randalevan's blog

The long journey to reach our starting point

Jacquie and I began our most recent adventure about four years ago. We felt it was time to come "home" to California after having been away for about sixteen years in Spain and New England. That was when we started walking. Where would we end up? What would we be doing? All we knew was that we were committed to loving God, loving our neighbors, and wanted to serve in whatever meaningful way we could both in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Spain.

Comparison: another obstacle to joy

The preacher pissed me off at church yesterday. It wasn't her fault. She did a fine job. In fact, I encourage you to listen to what Susan had to say. (Go to: http://www.vcfp.org/sermons.html, then select the sermon for May 22nd entitled, "Greed is Good".)

The reason I became angry was because the topic - money - is a sensitive one for me & Jacquie right now. Our whole world (*that, I recognize, is a bit of an exageration!) has been turned upside down. I spent the last 20+ years devoting my life to my calling: pastoral ministry. While I still feel called to be a pastor, I am currently choosing to not be paid for it. (*For more on this, please check-out my April 27th post: Overcoming Conflict (More on "A Million Miles...".)

So, when the sermon began and the preacher started talking about money, I began to celebrate my own little pitty party. Boy, am I glad no one else was invited!

when i feel surrounded...

i have had one of the most peculiar weeks of my life. last saturday an old high school friend wrote me and told me that a good friend of his had just died of cancer. then on sunday afternoon i received an email from friends in spain informing that a mutual, dear friend had just died of cancer. then on monday i exchanged emails with another friend who is planning a 1-year memorial for his wife who died of cancer last year. then a good friend called me and told me that his skin cancer had returned...and it sounded serious. then one of the people i work with told me that an old college friend was given just a few weeks to live...they were dying of cancer. when another work associate heard of this, they told me that they had just heard that one of their old high school friends had just died of cancer over the weekend. oh, and did i mention that i was invited to a prayer meeting for a friend of several of my friends to pray for his healing...from cancer?

when this all started rolling-out, i thought, "wow, this is really breathe-taking. Lord, i need you.

i bet others go through things like this in their life, and they need you, too." so i decided to write something that i hope encourages you to find peace, hope, and comfort in Jesus.

oh, and before i go on, the last straw was a text message i received about 50 minutes ago, informing me that someone i know just had a heart attack, and had a stint put in one of their arteries.

Breakfast with Friends

just uploaded some photos of a fun breakfast we had this morning with some neighbors and friends. check-out the album below, on the right-hand column!

no church without the reign of god

i started reading volf's after our likeness: the church as an image of the trinity this week. for any of us who have been actively involved in a local church, we know how hard it is to stay actively involved! in this brief quote, volf reminds us of the identity of the church, and as amazingly impossible as it sounds, how it is the vehicle (paul the apostle would say "body") that god has chosen both to reveal himself to the world and get his work done.

Bonhoeffer on Community, part II.

Here are some other quotes from Bonhoeffer's Life Together, chapter 1:

"One is a brother to another only through Jesus Christ. I am a brother to another person through what Jesus Christ did for me and to me; the other person has become a brother to me through what Jesus Christ did for him.  This fact that we are brethren only through Jesus Christ is of immeasurable significance. Not only the other person who is earnest and devout, who comes to me seeking brotherhood, must I deal with in fellowship. My brother is rather that other person who has been redeemed by Christ, delivered from sin, and called to faith and eternal life. Not what a man is in himself as a Christian, his spirituality and piety, constitutes the basis of our community. What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. This is true not merely at the beginning, as though in the course of time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and to all eternity." (p.25.)

Bonhoeffer on Community

In my last post I mentioned Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, Life Together, and encouraged those who wanted to go deeper to check out this classic on the Christian Life.  Well, I imagine most of us simply don't have the time to do that...so I want to give you some quotes that continue to impact me from the first chapter of Bonhoeffer's classic.  Here goes...

it's hard to keep going to church

I have been a pastor for a long time.  One of the things I have found to be true as a follower of Jesus is this: those of us who choose to actively engage with Him together with others in a healthy local church have a much more enjoyable, productive, adventure-filled, "challenged-to-go-beyond our-comfort-zone" life than those who try to go it alone.  (*I don't have time to define "healthy" here, but can recommend a great book if you would like to go deeper.  It is "Life Together" by Bonhoeffer. Pay particular attention to Chapter 1 entitled "Community".)

And as a pastor, I have also found something else to be true: it is really hard to continue to be actively involved in a local church!  This has always been the case...ever since Jesus called 12 disciples together to form the first Church.  Why is it so? While there are many, many reasons, I will mention only two: 1. Wherever there are people, there will be conflict, and, 2. Wherever there are Christians, there will be people with unrealistic expectations placed upon other people...I would suggest greater expectations than they place on their work or school associates, and sometimes more than their own family members.

Two important factors for personal growth

I have a friend from church named Heather.  She shared with me this past week two important factors for personal growth.  It's funny, because I think they are two things we often run away from as fast as we can...and yet...I also believe that we cannot grow in any significant way with out them.  The two things are living in close proximity with others, and, being pruned.

Michael Jackson, American Tragedy

 

Michael Jackson died yesterday.  Some people cried.  Others were in shock...he was only 50 years' old and about to make one, final comeback.  (*Is it ever "final" for someone who has become addicted to fame? Think Brent Fabre, Lance Armstrong... I guess he had multiple millions of dollars of debt and needed to do something about it.) A lot of people laughed, considering him a freak.  I am sad.  I have looked at Michael Jackson's life from afar for the past 15 years or so, shocked by the child abuse accusations and the grotesque effects of dozens of unnecessary plastic surgeries. (*Who are the doctors, any way, who lack the personal and professional integrity to tell someone like Jackson "no"? Should we look at those physicians and say, "You are more freakish than Michael!")

 

I read an article that a friend posted on Facebook this morning.  I will quote it here.  (*Below the quote find a link for the entire article.)