How do I see myself? How do others see me? Some see me as a husband, father, son, or brother. Others might see me as a co-worker, friend, acquaintance, or stranger. Hopefully, most people see me as a follower of the Triune God. I would guess that most of us hope people will take some time before they begin to form opinions about us and we might even argue that it isn’t fair for them to come to a conclusion about us without taking that kind of time. But I was reminded today…
how do people see us if they have to perceive us in a moment?
One interaction
One conversation
One experience
What will these short interactions with people lead them to believe about me? How will they get a picture of who I am and how will they respond to me in the future given this one interaction? Am I living in a way that will lead people to want to interact with me again or am I leaving them hoping to avoid me in the future?
Jesus’ short experiences with people generally included words of change, hope, love, encouragement, or challenge. His short experiences were often accompanied by actions of healing, touch, comfort, or sacrifice. People left short interactions with Jesus and their lives were changed.
How am I perceived in a moment?
Maybe I’m a little slow, dense, or intellectually challenged but my mind was blown by the Biblical interpretation of a 4 year old tonight.
We were reading the Bible story of the feeding of the 5000 tonight and the Erin asked the boys, “Why do you think Jesus wanted to feed the huge crowd?” My mind began to race for the “right” answer. The “spiritual” answer. The best answer good exegesis can muster. When Isaiah (my youngest little prophet) spoke a word to me. He replies, “Because they were hungry.”
Just like that.
Just that simple.
Could that be it? I looked at John’s account in John 6 and there does seem to be something else going on with the mention of the Passover along with the fact that he never mentions the people being hungry. After all, they were just beginning to show up.
But Matthew’s account in chapter 14 says, “and he had compassion on them.” I wonder if we sometimes try to spiritualize our actions when sometimes a simple answer will do. Sometimes as Christians we need to feed people because they are hungry. We’re not feeding them in order to achieve some ulterior motive. We feed them because we have compassion for them. We feed them because they are hungry.
Just that simple.
White puffy pictures painted with imagination on a light blue canvas
Backs bouncing on a black elastic circle
Laughter from small voices fills the air with shoulders crammed together
Work to be done but this moment is too special to miss
Time wasted…time well spent
Life with three boys can be exhausting. It can be frustrating when you need to get something done but they are determined to spend time with you. Even as I write this I am constantly bombarded with questions, my elbow is continually getting bumped, I am becoming a human jungle gym….”what are you doing, Daddy?”
It is truly hard to understand living for someone else until you have children. They don’t understand give-and-take relationship because they understand what they need and they understand you are the way to have that need met. Even when you have something you need to do they still need to eat, they need to get dressed, they need protection from themselves, they need transportation, they need attention, they need someone to help them wipe and it doesn’t matter what your schedule says, they need you!
Having three boys has helped me to realize that the universe doesn’t revolve around my schedule. That sounds ridiculous as I read it again but it’s true. When we don’t have these small people around “needing” us all the time it can be easy to assume that our stuff is the stuff that matters. My boys remind me daily that there are other people in the world who need my attention. They remind me that God wants me to look beyond my to-do list and see the people around me. They challenge me to be a better Christ-follower.
Fathering three boys is fun, it’s challenging, it’s frustrating, it’s pure joy, it’s a path to holiness, and it’s one of the most significant moments in my life.
Click here for the Significant Moment Soundtrack
This post isn’t about one formational moment in my life as much as it is about one of the major ways I have been formed over time:
Leftovers cover the counters and empty plates are gathered and washed. The sound of opening guitar cases and tinkling piano keys begin to fill a room that is standing room only. Songs are played and sung covering decades and multiple genres of music. Everyone participates at one point or another and the focus of the evening: God who holds this family together.
My grandfather takes the lead as he sings old songs that I remember the family singing from my childhood. My aunts and uncles sing songs that were new in their generation. My cousins and I sing more modern worship songs and my grandparents begin to cry as their 14 year old granddaughter leads the group in “Here I Am to Worship.”
The music rang out for hours and I reveled in the blessing of a family who is united in their love and service of Jesus Christ. I thank God for the blessing of my family!
It was late afternoon on a Thursday in July. There were a few boxes stacked close to the office door and the walls and desk were void of anything that would indicate who worked in this space. Co-workers were coming in and out of the office sharing laughs and reminiscing about the last 4 years. There had been good times and there had been times of major turmoil but Paula, Alicia, Scottee, Candace, Gretchen, Kim, Arleen, Dug, the house managers and the many staff that had come and gone were going to be missed. But I was happy to say goodbye to the filing cabinets, house scheduling boards, trips to Houston and southern Indiana, FMLA, labor laws, endless no-show interviews, and bad company insurance. I was good at this but it was not what God was calling me to do.
I was feeling anxious because Friday was the last day of my well-paying job. I was looking for a part-time job and going back to finish my undergraduate degree in the fall. God had been calling me to pursue vocational ministry and I was finally surrendering.
Kim’s voice came over the intercom, “Eric, there is a Jim Dunn for you on line 1.” Why was the pastor of our church calling? Was someone hurt? I nervously answered the phone and this is what I hear:
Would you like to meet me for dinner at the 4H fair tonight? Our current Youth Director has decided to do something else and I would like to talk to you about taking over the position. It only pays part-time and I know you already have a job so I don’t even know if you will be interested but I would like to talk to you about it.
Following Christ is about whole-hearted surrender. Some of my most formative life experiences have taken place when I trusted God’s leading even when it didn’t make sense. This began my journey into full-time vocational ministry and over time this part-time position transitioned to full-time. I spent 5 fantastic years at:
I’ll also be posting a soundtrack to each major moment of my life:
Moment #5 Life Sountrack
What have been the most significant events in your life? I am going to attempt to write about the “Top 5″ most significant events in my life over some of my future posts. It is going to take a few days to pinpoint the “Top 5″ and then rank them. I will start with #5 and then move to the most significant event in my life to this point.
I would love for others to leave comments with some of their most significant life experiences so feel free to comment.
I’m not good at self-disclosure so here we go!
Oh, please tell me this is a joke! You can see the website they have created for this “game” here.
Who says, “My dog ate it” when they are asked about something they don’t turn in?
I got an email from Elijah’s teacher today telling me that he had sent a note home on Friday that needed to be signed and turned back in. I had never seen the note and let the teacher know I would talk to Elijah about it when he got home. A little while later I get this email from the teacher.
“When I dug a little deeper as to what he had done with his note that needed to be signed, he said that “my dog ate it”. No joke. I thought you should know.”
Who says that? I asked the teacher to let Elijah know that I knew about the note and that he had said “the dog ate it.” We’ll see how fun this bus ride and walk from the bus to the house is for this young man today.
BTW: WE DON’T HAVE A DOG!!!!
