Believing is Seeing

My house is a wreck and the Christmas decorations are starting to crowd out the dust bunnies. The time has come to wrap it all away for another year. I always enjoy looking through the Christmas cards one last time. Sent from afar, each sends a touch of love and wishes for a joyful 2009. The Christmas “brag” letters get another quick scan. My college roommate Amanda included an unusual disclaimer in her letter. Like an investment prospectus that warns that “these statements are forward looking” her letter featured the following caveat:

“The editorial staff makes no comparison as to the relative “quality” of (our) year…while (we) feel truly blessed and had a great 2008, this update/newsletter/brag-sheet in no way suggests that (we) had it better than you.”

Most letters broadcast the highlights of the years travel and accomplishments. Likewise, I tried to document our year in a quick and cheerful letter. To be honest, on paper our year looked more than lousy. Unemployment curtailed our regular travel schedule and economic woes and uncertainty stole the wind from our sails. Seeing the words on paper left me feeling hollow. Although all those details I wrote were true, the facts didn’t reflect what we were feeling.

“Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” We’ve watched so many Christmas specials this year; I can’t tell you where I heard it. Yet, this simple line resonates with me.

Because I believe, I can see beyond what is wrong in my life and see the joy, the hope and the promise. Even in our darkest moments, God’s love endures. My life has been blessed this years in ways that will never make the pages of my College Alumni magazine or even a Christmas brag letter.

Believing is looking with wonder and privilege at the opportunities of each day.

Open your eyes to find the joy that is all around you.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

CommonUnity - Purpose

What am I doing here? Lured back by the bait of my dream job, I endured rush hour traffic to travel downtown and now I sit and I wait and I wonder. Is this what I am supposed to be doing?

The GPS in the car had guided me safely from my home to the interview. The turn by turn directions were spoken in a voice clear and sure. I placed my trust in the “personal travel assistant” to get me to my goal. If I strayed off the course, the voice would redirect me with a firm but gentle “recalculating.”

Having arrived at my destination, I prayed before getting out of my car. Not a prayer for a job offer, instead I asked for clear vision. “May our time together be productive so we can make wise decisions. Make it obvious, God. Is this where you want me to be?”

Do you question how you should invest your time? Do you wonder if God has a plan for you? Perhaps you know that He has a vision for your life, yet you struggle with following his directions.

I am blessed to have the luxury of deciding if I am supposed to return to work. Others may struggle with the call to coach basketball or to teach Sunday school or to join a study group. Like an endless Sunday buffet, our lives are filled with choices. Some people pack so much into a day it overflows into the next. Is your plate full?

Job reminds us that “if they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.” (Job 36:11). Take time to pray about your direction in life. God shows us “the way.”

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Teach me to do our will, for you are my God; may your Spirit lead me on level ground.” (Psalm 143: 8,10).

Commonunity - Common Place

Do you know someone like me? Many days I am so focused on goals and my “to-do” list that I miss out on everyday interactions. At school, I may be so busy trying to recruit new volunteers that I forget to make friends. At a meeting, my goal is to efficiently complete the agenda and I don’t notice the group member in need of extra time and attention. At home, my focus is on paying bills, making beds and cleaning up. Did I forget the children in the midst of all the chores?

September 22nd marked the 7th annual “Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children.” This national initiative was created to remind parents about the importance of “parental engagement in their children’s lives.” Where are our priorities as a society that we need a holiday to remind people to sit down as a family and spend time with our families?

To be honest, I had to check my calendar to tell you where we were on the 22nd. It was a typical day spent racing from one activity to the next: a carefully coordinated schedule of pick-ups and drop-offs. I think we ate dinner together but I imagine our conversation was centered on, “hurry up and eat so you won’t be late for your next activity.”

The busyness seems to cut across all generations. My parents are retired, yet their schedules are full: doctors appointments, tee times, book clubs, bridge matches, gardening, errands, shopping, etc. Our days are filled with activity, but are our lives full? Are we so busy pulling weeds that we don’t take time to smell the roses?

I have a prayer on my bathroom mirror. Each morning as I start my day it reminds me to “trust God that [I] am exactly where [I] am meant to be.” He chose this family, this time and this place for me. It’s a powerful reminder of God’s power in my life and of His plan. After all, it’s His agenda that counts, not mine.

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us.” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Today I will reach out to those around me. I will be content knowing that God has a plan for me. In my family, my neighborhood and my community I can demonstrate His love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22).

I will grow where I’ve been planted.

September 11th

This isn’t my regular day to post, yet I felt moved to reach out today, September 11, 2008. At times, these seven years feel like a lifetime ago. Other days the events seem just a heartbeat away.

My mom sent us a children’s book. The book’s jacket describes a “moving portrait of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. A Nation Challenged records one of the most important and devastating events in modern American history.” The feelings were so raw, I put the book on my son’s bookshelf to gather dust while I summoned the courage to explain what happened and why.

Each year I pondered if he was old enough. Deep down, I guess I didn’t want to be the one to break the news and shatter his sense of safety. He’s so young, so trusting, so innocent. Yet as we put our flags out, I wanted him to recognize the significance of the day.

I paged through the book for a starting point. The pictures of the crash and collapse were haunting reminders of the loved one that were lost and the lives that were forever changed. The starkness of time lines and maps contrasted with the pain and grief of the world as it mourned. People from across the United States and around the world came together. In churches and mosques and temples, we united to cry and lift our voices in song. People gathered together and prayed in the streets and at work and at schools around the globe.

This is what I will show my children. Along with the pain and the sadness I will share the hope and the faith and the love. Pictures of people in New York, Florida and Los Angeles are along side pictures of people in Kenya, Taiwan, India, and England. Each person with hands folded in prayer.

For all of our differences, there is much we have in common.


We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8)

The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. (Psalm 145:14)

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus....And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:7)


Please join the conversation. Click below on comments to add your thoughts, recollections, or encouragements with others. Speaking with Integrity will resume on Sunday with the new series Commonunity.

Common Grounds - Using 5% of your Brain

Scientists tell us we only use 5% of our brains. But if they only used 5% of their brains to reach that conclusion, then why should we believe them? – Joseph Palm, Starbucks Customer from Oshkosh, WI


I don’t remember driving home one day. It was a familiar road and I was lost in my thoughts. It came as a shock when I found myself sitting in my driveway with no recollection of the drive home. How did I get here? Did I remember to stop at all the stop signs? I don’t recall making any of the turns or stops on my five-mile trip. I must have been using less than 5% of my brain that day.

The oddest part was that I wasn’t sure what had me so preoccupied. I don’t recall thinking anything earthshattering or mind-boggling. I had just checked out for a while. Maybe I was abducted by aliens.

Are you ever so focused on your thoughts that you forget to look around and see all that surrounds you? Are you ever so wrapped up in your own circumstances that you are blind to all that life has to offer?

I took quite a detour in getting here today. I doubt anyone who knew me growing up would have predicted I’d be writing a web-log, mixing my thoughts with bible scripture and hoping to share the word of God through a speaking ministry. You see, we weren’t particularly religious growing up. Yet, nothing could have prepared my parents for the shock of my announcement at age 14 that I was an atheist.

I remember my moms tears at the kitchen table that night. She was so upset at my pronouncement. I was purely scientific. If she couldn’t prove the existence of God with math and science, I wasn’t interested. She pleaded with me. “Couldn’t you at least be agnostic?”

I like hard evidence. Proof offers reassurance. I check Consumer Reports before buying a major appliance. It’s a big expense. I don’t want to make a mistake and get stuck with a lemon. There is comfort in knowing their researchers have tested and evaluated the features of the top selling models and determined the best. They do the work for me and spoon feed me their picks. I can skate by using only 5% on my brain.

Facts, figures, and statistics are everywhere you look. The news reports are filled with them: gas prices, stock averages and the latest poll numbers. My college Market Research professor taught me an amazing thing about statistics; you can make the numbers say anything you want. Make a subtle change of words on a questionnaire and your results skew dramatically. Massage the numbers and twist the words and suddenly everything is clear as mud. What is the truth? Who can you trust?

I can’t prove to you with scientific accuracy how I got home that day any more than I can rationalize how as an atheist, I became a Christian. I must have used more than 5% of my brain. I swept the cobwebs from underused parts of my brain and looked beyond the easy explanations. I was seeking something more and my mind and heart were open.

Then something really crazy happened. My son was born. I held him in my arms and stared in amazement. The mathematics of it all were staggering. This child was not a random arrangement of cells. I had studied probability and there was no way that natural selection could have created human life without a lot of help. Clearly God’s fingerprints were all over my son. It was unmistakable. At that moment I took what philosopher Søren Kierkeaards termed “the leap of faith.” I embraced Charlie as all the proof I needed.

Job asks, “where does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell?” (Job 28:20). I believe it comes from beyond the 5% of the brain most people engage. It is a truth fed by the Spirit and pumped straight into the heart. It lies within all of us and is as vital as our pulse. It is a gift of love that “comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5) We only need to acknowledge and accept Him.

I still struggle with the discrepancies between science and God’s law. I accept that there are concepts beyond my grasp. I may never understand or be able to explain. Still, I continue to ask questions and seek truth.

“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:7, 9)

Common Grounds - The Law

The law, for all its failings, has a noble goal - to make the little bit of life that people can actually control more just. We can’t end disease or natural disasters, but we can devise rules for our dealings with one another that fairly weigh the rights and needs of everyone, and which, therefore, reflect our best vision of ourselves. – Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent and Limitations.



In this chaotic world, it’s nice to think we exert a little control over something. We wait in traffic jams that we can’t escape. World events unfold, yet we are powerless to change history. It feels good to have command, power, might, jurisdiction, mastery, or rule.

Years ago, I lived in Phoenix, Arizona. The streets were lined with nearly identical homes surrounded by tall block fences. The high walls announced, “this is mine and that’s yours.” In the unrelenting summer heat, the fences gave flight to dreams of a backyard oasis. A little piece of heaven with Bermuda Grass and citrus trees, each lot was clearly defined from the next in an attempt to control the desert.

Scott Turow views the law as man’s chance to exert a little control. Through the law we can assert a bit of justice in a sometimes unfair world. “The law is good if one uses it properly.” (1Timothy 1:8)

I like laws and rules. They make for a well-ordered society. Just as my children thrive in an environment with firm boundaries, I prefer to work within predetermined guidelines and easy to follow directions. There’s peace in predictability. There is comfort in knowing what the other car is going to do at the four-way stop sign. The rules and laws work when everyone plays along.

The word law appears 456 times in the NIV Bible. In God’s perfect way He lays out His law for us to follow. “He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him” (2 Samuel 22:31). The psalmists sing of the peace and delight in following Gods law. When “the law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide” (Psalm 37:31).

In this world it’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. Your life is happy and content until you get hit with the inevitable sucker punch of reality. As the insurance company tag line warns us, life comes at you fast. Suddenly, your basement is flooded, or your job is “eliminated”, or your baby won’t stop crying long enough for you to call the doctor. How do you cope when things don’t go your way?

In anger, some people turn from God. They protest that God failed to save them from their misery or protect them from their pain. They ponder why bad things happen to good people. We all know of cases where laws fell short and the innocent suffered. Neither the laws of man nor the laws of God can insulate us from affliction.

Law is imperfect. Control is folly. The Turow quote asserts that “we can’t end disease or natural disasters.” It’s true. We are powerless to stop the fury of a storm or to end disease. The best we can do is have an emergency plan. We can’t control many of the circumstances of our lives, but we can prepare. Practical suggestions abound. Get flu shots. Buy duct tape. Have six months of salary tucked away for a rainy day. Like the Boy Scouts, we must always be prepared.

My children have discovered inline skating. My husband and I insist on basic safety gear: helmets, wrist guards, and knee pads. (If it were up to me, I would cover them in a three-inch thickness of bubble wrap.) I let them go. I hold my breath in case that will help protect them from falling, but I can’t control their success or failure. I can’t guarantee their physical safety.

Let go and let God.

Only our faith can truly insulate us in case of falls. Faith can strengthen us when we are weak. We can set aside our fears and anxieties and “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present (our) requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6). Through prayer and study of God’s word, we can protect our hearts against the inevitable sorrows of our world. Relying on God’s compassion and love is the only emergency preparedness plan I can trust in 100 percent.

“And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:2-5).

Common Grounds - Heaven is Overrated

"Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can’t wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They’re basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell." – Joel Stein, Columnist for the Los Angeles Times

Does God need a new publicist? If he wants to attract the multitudes to the wonders of heaven, he might need a new ad agency. Modern man is bombarded with messages 24/7: glitzy infomercials, slick ad campaigns, spin doctors perfecting their messages. The creative teams employ vibrant colors and bold graphics to grab our attention and inspire us to act. We buy their products or sign up for their services. How can God inspire us without visual images?

The Bible offers few first hand testimonials to the wonders of heaven. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." (1 Corinthians 6:9). The poetry of the psalmists hints at the glory that awaits the faithful. If we Google the word "heaven," we won’t find a polished website detailing the accommodations and amenities. We are left to imagine the untold blessings.

Very little is left to the imagination in our society. Last week we discovered a new TV station amid the 1200 in our cable line-up. Daylong, it offers explanations of "how things are done," revealing the engineering marvels of skyscrapers, the formation of lab-made precious gems, and the culinary mystery of how they get the cream filing in the Hostess Twinkie. As a kid, I was hooked by the rare glimpse Mr. Rogers offered of crayons speeding through the Crayola factory. It was an awesome sight to see the fabrication of something so beloved. But like a magician revealing his secrets, without the mystery something essential is lost.

"We live by faith, not by sight."(2 Corinthians 5:7) Our daily walk with the Lord is built on love and belief and trust. "God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him." (Acts 17:27) The old images of clouds and harps are designed to leave us wanting. Heaven defies a typical description.

There is a song that my family loves to hear. It’s not as eloquent as Psalm 118:24, but SpongeBob Squarepants drives the point home in his song, "The Best Day Ever." Nothing extraordinary occurs in the song: no new job, no lottery winnings, no major life events. Our best day is the day of opportunities that God blesses us with each morning. A great day is special in what it lacks: no worries for the future and no sorrows over the past. It is a day lived fully in the present.

The full promise of heaven is dwelling in the presence of God. There, we will live like God, fully in the eternal present. Living in the moment, we will be without fear or anxiety of the future or regrets of the past. In heaven, God’s compassion and mercy abound. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain." (Revelation 21:4)
I don’t know if heaven is an all-inclusive luxury hotel with round-the-clock spa treatments or buffet feasts of gourmet delicacies. Yet, in Revelation 7:16 we discover that, "never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat." The heavens are a storehouse of God’s bounty. The pure of heart will receive blessings from the Lord, for"no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless." (Psalm 84:11)

Heaven may be God’s best kept secret. In the words of the MercyMe song, "I Can Only Imagine."

Common Grounds - We're all the same.

"In the end we’re all the same." – Ben Kweller, Rock Musician


We are all the same.
On a physical level, we’re all the same. God made us of flesh and in the end we die. Our hearts stop beating and our lungs fail to rise and fall. Game over. There is no advantage in wealth, privilege, fame, popularity, notoriety, wisdom or education. Modern medicine might delay the inevitable but nothing can change our fate.


All the hours spent at work and school can’t save us. All the stuff we labored to accumulate amounts to nothing. As they say, "you can’t take it with you." Yet, we race around working overtime so we can have more stuff: a new car, a boat, the latest gadgets, a sparkling new kitchen. Will our new toys bring us satisfaction or leave us unfulfilled and wanting more? Are we so intent on our next purchase that we forget to enjoy what we already have?


‘"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.’ Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 captures Solomon’s struggle to find the meaning of life. If death is the end, where can we turn for true meaning and purpose in our lives?


We are not all the same.
Through faith in Christ Jesus we know that the end to our temporary assignment on earth is really the beginning of our permanent mission in eternal life. By the grace of God and the power of Jesus’ sacrifice we are redeemed. Only those among us who believe will be saved. In addition, our daily lives on earth become richer through our faith and our growing relationship with the Lord. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10 KJV)


A friend asked me this week why I bother going to church. I did my best to share the joy and warmth I felt in worship and fellowship. He agreed that he was a big fan of warmth and joy; he finds all the warmth and joy he desires in sleeping late on Sunday morning. My friend is not interested in church, yet it seems he thirsts for something more.


Jesus has commissioned us to share his joy, his word and his way. As Jesus instructed the Samaritan woman at the well, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13-14) Our faith in Christ ensures that our death is not the end. How do I share this good news with my friend?


When the Athenians asked Paul, "You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean,"(Acts 17:20), they opened the door to dialogue. They invited further discussion and explanation. Likewise, my friend asked another question. It was an invitation of sorts: "What if you are wrong?"


Do you know someone so afraid of being wrong or fearful of looking stupid that they refuse to believe? "What if you are wrong?" You can tell he is seeking. There is hunger for understanding and thirst for wisdom in such a question. I offered the simplest of replies; "what if I am right?"