Jim Pace

a new year…and old lists…

January 6, 2010 | 2 Comments

I talk to a lot of people. I mean A LOT of people.

Partially because I am a people guy. I really like them. I believe that each person I meet is a very important and individual creation of God. That makes each of them far more important than they or I can imagine. So…I am a big fan.

But I also am in ministry. I am a pastor of an amazing and flawed church everyone calls [nlcf]. Granted, it isn’t a very traditional church and I may not be the most traditional pastor, but one thing that being a pastor predicatably brings is you talk with a lot of people.

I mean A LOT of people.

This is not a problem, because I am a fan, remember? 🙂

One of the things I talk with a lot of people about, whether they are followers of Jesus or not, is God. Again, predictable. When I talk with people about God obviously there is a range of things we discuss, but one thing comes up more than most.

The list.

Now almost no one uses that term, but that is what it is. It is the list of the things that make getting closer to God harder. The times that we tried to trust him and it didn’t work out, the times that we asked for something and it didn’t happen. Various relationships that might have fallen apart even though we desperately didn’t want them to. The people in our family or beyond them, that suffer from debilitating illness or have lost the fight to that illness. Jobs that have been lost or cannot be found. Unfairness that seems to be everywhere. So often, those that don’t deserve to win do, and those that could really have used that win, don’t.

Here is what can happen. I say can because it doesn’t happen all the time to everyone, but in my experience it does happen to almost all of us at some point. What can happen is that we take those times where we feel that God didn’t step in as he should and we add many of them to our list. The times God has not been predictable or has not handled things the way we would want him to. We take them, remember them…and when the times comes to really step out in trust with God again, we don’t.

In fact, that is one of the best tests for the presence of the list. Think of the last time you thought God might be calling you to do something scary. Serve someone you were uncomfortable with, risk and give something away and make do with less yourself. Go somewhere, do something. (If you cannot remember the last time that has happened-take a month or so, and ask God each day to help you see a risk you can take for him, it will happen). Now think of what you think when that thought came up (great sentence, eh?).

What did you do in that moment? Go for it or hold back? Personally I have done both. The times I hold back, I usually am thinking “God, I just don’t know what you are going to do if I do this.” We doubt, and we don’t risk anymore. We start to see ourselves as people who don’t do that sort of thing. The problem is, we were made to do exactly that sort of thing.

So… how about we start the year a little differently? Sure, we can make our resolutions about losing weight, getting our finances in order (my wife and I are doing that one), but let’s do something about our lists too. What do you say?

How about this? I’ll show you my list if you show me yours. Nothing too deep if you aren’t ready, but let’s share a bit. What do you hold against God? What has frustrated you about him? What makes you hold back?

Some of you might just want to vent a bit, get it out. If that is what you want, let us know, and we will let you vent. If you have questions that you would like input on, ask for that as well and we will try to answer what we can. I say we because I hope this will be a collaborative discussion.

In a few days I will post mine… but don’t wait for me. Have at it…

Categories: Culture, General, life, NLCF