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The Effective Use of a Compass
Recently one of my co-workers joined the Search and Rescue team for the greater area here in the Northwest. As part of his training he had a course test that required him to plot a corse through the wilderness on a straight line and arive at a certain location. The overall distance he had to traverse was less than three miles. As he relayed his story to me, he described how several people failed the course because they had failed to constantly check their course using a compass. He shared with me that if you are 1 degree off, for every mile that you travel you get 92 feet further off course! In search and rescue that can be a significant issue in a densely pack forest! He said you can be off course and not realize it because you are headed in the right direction, just slightly edging out.
I began to think about that yesterday as Jason, the pastor of the Downtown Church in Bellevue began a new series on Doctrine. I pondered the great mysteries of the faith and considered the events that I have experienced over the last year where I personally witnessed the Senior Pastor and the Children’s Pastor of the church I previously attended spiritually crash in moral failure. I thought about how, both people who had over the years demonstrated what appeared to be solid faith and practice of Christianity, came crashing down and violated so many of the core values and beliefs that they had once held and practiced.
As I thought about what my co-worker shared about 1 degree off and then what I knew of these two people, I was challenged within myself. How often do we let little things slide? A comprimise here, an adjustment there? Everything rolls along fine until one day we find ourselves way off course. We don’t have to be in moral failure to be off course. Sometimes it is a little thing like allowing a false word to go unchallenged, to fail to check what is being taught from the pulpit to what it says in God’s word, to see someone declining and think, “oh they will get it straight”, or to simply do nothing.
I thought about all these things and considered Doctrine. Most of us quickly want to run from the bog of heady theological study and discourse, but we must see it as a compass. Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or “a body 
of teachings” or “instructions”, taught principles or positions. For Christians it is our beliefs based on Theology, or literally God’s (Theos) Word (Logos). I was personally challenged to take a spiritual inventory of my beliefs, to reconsider my doctrines and examine to God’s Word and make sure I am on course. Ninety Two feet is not a great distance when you have a short journey, but when you look at a lifetime, you can end up off course, and I mean way off course. So check your compass, find your way back on course!
Killer Bunnies!
Wow, I had a great new years eve. I had the opportunity to hang out with a group of people, who I would consider new friends and and play Killer Bunnies and quest for the the magic carrot!
I would not have picked this game as a general game selection, but I definitely had fun, we played well into the new year, laughing and waging bunny war. Of note is the awesome power of Bunnie Triplets that gives you the power to play two cards per turn and the infamous death strike of the Cyberbunnie (much like the Energizer Bunny, he goes on and on!)
This was a great icebreaker game and “Carrol” sure was educated in the rules of Killer Bunnies.
Killer Bunnies & the Quest for the Magic Carrot is a fast paced, action filled card game, in which you must try to keep as many Bunnies alive as possible, while eliminating your opponents’ Bunnies. The problem: Your opponents are armed with weapons and will stop at nothing to keep you from winning the game, which can get dreadfully vengeful, horribly nasty, hilariously messy, and just plain fun! Game Website
Happy Holidays
Well the holidays are almost over as we approach new years eve. I trust many of you have taken the time to look at your year this past year and consider all the events and things it has given you. If you are like me, you will have buckets of extremely wonderful things and buckets of awful things, but if you are reading this, then like me you have survived!
I think it is a wonderful thing to not only survive, but to learn and grow. Each of us face many challenges with our lives, some are momentarily cripling, some are life cripling and some are life ending. Perspective is a wonderful thing in the midst of all of it. I have come to discover that the only life ending event is truly death! For those of you who have lost loved ones and friends this past year, I offer my condolences.
When I think of all other life events, I am reminded two stories, one from the movie Lethal Weapon and the other, the story of Jacob of Jacob in the Bible. The scene in Lethal Weapon, Mel Gibson is compare scares he received to another mans and considering them as badges of honor for their duty as policmen. In the Bible story of Jacob, Jacob was a man who often avoided trouble by running or coniving. Then one night he entered a wrestling match with the angel of the Lord, and during that wrestling match, Jacob pinned the angel and the angel touched him on his thigh. The angel touched him, and he walked with a limp the rest of his life. The limp was as a permanent reminder of his encounter with God. At one point, God renamed Jacob. He was no longer Jacob, for God changed His name to Israel, which means ‘prince with God.’
I enourage you to look on your challenges as encounters with God, what is He trying to do in your life today. Where is He changing your name? How is He changing your walk?
Reflections
Over the last couple of days I had to the opportunity to take a quick to Fargo, ND. One of the benifits to traveling is that I find to sit and reflect (not alot else you can do on the plane!). As I was reading and reflecting, particular over the last year, I had a few thoughts and decided I would begin sharing them as the year end approaches.
This has been an extremely difficult year for me relationship wise. I have experienced the end of an 18 year marriage and found myself working through alot of heart related issues. In Proverbs 27:19, the Bible (my source of personal strength and encouragment) says, “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” Through the process of discovery and seperation, I often found it difficult to move with integrity and kindness and even forgiveness. I had to constantly stop and check my heart to see where I was at. You see, our heart is a great gauge to our emotional and spiritual condition. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. ” This challenges us to keep a guard on our hearts, or in otherwords, keep a check on it. For what flows from our heart is who we really are. “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”-Luke 6:45
So my challenge for today, for me and for you, is what is flowing out? When you look at your heart reflection, what do you see?
