Me.

In charge.

Uh oh.

The best way that I can describe this transition is:

sksimants=George W. Bush

mdsimants=Barack Obama

eksimants/cesimants=Glenn Beck

Well…. maybe not Glenn Beck, but definitely one of the (slightly) less crazy FoxNews commentators.

Yeah….

“That’s not how mommy does it.”

Nope.  I’m not mommy.  I am ill-equipped to be mommy.

“When mommy’s here she…”

Is your mommy here?  No.  So Daddy does….

You get the picture.  Dad’s you’ve all been there, so I know you can relate.

At any rate…. that’s so not the point of this post.

The point is this.  My kids blew me away yesterday with the lesson they taught me.

We were getting in the car to leave.  I was dropping the kids off at Nana’s and then was headed to Youth at the Church.

We get strapped in.

Shut doors.

Turn the key.

NADA.

Nothing.

Zilch.

Not even a remote attempt at starting.

Dead.

As a doorknob.

While I go into panic mode, the kids sit peacefully in the back.

I hear a soft voice: “God, please help our car to run.”

I get them out of the car, and begin to check the things I know to check.

Papa is on his way to the rescue.

The kids are staring at the frantic daddy through the front door.

And, I learned later, were praying.

On a whim, I put the key back into the ignition.

Turned the key.

Started right up.

Turned it off.

Again.

And…

Again.

About the time that Papa pulls up, the car is working great.

As we load the kids into Papa’s car, I hear eksimants tell Papa that her and cesimants had been praying for the car.  She was almost in tears at the goodness of God to answer prayers.  She told Papa that she was so glad that mommy and daddy had taught them to pray.

I was humbled and convicted.

As I drove to the church, I stopped to repent of my unbelief and my attempts to go it alone.

The kids did exactly what we have taught them to do in all circumstances.  They prayed.

I did what we as humans do in all circumstances.  I fretted and tried to go it alone.

I’m so grateful that their way worked and mine did not.

Folks, prayer works.  In every case.  In every circumstance.  PRAY.

Thanks, kids, for teaching me what I’ve been trying to teach you.

When all else fails.  When you can’t see the end of the tunnel.  And when you are on the mountaintop of victory.

PRAY!

We were in San Juan, Puerto Rico about four years ago.  We were in a taxicab.  Our driver had one arm and one leg.

Seriously.

One arm.

One leg.

From what I could tell, he wasn’t much good in the eyesight category either.

He drove.  We prayed.

Spiritually, that’s how I have felt here lately.

I’m merely a passenger.  My Father God is the driver.

I’m riding.

He’s driving.

Sometimes it feels a bit like He is driving with one leg and one arm.  Like the car is a bit out-of-control.

Well, it is.

It is out-of-MY-control.

And it’s good.

As we allow the Father to drive, we become more in-tune to the miracles that He is constantly performing.  We view more clearly His work.  We learn what the Proverbs mean when they say that the “Fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom (seeing things through God’s perspective and acting on it).”

See, to allow God to drive (without us backseat driving) is to Fear Him.  It is to say, “I love You, so I will do what You say.”  It is saying, “Not my will, but thine.”  It is to say, “Show me where You are working, and let me join in.”

It’s beautiful.

It’s scary.

It’s incredibly exhilarating.

So, yes, I do realize that the automobile looks like it is careening out of control.  Yet, I remain content sitting here quietly in the backseat and letting Him take me wherever He determines the next stop will be.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Just as quick as that.

Here I was Sunday Morning when I got up:

As I headed out to the patio to dispose of the hair I had collected over the previous six or so weeks, I thought back through the journey.

It had been quite a trip.  We had watched God do remarkable things!

We had seen God pave roads!

And, now, it was over.

Off to church we went to celebrate Easter!  Sunday had come!

Before we celebrated in worship, I had the privilege of  teaching a few 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders all about the provision of God: “Give us this day our daily bread.”  How awesome is that!!

As we worshipped on Sunday Morning, it was a more joyful experience than I think I’ve ever had.  See, the thing about taking a Lenten journey — I mean really taking the Lenten journey by denying yourself of something significant (not just chocolate or sodas or TV or Facebook (seriously?!?!)) — is that when the journey reaches a conclusion at the empty tomb the resurrection somehow seems more real.  It seems more tangible.

Pete Greig in his “Prayer Spaces” podcast on Easter Sunday pointed out how the first to witness the resurrection was a woman with a past.  In her redemption, she became the messenger!  The new covenant begins with a question to a person who hasn’t forever been redeemed.  (Sound familiar?)

I’ve been meditating on Psalm 51 for the past couple of weeks.  There’s a beautiful change that happens between verse 12 and 13.  The Psalmist, now forgiven of sin, has a testimony.

Praise God that with the resurrection …

… comes redemption.

… comes provision.

… comes healing.

… comes mission.

… comes a testimony.

… comes a new life.

… comes forgiveness (and the associated forgetfulness of YHWH).

… come a shave.

I wish I could say that the end was met with some sort of major fanfare, but it wasn’t.  Just a guy on his back patio with a set of clippers.

Well, more than that.  It was met by a thankful and humbled guy on a back porch.  A guy sitting in a red chair, clippers in hand, on a back porch, on a sunny Easter Morning, saying a prayer of thanksgiving and recommitment to God.

CHRIST HAS RISEN INDEED!

Go in peace, to love and serve the RISEN Lord!!

In just a few short hours (44 days later), I will shave again.

The Nazarite Vow period is coming to a close.  It’s over.  We’ve made it.  And, no, I haven’t heard the voice of God saying continue the Vow till Easter of 2012 (or some other obscure year).  Thankfully.

While I’m ready for it to be over, I will never regret these 44 days.

What you may not realize is that the Nazarite Vow corresponded with three other events.

1. The church which we serve (Asbury UMC) was running 40 Days of 24/7 Prayer.  For us, this meant many late nights in the prayer room (aka Trailernacle).  It meant time in the Trailernacle as a family.  It meant a continual focus on prayer.
2. In our Youth Sunday School classes we’ve been studying the Lord’s Prayer.  So, for the past 44 days, I’ve been consumed with meditation on the Lord’s Prayer (and other passages related Matthew 6:19-34, Matthew 13, Psalm 51).
3. sksimants and I have been on a Daniel Fast.

Put those three things together along with a Vow designed to help one seek out the direction of God, and, well, things happen.

Last time, I told you all what we had gotten out of this journey.  What I didn’t tell you, because it wasn’t yet official, is what we actually saw God do for us in the last 44 days.

So here goes.

We entered the 44 days wondering where God was directing us.  We were seeking for direction (hence, the vow).  We knew then that wherever God was directing us would involve a significant life change.  While we still don’t know exactly what that means, we have seen God begin to prepare us for it.

How?

We suspected before Ash Wednesday that God was working on moving us toward some sort of full-time ministry.  As quickly as the first week of this, God confirmed that within us.

That out of the way, we began to point out to God (and He to us) things that needed to happen before that could be a reality.  We felt like God told us to keep praying, believing, and pressing and He would give the rest of the plan, but for now we were to do a few tangible (i.e. financial) things.

God even gave us a specific dollar amount for which to pray.  I remember being in the Trailernacle one night and praying for God to help us (show us how/miraculously provide) pay off one particular student loan — just shy of $19,000.  I felt like God started laughing at me, and heard Him say, “That’s it?  I can take care of that by Easter.  Be serious, here’s the amount.”  He then gave me a dollar amount that is just above our current total outstanding debt (another set of Student Loans and the house).  He told me, “Pray specifically for that dollar amount.”

So, we started praying specifically for that dollar.

A few days later, we made a payment for 1/3rd of the $19,000.

Three weeks later, we made a payment for 1/3rd of the $19,000.

And on Good Friday, we paid the remaining 1/3rd IN FULL.

And to top it off, God gave us 10% more than what was needed (which happens to be the Mexico 2011 budget (almost to the penny)).

GOD ROCKS!!

We continue to pray/believe for the remaining amount for which He told us to pray, and we have total faith (especially after seeing Him provide the $19,000 by EASTER) that He will take care of it.

I’ll have one more post on Sunday morning, but for now here’s the latest mdsimants snapshot (as of Day 43), and a link to Psalm 66:16-20 — “Come and Listen.”

Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me.
I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!

(Psalm 66:16-20, New International Version, ©2011)

One week remains on the Nazarite Vow!  Wow!  Has it flown by!

The common question that I’ve been asked is “Did you get what you expected from it?”

The answer is “Yes and No.”

There was a part of me that expected at some point in the 40 days of the Vow (and the 24/7 prayer at the church), God would speak clearly about what our exact next steps were to be.  However, He hasn’t–sorta (of course, there’s still a week left and He may wait until next Saturday morning to speak).   He has given pieces of direction.  He has given things to look at/work on/pray about.  And He has told us to keep pressing on Him (Luke 18:1-8) to answer and He will–in His time (assuming there’s no hold up from the evil one (Daniel 10:12-14)).  So, while there haven’t been any loud booming voices, flashes of lightening, or Jesus faces on tortillas, we are more open to hearing the direction, and are ready to follow it when it is given.

And that’s what matters.

While you enjoy the latest picture (Day 39), I’m going to go make some tortillas.

mdsimants on Day 39

I’m just hoping that when I do shave, my kids will recognize me.

Someone asked me today what I’ve learned so far, so thought I’d try to answer that.

When you are serious about seeking God’s direction, He’ll give it.

This is probably the most important lesson.  My primary motivation for taking the vow was to determine God’s direction for the next season of my (and the family) life.  I had read that the reason that Paul had taken this vow the two times that he took it was for this reason.

God blesses us when we humble ourselves.  This vow will definitely humble you.  (See this post for more on that.)

And, no, not ready to broadcast the direction….yet.

Make sure you know what you are getting into when you take a vow.

When I started this vow, I didn’t think fully of the implications of not touching things that are dead.  I assumed that the passage meant a dead human being and thought, “That’s easy….don’t hang around the morgue.”  Yet, after researching it out and talking to some other folks with a greater command of the Hebrew language and tradition than I have, I determined that (for me at least) dead meant “if at one time it had breathed air.”

My kids loved this one.  They spent the next hour after this discovery running around the house finding everything that was from an animal.  We determined that I have two pair of shoes and one belt that I can wear (none of them of the “dress” variety).  I couldn’t carry my wallet.  I couldn’t carry my Bible.  Yikes!

Weigh the vow before you take the vow!

Make sure your wife and kids are aware of what you’re contemplating BEFORE you pull the trigger on it.

Assuming that your family is going to “get it” spiritually, and be fully on-board before you tell them what’s about to happen is a BAD IDEA!

MEN, DON’T ASSUME!  TALK TO THEM!  LET THEM KNOW!

Alright, there are three lessons that have been learned so far in this journey.

Now, the real reason that you are reading this… Here’s the picture of Day 26.  Enjoy.  And yes, it’s ok to laugh.

Friday night, sksimants and I had the privilege of serving at the Little Rock Compassion Center.  My job during dinner was to rinse glasses and pass them back to my friend Clemente for washing.

Immediately upon my assignment, Clemente began to open up to me.  Clemente is homeless.  He is currently living at the center and is working off a societal debt in the kitchen.  Clemente told me of his family.  How they came to the US from Mexico when he was a child.  How he got into alcohol.  How he had sobered up.  Then, about eight months ago, he lost his mother.  He came to Little Rock to live with his brother, but he started drinking again and is now in recovery after his brother couldn’t take him anymore and booted him out.

Clemente also told me how he had come to know Jesus and was praying for relationships with his two children and his brother to be reconciled.  He also told me that he had–that afternoon–finished reading the Book of Job.

I told him of my love for that book.  How God has used it to work in my life.  I asked him what he learned from it.  He gave me three lessons.

IT’S NEVER AS BAD AS I THINK

Clemente said that losing his mother–his best friend–was the hardest thing ever to happen to him.  He was at the end of his rope and turned to alcohol to be his way of coping with the pain.

Reading Job helped him to realize that others have it worse than he does.  He told me how he watched the faces of the men in the shelter.  They have nothing.  Some of them are completely dead inside.  But he has something to hold onto–faith.

I showed him that the first beatitude is:

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and His rule. — Matthew 5:3 (The Message)

Job teaches us this principle: It is never as bad as I think.  As Clemente put it: “Job showed me that even in the worst of times, I can still have faith.”

PICK YOUR FRIENDS WISELY

Who you hang around is important.  Clemente made the decision to move into the Center for one reason: “I had to get away from my old friends.”  His old friends–he told me–enabled him to drink.  In fact, his biggest fear right now is summer–drinking season.

Job taught him to pick his friends wisely.  Job’s friends were not very helpful to the cause of maintaining his faith.  They didn’t really encourage Job to remain reliant upon God.  Instead they tried to get Job to take matters into his own hands.  Granted, not by some evil and wicked means.  As Clemente pointed out they had good intentions.  They had some truth.  But, they didn’t have God.  Clemente had come to realize that his friends had good intentions.  Yet, they didn’t have a God-driven approach. 

You become what you hang around.  So, pick your friends wisely.

GOD IS BIGGER THAN OUR PROBLEMS

The last lesson that Clemente gave me was that no matter how big our problem–God is bigger! 

He told me how he couldn’t wait to get to the end of the book to see what God would say and do.  (I tell you, Job is a great book!  A real page-turner!)  And when he got to the end, he said that he knew that no matter what he was going through God was in it with him and God was bigger.

God would see him through his problems.  He was so excited about how God provided Job with restoration.  That was something that Clemente could latch on to.  God rides out our storms with us, and then restores us on the other side.

I asked Clemente which book he was going to read next.  Without hesitation he said, “Only a fool wouldn’t read Job a second time.”

Job lived on another hundred and forty years, living to see his children and grandchildren–four generations of them!  Then he died–an old man, a full life. — Job 42:16-17 (The Message)

So last week I walked through the what, when and why of this vow that I’ve taken.  But wanted to give you an update on how it’s going.

In short…. it itches.  Oy!

The longer answer is that it is going well.  The family isn’t so much a fan of the new fuzzy faced daddy, but they understand it and are coping. 

I’ve been asked a couple of times to explain the whys behind the specific rules of the vow.  Here’s what I’ve learned.

Don’t cut your hair

This is about humility.  Think about it.  A common phrase uttered in the halls of every office building on any given day: “I’m having a bad hair day.”  As a people, we value our hair looking good.  Now, I’ve never been one for being that interested in how my hair looks, but when you look in the mirror and know that your hair is out of control and there’s nothing you can really do about it you learn quickly to stop worrying about it.  Nevertheless, people still look and wonder. 

The other part of the hair thing is that it is the visual element of the vow.  It is a way of holding yourself accountable to the vow.  Everytime you see yourself in a mirror or everytime someone asks about your unruly hair you are reminded about the vow.  It keeps it in front of you all the time.

Don’t eat or drink anything that originates on the grapevine

Grapes make me happy.  I love grapes.  I love raisins.  I love a good bottle of wine.  The key with this step of the vow is the celebratory nature of the grape — wine.  Wine is used when we are celebrating some sort of achievement. 

Taking away the element of celebration from the Nazarite was a way to bring their focus back to the source of their blessings — God.  I have no reason to celebrate an achievement because without the blessing of God I would have no achievements.  This is the reminder in the vow that it’s not about you

This one has been a struggle for me to understand.  I get that under the Levitical law death/dead things were very unclean.  They neccessitated a cleansing period and several sacrifices.  So, if it’s already bad to touch something dead, why make it a specific part of the vow?  Why make it unclean*2? 

Death is a point of mourning.  It again focuses the attention of a person on their feeling about the loss.  The point of the vow is to shift our focuses away from ourselves and wholly onto God. 

Another element that comes into play–at least for me–is the element of Christ’s fulfillment of the law.  In this instance, Christ fulfills the law by being our Life.  Focusing fully on Him and His direction for our lives help us to live out this concept.

Day 15 of the Nazarite Vow

So there you have it.  My understanding of why these particular rules.  The most difficult of these has definitely been the rule regarding death–not that I like to run around and touch dead things, but because my shoes are leather, my belts are leather and even my Bible is leather.  Needless to say, it’s been interesting.  15 down and 31 to go.

The church in which we serve sponsors a 9th/10th Grade and an 11th/12th Grade Boys
Basketball team. Tonight was a playoff game for our 9th/10th Graders.

I learned upon arrival that we were only going to have five boys in uniform tonight. In
case you know nothing about basketball, five is the minimum you can have on a team and
is the maximum you can have on the floor at any given time.

In the first-half, our boys hung tough against a team that seemed at times to forget it was
church-league ball.

And then, late in the first half, the fear that all of us Asbury fans had hanging in the back
of our minds came into being: One of our five fouled out.

For the remainder of the first-half and the entire sixteen minutes of the second-half, we
played four boys against their five.

Before you try and predict the outcome of the game (and you’re right), let me say this:
These four boys played as hard in the last minute of the game as they played in the first
minute.

It brought to mind 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (MSG):

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one
wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for the gold medal that
tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving
it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top
condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it
and then missing out myself.

Paul doesn’t tell the Corinthian church – and by extension all of us – that they had to win,
rather he tells them to run like they want to win.

Stay alert!

Train hard!

Run hard!

Press on!

Play to win even against insurmountable odds!

These boys tonight played to win. The odds were pretty big against them before we went
down a man, yet they kept pressing on. As the other team pushed on like a golden ring
and a trip to DisneyWorld was on the line, these young men from Asbury kept on playing
to win.

They played out the words of Paul.

As I sat in the stands as one of small cloud of witnesses, I thought about that great cloud
of witnesses in the Hebrews (12:1-3). How they cheer and push us on.

They tell us, “Keep playing!”

They tell us, “Keep running!”

They tell us, “Don’t slack off!”

And we persevere on.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Knowing that He has run the race.

He has finished the race.

He has won the prize.

Yet, we run on. Not to win. Rather to point others to Him.

Asbury men, you did a great job tonight in showing us all how to keep on running.

eksimants Studying the Scriptures

I went up to eksimants’ room a few minutes ago to tell her “Good Night”.

She was sitting on her bed copying Scripture from the Bible into her journal.  The passage was from Luke 21:

As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.  All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Thinking I would seize on a teaching opportunity (and not realizing I was walking into a learning opportunity), I asked, “What does that story tell us?”

eksimants’ reply:

It tells us that we should give everything we have and rely on God.  If we give everything, then we don’t have to worry about anything because God will take care of it.

It’s like @jaredanderson song: Giving everything to God, becuase He gave everything to me.

It’s like the story of the woman with the oil.  Judas told her she wasted the money, because he wanted it for himself.  But Jesus said that Judas was wrong.  He knew that the woman did the best thing for him and for her. 

We should always just give everything.