Tree of Knowledge

Did you know that Genesis mentions TWO trees in Eden? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. The only tree God told Adam and Eve not to eat from was the tree of knowledge. The implication is that they could eat from the tree of life all they wanted.

When God discovers their sin of disobedience, He says to Himself …”The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” Genesis 3:22. Can you imagine having to live forever in this mortal, sinful body? As my good friend Bubba points out, God banished them so they wouldn’t have to live forever in their depraved state. In other words, the only way to save them was to banish them from Eden. Wow. I always thought they were kicked out as punishment, but he did it for their own good. That’s crazy.

A few years ago, I heard Andrew Shearman talk about the trees. His point was that man is still doing the same thing he did in the Garden: we’re still going to the tree of knowledge when we should be going to the tree of LIFE! (That’s how he says it – with an English accent.)

I know that I had heard about two trees, but for me, there was really only one tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life was just the part of the verse I skimmed over. Lately, God has been showing me how I still do this. I want to KNOW: Why is this happening? What does my future hold? Why am I like this? What should I do? How will it work?

Yes, I know we’re supposed to study and know the Word: “Study to show yourself approved unto God”, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”, but my knowledge will not save me. Only Jesus, the giver of life can do that. My knowledge keeps me worried and wondering about the future. Focusing on Jesus causes me to focus on the now. Jesus is Life, he created it and all life exists because of Him and in Him. I don’t want to go to the tree of knowledge, I want to go to the tree of LIFE! I want to live this life that God has given me with my eyes focused on him, not on me.

Wrecked

In the little sub-culture (AIM) I get to hang around in, we have a bunch of our own buzzwords and TLA’s

1. AIM = Adventures In Missions. I know, it was easy, but it was there… Also, it’s not ‘AIMs’, please, I beg you.
2. OTF = On The Field; as in “He’s not in the office, he’s on the field.” I’m not sure why it isn’t “In” the field…
3. ATL = Ask The Lord, an exercise we do OTF in which we ask God what he wants us to do, test what we think we heard, and then, if appropriate, DO IT!! Tres cool.
4. Wrecked; as in “God wrecked me.” Please see a more detailed explanation below.
5. Speak Truth Into; As in “I spoke truth into their lives.” I’m not really sure about this one. I’ve been hearing it a lot lately. I think it might be a fancy way of saying “I said something that was true.” Such as “God loves you,” “You’re forgiven,” etc.
6. Came to faith; As in “He came to faith in Christ.” Most people would say “He was saved.”
7. TLA = Three Letter Acronym. Thanks to Jeff Dunn-Rankin, a YP*, for this one

There are more, of course. Meet me for lunch and I’ll tell you some.

Do you remember the first time you went into the deep end of the pool**? For some bizarre reason, you decided to face the twelve foot deep monster under the high dive. Once you jumped, you looked around and thought “Wow, I did it. That wasn’t so bad!” You even tried to get your friends to join you, knowing that they, too, would enjoy the adventure. After this, you only wanted to swim in the deep end. You were ‘wrecked’ for the shallow end of the pool.

Wouldn’t it be cool if that’s what life was like? Can you imagine what it would be like if your normal, average life wasn’t good enough, that all you wanted to do was throw your life into the wild abandon of living for Jesus?

Right now, my life feels pretty normal. I know it’s silly, but this is really bothering me. I think that maybe I’m addicted to the rush of being OTF. I keep waiting for something spectacular to happen so I can blog about it. As a result, I’ve been spending a lot of time begging God for guidance. “God, show me the way to go.” “Help me!” “What do you want me to do?” “Can I have a wave runner?” You know, the typical stuff.

His answer to me has been “Fix your eyes on Jesus.” “Seek Me and be glad in Me.” “Cast all your anxiety on Me.” “Trust the Lord with all your heart.”

I keep trying to turn my focus inward, while He tries to get me to put my focus on Him. I know, it’s crazy…

*Youth Pastor and all around cool guy from Venice, Florida. I was talking about doing an ATL or some such and he said “AIM has a lot of TLA’s” and then he waited, staring at me until I asked him what the heck a TLA was.

**I’ve done a statistical analysis and it appears that I’m 32.6% over my limit of “deep end of the pool/life” analogies. I promise to stop for a while…

***The picture above is of Tori, Kaylie, and Lane Walker OTF. They were helping people load donated supplies into their cars after Katrina and then praying with them – all on their own initiative. That’s my babes…

Some thoughts

I’ve been trying to figure out how to start something new. I don’t really know why, just a feeling I’ve had for some time.

Last week, I had a rough week. I learned that Jesus was not a humble servant so much as a humiliated servant. I keep wondering, however, if I not making too much of it all.

The other thing I’m afraid of is that I’m afraid it’s not over but don’t know how to prepare for what may be the next stage.

A Real Man

So, I was sitting at work one day in Dallas (sometime in 2002), dreaming about lunch. I’m a pretty big guy and this is a common occurrence.

I had five bucks and change in my pocket and I was thinking about how I was going to go to the Italian place two blocks away and get a stromboli. yuuummmm.

Carla and I had just talked the night before about not using the credit cards. You know, the whole radical idea of not spending money you don’t actually have. Where do people get this crazy stuff?

So, I was going to be good. I was going to spend actual cash.

As I was sitting there, I felt God tell me that he wanted me to give my money away and fast for lunch. I had been thinking about fasting and had done it once or twice and it was pretty cool. Not something I wanted to do all the time, but a good thing to get one focused on the right stuff.

Ok, the whole fasting thing is cool and all, but this stromboli is GOOD. It was not going to kill me to miss a meal or six, but I really wanted that stromboli.

Here’s what I did: I said, ‘Ok, God. If someone asks me for some money when I go to lunch, I’ll give them all my cash. But if they don’t, I’m doing the stromboli thing.”

I sat at my desk, counting the minutes until lunch. I planned to have a working lunch…

11:30:01 I was out the door. I didn’t get twenty feet before a homeless-looking guy walks up to me and asks if I have any spare change. Boom. Just like that.

What was I supposed to do? If I give this guy my money, no stromboli. There was no way I could use a credit card to buy myself lunch…

Then, I had a brilliant idea. It was so brilliant, I was stunned by its clarity and magnificence. I would use a credit card to buy HIM lunch. That way, I would get my stromboli and eat it too. So to speak. I would gain points with God for being obedient, and there was no way that using a credit card to help someone could be wrong.

I said, “How about I just buy you lunch?”

He said, “Ok.”

I asked him where he wanted to eat, but his attitude was “you’re buying, I’m flying.” I suggested Subway and he said fine. (Crucial part of the plan; Subway takes plastic, McDonald’s doesn’t.)

As we walked to Subway (which is, coincidentally, just past the stromboli place), I talked with him and asked him questions about his life. His name was Keith, and he seemed fairly with it. There did seem to be just a little something missing. Not mentally, more like he had accepted his station and had given up. This, from a five minute conversation…

Anyway, I told him that I was buying him lunch because God told me to and had given me the money to do it. I just didn’t tell him which money… As we waited for his 12 inch meatball and mayo combo, we chatted about inconsequentials, I paid, wished him luck and headed to stromboli heaven.

I crossed the street and was immediately run over by a bus.

Just kidding.

Sitting on the sidewalk, right in front of me, was a guy asking for spare change.

Stromboli.

I told the guy, “I’m sorry, I just bought lunch for someone and now, all I have is enough money to buy myself lunch.” I then promised to help him out another day.

I walked away, towards my blessed stromboli.

Inside the Italian place, I ordered my stromboli, paid, and sat down to wait for them to heat it up. As I was waiting, I thought, “I have change in my pocket. I can take it to the second guy who asked for money.” I was so impressed with myself. I had been obedient to God, bought Keith lunch, got a stromboli, and was about to give my change to another homeless guy. It was the five loaves and two fishes all over again in Dallas, Texas.

I stepped out onto the sidewalk and started to walk towards the guy begging on the sidewalk. I looked up the street to where he was and stopped in my tracks. Sitting next to him, sharing his sandwich, was Keith. He had taken the sub I bought and split it with the guy. Even the chips and soda.

I made myself keep walking towards them, even though I was struggling not to cry. I handed the man my change and told Keith, “You’re a better man than I am.”

It sounded melodramatic, but there was nothing else I could say. Here I was, a fat, rich man, blessed by God with everything I needed. There was Keith, a skinny, homeless guy, blessed by God with a good heart.

I Samuel 15:22