Learning to Hear God with Your Hands

One afternoon, a number of years ago, while walking across a college campus, I prayed,

"God, I want to hear your voice." It seemed like a simple enough prayer to pray and as far as I knew, I was sincere in my asking.

However, the response I immediately heard back from God surprised me. No sooner had I prayed these words, than I heard the phrase,

"No you don't..."

"Yes, I really do." I responded.

"No, you don't..." God replied once more.

At this point, I thought it wise to stop arguing with God and begin inquiring what He meant by this.

I sensed the following dialogue begin to transpire.

"When the students on this campus go to class, what do they do?"

This was simple, I thought, "Take notes."

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, they're going to be tested on what is being presented by the instructor. Secondly, assuming that they are taking the class for some intrinsic reason greater than academic calisthenics of working their way through the hoops of academia, I imagine they are interested in the subjects at hand and esteem the instructor to be an expert in their field, thus what they have to say is of great value to them and their future."

To which God simply responded, "If students value what these professors say with such note taking diligence, how much more esteemed should My words of instruction be...?"

Out of this conversation, I sensed God saying to me, that He would begin to teach me to hear His voice. It would be with my hands writing, that I would begin to discern His voice more clearly. If I truly treasured what He had to say, I would be diligent in writing it down.

That day, I went out and purchased a journal and began the journey of praying, dialoguing and processing what God was saying and doing in my life. It has been a remarkable journey...

This is what God said to Habakkuk,

"I will stand at my watchand station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tabletsso that a herald may run with it."
(Habbakuk 2:1-2)

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

Every month Christian Audio sponsors a free audio book download.

This month's feature is Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan.

"The God of the universe is crazy about you! His love is the most powerful thing in the world and He wants to give it to you, so you can live for Him. If you have made a commitment to follow Christ, then listen to Crazy Love to be reminded and challenged in your walk. Sharing from his own life struggles and sacrifices, author Francis Chan issues a call for selfless, Christ-like living. Let the love you have received from God impact your life like never before."

You can download the book here.

Do Schools Kill Creativity...?

One of the things I've loved about the past few summers, as I mentioned in a recent post, is the down time from classes to read books of various topics that my class schedule, not to mention work and life, don't always leave much room for.

As such, Mr. USPS just dropped off my box of goodies. There's just something about getting an Amazon box in the mail. It always makes me warm and fuzzy deep down inside. (Strange I know, but it's true).

One of the books bundled up is one that I've had in my "wishlist" for some time now eagerly waiting to purchase and read. It's Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative by Ken Robinson. Ken Robinson is an expert on creativity and education.

Below, is one of my favorite videos by Ken Robinson. In his presentation at TED, Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He presents ways in which our current educational systems actually "kill creativity," rather than nurture it. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

I think many of the principles embedded in this talk extend well beyond the range of childhood and school systems to the everyday fabrics of our lives, particularly to those who are parents and communicators, or simply human.

A Father with Imagination...

I love to play with my kids... 

...And, I do it ALOT! 

Obviously, some things are more fun than others, but I've discovered pretty much anything can become a blast, if I simply become fully-present in the moment, push pause on all the things that beg for me head-space, and release a little creative imagination...

Last week, I saw the movie Imagine That. From the moment I watched the preview, I was hooked. The movie is a great reminder of the significant influence that is present when a father is fully-present to the moments of life with his children, not to mention the power of creativity, imagination and communication. 

The following highlights a clip from the movie, along with a few father's day thoughts...

Drawn into the Story...

Two weeks ago I finished up my last class for the semester. The past nine-months of classes have been pretty reading intensive. Averaging about a book every week (sometimes two, if we're lucky), is quite a bit for me to keep up with.

As such, the past couple of years, I've come to look forward to the summer break in order to read the accumulating books on my have-not-yet-read shelf in my office. This week, as I traveled to Texas I picked up two books. One of them was from this shelf, the other was a lighter read from C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

On the plane, as I was reading, I was struck by one of the opening scenes. It's the scene where Eustace Scrubb and Lucy and Edmund Pevensive stare at a picture on a wall of a Narnian ship when suddenly the picture draws them into a whole new world.

Suddenly the picture on the wall comes alive and they begin to feel the breeze, smell the air, and hear sounds. The kids are magically drawn into the painting and find themselves in the waters, where they are helped into a boat with the enticing name The Dawn Treader. These kids, now in a new reality, travel to distant lands looking for the seven lost lords of Narnia. At the end of their adventures they find a lamb that turns into Aslan…

This is the sort of adventure with the bible that we are looking for, the adventure of staring at the Bible’s words on paper only to find ourselves drawn into the story itself.

The following is another favorite clip of my on this matter from the movie The Tale of Despaux.

Christ Plays in Ten-Thousand Places

Every month Christian Audio sponsors a free audio book download.

This month's feature is Christ Plays in Ten-Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson. Below is the sites write up on the book.

Christ Plays in Ten-Thousand Places reunites spirituality and theology in a cultural context where these two vital facets of Christian faith have been rent asunder. This foundational book, in a four-volume series on spiritual theology emerging from Peterson’s pen, provides the conceptual and directional help we all need to live the Christian gospel well and maturely in the conditions that prevail in the church and world today.

Children & the Voice of God...

Last week me with a few friends headed out to Westminster, Maryland. We were ministering at Faith Christian School, during their spring spiritual emphasis week.

All week, we were walking through the story of Daniel from the Old Testament. It's amazing how many parallels exist between what young Daniel experienced and the realities that young people in America are confronted with. Though the language, context and era's differ drastically, the core essence of the imposing challenges have a striking resemblance.

On Thursday, we were looking at how God spoke to Daniel, placed things inside Daniel's heart and mind, and purposed to use Daniel to influence his generation and the culture around him. We proposed the question: "What if God desires to speak to us and like Daniel? What if God's purpose is to use us to influence our generation and the culture around us? What would He say to us? What would He say to you?"

It was during this time at the morning chapel, which consisted of Kindergarten to fifth grade, that I had Ashlynn (one of our team members) come forward. Ashylnn is an eleven-year-old fifth grader. She shared that this past fall, she asked God that very question, "God, what do you want to use me to do to change the world around me?" She immediately heard God speak to her. "Ashylnn," God said, "I want you to go to a nursing home and pray for sick people."

"That afternoon," Ashylnn shared, "I called my grand-father and asked him if he would come and pick me up and take me to a nursing home." He came. They went. And, Ashlynn began praying for sick people. (Did I mention it was in a nursing home?) Ashlynn, then began to share of some things God spoke to her after she did that and the outcomes.

After she finished, I simply turned to the room full of K-5th graders and asked, "Anybody have any questions for Ashlynn?" Immediately, hands went up all over the room. And for the next twenty-five minutes these children asked question after question about hearing God, how to know if it's really God. I've been in settings with adults and not heard some of the questions I heard from these little ones.

Ashlynn answered question after question... She shared how God speaks to her. The learning process she's journeyed to understand what's her thoughts and that which is God's, and how to listen. She broke out into a mini-workshop on the various ways God speaks to us today. From thoughts in our minds, to mental pictures, to visions, to dreams, and so forth. Did I mention she's eleven?

Every little eye was peering forward, bottoms had moved to the edge of the seats, bodies leaning forward, as ears were tuned into what was being said. At the same time, there was a sacred sense beginning to fill the room. These children actually began to believe that God could speak to them, through them, in such a way to actually use them to change the world around them. I'm not sure which was a cooler sight, the look on these kid's faces as they heard this, or the expression on the teacher's faces as they were realizing she was simply sharing from personal knowledge, study and experience without any clue sheet, cue card or guided prompting from an adult.

When we finished with this time, we handed out paper plates and markers. We had the students spread out around the room and simply ask God the question that was earlier proposed. The question that simply gives God space to speak into our lives, into our circumstances, how He longs for us to be the change. We started with simply saying, "God, what do you want me to do this summer?" Within a few minutes, many of the students had stuff written on their plates.

We wrapped up by having children pray with one another about what God had spoken to them. Several of them shared with the whole group what they were to do... Amazing, absolutely amazing, not to mention inspiring. God is so creative!