Now in deep appreciation of God’s grace, the Portland leadership is taking the initiative to help rebuild any congregation that asks our help thereby aiding in rebuilding a global movement of “sold-out” disciples that will reach this lost world.
As the “aroma of Christ” some will regard our efforts as “the smell of death” and others the “fragrance of life” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16) Let it be stated clearly, we are not trying to build a “new movement.” Yet since many “teachers” have chosen to preach “a different Jesus, a different gospel with a different spirit” (2 Corinthians 11:3), we realize like Paul our vision efforts and plans will short term cause division. Most view division always as sin, yet Pal says “No doubt there have to be divisions (differences) among you to show which of you have God’s approval.” (1 Corinthians 11:19)
…
However, as of this Jubilee the Portland leadership believes it is time for a progressive “calling out of the remnant of disciples” from dying, former ICOC Churches. … If a group asks for help to restore the foundation of sold-out disciples, we will help in any way we can. Biblically, disciples can never rebel against authority, yet as seen with David who “chose” to transfer his allegiance from the ungodly Saul to the uncircumcised Achish(1 Samuel 27:1-4) one is “free to choose” whom to submit to. In the fall the Portland leadership will begin to seek out church leaderships in congregations that are struggling to ask if we can help them build a foundation of sold-out disciples. If they are not inclined to receive help, then we will offer help to any group that would prefer to be in a new congregation composed of only sold-out disciples.

Kip McKean, August 21st, 2005

I have much to say, but for now I’ll just say that I’m sad, very sad.
I’ll have more to say about this later after I’ve had some (more) time to pray about it.

Our church recently lost its campus minister. He felt that the ministry was not for him and resigned, moving to Florida to be a teacher. We are left to decide what to do. The board, the Deacons and the Evangelist met last Monday to discuss it. We are are a church of about 120 people, only 4 or 5 are campus students, down fro a high a few years ago of 20 or so. However, Ohio State University and it’s 60,000 – 70,000 or more students are here in Columbus. Our church family has a strong history in Campus Ministry and on some levels questioning having a campus minister seems unthinkable. While I can appreciate that pull, I am not convinced that we need to have one now.
We are to meet again on Monday, and there’s a leader’s meeting (larger group including family group leaders and others.) on Sunday afternoon. Since I’m away at a family reunion (ain’t hotel wireless grand?) I wanted to put my thoughts on paper and get them to the group before our Monday meeting. The following is what I emailed the board, Deacons and the evangelist.
Brothers,
I was very encouraged by our meeting on Monday. It was very good for us to get together as a group, hopefully we can do that more often. Since I will not be there on Sunday at the leader’s meeting, I wanted to put some of my thoughts and perspective on paper and have you be able to review it while I’m gone.
I was glad to hear everyone’s views on the importance of the campus ministry. It helped me renew my own conviction on the matter. I agree that it is ultimately a ministry we would be foolish to ignore. However, while my convictions on it’s importance is renewed, I am not convinced that it would be best for us to pursue it at this time. We are a small church with limited resources. We must work with what we have and make the best of it for God.
Our movement’s history has a strong presence in the campus ministry. Campus ministry has always been a focus and as some pointed out many of our leaders worldwide came from one campus or another. I was converted on the campus of the University of Cincinnati in the summer of 1988 when we saw the ministry double in size (I think, my memory is a little fuzzy). J.S. and T.H. [Members of the church. I used the real names in me note.] were converted in the same ministry around a year prior. College students are just branching out, looking for their place in the world, exploring new ideas and looking for something to believe in. They are deciding if the faith of their parents is theirs or not. It’s a tremendous opportunity to reach souls who are searching.
Campus ministry is also somewhat of a ‘flashy’ ministry. It’s high profile, when folks within our fellowship look at our church they wonder about that ministry. It can also bring fairly quick and substantial success, because of the sheer number of people to share with and the fact that many of them are seeking. That can be a boon to the church, but it can also be a detriment. Campus successes can inspire and encourage the other disciples, but it can also take resources away from other more challenging and less visible ministries.
When I look at Jesus and God’s heart throughout the Bible, they are not concerned at all with what’s important or flashy. When selecting a new king for Israel, God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7:

“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

I want us to make sure as we consider how to move forward at this time that we petition God and keep our hearts and minds open to what’s important to Him. While hiring a new campus minister right now would undoubtedly be a good thing, is it the best thing we can do to honor and serve God? I’m not convinced that it is. I really appreciate Bill’s reference to the scripture about the need for differences among us. We must bring these different ideas to the table so we can weigh and consider them and pray about them to determine which one has God’s approval.
God’s Heart
One thing I want us to think about in this is the heart of God throughout scripture. A while back, I began a study on what is God’s heart, or what’s important to him. The one obvious scripture that comes to mind is Matthew 22:34-40:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ‘This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

According to Jesus, we can do no better than to love Him and others. Everything we do, evangelism, serving, giving, sacrifice, must be done as a part of our love for God and others. If we focus on campus, it must be to honor God and take care of people. Our motivations should not be because the campus mission field is so large, though it is, or because their hearts are searching, though they are, or because of the glory to be gained (for God and us), though it’s there. No, we must make sure that it’s because we love God and the people around us and are convinced that this is the best way to act on that love.
The other thing I’ve thought about in this is God’s heart throughout the Bible for those who are neglected. Search for the terms ‘alien’, ‘widow’, ‘orphan’, ‘fatherless’ or ‘oppressed’ and you find many passages about how God cares for them The OT law commanded the Israelites to take care of them by prohibiting excessive interest, calling for the canceling of debts every 7 years, not harvesting to the edge of your field to allow the poor to take the rest and providing cities of refuge for the accused. God calls repeatedly for justice and condemns those who withhold it. He is “a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows” (Psalm 68:5). One of the most convicting passages in this regard to me is Isaiah 1 & Isaiah 58:

Isaiah 1
1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows his master,
the donkey his owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people loaded with guilt,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD ;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
5 Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness-
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with oil.
7 Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
8 The Daughter of Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a field of melons,
like a city under siege.
9 Unless the LORD Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD ,
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the law of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices-
what are they to me?” says the LORD .
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
18 “Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD .
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
21 See how the faithful city
has become a harlot!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her-
but now murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross,
your choice wine is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
companions of thieves;
they all love bribes
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow’s case does not come before them.
Isaiah 58
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

In these passages, particularly Isaiah 1, God lays out the Israelite nation. He calls them evil, rebellious, murderers, sinful, rebellious and Sodom and Gomorrah. Throughout this rant, their sins are not what you might expect. They are mainly sins of the neglect of the helpless. He calls them to repentance, saying “Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
I am not comparing our church to the Israelites in the book of Isaiah, but I want to see God’s heart. He longs for people who will stand up for the unloved, poor and neglected. In that light, is the campus where God would have us focus our limited resources right now? There are many needs in our city going wanting, many benevolent projects that could be run to take care of them. What sort of impact could we have on this community and it’s people if we put that money we would spend on a salary toward meet some of those needs? What sort of honor could we bring to God’s name? How many tears does He cry because there is no one to take care of those hurting children of His?
Certainly that’s a harder road than campus ministry. It takes more that just money. It takes people willing to invest their time and energy and willing to get dirty. It takes searching for those needs. It takes planning. It will not bring us notoriety and recognition, but it will pay dividends with God and in our own hearts as we become more grateful for what we have and are softened to the plight of those around us.
Taking Care of Our Own
We must also look at our church family and think about the needs of our brothers and sisters as well. Family has always been important to God’s people. In the OT, men were commanded to take care of a brothers widow and to marry her. If they refused, they were disciplined (Deuteronomy 25). Frequently, if a person was blessed (Rahab – Joshua 6) or cursed (Achan – Joshua 7), his entire family was blessed or cursed. In the NT, we see in Acts 2 that the believers were completely devoted to one another. Galatians 6:10 calls us to “as we have opportunity, [to] do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” In I Timothy 3 we are told that to judge a man’s fitness to be an elder we should look at how he leads and cares for his family.
In considering our spiritual family, we must consider that we have not only the 3-5 campus students in need of leadership, but 15-20 singles in the same plight. Why should the campus get attention and those singles not? In light of the scriptures above, it would seem wrong to pursue a thriving campus ministry while neglecting the singles. Are we showing preference to the easier, more high profile ministry? Perhaps there’s an opportunity to hire a leader to oversee both. A ministry of 25-30 people should not be burdensome at all. The activities of a campus ministry would be happening throughout the day and even late at night, while the singles activities would be mostly in the evening.
Conclusion
I hope in the strength of my words I have not offended anyone. I also hope that my many words have not been too much. I don’t have a specific answer to this, only some thoughts. I realize some will disagree, and that’s OK. I fully expect that I will not completely agree with some of what I’ve said after our discussions are done and other’s opinions are heard. I also realize that in the end the consensus may be to hire a campus minister. I am prepared to stand behind the decisions and conclusions of the group, even if I disagree with them. I only hope that the process will involve considering many different ideas, even radical ones, so that we may discern where God is leading us.
I’ll see you Monday night.
Love in Christ,
Doug Schaefer

Patrick at Tent Pegs writes today about the Elders’ vision of hat their church should be. Made me want to move back to Michigan. OK, not really but it’s a vision of what I’d like to see my church become. An excerpt:

These eleven men of God have traveled farther down a hard road than any group I have ever worked with before. When they saw that holding on to our traditions as if they were “thus saith the Lord” and keeping the church locked down in the building would not be effective in changing the world, they said, “enough.”
It is the eldership here that said we will put no more money into the ground. We built our building and remodeled it as fast as we could, but we are still having three morning services to get the folk in (and to serve different groups). Some have said we need to sell this building and build bigger, like those other megachurches in town. Our elders said no. They are willing to put money into off-site churches in coffee bars or empty storefronts, happy to pour money into mission works in Michigan, Canada, and six or seven countries overseas, and thrilled to maintain a massive warehouse of clothes and food that serves between 30-90 families a week (good stuff, not hominy and hand-me-downs). But no more money for church buildings. Why?
They want the church to escape the building. They want us to go out and bring in the lost. They want us to find those who are different from us, care for them, love them, and, should they wish to worship with us, welcome them. So… what was an upper-income white church is rapidly becoming something else. A large percentage of our congregation has no background in the restoration movement and some worship services have 30-35% minority representation now. The poor, the punks, and the pierced sit beside old ladies with blue rinsed hair, people who came down the hall from their AA or NA meetings and found a worship going on, black, white, asian, and an amazing assortment of financial situations and emotional histories.

Did you read that line in the last paragraph? It said and should they wish to worship with us! Not when, should. How refreshing to hear of a church focused on loving people, whether they want to place membership / study the Bible / be baptized / become “true disciples” or not.
Now I’m not saying that we’re still practicing the old way of the stat sheet, like some seem to be (at least in part). I’m just longing for a broader, deeper, more Christ like vision of a healthy church. It’s just that the shortsighted, “Are we growing? Are we baptizing?” vision of church health is all we know. It would be so easy to slide back into, I’m afraid we’re going to end up there.
I want something more than that.

I hear and read of things that people are working on in their lives or are praying for. I want to be more organized. I want to get my finances in order. I want to get into a house. Don’t get me wrong, those things have their importance and are meaningful, but I’ve been wondering how important they are to God in the His perspective from outside of time. He’s got the perfect vision, He can see the beginning and end of time at once. He knows how it all got stared and how it ends. He truly knows what’s important. Down here on Earth, with our limited vision of time, things can get cloudy. We get fooled by mirages and hallucinations. Which has lead me to this question:
If God had only two boxes to put everything of mine in, one marked ‘Important’ and one marked “Unimportant”, where would he put my stuff?
And, being boxes, they are limited in size. In other words, He can’t just keep putting everything in the “Important” box. Pretty soon it would get full, and he’d have to make decisions. “Hmm, I gotta take out the big screen or I can’t fit in salvation for his children.” Get the picture?
Yes, it’s a reductionist question, but I think we can learn from this simplification. It makes me think that some of the things we run after aren’t really that important to God. I’m not talking about just the material things. In fact, those are the things we can easily see God putting in the “Unimportant” box. No, I bet there are some Big Things on our lists that God looks at and says, “You know, from where I sit, looking at all eternity, that’s really no big deal.”
Good health? God says, “From up here, being sick for 30 years is a minute thing.” Financial security? “You know you only need to deal with that money for 75, 80 years. After that it’s useless.” A nice house? “You’re only going to live there for a few decades! After a thousand years, you won’t remember it, trust me.”
It’s the heart things, those things that shape us and define us that God might put into that “Important” box. A friendship that challenges you to grow? “Might be the difference in where you spend the next millenia.” An outward, others focus? “Might be the difference between where they spend eternity!” Learning to love like Jesus? “Might help My image, and maybe help others actually find their way home.”
It makes me think of this passage in a new light:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-33

This passage is usually used to teach us not to fret over stuff, which is important. In the light of the idea of God’s two boxes, I wonder if Jesus isn’t also, or even primarily, teaching us to put things in proper perspective – God’s perspective. Food, money, shelter, in the long run these things, though needed, are not important. Let God take care of those things, you turn your attention to the stuff in God’s “Important” box.

Maria and the oldest went to some home party together tonight, which left me and the younger two to fend for ourselves for dinner. I had to run to my sister’s too, so we hit the Golden Arches on the way home. We sat outside in the play area and after all the fries and nuggets were consumed they abandoned me for the play area.
There were a few other kids and parents there too. I was just enjoying a warm summer evening while the kids played when this little boy posed on the slide. Proud of himself, he called to his father, “Daddy! Look daddy! Daddy, LOOK!”
His dad looked over and nodded in appreciation and I was struck with that scene. The child hadn’t really done anything remarkable, just sat on the edge of the slide, somewhat precariously. But he thought it was cool, and he wanted his Dad to see what he could do. He wanted his Dad to acknowledge his accomplishment.
It made me think about our relationship with our father. We act this way too. We remember to share our faith, we have a good prayer time, we give some good advice or post something we think is profound and we pat our selves on the back. We may even say to God, in prayer, “Father! Look, father. Father, LOOK! I loved someone, I noticed them! I did something nice, I remembered. Look father!”
I’m not talking about the prideful moments we have, thinking were something we aren’t. I’m talking about the healthy pride, the sense of accomplishment. Last Sunday we had an outdoor service at a local park. It was a fair distance from the parking to the area we had service. All the teachers were bowing to take our communion around a picnic table. The prayer was being said and I noticed one of the older brothers making his way across the field, carrying a plastic chair to sit on. He was obviously laboring, so I left the table in the middle of the prayer to go help him out. I came back and took my communion and I had one of those moments. In the past I wouldn’t had left the prayer, that wasn’t right. I would have let him struggle across the field. But this time I was proud of myself for making this choice to help a brother out instead of legalisticly staying for the prayer. It was a better choice. “Look father! Look, I chose people over ceremony! LOOK!”
I like to think of God like the father of that boy at the McD’s, smiling politely. “That’s great, son.” But in his heart, he knows I’ve not really done anything great. He thinks, Son, that’s great, but it’s only start of what I have in mind for you. In the grand scheme of life, your choice, though noble, is so small. I came that you would make a life of such choices. One day you’ll understand.
As that boy grows, he won’t be so proud of those little things and he father won’t be as impressed with them either. You can’t imagine a 16 year old perched on a slide saying “Look, dad!” Dad would be disappointed if that’s what his son settled for. In some way I wonder, after 17 years of following Him, is God a little disappointed that I’m still proud of such little accomplishments? I wonder if He didn’t think I would be a little farther along this journey of becoming by now.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.

Hebrews 5:11-6:3

Check out Jared’s post at the Thinklings about his thoughts after spending vacation with his best friends. After being “set free for more than a week to actually sit down and talk substantively with brothers in Christ”, he posts these 25 not-so-random reflections. Very powerful stuff. I may or may not have some more thoughts on his later, but for now just go read.

So, a couple weeks ago, I posted this post. Later, in the comments, my friend Paul posted this (and this response has been awaiting publication ever since):

I wanted to share something with you. I spent a decade and a half, and still to this day, watching with vigilance to not “slip” from God. Then I started to consider the fact that I will not get any closer to God, than Christ crucified and resurrected. What I mean by that is that I was killing myself, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually trying to stay “spiritual.” Sharing my faith, showing up to functions, having my prayer and bible reading times, and so forth. Then I realized that I was missing the elephant in the room. It is not my divine responsibility to remain spiritual. I will never be spiritual in the sense of my actions. I will only be as good as Christ Crucified and resurrected. My whole Christian responsibility is to express the love I’ve received by obeying the command of God, which is clearly defined by the love we share for our fellow Christians, and our neighbors. It is to express mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. It is not a heavy burden of having the correct behavior every minute of the day. It is to forgive as I have been for given Ephesians 4:32. I had to stop, stop doing bad, and simply start what was doing good. Focus on what is doing good, and do that. You will sin as long as you live on earth. Period. Why stress out over a lull in the way things were going? Did you stop being compassionate and forgiving? Did you stop offering mercy to your neighbors? These are the things of God. Be holy as God is holy. Set apart by your purity and divine nobility. Being spiritually relaxed, and spiritually receding can be two different things, if you let it.

Boy, did that hit my right where I live.
Lately, I’ve been in this funk. I just haven’t felt like, well, doing anything. Yet, I felt guilty about not doing anything. Bleah.
For 17 years I lived under the impression that what I do defines who I am. I scrutinized my actions and behavior. I compared myself to others, inside and out of my fellowship, to see how I was doing. I quantified how I was studying my Bible, how often I prayed, my giving, my church attendance, etc. It was all about measuring up to The Standard of The Bible.
I’ve come to understand over the last year or two of that, intellectually anyway, that this is so incorrect, and obviously so. As I look again at this pattern, I see that there is no grace, or at least that grace is so marginal as to be dismissed. It becomes all about what I do, instead of what was already done for me, namely Jesus’ death on a cross. It’s the treadmill that has to be run, and at a certain pace, lest I get thrust off the end, lost forever. There is no stopping, no breaks, no rest, and my spiritual life becomes all about what I do and accomplish. Me, me, me.
I say I understand it, intellectually. You see I know that it’s wrong thinking in my mind, yet my heart and emotions are still worrying about that treadmill. When I stop and think, that’s OK then, Jesus paid it all for me, it’s not up to me to do anything, then my heart gets antsy. It’s saying, “But you have to …. You’re not …. What about …. You’re falling behind!” You see there is some truth to the treadmill. Scratch that. There’s a truth that underlies the treadmill lifestyle. There is a standard in the Bible we are called to. We are called to be different, to be set apart. We are to watch our life and doctrine closely.
We are called to do some things and not do others. The fallacy is in the believing that our running, our acting, our doing, has any bearing whatsoever on our belonging to God. Yes we must run, act and do, but God loves us already and Jesus has saved us already, whether we run, act and do or not. (That last sentence bothers me a lot. I’m not 100% convinced that is true, but I’m not sure it’s false either. Oy.)
So there is this battle in my heart and in my brain and it drives me crazy. I’m the kind of guy who wants to have it all figured out. For years I thought I did, and it was good. I just keep running and everything is fine. Now that I know that’s not completely true – I can’t run enough to be fine – I’m going crazy not knowing just how much I should run and when. Should I sit, should I stand, should I fight? There is no right answer, and that drives me nuts.

Go read this excelent post at Tent Pegs. I had a similar experience today. OK, no trees were talking but I did get caught up in a Hallucination.
The house next door just sold and the new owners have been coming buy painting and making the house theirs. I hadn’t had the chance to meet them yet, and this evening he and I were both out cutting grass. We nodded at each other out in the front yard, but when we both came around to the same corner of the rear I motioned at him and we both shut the mowers down and introduced ourselves.
They were moving from a town house across town, had a 1 year old boy, were originally from Akron, then Chicago before Columbus and were glad to have a house. hey had been beaten out on two other homes in the neighborhood before getting this one. At some point, I can’t remember why, h mention he was planning to put up a fence. “Oh really, what type?” I asked. “Six foot.”
Now when we moved into our home 5 years ago it came with a fence. A six foot privacy fence. I felt like I was in prison. Two or three summers ago we cut it down to size and spread the boards out so we now have a less restrictive 4 foot-ish open fence. So when my new neighbor tells me that he’s putting up a six foot fence, I’m angry. My biggest fear was that the new owners would put up a privacy fence. Never mind that they might be ax murderers, cannibals or child molesters, they might erect a tall fence!
So, in my most loving and Christ like way I mentioned how we had just took our six foot fence down and, well, let’s talk before he puts up his fence so we don’t have two fences running together. Hard to control the weeds between. He was pleasant enough in reply and we went back to mowing.
As I continued on I kept thinking about that conversation. Here was a guy I hadn’t known for longer than 5 minutes, a guy I’d have to live next door to for several years and I was already trying to set him straight on a fence. Worse yet, I’m an ambassador of Christ, and what does he see? A controlling, self focused, manipulator. Ouch.
When I read Patrick’s post at tent pegs, I was even more convicted and ashamed. I had bought a hallucination that the fence was an important issue. More important than building a relationship of mutual trust and respect with my new neighbor. More important than demonstrating Jesus. I now have an uphill battle if I’m to really show him Jesus, up a hill of my own construction. I fully intend to apologize for my attitude in the hope that a little humility and contrition will help him see me as something other than a meddlesome neighbor.