What would the world look like if we deconstructed fear-based belief patterns and systems?

What would the world look like if we deconstructed fear-based belief patterns and systems? 

What if we questioned the polarities we believed as "true" and started to see those as just one aspect of what is possible? 

How do we do this without burning it all down? 

How do we do this without creating unnecessary destruction in the process? 

Love, pure unconditional, curious, playful, compassionate LOVE is part of the expansion that our souls are encouraging us to do while we're here on Earth. 

I believe I’m here to keep asking questions, keep going, keep creating.

I believe I’m here to transcend ideas of universal right and wrong, release fears, limitations, and self-imprisonment.

Every year I feel like I’m getting closer to being free, living my soul's truth, where my potential for positive impact is more boundless, more endless, and more infinite. 

How do I talk to my children about spirituality?

 I want to give my children something, some sense of a greater perspective than the limited view of physical reality, but I don’t want to force on them dogma or rigidity.

As a child, I had so many questions that I couldn’t really articulate at the time. There was a sense of wonder about who I was and what this experience was that mystified me at a level that I couldn’t put words to. There was some larger identity than the “body of Mark” that I couldn’t put my finger on, yet I knew was there.

I didn’t ask my parents about this because I didn’t need answers, I just needed them to hold a container for my curiosity, which they did. On some level, I knew that they didn’t have answers and I knew that the stuff I was interested in, I needed to explore myself. So a main theme of my teaching is about how to create that creative, curious space for our children and why it’s so important.

The front lines

Spiritual Warfare? I used to work at churches. From 1997-2010 I worked at 3 different churches. When working at a church you learn to deal with different types of people. Most of the time the people were loving and hurting all at the same time, they needed the church and they needed you. 

Since 2010 I have been working at a Religious school. I am the chaplain. People don't really NEED me. They like that I am in place, they like that I make them laugh and give them things to think about. I guess it is because the students and the staff don't come just for the spirituality. The students are dropped off and the teachers work here. Every once in a while people need prayer and I'm there for them. 

Chapels are a requirement. 

Prayer in the morning at the beginning of school is a requirement. 

Conversations about God are a requirement. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE IT HERE.

I am at a unique faith based "Christian" school. We have Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Seiks. We are not a condemning Christian school, we celebrate all faiths. 

St.Mary's Faith Identity Statement LINK 

https://www.smaa.org/discover-st-marys/who-we-are/faith-identity

How do I feel about that? I LOVE IT. 

I am given opportunities every day to talk about Jesus' love to these kids and their parents. I am given opportunities every day to share the love I get from Christ with people of other faiths. This is a HUGE blessing. Every single person who hears a message in chapel and reads an email form the chaplain chooses to do so. This isn't church where one voluntarily shows up on a Wednesday night to get their worship on and to learn about the Bible. I do miss it sometimes. I mean, I have the best job on earth, but people don't always understand what I do. It's hard to try and compare this position to others. When I teach the students praise songs with the chapel band, I know that some of them don't really understand what we are singing about but maybe it is just planting seeds, of love. 

My daily prayer -Jesus, grant me peace in my heart when I am out in the world fighting against evil. You know my heart and I love that. Please protect me from giving into temptation and from giving up. 

Good News

We forget it is good news. I was reading Romans 1:1-17 in my one year Bible, and I was once again reminded that the fact that Jesus came,lived,died and loved for the gentiles is good news. I was reminded and I smiled. Then I went into an interview for our Preschool principal. She mentioned how she loves starting the day with chapel because we need to be reminded every day of the good news of Jesus. Wow, I was blown away. So in case you forgot, the fact that Jesus came, lived,died and loved for you is good news.

Feel like quitting because....

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin, which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…" Hebrews 12:1,2

"Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." Hebrews 10:24,25

During a prayer meeting, a friend asked God to help someone “break through the quitting points.” That reminded me of my college years when my friend, Sly, and I would meet early in the mornings to go running. It was always hard to get going and it seemed that we alternated days wanting to quit early. Knowing this, we both had to take the responsibility to not give in to the feeling, but to encourage the other to keep going a little further. Inevitably, we would hit a point where we felt better and could seemingly run for days. Equally inevitable was the fact that when one of us ran without the other, we found that we were more likely to quit earlier, running a shorter distance and time. The key to success was to “break through the quitting points.”

You arrive at quitting points when...
... physical output (work, exercise, busyness) exceeds your input (rest, food, conditioning)
... emotional output (relationships, empathy/sympathy, fear) exceeds your emotional intake (encouragement, laughter, love, hope)
... spiritual output (ministry, life) exceeds your spiritual intake (Bible reading, prayer, time with God)

Long distance runners call this “hitting the wall” – the point where you simply run out of energy. So how do we break through the quitting points? Here are 3 factors you must take into consideration when you are ready to give up.

Consider your witnesses. When I read Hebrews 12:1, I get a picture of me running in a race of faith where the streets and stands are filled with all the people who throughout the years have set examples for, taught, mentored and challenged me. They are there to see how well I will put into practice what I have learned from them. Their “presence” should motivate and inspire us to fight on and not dishonor their input and sacrifice.

Consider your God. No one has ever had a more difficult course to run than our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to look at his life, his practices, his attitude and mimic those things in our lives. How did he handle disappointment and frustration? How did handle temptation and fear? How did he handle busyness and pressure? Yes, Jesus was God, but he was also fully man, experiencing life in all of its ugliness, just as we do. We should observe and follow his example.

Consider your fellow saints. We don’t run this race alone. If it is only about “me” then we become selfish. If it is only about “others” we become martyrs. When it is about “us” and “we”, we become family. We need to think about how can we encourage fellow saints who have become worn out in the journey, whose hearts are broken and spirits have become weary. But we also need to admit that there are times when we are the one’s who are in need of the encouragement. We can’t allow our pride or privacy to cause us to hide our need from others. We are a part of the body of Christ – we are interdependent on each other. Acknowledging that we need others is not an indication of weakness, but of wisdom.

The question is not if you will come to a “quitting point”, but when. The bigger question is what will you do to get through it? Think about it.
(this was written by John P. - not me. But I thought it was worth posting)

The Book of Eli

Saw "The Book of Eli" today. Yeah, it's about the Bible. Yeah, it's a post nuclear war thing. Yeah, it's got some moments, but it doesn't compare to "The Road."

Spoil Alert: if you are reading this and still want to see the movie, don't read further.

I liked how Eli memorized the Bible. I liked how important it was to those who knew nothing about it. I liked how people would kill for it, how people would die just to get a peek at it. I wish I had that desire, I wish I could memorize the entire Bible. 

That's my goal. 30 years, I'm going to memorize the Bible over the next 30 years.

May I hunger and thirst for the scriptures.

Conversation with my 5 year old about Haiti.

Haiti. Today Grace and I watched President Obama make an announcement about the relief work the United States is doing for the devastation of the Haitian earthquake. Grace asked about the people there and why their homes collapsed. I told her because they weren't built strong enough to withstand the earthquake. I answered without knowing the truth, but I could see the fear in her eyes. She was so concerned that the people of Haiti weren't going to have homes. I told her that right now they just needed clean water. She didn't understand. I told her that many people didn't get out of their homes and that many of them died. Wow, not a conversation I planned on having this morning. 

In their fleece feetsy pajamas, Maddie Jo laid in my arms and Grace cuddled next to me on the couch while we watched repeated images from the news of the people of Haiti struggle through the destruction and hopelessness on our 40 inch T.V. 

I heard our home's heater kick on as the temperature of our home dropped below 73 degrees. As soon as a commercial for another ab machine came on Grace asked if she could watch the Mickey Mouse Club and I sat down with my home brewed cup of Starbucks at the kitchen table with my Macbook and decided to write this.  

The red cross had a number on the news that you could text to donate $10 to the relief fund. I was going to but I remembered the thousands of dollars in credit card debt we are in, and the new furniture we wanted to buy. 

Meanwhile I've got kids in my youth group using inappropriate words on their facebook because someone jacked their cell phone and then when the person who took it gave it back the phone didn't have their custom faceplate. 

Is my life really that shallow? Last night at church a friend asked what James 2:17 meant. Faith without works is dead. Crazy. What does it really mean?

I suggested we pray for the people of Haiti. Grace closed her eyes and bowed her head, I said, "Oh, not now, as we go through our day." She said, "like before meals and bedtime?" I told her the Bible says we should pray without ceasing, then I explained what ceasing meant. I then fumbled through what praying without ceasing meant. Really, I can't explain to a five year old what pray without ceasing means?

I wonder what my prayer would look like if I was honest with God?

God. I'm really trying to get out of debt so I can buy some more stuff. I need to have cool jeans like that person and I need to lose weight so I can look like that person. Help me find new ways to fit more stuff in my day and if it is at all possible, please give me the confidence to get into more debt so I can buy disneyland tickets for my family so we can drive 25 minutes 2x a month to the happiest place on earth. Please help my kids be very smart so life is easy for them and don't let them ever get hurt. Help them obey me when I yell at them from the other room while I'm checking my facebook. 

I try to love you,

Mark