Crazy Love

Hats off to the Rebelution Blog for making me aware of this free audiobook download of Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love. It is available free from ChristianAudio.com during the month of July.

I'm a Rebel

A week away...

A week away...

It always provides me with time...
and perspective..
and deep thoughts...
and introspection...

And one of the chief things I am coming away with this time is the question: a week away from what?

What is my normal life...
my usual routine...
my "daily grind"...
that keeps me from these very important things when I'm living it?

Am I just too busy? Is the pace too frantic?

I've been contemplating these things this week, and I have come to discover that apparently I'm not the only one...

This post on the Rebelution Blog this week asks the same question. "What is the difference between 'doing hard things' and just 'doing to much'?" they ask. Good question.

They point us to a series of Blog articles by C.J. Mahaney that begins with the following challenge:

Lazy? Not me. I’m busy. Up early, up late. My schedule is filled from beginning to end. I love what I do and I love getting stuff done. I attack a daily to-do list with the same intensity I play basketball. Me lazy? I don’t think so!

Or at least I didn’t think so. That is, until I read about the difference between busyness and fruitfulness, and realized just how often my busyness was an expression of laziness, not diligence.

I forget now who first brought these points to my attention. But the realization that I could be simultaneously busy and lazy, that I could be a hectic sluggard, that my busyness was no immunity from laziness, became a life-altering and work-altering insight. What I learned is that:

• Busyness does not mean I am diligent
• Busyness does not mean I am faithful
• Busyness does not mean I am fruitful

Recognizing the sin of procrastination, and broadening the definition to include busyness, has made a significant alteration in my life. The sluggard can be busy—busy neglecting the most important work, and busy knocking out a to-do list filled with tasks of secondary importance.

I am still chewing on these ideas, but I think a week away every once in a while - away from the busyness - to ponder the busyness - is a good thing.

"Taking Slackers to Task"

An interview in Christianity Today with Alex and Brett Harris...

For a much-needed break from posts about nothing but politics!

Striving...

I'm up early this Sunday morning, the only one stirring in my quiet house. And during my Bible reading and prayerful contemplations, I've been having some more thoughts about "resolve" and the idea of "resolutions."

It is one of those times of the year, as the world prepares for "back to school," that new habits are being considered and new plans are being made (or not made).

I am becoming more and more convinced that it serves us ill indeed to live life in a willy-nilly, come-as-it-may fashion. I want to be deliberate. I want to set goals. I want to strive, whether I fail 'pretty-much-all-the-time' or only 'just-about-most-of-the-time.' It is in the striving, I think, that we engage our Master, who declares that we "can do all things through Him who gives us strength" (Philippians 4:13).

I came upon a link to a very old post of Brett Harris's (of The Rebelution fame) concerning his New Year's Resolutions from 2005. Bear in mind that he was, I assume, fourteen at the time of this composition. How many fourteen-year-olds do you know who are even thinking like this, let alone purposing with deliberation to try, with God's help and grace, to live this way?! This is not to praise Brett, but to praise the One who calls him - and us - to live boldly for Him in righteousness and faithfulness. We cannot shirk the call just because we know that in our human frailty we will fail. And we certainly mustn't shirk it in the name of "grace," using our desire not-to-attempt-to-earn-God's-favor-through-works as an excuse to keep us from ever doing those good works that were prepared beforehand for us to do...

Ephesians 2: 8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

And, hopefully, it is to praise the idea of thinking through what you hope to do - through Him, in Him, with Him - and setting out with purpose to do it.

Check out what young Jonathan Edwards declared when he was still a teenager concerning what he hoped to do and be as He walked with God.

What good works have You prepared in advance for me to do, Lord? May I embrace them with fervor, diligence, and joy!

(See some previous thoughts about resolutions and striving here and here.)

Across the Miles

I got an email from a dear long-time friend (better not call her "old") tonight that has filled me with wistful nostalgia. Every once in a while something strikes me that drives home the fleeting nature of life... the speed at which it flies by. Last week it was when iivo mentioned an old college suitemate of his with whom he'd reconnected on Facebook. He is now married with five kids! (I didn't really know this guy very well, so the last time I laid eyes on him or even thought about him, really, he was single and just leaving William & Mary. It seems like just a couple of years ago. Alas, it was many more than a couple...)

The email that I received tonight came across the ocean from India, where my friend is serving with her family as missionaries. Her words are playing around in my head, and the profoundly bittersweet nature of life is getting to me a bit.

I thought of you when I was walking this evening. I had to dodge a water buffalo and her calf coming from the other direction. Moments like those I consider "I bet this doesn't happen to Laurie" moments. The themes of our lives are so similar that sometimes I lose track of how different the settings are. Then suddenly I will realize that this or that type of thing probably isn't happening in your world. I hope you don't mind that I've chosen you as my reference point for those musings. I think it is because I relate to you more than to any other friend.

These kinds of friendships you don't find everyday. They are a rare find, indeed... the kind that last for decades, through all the crap you each dish out, through all the great and crummy things you each experience, through all the distance and all the miles and all the heartache and all the joy. I miss her.

Anyway, we're off to other such friends' house tomorrow. As my husband's old college roommate is among the funniest people I know, I plan to laugh very hard. Because he knows me very well, much of the laughter will be directed at myself, I'm sure. And I plan to have deep and important conversations, because these are those kinds of friends. We'll pile into their basement across the miles and still feel very much at home.

The Rebelution Conference is part of the planned activities. I'll let you know what thoughts and life change that stirs up...

Life Grids

This week, since our return from Richmond, we have not been "doing school" in the normal sense of a regular homeschool day. If you asked my kids, in fact, they might even say they are already on vacation. But they aren't, really. Why? Because of "life grids."

During a normal school day, each of my children has a "grid" he manages, checking off items that are required of him. Certain academic work (like math and language) is expected on a daily basis; other academic work, as they get older, is assigned in weekly chunks, and my kids are required to determine and manage their own time and workload daily, to complete the assigned work over the course of the week. (Think college here.) So, some days they might not do any work in history or science or some other subjects we don't do daily. These items are still on their grids, however, and at the end of the day, they get a "sign off" from one of us parents indicating that all of the items have been checked off (if completed), crossed off (if intentionally not done this particular day), or x'ed off (if not required today).

And here's the deal. Grids work so well that we can't bring ourselves to give them up when we're not "doing school." All of the non-academic items of the grid still need to be done (the "life grid" we call these items), and the grid is simply the easiest and best and most reliable way to manage them. The grid becomes the "slave driver," not me!

So, what sorts of things are on the "life grid"? It varies for each child, but some of the non-negotiables are as follows:

MR (Morning Routine)
Dev (Devotions)
Gath (Gathering)
Piano/Violin
SM (Scripture Memory)
TB (Touch Base)
SR (School Reading)
PE
Chores
FR (Free Reading)
Guitar
5PC (Five-Point Check)
SO (Sign Off)

When we don't do grids, we get "scrambly." (This is a favorite word we've picked up from our piano teacher, to describe when life gets sloppy and ceases to be approached with deliberateness.) When we don't do grids, my kids are begging to play some form of electronic entertainment by 10:00 a.m. (And they'd play them indiscriminately for hours, too, until they finally got off - resentfully - when the "mean mom" asked them to.)

The grids keep us happy. The grids keep us productive. The grids keep my children squarely in charge of learning to be responsible with their time even when someone else isn't telling them what to do with every minute of their day. And best of all, the grids keep me from becoming a nag.

Why do we keep "doing school" during the late spring and over the summer? Because keeping a few academic items on the "life grid" during select weeks of summer isn't difficult, takes little time, keeps our academic skills sharp, and keeps us from being "bored." When we're done, we go swim or play. When we have a social invitation, we skip the academic stuff and take the chance to go visit. But we don't spend hours watching TV or playing electronic gaming devices or getting snippy with each other like we do when there is no grid. It keeps us living the principle that, "Play is a reward for work."

We hope to spare our children from the expectation we ourselves bought, unintentionally, as we lived the lie of adolescence as it is currently practiced in middle America: that one gets 3-4 months "off" every summer from the work the Lord has called him to do. Life doesn't work that way as adults. Why should we train ourselves to expect it to work that way while we're still children?

I'm reminded of something I read by Alex & Brett Harris on the Rebelution website entitled, "'Do Hard Things' Doesn't Mean You Can't Have Fun." They were speaking to a youth group at the time:

Once we realized the impression we were making Alex and I quickly explained that we weren’t “freaks of nature” with a genetic disposition for work. We are a lot like “normal” teenagers. We like sports (we’re short, but we try really hard), we love music, we watch movies, we style our hair, and we even play video games from time to time. But, we have a different way of looking at fun. Here are two principles we try to follow:

1) First Things First

Being a “rebelutionary” does not mean you have erased “fun” from your life. It means that you have relegated it to its proper place. “Do Hard Things” does not eliminate fun, but it elevates, honors, and recognizes the superiority of the activities and pursuits that strengthen, stretch, and grow our character and competence for the glory of God.

We explained to the youth group that night that Alex and I view fun as a break from the “hard things” that we spend the majority of our time doing. Did you catch that? We view fun as a break from hard things. We have fun after we feel that we have accomplished something significant.

Our culture, on the other hand, tells us that we should have fun first and do hard things only “when we have to.” Do you see the difference? It’s all about priorities. We will always prioritize that which is most important to us. A rebelutionary will place “fun” in its proper place, understanding that responsibility to God and others comes first. Our culture spreads the lie that our pleasure, our enjoyment, and our fun is first priority.

Our culture acts like it’s giving us something by allowing and encouraging us to just have fun — but the truth is that when all we care about is “having fun” we’re being robbed. Robbed of contentment in the future, robbed of effectiveness for God, robbed of competence, robbed of character, maybe even robbed of the spouse we’ve always wanted, because we weren’t prepared for them and didn’t deserve them.

A rebelutionary recognizes that what is most valuable isn’t always the most fun. A rebelutionary puts first things first, and second things (like fun) second.

2) Hard Things Can Be Fun

You might (accurately) conclude that Alex and I do fewer “fun things” than the average teen, but you couldn’t say we have less fun. We might spend less time playing video games, going to parties, and just “hangin’ out,” but we also enjoy much of the work we do.

In other words, it is possible to enjoy doing the hard things that develop your character and your competence for the glory of God. Alex and I love delving into the biography of a great man or woman, we love writing, and we love speaking. Which is good because that is what we spend the majority of our time doing!

...The point I want to leave you with is that hard things can be fun — not the way snowboarding is fun — but still in a fulfilling, exciting, and positive way.

These guys are some teens who "get it." I want my kids to be teens who "get it" - who work hard, and then play hard... but in godly ways, in the right proportions, and in that order.

Me, too, for that matter.

Something More

I've been pondering the article My ipod is my best friend, from the Rebelution website.

I am concerned for this generation of youth... shaped and defined by a stilted and immature and selfish world view. What are we calling them to? What are we teaching them to aspire to? What are we equipping them for? Something greater than DS or Xbox 360? Something more satisfying than receiving the next text message, or buying the next fad at the mall, or getting high on the next illegal substance, or seeing topless photos emailed to your cell phone?

Where is the remnant of Christian young people who will stand up and cry, "Enough is enough!" and dare to live counter-culturally... in the world but not of it?! Or the generation of adults who will do the same, for that matter? There is more to life than the next purchase, or the next tv show, or the next hook-up, or the next drink, is there not? There is more to relationship with our children than playing with them on the Wii, yes? It is possible to experience, and enjoy, relationships with people of all ages - all the while appreciating and cherishing the opportunity to glean wisdom from those older and pass it on to those younger - right?

I'm longing for a community of people who will challenge me in this... engage with me in it... encourage me and my children to live radically different lives for Christ, and to make a difference for the Kingdom in this world because of it.

I am challenged by John Piper's query: "Have you tasted in the word of God - especially the gospel - that the Lord is good? Have you tasted it? Not: Have you thought about it? Not: Have you decided to affirm it? But: Have you tasted it? Are there living, spiritual taste buds in your heart that taste Christ as more desirable than all else?

This is where we need to get serious. We will spread the seed of God's mighty regenerating power if we have tasted that the Lord is good. The Lord is our delight. The Lord is our treasure. The Lord is our meat and milk and water and wine. May God loosen our tongues and make us bold gospel-tellers because we are drunk with the wine of the word of God and the goodness of the Lord."

Oh, Lord, may I taste and see that You are good, and be blessed as I take refuge in You (Psalm 34:8). Teach me to take refuge in You!

The Rebelution

Today I found this website, and I am blown away.


Desiring God ministries put out a newsletter (view it online) showcasing the fact that Alex and Brett Harris, the twin younger brothers of pastor and author Joshua Harris (I Kissed Dating Goodbye), just published their book, Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. They started The Rebelution when they were sixteen. Now at nineteen they are doing conferences on the theme.

This has been going on for three years now, and I've known nothing about it until now.

They begin their book to teenagers like this:

Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care. And even if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last. Well, we do. (p. 3)

As the Desiring God newsletter said, "The point is, the usual adult expectations for youth are too low. And these twins are out to raise them. We believe that is the right direction to move."

I couldn't agree more!