Not threatened by the cage

My good friend, John, received a word-picture for me, a vision, while I was using the bathroom. 

Several years ago, we were meeting at our favorite breakfast place, and I had shared with him how confused and stuck I was feeling.  I wanted to move forward in my calling, but didn't know how.   The confusion had whipped itself into a white-out snowstorm and the car I was driving didn't have windshield wipers.   I felt like I had just blindly veered off the shoulder into a ditch, unable to get leverage or traction:  the wheels where spinning and spitting, with no hope of forward motion.

My friend, John, is not one who casually says he's received a vision for someone.  He's cautious about making such declarations, while listening for anything valid in what he might be hearing. Here's what he said when I returned from the Men's Room:

Jim, how trapped do you feel?  [Which immediately caught me off-guard.  I wasn't even aware that I was feeling trapped.]  Then he revealed the word-picture God had given him for me:

I see Aslan.  He's caged.  But he's not threatened by the cage.  He is struggling with patience... pacing.

Jim -- he's still Aslan, regardless of the cage.

I started crying.  Through this tailor-made imagery, God was conferring upon me an identity both noble and fierce;  and revealing that the lion's identity wasn't limited or defined by the cage.   Further, any sense of condemnation was absent:  rather than scolding me for feeling limited and impatient, God indicated that he understood my frustration and impatience. 

What are your 'cages' and what is God saying to you despite them?
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Related video:  Kingdom of Nobles

Feel free to post a comment below.

Not likely to sin.

There are some better ways to view temptation:

1.  Sin is not a foregone conclusion.  It's a lie that you're likely to give in.  You've been taught to see yourself, your heart, as weak and prone to wander.  It's no longer true.  You don't merely have the forgiveness of Jesus -- you have the noble heart of Jesus as well.

2.  The object of your sin [a woman, a guarantee of financial security, a drink] isn't what you really want.  The temptation is a false and shallow substitute for the real thing.  Underneath the tempation is a deeper [and good] desire for life and loving connection. 

So how can you walk with God and others --  to trust him for the life your heart most deeply wants and needs;  fulfilled in healthy, life-giving ways?

Feel free to post a comment below.

What you are called to is your 'art.'

Do you see yourself as an artist?

In a broader sense, an artist is someone who refuses the tired and mundane scripts being offered, in exchange for the chance to actually change people's lives. Really change people's lives.

The artist intends to reveal something through his art.  There is a declaration behind it.  [Otherwise, the art becomes merely self-indulgent].  The art is the access point to a deeper, somewhat veiled, reality.  It provokes us, stirs us, and tells us rumors of another world. The resulting creative work is the artist's calling card, a trail of breadcrumbs that lead 'further up and further in' to this other world.

Not all artists paint or work with clay. It's not so much the tools of the artist that matter. For one artist, the medium they work in, is relationships. For others, it's the ability to bring clarity into confusion. For another, it's the art of piercing the darkness with beauty.

It's how the artist SEES that matters.

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Recommended reading: 
Linchpin - Are You Indispensable, by Seth Godin.  Not a 'spiritual' book, but surprisingly reflects biblical values of giving without expectation, creative freedom, and the idea that all are endowed with genius that can change lives.

Be a Provocateur

How many Christians do you know whose presence stirs you? 

Spending time with a provocative [intriguing, remarkable, compelling] person leaves you with questions: 

"How have I [we] been drugged?"  so to speak.
"How does this new insight or revelation set me [us] free?"

And the questions will not let you seek the safety of mediocrity or the tedium of dullness. Yet, as disruptive as the provocateur's questions are, shame isn't the provocateur's goal:  Recovery and restoration are.

Provocateurs are...

"passionate change makers willing to be shunned if it is necessary for them to make a point,"

says Seth Godin in his book, Linchpin. 

Provocateurs are not willing to be cogs in a machine, or passive wallflowers.  They know their presence was sanctioned by God and that the effect of their life reveals something about God.  A provocateur's presence in your life is indespensible.

A provocateur's presence in a system is rarely tolerated because, like the Borg Collective in the Star Trek series, the Collective declares, "You will be assimilated.  Resistance is futile."  But the provocateur's perspective is ironically, the very thing the system needs. 

False scripts and expectations
Provocateurs are not willing to yield their God-given splendor to false scripts and expectations, nor are they willing to keep quiet simply because it's an unpopular thing to say. 

Note:  Provocateurs are not unkind.  They proceed with humility.  People are not their target: Disabling and destructive assumptions are.   If they provoke, it is to bring about a better day.  Inspiration and aliveness follows them.  They raise questions from which there is no retreat.

They do it because they love.

What is Jesus provoking through you?

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Related podcast:  "THE UNIQUE GLORY YOU BEAR" [with fellow author, Gary Barkalow]

New podcast - DEVELOPING THE HEART NEEDED FOR OUR CALLING - special guest Gary Barkalow joins Jim

DEVELOPING THE HEART NEEDED FOR OUR CALLING:
What qualities of heart are needed as we mature in our calling?  These are the qualities that will keep us from inadvertently sabotaging what we most truly want. 

Special guest, Gary Barkalow [author of the upcoming book on calling, It's Your Call - What Are You Doing Here?]  joins Jim for part six of their seven-part series.

*  You can listen to the other podcasts in the "Calling Series" here.

*  Download in iTunes.

Audio book update!

The audio book is done!

The files and artwork have been sent off to the CD duplicator.  The audio book CD sets should be shipping to me at the end of the week, and I'll make them available on the blog next week.  [CD sets and MP3 download.]

New podcast - "DISCOVERING OUR CALLING" - Calling Series -- Part 5 - special guest Gary Barkalow joins Jim

How does God reveal our unique calling to us?  What's the pattern he uses?  Join special guest Gary Barkalow and Jim as they unpack how God brings us into a deeper clarity of our calling. This is part five of their seven-part podcast series on calling.

Gary is the author of the upcoming book, It's Your Call -- What are You Doing Here?  to be released in October.

Gary's website:  www.thenobleheart.com

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Download the podcast for iTunes here.

More podcasts here.

In defense of the Renaissance Man

Is it possible for one to be both scholar and artist?  Simultaneously "right-brained, and 'left-brained" and capable at both?

Part of the problem with our contemporary culture of "experts" is that it doesn't allow for the real possibility that a man or woman can effectively operate out of both sides of their brain, or demonstrate expertise in both the arts and the intellect.   Going to our General Practitioner won't do -- we are referred to a 'specialist.'  There's simply too much to know for any one person to know it all.

As I've wrestled with my own calling, the idea that a person who is a jack-of-all-trades can only be 'master of none' has forced me into an artificial narrowness:  "If I am a writer, then people won't possibly believe that I am also an artist and musician."  (Or at least, not very good at either; because how could any one person possibly be skilled at both.)

What would Leonardo DaVinci have thought of this constricted vision of human calling?  His own brilliance covered such sweeping pursuits as painting, architecture, the anatomy of the human body, and even the design of tanks and advanced weaponary.  The man who painted the "Last Supper" also excelled in geometry and architecture. 

Yet, perhaps our culture of experts has sabotaged the Renaissance Man with narrow and constricting assumptions.

One the one hand, it is good for a person to be as clear and specific about their calling as they can be.  On the other, there may be a common thread running underneath the various pursuits of the Renaissance Man or Woman.  In my case, it was the thread of design:  whether I am composing a music score for a video, or writing another chapter of my next book, I deeply enjoy creating and revealing design  -- whether it's the design of a musical composition, or the design of the human heart and its longings.  The intellect and the artistry are not mutually-exclusive, but mutually-affirming.

So take heart, those of you who, like DaVinci have found yourself competent in both the intellect and scholarly as well as the poetic and sublime.  There is precident for what you can offer the world.

THE ASSAULT AGAINST YOUR CALLING - new podcast in the 'calling' series

Special guest Gary Barkalow, author of the upcoming book, It's Your Call:  What are you doing here?, joins Jim again for part four of their series on living from our calling. 

What has been coming against your heart to shut it down?  What is at stake as we pursue the deep desires of our hearts and the calling that is written there?

This was a powerful conversation with Gary Barkalow, who brings a deep clarity to the struggles of calling.

What does 'calling' have to do with your heart?

You may be wondering why a guy like me, who typically speaks about the heart, is talking about 'calling' lately. 

The first reason is that the topic of calling is part of a book I'm working on.  Second, because you can't find your calling without believing Christ has given you a good and noble heart.  Calling flows from heart.

Within your new heart lie the clues to your place in the Story - your 'calling.'  These clues come in the form of your deep desires, as well as the story your heart has been living in.   Beneath the defining events of your life, the pattern of wounds, the activities that made you come alive, something was happening in your heart - shaping it, calling it up and out.  Your heart has a unique history and a story to tell.

If you believe your heart is deceitful and selfish, it will be hard to see your deep desires and to believe that there are now good and noble desires within your new and noble heart.

That's why I write about calling.  Calling flows from heart.

Badly underestimating a life

On NPR today, a man was being interviewed who had made it his year-long quest to bake the perfect loaf of bread. 

My first thought was, "This guy has badly underestimated the cosmic drama unfolding around him."  My second thought was, "This guy has a really lackluster sense of his own personal calling."

Don't misunderstand me:  I think freshly-baked bread is one of life's true pleasures.  In fact, today I enjoyed a sandwich made with a nutty garlic and potato artisan bread:  Nourishing and hand-crafted.  But taking a year of my life to learn how to bake the perfect loaf isn't something that strikes me as urgent or enduring.  Rather, it strikes me as a bit naive. 

He has miscalculated two things:  the unfolding Story into which he has been invited; and his place in that Story.  It's much like the journalist in the movie, Saving Private Ryan, who had never seen battle before.  He's been asked to join a rescue operation.  He wants to bring his clunky and cumbersome typewriter; but the Captain, played by Tom Hanks says, "Here, take this instead" and hands him a pencil. The journalist didn't know what to take because he sorely underestimated the unfolding circumstances:  He wasn't taking another desk job  -  he was about to engage in field ops, where he would get shot at.

Surely the man who took a year of his life to pursue the perfect loaf has much more to offer the world -- a more needed and substantial treasure to give.   If our naivete persists, we might as well bring cookies and punch to flood victims; and board games to the clinically-depressed.  Surely much more is needed than that.

Video - KINGDOM OF NOBLES

[This is a new video I just finished producing.] 

You were born into nobility. 

Those who are hungry for what you bring

What kind of people most need what you offer?

Jesus’ invitation was extended to those with an appetite for what he had:  hungry and thirsty people.  An individual is not going to come to his table if they are neither hunger nor thirsty.  It’s not their desire to do so ... and desire is the difference.  If they don’t want it, they won’t come.

Therefore, when you consider your own calling, the affect of your life, your unique offering to others, it’s appropriate to ask:  “What type of person will be most receptive to what I offer?  Who will be hungry for what I bring?” 

This is a general guideline for determining the direction in which our calling can go.  However, as with the kind of environment we most want to flourish in, there are occasions where God will place us in adverse environments, surrounded by people who don’t want what we offer.  We ultimately offer our hearts in service to God, and therefore may be asked to bring our selves to those grating and ungracious people.  For a time. 

Take heart – our environment need not define us:  a caged lion is still a lion.  He may wish to return to the open savanna, but only his surroundings have changed; not his noble strength, not his regal splendor. If our appointment to a job (mission) is only for a time, we can take comfort from the fact that the people there can never diminish our splendor or remove our unique glory – for they did not give it.

So what kind of person is most likely to need and want what you bring to the Story?

podcast - "YOUR UNIQUE GLORY" - guest Gary Barkalow talks with Jim

"Your unique glory:"  What is the particular aspect of God's splendor and brilliance that you bring to the world?  What is the affect of your life on others?

Gary Barkalow joins Jim for part 3 of a seven-part series on "Calling."  Gary's teaching on calling addresses critical issues that spiritual gifts inventories and personality tests don't cover.  You will find his message healing, insightful, and hopeful. 

What's the best environment for your calling?

What kind of environment best fits your personality and calling?

Once you know what you want to offer people, determining which environments (contexts) you flourish in can be very helpful.  For example, I love to teach, but I would not do well teaching Junior High.  I also would not flourish serving in an institutional setting that felt too restrictive or that was led by an overbearing authority structure. 

However, I do love to teach through writing, blogging and speaking.  I also love to bring discernment and direction through everyday conversation with family and friends. The right environment can encourage our particular splendor:  the wrong one can suffocate it.

I’ll add a word of caution here:  Sometimes, God will place us in contexts we wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves:  Those places may feel unwelcoming and hostile.  Yet, our Counselor may still need us there for a reason, for a season.  Remember, he's a master tactician and knows what he's doing.

Again, it’s always helpful to ask:  “God, is this where you need me right now?  Is this where you would have me bring my splendor for a time?”

What environments do your gifts and glory thrive in?

When your job stinks...

What do you do when your job doesn't reflect what you really love?

It’s helpful to think of a particular job (the thing that brings home the bacon) as a divine appointment or commission.  It may be for a few months or longer; but for that time and place, and to those people, God is asking us to bring our unique presence.  They need you there -- even if they don't know it.

The problem is, most of us don’t know whether or not that particular job is God's divine assignment for us:   It might be.  It might not be.  What if God's not asking you to stay there?  It’s always helpful to ask God the question: "Is this where you want me for this time?"  

When the job gets particularly tough or the people you interact with become particularly frustrating, it will strengthen you to know that God has sent you there [if he, in fact, has], for at least a time.  It’s a lot harder to put up with those things if you don’t know you’re supposed to be there.

He's also training you for what is to come.  Not punishing you ... training you.  Your going to need what you'll gain in this time of development and cultivation.  You don't want to rush the field without the proper training:  Many have and many have lost heart because of it.

Ask God whether or not he's assigned you there... then trust.

Podcast - Calling Series -"Mystery" -- guest Gary Barkalow joins Jim

Calling Series - part 2- "Mystery"

Guest Gary Barkalow (www.thenobleheart.com) joins Jim again. Confusion is a normal part of the journey.  How do we walk with God so that we don’t conclude:  “God isn’t speaking to me,”  or “I must be blowing it.”?

[Also available on iTunes.]

Related posts:

Calling Series - part one -"Orientation."

E-book available - "RECOVER YOUR GOOD HEART"

It's possible to be forgiven, yet not free. 

Many Christians are living under very damaging assumptions about their heart.  I wrote the book to expose those assumptions and to help readers believe that their heart is now truly good and noble.

My book, Recover Your Good Heart is available in E-book format below.  You can also find it in print on Amazon.

RECOVER YOUR GOOD HEART

Why you've been selected for Special Forces

Army Special Operation Forces

"They free the oppressed...They win hearts and minds...They assure support." 
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Would you rather have a police squad or a special ops unit protect you? 

It depends upon the context, doesn't it?  Each is appropriate for different situations:  You don't need Delta Force to protect your town, your local parks, or inner cities, generally.  You do need Delta Force to locate and take-down Al-Quaeda and insurgency groups who are able to exact large-scale destruction over mass populations, or who can infiltrate high-level targets within our borders.

The kind of tactical force you need depends upon the story going on.  If you believe we're living in Lake Wobegon, you need not be concerned with the hazards of living in that story -- save for the gossip flowing from the pulpit of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility. 

However, if you believe the unfolding Story that God has invited us into more accurately represents Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, or Marc Bowden's Black Hawk Down, then you'll need a different missional vehicle -- you'll need Special Forces watching your back.  God has an enemy, and therefore you do. God's enemy is never people:  his Enemy is the one who fell from heaven, and the angels that fell with him. 
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Here's the unnerving news:  you've been assigned to Special Forces.  God could use the angelic forces, and he does; but he quite specifically chooses you.  Your unique capacities and the effect of your presence there is directly related to the needs of the unit, and to the outcome of the Story.

Furthermore, each gender has been selected, and every generation as well.

What do you bring?

Podcast - CALLING SERIES - part one - "Orientation" - special guest Gary Barkalow

ORIENTATION - Calling Series - part one - special guest Gary Barkalow joins Jim.

Many Christians love Jesus, but have no idea what their place in the Story is.

How do we become oriented to our location in the Story?  Gary talks about three points of orientation that keep us "alert and oriented" to our place in the story:  story - desire - journey.  (This is part one of a 7-part series Gary and Jim will do.)

Gary Barkalow spent 7 years with the Ransomed Heart mens' team and is well-known for his teaching on calling.  Visit his site:  www.thenobleheart.com. 
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