We don't Know what we don't know

I read an interesting article on the net this morning about 10 new species of flora and fauna that have been identified by a team of super scientists. Apparently, each year these scientists or this particular group of scientists gather information about unknown species and publish their findings. I learned that we have several thousand documented species and millions more that are unknown. Some of their more interesting finds were: a venomous snake; a fruit bat; a deadly jellyfish; and, a toxic pink neon centipede. I guess I just thought we knew of everything and was very surprised to find out I didn't know what I didn't know. Science has much to reveal and the mystery surrounding potential discovery is very exciting.

In the same way that science has much to reveal, the faith that has been once and for all delivered unto the saints has much to reveal and the potential for discovery is very exciting. The Apostle Paul wrote of the unsearchable riches of God's Word. Since the Word is alive (animated by the Holy Spirit), a person can study it devotional, critically and thoroughly and still not exhaust its content. Since we learn both by congnitive process and kinetic process (theory and practice) there is much for each Christian to learn about being led by the Holy Spirit. Even though the story of salvation doesn't change, the story that salvation is writing in each person's life is unfinished and leaves room for discovery.

In Deuteronomy of all places (29:29) we understand that God has not revealed everything to us. Yes! He has revealed everything we need for salvation and Christian living, but He has not revealed everything to us. There are still some mysteries out there. Chief of among them would be God, himself. I know when I was a kid I wanted to be like Indiana Jones (truth be told, I'd like to be like him now, too!). I wanted to go find the hidden treasure and make the world changing discovery. All of that excites me and my imagination. In the Bible, there is a well-spring of knowledge that has yet to be tapped. I really don't know what all I don't know. May God do a work in my heart to create a hunger and thirst for His word and may he grant that my desire and your desire to find truth be exciting on every turn!

Of Motorcycles and Men

I took a trip to the local Harley Davidson dealership today. Well, it really wasn't local, but I was close enough to it to justify spending the extra change on gas - so I went. I've wanted a motorcycle for years and (for reasons that I'm not sure I can explain) I have not yet purchased one. So, I went by the dealership and found the two models I really like. One is a smaller bike with a smaller price tag (if there is such a thing as a small price tag) and the other is a larger bike with a larger price tag. Money really isn't an issue when you're considering a motorcycle purchase, though. Not that I have more money than I know what to do with it, mind you. But a motorcycle purchase is in no way justifiable by any standard unless you're a single guy with no responsibility. So, the money isn't the issue. The issue is a man thing. Perhaps, it's not even a man thing as much as it is a freedom, control, rebel without a clue, wind in your hair kind of thing. (I fear if I don't hurry and purchase one I'll not have much hair for the wind to get in....)

Anyway, I'm standing in there with all of these motorcycles and all of the motorcycle dudes and dudettes and I'm feeling pretty out of place and I'm very self-conscious about the whole thing - you know, with me being a baptist preacher and everything. So this cool salesman approaches me and asks me how he can be of service and I tell him I'm in the market for a bike. I'm shopping around considering my options and all that kind of stuff and I wait for him to give me the sales pitch about why I should buy a Harley instead of a Yahmaha. Instead of the sales pitch, though, the guy just looks at me with his perfectly styled bed-head hair. It was really uncomfortable there for a minute. Then this guy surprised the fire out of me. He began to tell me how he had sold his salon - yes, he was a hair stylist! - and came to work for Harley Davidson. So he goes on about his personal journey to employment at Harley and shares his history of riding bikes and he closes his presentation with the assertion that buying a Harley is not at all about the motorcycle. It's about the people, he said.

Well, call me crazy, but I think the Harley salesman has some pretty good theology! What he was selling me was not a motorcycle. I can buy any kind of motorcycle I want. There may even be some better, mechanically more sound bikes than a Harley, but that's not what matters. What matters is the people. He was selling me community. All of the statistics scream that people in the 21st century are starving to death for relationship which is found in community with other people. Church is supposed to be first and foremost a community of Christ-followers. People united around a common goal / purpose and intent on helping one another experience that goal / purpose. In the same way that HOG's (short for Harley Owners Group) come together for the common goal of promoting the freedom of the open road and all that motorcycling involves, the church is for the Chrisitan. I started thinking on the way home from that experience that maybe if the church would emphasize community instead of trying to "sell" people on Jesus, then maybe people would experience Jesus and His love and they would just want to be a part of that.

I probably could have come up with some more comparisons on my trip home if I had been riding my new motorcycle. If a hairstylist can become a harley salesman, surely I baptist preacher can be a harley rider! I've just got to come up with a legitimate way to take up a love offering to pay for my bike!

Motivation and Mountain Air

This past week I was scheduled for a speaking engagement in the upstate of South Carolina. When my responsibilities were over, my wife and I took a trip up the Blueridge Parkway. I'm not sure how far we traveled on the parkway, but I know that it was more than 60 miles. It took us several hours to make the trip. Susan slept and I enjoyed the view and squeeling of the tires! We had beautiful weather (we were in the high 60's on the parkway) and great views. We even stopped at a place called the Graveyard Ridge. The sign said that a powerful natural disaster took place and uprooted an entire forest. The debris left in the wake of that storm eventually decayed until the remnants of the forest looked like tombstones across the mountain. Sometime in the early 20's, though, a fire burned it all down. We hiked about 2 miles or so around in that. We had a wonderful time.

What I've found to be most interesting, though, is my renewed desire to get to work. I've had a higher level of motivation since returning from that short trip. I'm not sure if it was the mountain air or just the down time, but I'm sure something good happened to help recharge me. There are about six or seven times in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life where he just disappears. Well, let me tell what I mean. I don't mean that he vanishes like a ghost or something. What I mean is that Jesus would just go off to another place. Nobody would know where he was and he would stay gone for a little while and then come back. He would slip off in the evening to pray. He would take a walk and spend time with the Father. It seems to me, if the Creator of the universe needed some time away, those of us who are created could probably use a little R&R, too!