear from today’s chapter is that God is requiring from them an exceptional level of behavior from His preists as it relates to remaining ritually “clean” and being a “holy” example as they carry out the ritual offerings and sacrifices God prescribed earlier in the book. They are to live and lead by example. But, that’s ultimately not going to happen.

As Lord Acton observed back in the late 1800s, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

What eventually happened with the Hebrew priesthood is the same thing I observed in the large institutional churches and denominations I’ve served in and been a part of my entire life. They become just another kingdom of this world under the dominion of the Prince of this World. Spiritual authority is corrupted into personal and worldly power. Being an example is corrupted into being a pretender. Those at the top of the religious food chain become just like politicians, celebrities, or business moguls. They expect or demanding one thing from those under their authority or influence while doing pretty much whatever they want.

For example, I read in today’s chapter God’s very specific instruction to the High Priest that he was never to “tear his clothes.” The rending of one’s garments was a common practice among the ancients as a sign of grief or lament. God apparently wanted the High Priest to remain an example of spiritual objectivity and discipline, and not to do this. I suddenly remembered something and quickly flipped to Matthew.

When Jesus was arrested by the High Priest Caiaphas, He was arrested under the pretense of Jesus breaking all sorts of religious laws. He worked on the Sabbath, He claimed to be God, and He said He would destroy the Temple. However, the High Priest had Jesus arrested at night, which was also against the law. He presided over a trial of Jesus during that same night, which was also against the law. When Jesus proclaimed that He was exactly who He claimed to be, Matthew tells us: “Then the high priest tore his clothes….” In condemning the Son of God for breaking God’s laws, the High Priest breaks them himself.

Rules for thee, but not for me.

That’s the way it works in this fallen world.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself grateful that God led me down a path that gave me a much more expansive (and powerful) understanding of what “ministry” is and means. He blessed me with a vocation that perfectly fit my gifts and abilities which I have really enjoyed. He also blessed me with regular opportunities to continue using my gifts among every local gathering of Jesus followers while having another vocation. It has also afforded me the freedom and opportunity to find and embrace my authentic self and what God requires of me without the pressure to conform to what everyone else “requires.” Just like Paul who made tents wherever he went so that he wouldn’t need to ask anything from the local gatherings of believers he served, it’s allowed me to do very much the same, serving even in pastoral roles in ways that are a service and a calling but not necessary as my professional vocation.

I’ve had people ask me if I would ever consider going back to a full-time pastoral gig. I always feel myself shrug. Who knows? A lot has changed all around in 35 years. As I see “retirement” out there on the horizon, who knows where God might yet lead me in future seasons of life. I know that I will continue to follow wherever He leads. I know that I can trust Him with the Story. And, I know that I am right where I’m supposed to be doing the things I’m supposed to do today.

And with that, I enter another day of the journey, just another Wayfaring Stranger making my way home.

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

Man in the Middle

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“Man in the Middle” (CaD 1 Cor 9) – Wayfarer

If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
1 Corinthians 9:12 (NIV)

I sometimes feel like I live in two different worlds and I don’t always fit perfectly in either of them. I have a career of over 30 years in the business world. I own the business I started working for in 1994. I love what I do, and I love my clients. I also have a unique leadership position among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers in which I lead, teach and provide pastoral presence though I’m not an official member of the staff.

Over the years, I’ve often felt as if people in the business world who know about my pastoral service don’t always know what to make of me. Likewise, people in the church world who find out it’s not actually my vocation aren’t sure what to do with me either. I’m kind of an outlier to individuals in both worlds. I’m a “man in the middle,” but that’s where God has led and it’s worked.

One of the things I’ve observed along my spiritual journey is that modern readers of the Great Story are often so focused on mining spiritual encouragement that the historical context is completely lost. But sometimes there’s spiritual treasure buried in that context for those who are willing to dig.

The Jesus Movement that exploded after the resurrection was an organically structured system. Like any human organization, it was a mix of diverse personalities, temperaments, strengths, and blind spots. The leadership core was, of course, Jesus original twelve disciples. If I put on my business cap and think about the org chart, it would look like the Twelve in executive director positions with the title of Apostles. Peter was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as appointed by Jesus. But, then there are Jesus’ brothers, James in particular, who quickly rise in the organization. James (not to become confused with either of the two members of the original Twelve disciples named James) becomes kind of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) focused on the core Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem.

You kind of have to think about it, but Paul was an outsider to this leadership group. First, he had the baggage of having originally been a competitor. Paul started as enemy numero uno to everyone in the corporation. He was even responsible for having a beloved member of business, assassinated and he had members of the church arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and perhaps even killed. Trust me, it would not have been a comfortable Board Meeting at Jesus, Inc. when it became clear that Jesus’ had hired Paul to help expand global operations.

On top of that, there was grumbling all the way down the org chart about Paul being given the executive director title of Apostle along with The Twelve. The qualifications were that Jesus personally and directly hired them, and that they had seen the resurrected Jesus. Paul technically fit those qualifications, but there were certainly some who felt that Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road years after the resurrection didn’t cut the corporate mustard.

Nevertheless, the Twelve originally stuck close to home in Jerusalem while sending Paul off to share Jesus’ message with people far away and set up locations in towns across Asia Minor and Greece. The distance was probably good for everybody in the organization. It also gave Paul tremendous autonomy to do things the way he felt they should be done while he was operating far from corporate headquarters. He was a maverick, a head-strong leader, as well as being the most brilliant and educated member of the executive team at Jesus, Inc. The rumors, criticism, and doubts about Paul’s pedigree and worthiness within the organization would follow him and dog him for years., no matter where he went.

One of the things Paul did differently was the fact that he had a vocation outside of Jesus, Inc. Paul was raised in a wealthy, accomplished tent-making family business. He knew the trade. He was skilled at it. And no matter where he traveled or stayed, people needed tents made or repaired. It allowed him to meet people he might otherwise not have met. His business interactions gave him local knowledge and information that would help him navigate the establishment of the local chapter of Jesus, Inc. It also meant that Paul provided for himself and his companions by his own means. Jesus, Inc. didn’t have to pay him a salary, travel expenses, or a per diem. He certainly could have expected or demanded this. The corporation certainly provided for and took care of the expenses of the other corporate executives in Jerusalem. Paul chose out, and he did so for a reason.

If you haven’t read today’s chapter, or even if you have, I encourage you to take a few minutes and read it again and think about Paul in his organizational circumstances. I think you might see things you didn’t see before.

In the quiet this morning, I’m meditating on the fact that I have gained a greater appreciation for, and deeper personal connection with, Paul in recent years. He was an outlier, too. His ministry was channeled through and provided for by what appears to be an unconnected vocation, though a disciple of Jesus knows that every vocation is a ministry. Paul was able to share Jesus’ message, shepherd new believers, and establish local chapters of Jesus, Inc. while not needing or expecting financial support from the people he’s spiritually serving. There’s something powerful in that, to give and require nothing in return. There is also, I have discovered, a joy that comes with it.

That would eventually change when Paul was arrested and spent years imprisoned and waiting trial in the Roman legal system. But how beautiful to think of the gratitude of the believers in places like Corinth where Paul gave so much without requiring anything. When it came time that he did need something from them, I can only imagine the joy with which they stepped up to the plate.

Who knows but what maybe I will be in a similar position someday. In the meantime, I’m blessed and overjoyed to be a “man in the middle” like Paul was, even if can occasionally be a unique reality.

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

God’s Will: Three Lessons

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God's Will: Three Lessons (CaD 1 Thes 5) – Wayfarer

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

When I was a young man, my friends and I spent a lot of time wondering about God’s will for our lives. There are so many big decisions that happen in your late teens and twenties. Where do I go to college? What do I major in? What do I pursue as a career? Will I marry, and if so, who?

Looking back at those years, there were some lessons I learned about God’s will and my will.

Life is like a jet ski. God can’t direct me if I’m not moving. Anyone who has been on a jet ski knows that you can sit there with the motor idling and move the handlebars all you want but it won’t respond. It’s only when you are moving forward (or backward) that it can be directed where you want it to go. It took God about seven years to steer me to the career to which I know that I was led, but I got there. I remember hearing a speaker say, “There’s a bunch of doors in front of you. Don’t sit there forever trying to discern the one door God has for you. Pick one! If that’s not the right door, God will close it.” It was sage advice.

I will make poor choices with good intentions. God will use that, too. I thought I had a good handle on what God wanted me to do vocationally, but I was wrong. That’s cool, though. In those seven years of leading me where I was supposed to be, I learned a lifetime of valuable lessons. I honed skills that would be invaluable to me. I met individuals who would become life-long companions on the journey. It’s easy to think of God’s will in binary terms. You’re either in it, or you’re not. I see it differently now. Sometimes the journey from where I am to where God wants me to be is His will, too. When I live daily life asking, seeking, and knocking, I experience ongoing receiving, finding, and having opportunities open for me. It’s easy to think of God’s will as a destination, but it’s also the journey.

Focus on those things that are always God’s will. And that’s what Paul reminds his friends in Thessalonica in today’s chapter:

Rejoice always.
Pray continually.
Give thanks in all circumstances.

Last month, when our basement flooded for the second time in a matter of weeks, Wendy and I prayed. We praised God and thanked Him. How blessed we are despite the momentary problems. We learned that we had a carpet pad that protects against spills, but it also traps water that gets underneath it. It’s impossible to suck it up through the spill-proof liner. We thought our basement was dry after the first flood, but the pad was still wet and eventually, we would have had a huge mold issue. If the second flood hadn’t happened, we never would have known that.

Some lessons in life are hard. I don’t always know where God is leading us. Things happen that don’t make sense to me. I can get overwhelmed, anxious, and angry, or I can simply keep doing what I know to be God’s will: perpetually rejoice, pray, and be grateful. When I do that, I find myself trusting God more and worrying about my circumstances less.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Mom and the Ministry

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Mom and the Ministry (CaD Gal 2) – Wayfarer

“On the contrary, [James, Peter, and John] recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.”
Galatians 2:7 (NIV)

It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday so I’ve been thinking about my mother a lot this week. This will be the second Mother’s Day since her earthly journey ended back in March of 2023. Mom was old school in many ways. I think she really enjoyed it when I began my career as a pastor. When my path led to my career in business, she would regularly ask me, “Are you ever going to go back into ‘the ministry?'” It didn’t matter how many times I explained to her the concept of the priesthood of all believers, that ministry is not confined to being a pastor, and that my job is ministry. She would politely listen and end with, “I know, but are you ever going to back into the ministry?”

In the early years of the Jesus Movement, the focus of the disciples primarily remained preaching Jesus’ message to their fellow Jews in Judea. It was what they had done when Jesus was still with them. It’s what they knew. They were comfortable with it. When God opened the door for Peter and the rest of Jesus’ followers to let go of Jewish customs, like adhering to strict dietary restrictions and men having to be circumcised, it was a tectonic shift in thought and life.

In today’s chapter, Paul continues to explain to the believers in Galatia that he was recognized as an Apostle by Jesus’ inner circle. I find it fascinating that Peter, James, and John were happy to let Paul take Jesus’ message to the non-Jewish Gentiles while they stuck with taking the message to their fellow Jews. At the heart of the conflict that Paul is having with the Galatian believers and the “teachers” from Judea telling them they had to become Jews and be circumcised is the fact that the leading Apostles were still hanging around Jerusalem contentedly living and ministering within the Jewish people and culture. It placed Paul in a position in which he appeared to be an outsider doing things differently than the “real” Apostles back in Jerusalem.

As I meditated on this in the quiet this morning, there were two main themes that my heart chewed on.

First, I am reminded that the concept of “ministry” is not narrowly defined in Jesus’ paradigm but expansively defined. Ministry is what every disciple is called to do every day with every person we interact with. Apologies to my mother, but one of the core mistakes made by the institutional churches and denominations was that they promoted the notion that “ministry” was confined to an institutionally defined, approved, and professional class within the institution. The result was that the vast majority of institutional church members came to view “ministry” as a narrowly defined, professional vocation rather than the calling and mission of every believer.

The second theme is the unfortunate reality that we as humans have a hard time with change, and this can be especially true when it comes to transforming our belief systems. Peter and the Twelve said that they affirmed Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles. They even affirmed Paul’s teaching that Gentiles were free from the Jewish law and ritualistic rules. However, when Peter himself visited Paul and Barnabas in Antioch he shied away from the Gentile believers once his posse of Jewish believers joined them from Jerusalem. Old habits (and beliefs) die hard. Just like my mother having a hard time wrapping her heart and mind around the truth that “ministry” is not confined to vocationally being the pastor of a church.

And so, I exit my quiet time and enter another day of ministry in the marketplace.

Have a great weekend, my friend.

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.

Chapter-a-Day

Relationship & Communication

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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.

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

Chapter-a-Day

My Heart’s Highway

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My Heart's Highway (CaD Ps 84) – Wayfarer

Happy are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
Psalm 84:5 (NRSVCE)

This past week, Wendy and I have been blessed beyond measure to have our kids and grandson home from Scotland. On Saturday night we took Taylor and Clayton out for dinner and enjoyed a leisurely dinner. Milo was being watched that night by Clayton’s mom, so the four of us got to enjoy uninterrupted adult conversation, in person, for hours.

One of the paths of conversation led to a discussion about one’s direction in life. The kids are about the age I was when I settled into what would become my career after having five different jobs in the first six years after college. It is a time of life filled with both opportunity and uncertainty. We talked about the difficult (some might even call it impossible) task of finding a career in life that offers both financial security and a sense of purpose.

Along my life journey, I’ve observed that this is a fascinating on-going conversation. It doesn’t end once a young adult settles on a career path. There are a number of waypoints on life’s road in which this subject of direction, security, and purpose comes up again. A new job opportunity arises that offers both greater risk and the potential for greater reward. A person hits the proverbial glass ceiling in a corporation and suddenly has to grapple with considering a career change they never expected or wanted, or learning to embrace that his or her vocation is nothing more than a means to providing for a purpose that is found outside of work hours. I’ve also observed individuals and couples who have left positions of relative security to embrace faith in choosing a purpose-full path to which they have been called. Still, there are others I’ve observed who find themselves in unexpected places of tragedy in which there was no choice of direction and, like Job, they find themselves reeling in a struggle to understand the purpose of it all.

Our direction on this road of Life continues to require asking, seeking, knocking, and faith.

Today’s chapter, Psalm 84, is the first of a subset of six songs that wrap up Book III of the larger anthology of Hebrew song lyrics we call the Psalms. The song appears to have been penned by someone from the tribe of Levi. The Levites were the Hebrew tribe responsible for Temple worship. As the tribe grew over time, the Temple duties were divided into “shifts.” One might make a pilgrimage to God’s Temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem one or more times a year to serve for a short period of time before returning home. The songwriter laments not being in the temple where he finds joy and purpose in God’s presence.

I couldn’t help but notice verse 5 as I read it in the St. John’s Bible this morning. Happy are those “in whose heart are highways to Zion.” The songwriter found tremendous purpose in being present in God’s Temple, even if it was only periodically. I love the metaphor of a “heart’s highway.” It’s got my mind spinning this morning and my heart ruminating.

I find myself thinking about the highways of my heart, Wendy’s heart, and the hearts of our children. Where do those highways lead? On this Monday morning and the beginning of another work week, is the highway of my heart and the highway to my vocation the same path? Parallel paths? Divergent paths? Obviously, the stimulating dinner conversation from Saturday night is still resonating within me.

I also couldn’t help but notice that a rather well-known, modern worship song is pulled directly from Psalm 84 and my heart hears the familiar melody to the lyric: “Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.” Yet this takes me straight back to the “one thing I always fail to see” from a post a couple of weeks ago.

Unlike the songwriter of Psalm 84, followers of Jesus are not limited to a physical location for worship. The concept of a church building is nowhere to be found in the Great Story. After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension it the flesh-and-blood followers who are God’s Temple. I am the temple, therefore “one day in your courts” is not about me going to church on Sunday. For followers of Jesus, it is a spiritual pilgrimage of the heart to seek commune with God’s Spirit within my heart, soul, and mind in each day, each hour, each moment.

In the quiet this morning, Psalm 84 has me meditating on the “heart’s highway.” Where is headed? Where is it leading? Is my heart, soul, and mind heading in the right direction?

Good questions for a Monday morning.

Have a great week, my friend.