A Good Place to Turn Around

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Feb 212015
 
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Have you ever messed up and thought, “How am I ever going to get out of this mess? How do I get this turned around?  I know I have. I’m not going to be talking about my mess today, but someone else’s mess.

A friend comes to you and says, “I’ve really blew it. I borrowed your mower without asking and just backed over it with my truck.” You’re thinking, “That was a BRAND NEW MOWER! I just gassed it up. I just started it once. It’s not even dirty yet!”

I hear second hand that an employee has been very critical of me behind my back. I call her into my office and ask for an explanation. She breaks down crying and said that a decision I made had upset her and she had just started to be openly critical about everything.

Coming in from working in the yard, you surprise your son taking cash from your wallet on the dresser. He desperately tries to cover up.

Made a mess of my whole life
Burned every bridge I crossed
Am I too far gone? Which way is home?
How did I get so lost?

I’m looking for a good place to turn around
And get off this road that I’m headed down
I’ve gotta find some peace of mind
Lord, send a sign somehow
I just need a good place to turn around. –Point of Grace

What environment do I create for people around me who have made mistakes? An environment of criticism, judgement, punishment, and separation? Or do I recognize the wrong deed, accept the apology, lavish forgiveness, and cultivate a renewed relationship?

Do I create a good place for others to turn around? I know Jesus does. Each time, every time. I count on it. Can others count on me for a safe place to turn around? Can I forgive and forget the past and allow others to start over? Making messes, burning bridges, lost… all of us, sooner or later, just need a good place to turn around.

 

Is God Real to Me?

 bob-maclafferty, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jan 232015
 

I need to rant about God for a few moments. I see popular blogs bashing churches. I see blogs bashing the bashers. Why people are walking out of churches. Why churches think some people should leave….  Why churches think their God only lives within their walls of stained glass and soaring ceilings. Everyone has their opinion of what is real and true.

What is real to me? Is God real to me? Do I even know what that means? What do I really know? Here it is….

Deep in the woods, standing before a roaring waterfall, I grew hoarse raging at God for what was happening in my life. And what do I hear? Him telling me to let it all out. Him trading my anger for peace. That was real.

I struggle through my work week, fighting resentment, defensiveness, selfishness, and impatience. I ignore Him in my actions and words. I fail to reflect Him to my coworkers. And yet, when I come crawling back, exhausted and disillusioned, I feel Him clearly whispering to start again and refreshing forgiveness washes over me. Real.

I walk alone through my beloved redwoods at dawn. Shocked into silence as I crane my neck to see the tops of the trees crowding around me. I can’t seem to choke out a word as I am humbled by the evidence of my Creator God everywhere I turn. That… is so real.

I slide into the pew at church. I feel a strong hand grip my shoulder. Turning, I see white hair and a big smile. My good friend looks me straight in the eye and asks me how I am.  He listens to my doubt and discouragement without wavering or letting go. That…. is God real.

I see a nurse who never, whether in the back of a kindergarten class at church, or zipping down the hall in the hospital, never…ever passes me without a hug. God…in that hug… is real.

I wrestle with indecision, pushing God for answers, the problem too confusing for me to unravel. I finally drop off to sleep. I come sharply awake at 2am and cannot go back to sleep. Rising, I prowl the house, scavenge coffee, end up in my office, writing as my listening turns into thoughts and words and clarity. Wisdom beyond me. An answer full of balance, strength and grace. That is real.

I know what I feel and hear from God in my life. That is real. I match that with what I read in the Bible and it fits.

I know that while I was yet a sinner, Jesus gave His life for mine. I know that He takes me each and every day where I am, and pulls me closer and closer to Him. When I speak harsh words at home, when I criticism creep into my voice with my girls, when my words to coworkers come out sharp and unkind, when I harbor dark thought about those who have wronged me, when I am disgusted with my procrastination and waste, when I ignore hurting people in my path, He takes my sinful, messed up self, just like that, with no qualifications or limits, no reservations or conditions,no prerequisites or boundaries, and sometimes whispers, sometimes pounds a message into my heart. I am loved. I am accepted. I am treasured. I am wanted.  That is real.

I celebrate by letting Him work on me, believing that His work will make me look more like Him. Real.

Is God real to me as I read through a dusty lesson at church, struggling over a teaching full of polysyllabic words and churchisms? Not so much. But His love is real through the touch and acceptance of those around me. Is God real to me as I see church members pulled apart by worship and music style arguments? No, but He is real to me as I lead children singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know…” Is God real to me as I see all the pride, vanity, deceit, selfishness, apathy, and blindness in church? Yes, since all those things find their way into my life and I know I have plenty of like company there. And I know that what’s real is a God who loves to have us bring to Him all our broken puzzle pieces so He can heal and complete and reset us.

Am I one of those walking out of church? Yes! Thank God, Yes! I walk out every week, still messed-up me, but reveling in His creation and hoping to serve. And I walk right back in the next week, to worship, sing, pray, and to touch other sinful, failing people just like me. Very real.

Jonah’s Whale Overrated?

 bob-maclafferty  1 Response »
Nov 012014
 

whale and graceJonah and the whale. Such a dramatic story! Most of us have heard the story since we were children. The big takeaway message in the book of Jonah is a shocking surprise.

Let’s pick up the story post-whale. Jonah is finally following God’s instruction to go preach His word to the city of Nineveh, a city known as a hot bed of evil. “Forty days and this city’s going down!” Jonah preached. He anticipated fire from heaven, or some other dramatic end to evil and evildoers. In his self-righteousness, he preached with vigor and passion!

Wow, what an uplifting message! So full of hope, grace,  and promise! NOT! And yet, somehow, God spoke to the people of Nineveh and they turned to Him en mass. Even the king proclaimed,

“Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.” Jonah 3:8 NIV.

In spite of the message and the messenger, the entire city changed their focus, reaching out for something they had never experienced.

“Then God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion….   Jonah 3:10 NIV.

 “I knew you were going to do this!” Jonah complained to God. “That’s why I tried to get out of this gig in the first place! You are so full of grace and compassion! I told them they were going to die and You saved them. I’m so embarrassed. Just kill me now!”

Jonah stalked out of the city and found a bench to sit on so he could watch the city- just in case it still burst into flame. The sun burned down on him and he started to get very uncomfortable.  Suddenly, a God-powered vine grew up next to him and over his head, giving him refreshing and cooling shade! Jonah sighed. He was very happy about the vine.

Okay, you can’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor. First thing the next morning, He sent a worm to cut the vine and it quickly withered. A hot wind blew up and the sun beat mercilessly on his head and he started to feel light-headed. “Go ahead and kill me now,” he said to God once again.

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—     Jonah 4:9-11 NIV.

Over and over again, God teaches us. We ALL have sinned and come far short of his perfect plan for our lives. And yet, that fact fades into the background when overshadowed by His forgiveness and grace. Weak and wounded, faulty and fearful, He’ll take all comers, banishing all our history, mending our mangled lives, lifting us back up close to Him where He can patiently reshape us to look like Him. One crazy kind of love. Just sayin….

shared by Bob MacLafferty, devotional, Ukiah Valley Medical Center leadership, 9/29/2014.

Patch it up quick!

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Oct 172009
 

Recently, I had one of those days.  Projects not going well. Pressure from too many directions. And then, a coworker made a disparaging comment about a process I had been working on. One that required collaboration from more than one department. One that I had put a lot of energy into for months. I responded sharply. Later on that day, I did it again with another coworker! I felt justified in my actions because they had commented without taking the time to understand.

Later that night, I realized that one reason I had gotten upset at the moment was that I agreed with them!  The process in question  wasn’t working ideally, despite my efforts. I became defensive. The troubling thing was this: I realized that whether I felt justified in feeling the way I did, I had no justification for responding the way I did! They deserved a calm and reasoned response from me.

With a little [or maybe a lot] of heavenly grace and pressure, I gathered staff around me, the two I had spoken to and others who had overheard, and confessed to them. What a relief! How many times have I missed the chance to reach out in confession and healing? Because of my pride, my rightness, unwillingness to take the first step.

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

Our heavenly Father is all about relationships. My relationship with Him. My relationships with others.

He is not about fault. He is all about reconciliation, patching, healing, renewing. Do you have  a broken relationship? Maybe it’s just a small chip, maybe it is a gaping hole. With a brother, a parent, a child, a friend, a coworker, a wife? Fix it and fix it now! It is NOT about fault, about who said what to whom first, about who rightly holds 51% or more of the blame. It is about healing and mending and bringing back together. It is going about our Father’s business.

shared 10/5/09 work devotional