Update #171 - Sin Transfer

“So therefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, having put off every impediment and the easily entangling sin, let us be running with patient endurance the contest having been set before us…” Hebrews 12:1

Beethoven, Beulah Lodge, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa; more specifically, Beulah Lodge, Pinelands. It is a lovely spot - the staff is friendly, accommodations luxurious, the setting, peaceful. I found myself with a few hours off and journeyed my way to the courtyard just down from my room. Poolside, the sun warmed my face while worship music flooded my ears.

The sun painted more and more freckles across my face and arms. Fully relaxed, fuzzy minded, and half-awake I noticed a small kitty in the corner. He too was enjoying the radiant heat from the sun baked bricks.

I clicked my tongue a few times and lazily he partially parted one eye to assess what interloper invaded his nap schedule. He didn’t move – so I did.

Music pumping through my ears I stepped over to his siesta surface and stooped down – “hello there kitty” I whispered as I offered my hand. A tentative whiff was enthusiastically followed by a feline initiated whisker rub against my proffered palm. He felt like silk.

A tiny little grey and white thing (less than eight pounds), with yellow eyes and a docile personality, rolled, stretched, arched, barred his belly and purred, and purred, and purred. He happily followed me back to my chair and flopped himself upon my feet; turning his head almost 180 degrees to look at me. “Oh, we aren’t finished?” I said through a smile, and continued the feline rubdown.

Eventually he tired of the attention and rolled himself just out of arm’s reach; right paw cleaning his face (kitty equivalent to spa-time post full-body massage).

I watched him for a while; my freckles slowly gaining greater purchase. Then I glanced at my “massage hand” – it was nearly black with dirt and grime. He may have felt like silk, but what a filthy fabric! “You need a bath!” I said to him. In response he closed his eyes, stretched out on the bricks and pointed his back to the heat source in the sky.

When the sun hid its face behind a palm and the shadows slid across the pool I wandered back to my room. In the bathroom I soaped up and scrubbed my hands, rinsing all the dirt, grime, filth, and dust off my skin. It circled the drain and flowed away. My nails were another matter – out came the nail file to jettison the dark crescents lining my nail beds. “That was one grimy kitty” I thought to myself, “but he didn’t look that dirty.”

Then it hit me. A lot of sin is like the dirt on the kitty – hidden, concealed, veiled, unknown until you brush up against it; leaving a mark on your skin, your clothes, your person and you have to take a bath (repent) to get rid of it. Hang out with the sin on a day to day basis and eventually you get so used to the grime, dirt, dust and filth you never see the need to cleanse yourself from it.

The little kitty didn’t know he was dirty – he is always like that; only I knew the difference. Now, I could choose to take my life into my own hands and bathe the kitty but the problem wouldn’t be solved. He would still be a stray, still sleep, live and eat outside – and mooch off of all the surrounding neighbors – and be filthy again within twenty-four hours.

To make a change, I would have to “adopt” him, love him, feed him, tend to him and eventually he would spend more time sunning himself in his strategically placed window bed than on the sunbaked bricks having his fur waffle in the wind.

So often we are around people who rub us the wrong way, leaving nasty marks in need of erasing; we offer suggestions, “help”, and solutions, but aren’t really in for long haul change. We want to see the graffiti artist change, but don’t oft walk the road or put in the time to make it happen. Honestly, I don’t have the patience, or bandwidth, to deal with all the marker proffering people in my world. God has given me a few to “love into a new way of life”, but the others I choose to forgive, bless, and walk away from.

Who are the markers in your life? Who are those covering you in graffiti during your visit? Do you have a marker in your hand? What situations, circumstances, people cause you to leave indelible ink on others? Why?

Updates:

Travel – home for a few days then off to LA (1 day), Seattle (4 days), Egypt (1 week) and Indonesia (1 week)! Whew!

Work – Training is rolling along and almost finished. We have a LEMON Leadership Forum this Wednesday in Saratoga and a webinar on Monday, followed by an all-day training on Saturday. TBW went smoothly and besides having tons and tons and tons of rain and soaked participants it went incredibly well!

Personal – I found a car! I fly to LA this weekend to pick it up and drive it home! Hee Hee – I’ll post a picture of it on a future update. Thank you Pete for driving it cross-country for me!

Requests:

Travel – We are all home for about a week then I leave for a wedding in Seattle and Brett and Lyn leave for Canada (LEMON engagement) later in April. This is a rare time indeed!

Personal – I am overwhelmed with the goodness of God toward me. The car is an over the top gift from him. It makes me giggle and laugh just to think of it. I have been looking for names and I am 90% sure she will be named “Poppy”; which means “fantastic extravagance” – a good descriptor I think!

Work – What is important to God’s heart? What does he want me to do? What is necessary to advance his Kingdom? What does he find important? How do I prioritize all the piles on my desk to reflect his answers?

Update #170 - Direct Route

“…guiding them in the right way, so that they might come into the town of their resting-place.” Psalm 107:7

Kirstenbosh National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa

In 2006 I had the privilege to visit Cape Town, South Africa. We stayed in the Rondebosch neighborhood near the Newlands Cricket Stadium (700m walk away – this drove our sports enthusiasts crazy; to hear the roar of the crowd, the participants cheering - and not be there!). Cape Town itself is picturesque and stunning – but Rondebosh is surrounded by natural wonders - Table Mountain Natural Reserve, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Rondebosch Commons. Everywhere you gaze beauty beholds – endless blue sky, verdant trees, lush vegetation, vibrant flowers, craggy mountainous outcroppings providing rich background texture.

As usual, I asked a ton of questions and did some research about the place we were staying. When was it settled? Who pioneered it? What is the government like? Are there any oppressed peoples? What is the education structure? What is the culture around women? How old do you need to be to drive (what side of the road do we drive)? Drink alcohol? What is the primary language? What is the common language? What age do people leave home to live on their own – or do they move out when they marry? I am sure I drove our hosts crazy with all my questions.

I discovered Rondebosch was settled by the Dutch in 1652 and the Commons area was used as a military camp base; troops were regularly stationed there even up until the Second World War. One of my hosts quipped Rondebosch is actually two words smooshed together – the English translation would be similar to “round the bush.”

In 2006 “round the bush” was a life descriptor. I felt as if I had been going round and round and round the same things – over and over and over revisiting the same stuff – unable to move on, unable to conquer, unable to leave the old behind. It would fade and then months later smack me in the face again. I actually laughed out loud when I learned what Rondebosch meant – God has such a sense of humor! “Yep, drop me in the place exemplifying my life – good one God.”

In the latter half of 2006 I felt my life wasn’t having much impact and I was busy wearing a groove in the dirt around the same three bushes. I felt I was wasting time, delayed and detoured off the main track. I felt like Moses in the back 40 tending uninterested, unresponsive, unrepentant sheep… abandoned and off in a muddy field vs. on the highway of life.

During our 2012 staff planning meeting I recalled this period of my life when we read Psalm 107:7 “…guiding them in the right way, so that they might come into the town of their resting-place.”

Wow. I was right where God wanted me. I wasn’t detoured. I wasn’t lost. I wasn’t delayed. I wasn’t wasting time in 2006 - God hadn’t forgotten me, hadn’t abandoned me, hadn’t forsaken me - even though my feet were crusted in mud and the bush-track was ankle deep.

Yes, I may have spent a bit more time travailing around these particular bushes than God would have liked, but I needed to deal with them and he wasn’t about to let me move forward in life without gaining healing, peace and reconciliation in these areas.

Where are you travailing? What bushes are you going round and round and round? Where are you seemingly “stuck” and unable to break out of the rutted track? Where do you feel abandoned by God? Where do you feel detoured, delayed and forsaken? The truth is you may be waylaid, postponed and suspended from moving forward but it is for a reason. He is moving you toward your “resting place,” he is moving you toward your promised land town.

If you are stuck ask him what you need to do to break free. Do you need to forgive? Repent? Let go of anger, bitterness or resentment? God loves you too much to let you get too far with unresolved, unhealed, untended wounds and gashes. He will stall you as long as needed to make sure you are in the proper state of health for your journey. A wise man once told me “hurt people, hurt people – healed people, heal people” – I don’t know about you but I would rather heal than hurt. You?

Updates:

Travel – I’m home! After 30 or so hours of travel I crashed into bed at 6pm and slept for 13 hours… jet lag isn’t a problem (yet) today! Hoping for a quick recovery!

Work – South Africa went better than we could have expected – great alumni connections, Brett spoke several places, and we marketed the Repurposing Business Intensive. Next stop, TBW this weekend and the KEYS Conference the following.

Personal – money was donated for a “new” car for me! Whoo Hoo! Blanche, my beloved Pontiac Bonneville is showing signs of age and is racking up the repair bills. Thank you to the generous alumni who is making this possible; I am humbly grateful.

Requests:

Travel – For our upcoming hectic travel schedule, that we would be able to attend to what we need to while home, prioritize while away, and road weariness won’t be a factor.

Personal – to be fully present in the moment and not distracted by what’s next on the schedule (and what needs to be done in preparation), to understand what God is doing and follow him fully, to hear God’s voice and be obedient.

Work – for the TBW retreat this weekend – for hearts to be prepared, for the speakers and testimony givers to hear God’s directive, and for the worship leaders to be anointed with God’s presence. Also, for Brett’s speaking slot at the upcoming KEYs Conference. Finally, that registration for the Repurposing Business Intensive will begin to arrive.