Day 18 / Adjusting to the Dark

Our eyes are stunning creations of God. Amazing beyond imagination. Several times over the past 26 years of ministry I have had people take a survey concerning which of the five senses they would give up last. No one wants to give up even one, but sight is almost always the last sense people are willing to lose, with hearing running the tight second place.

The wonder, power, and privilege of sight is mentioned throughout scripture. Sight is also one of the most common spiritual metaphors used in scripture to indicate our sensitivity to the will of God and the integrity or our spiritual journey.

But there is a compelling passage in Matthew 6:22-23 that has been so unsettling to me over the years. It reads,

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

It is that last sentence that grips me. How in the world could the light within me actually be darkness?

I think a spiritual answer could come from our physical eyesight. Our ability to see in the dark is actually amazing, but we all experience that time of adjustment when we are unsure and stumbling. We slow way down because we realize that at least for the time being, we do not have full access of our ability to see. This adjustment period is a stunning and complex coordination of electrical impulses, chemical interactions, muscular and neurological functions, and on the list goes.

Our eyes are attempting to catch up with our desire to see clearly. Once we are in a dark room or setting for very long, our eyes adjust to the conditions, and we move forward as best we can. We all recognize that some important responsibilities can still be carried out when it is dark, like driving at night. But it is also certain that attempting to live in the dark is not optimum!

Jesus even said, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light” (John 11:9-10).

In the "Ideal Test" of decision-making, our first and most important concern is receiving Biblical clarity for the decisions with which we are faced. But often times we are not accustomed to deeply considering the Word of God for our daily lives. We make relationship decisions without the authority of the Word, and then we scramble to the Word to find some help to get out of a bad situation. It is not wrong whatsoever to come to the Word of God in times of desperation to find help, solace and guidance. But if we make a lifestyle out of only coming to the Bible when we are looking for a quick fix, how can we truly benefit from its light. We have allowed the light of scripture to grow dim and we may not even know how dim it has become.

There is simply no substitute for the wisdom and guidance of the Word of God, but it must find a willing heart and a hungry soul in order to have its fullest effect of enlightening our way.

- Don McLaughlin

Day 18 / Heroes and Themes

Kindergarten teachers are my heroes. Seriously. They are all about keeping things in harmony with a theme. Everything fits in with the theme of the day or the week. Even if the coolest thing on earth comes along, if it doesn’t begin with the letter-of-the-week, or isn’t the color- or the shape-of-the-week, they pass on it. Kindergarten teachers are committed to the theme. All of their decisions are filtered through one major question: Does this fit the theme?

Wouldn't it be great if all of our decisions were made by asking the question: Does this fit in with the plan or the theme God wants for my life? I wouldn’t spend unnecessary money if I asked myself the question: Does this fit in with my budget? I know I would pass on several different foods if I asked myself the question: Does this fit in with my eating plan? And I’m quite sure I'd monitor my speech more closely if I asked myself the question: Would I say this if Jesus was standing next to me?

Stephen Covey has made a ton of money stating it this way:
"Begin with the end in mind."

So, for me, here’s the “end”:
- The money meets a need
- God gets the glory

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 17 / Turn Down the Radio!

What a weird phenomenon! We are straining to find an address on an unfamiliar street, and the next thing you know we are reaching to turn down the radio! Turn down the volume to see better? Alvaro Fernandez, author of The Sharp Brains Guide to Brain Fitness, explores this question in an article published by the Huffington Post. He writes:

You're driving through suburbia one evening looking for the street where you're supposed to have dinner at a friend's new house. You slow down to a crawl, turn down the radio, stop talking, and stare at every sign. Why is that? Neither the radio nor talking affects your vision.

Or do they?

In a recent study about using a cell phone while driving, Steven Yantis, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, had this to say:

"Directing attention to listening effectively 'turns down the volume' on input to the visual parts of the brain. The evidence we have right now strongly suggests that attention is strictly limited--a zero-sum game. When attention is deployed to one modality--say, in this case, talking on a cell phone--it necessarily extracts a cost on another modality--in this case, the visual task of driving.

He's talking about the cognitive skill of divided attention, or the ability to multitask and pay attention to two things at once. It's generally much harder than selective, or focused, attention. The factors that come into play are your attentional capacity and the processing requirements--essentially how much of which areas of your brain are needed to process the input. Which is why professionals in some very demanding environments, such as military pilots and professional sports players, use specialized training tools to help them process all the information that otherwise would be overwhelming.

Your attentional capacity can be taken up by inhibiting (tuning out) distractions, dividing your attention across multiple things, or even sustaining your attention on one thing (vigilance). Fatigue takes a big toll on attention. If you're tired, it's harder to concentrate. Surprisingly, depression has a similar effect. In fact, many memory complaints may be actually depression- or fatigue-related reduced attentional capacity.”

Huh? Whoda thunk? I actually like the phrase, “attentional capacity.” I began to immediately wonder if part of my struggle to hear the voice of God in my decisions is that my “attentional capacity” is on overload! Maybe in this world where multi-tasking is next to being a superhero, we just aren’t leaving enough attentional bandwidth for the voice and influence of God.

Any way you can free up some attentional capacity for the voice we need to hear the most today?

- Don McLaughlin

Day 17 / Decisions, Decisions

Indecision drives me crazy!...Whether it’s in someone else or myself. Indecision is paralyzing. I hate to consider how much time in my life that I’ll never get back has been wasted trying to get a group to decide where to eat lunch...or sitting behind someone in the drive-thru who obviously hadn’t decided ahead of time what they wanted to eat. Some decisions that seem to take a very long time to make are ones that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Like where to go to lunch. Some decisions are monumental. I wonder if we take nearly as long to make those decisions as we do lesser ones.

Take a look at these quotations concerning decision-making. Maybe one of them will strike a chord with you.

Roy Disney (nephew of the late Walt Disney) has said, "It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are."

Aaron Tippin (country singer) has sang, “You've got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything."

Eminem (recording artist) has said:

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
would you capture it, or just let it slip?

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment...if it doesn’t turn out right, we can modify it as we go along."

There is currently a television commercial airing where Brett Favre is looking at a television in a store. The store employee tries to convince him that men who are decisive are strong leaders (or something like that). Brett immediately says he’ll take the television...and in the next instant waffles. While this commercial is funny–-if you have followed Favre’s on-again-off-again career–-it illustrates how people have trouble making decisions...and sticking with them.

There is an incredible amount of information available concerning the decision-making process. None of it will make any difference whatsoever if we are not willing to put it into practice. So, in regard to our 40-Day Journey, is choosing not to make decisions to engage the difference between passive pity and active compassion?

Maybe Will Rogers was on to something when he said, "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 16 / Abundance

I have an abundance...but it is not always an abundance of the good stuff! I have an abundance of selfishness, an abundance or frustrations, an abundance of temptation and sin. I want less of all these things, but it seems that I am in a life-long struggle against the distractions of self.
When I was a young believer, the churches I was in often sang a song that had four verses. The first verse was "All of self and none of Thee." But by the end of the song, the lyrics moved to "None of self and all of Thee." This is the journey of every disciple of Jesus. In more recent times, we sing another song where one of the lines is, "You are my all in all." And in the song , "Have Thine Own Way, Lord," the final line is, "Christ, only, always, living in me."

One theologian deftly wrote,

If our Christian lives ever caught up with lyrics in the songs we sing, the world would be forever transformed.

Probably true!

So how do I reduce the abundance of me and increase the abundance of Christ in my life? The surest way is to engage in meeting the needs of others as I give my influence, finances, time and service. In our 40-Day Journey Workbook for today, Sheree includes this quote:

Personal development coach Chuck Galazzi has said, "...it is true; if we give we will have less. Less selfishness, less suspicion, less guilt, less remorse, less attachment to the unimportant. But we will also have more."

I think Galazzi is dead on. The more I give, the more I have of what matters. Jesus modeled this for us as he lived out his own words in John 10:1-17.  He came to give us abundant life (verse 10), but that came at the expense of his own life as he laid down his life for us.

This is the journey. Instead of thinking first about who is needy and whether or not they should receive any help, my first concern must be how too much of me is getting in the way of my life with Christ. Giving to others is a way of freeing myself.

- Don McLaughlin

Day 16 / Needs

I have come to realize and accept that wisdom will not die with me. Nor am I the sole possessor and/or embodiment of the definition of "normal." [**crickets**] So what makes me think that I can judge/determine who is needy? Or that I can know what it is that someone needs?

I was a school teacher for a long time. When I was in college studying toward that, and then studying again for graduate degrees, I studied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. An over-simplification of that is to say that some needs have to be met before other needs can be met. The hungrier a person is, the harder it is for them to focus their attention on something more abstract until their hunger is assuaged. Jesus was the original author of this hierarchy. He spent His time on earth meeting the physical needs of people (feeding them, healing them) so that they could realize and accept that they had spiritual needs.

I keep thinking about the Bill Withers song called "Lean On Me." It’s been covered by a lot of artists, and its message is beautiful. Part of the lyrics are:

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can’t carry
I’m right up the road
I’ll share your load
If you just call me.

I’ve sung this song a lot of times, but lately I’ve been wishing that it carried a more active message...that instead of the one with the need calling on the strong one, the strong one would notice the one in need...and help.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 15 / Secret Santa

Halloween isn’t even here yet and I’m already getting geared up for Christmas! I’ve been thinking about some things I want to do this Christmas season. One of the coolest things I've heard about and seen and would love to have my act together enough to do is to be a Secret Santa for someone. As Secret Santa, I would do the Twelve Days of Christmas–-well, this century’s version of it anyway. I doubt I could find a very economical version of "lords a’ leaping" or even of "pipers piping"...although I could probably manage some "maids a’ milking"...I digress.

So, come December 14th, my chosen victim...er, recipient...would receive a small gift and a fun verse or poem or whatever. On December 15th, there would be another token, and so on until December 25th...Twelve Days of Christmas. But the coolest part is that they would never have a clue it was me! That’s where the "secret" part of "Secret Santa" comes in.

I am already having such a great time thinking about the gifts and the rhymes or verses and how I plan to sneak it to them so they will never suspect I’m the one.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if that’s how we planned our acts of righteousness? So that our giving was in secret? I’m just saying...

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 15 / Secret Service

So what does the United States Secret Service do anyway? Most of us, unless we are pretty up on our government agencies, think first of their role in guarding our president and ranking officials. But that is not their first assignment, nor was it the reason the Secret Service was founded.

It is estimated that in 1865 nearly one-third of all currency in circulation in America was counterfeit! The "Secret Service Division" was developed under the Department of the Treasury and commissioned with the task of the suppression of counterfeiting. (Coincidentally, the legislation creating the agency was on Lincoln’s desk the night of his assassination.) The agency was given the commission to provide Presidential protection after the assassination of President McKinley in 1901. They remained a division of the Department of the Treasury until transferred to the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.

On September 11, 2001, 67 Secret Service agents stationed at the New York field office at 7 World Trade Center were among the first-responders to victims of the attack. They were later honored for their bravery as they set up triage centers, helped people evacuate the buildings, provided trauma care for the wounded, and assisted the police and fire departments in their rescue efforts.

The following statement was in an article I read concerning the Secret Service:

Due to the discretion of this organization, many details about the Secret Service are currently classified.

Obvious, if not redundant. Secret Service will most likely be undisclosed, private, unrevealed, anonymous, or private.

So what about our service? How often do we look for ways to serve others and plan to remain anonymous? Do you have a plan for touching the lives of people in need without disclosing your role in blessing them?

I am fully aware that so much of our service to others calls for our engagement with them. Jesus’ ministry is filled with service to others, and they knew he did it and profusely thanked him. But there are other moments where he heals and then "slips away" before his identity is revealed.

The key issue is motive. Even when our "light so shines among men that they see our good works," it must still be for the purpose of them "glorifying God" (Matthew 5:16).

I’m planning some "secret service" during this 40-Day Journey Toward a Life of Active Compassion. I anticipate that it will be both fun and transforming. And ultimately, people will simply have to give thanks to God for the good gifts He has given us to pass on to them (2 Corinthians 9:10-15)!

- Don McLaughlin

Day 14 / Two-Handed Generosity

My brother is four years older and a good bit larger than me. He was in charge when we worked on projects together. Whether we were working construction, cleaning out a barn, or building fences...Larry was the boss. This became especially precarious when my dad assigned us to put up some barbed wire fencing. This required using a sledge hammer to pound the steel posts into the ground.

So here's the picture: The head of the post is about 1 inch wide. One of us holds the post steady while the other one swings a huge sledge hammer down on the post to drive it into the ground.

Hmmmmmm. I wonder which one of us is going to hold the post while the other one swings the hammer? You can imagine how freaked out I was holding those posts? Every time that sledge hammer slammed into the top of the post with a massive **CLANG** the post would vibrate and make my whole body quake. He would tell me (and sometimes yell at me) "Hold the post still!!" I was thinking, "Ya, that’s easy for YOU to say...you’re the one swinging that huge hammer. But what if you miss? With one missed bone-crushing swing, you could obliterate my hands!"

Larry and I drove hundreds of fence posts during those years at home. Larry did most of the hammer swinging and I did most of the post-holding. I developed a lot of trust for his ability to swing that hammer, and I got better at holding the post steady.

Here is what made that job so challenging, and makes that memory relevant to our 40-Day Journey Toward a Life of Active Compassion:

The post-holding hands could not control the hammer-swinging hands. When I am driving a small nail with a hand-held hammer, my left hand (holding the nail) knows what my right hand (swinging the hammer) is doing. My brain is in control of both hands.

But when Larry and I were driving those tall fence posts into the ground, his brain controlled the hands that swung the hammer and my brain controlled the hands that held the pole. Simply put, it required trust...NOT control...for the two hands to work together.

In our 40-Day Journey entry for Day 14, Sheree writes:

I love it that Jesus takes for granted that His disciples will generously give to the needy. Twice in Matthew 6:1-4, He says "when you give to the needy;" He does not say "if you give to the needy." Generosity and righteousness are inseparable in this section of scripture...The question is not so much what our hand is doing but what our heart is thinking while the hand is doing it.

This means that there are parts of giving to others that we can control, and there are parts of the process that require complete trust. If we are determined to give in such a way that all the glory and praise go to God, then we will have to let go of how someone else responds. In the name of Jesus, we must accept that we may not be understood, appreciated, remembered, or even noticed. Our generosity must be rooted in our commitment to righteousness.

In fact, our pursuit of righteous living may be tested by our generosity. When you try to help someone and they do not respond favorably, we might be tempted to be angry with them, or feel like taking back our offer. But Jesus shows the way to handle this in his teachings and example. We are called to give and let God take care of everything else. We simply give and serve and then let God be in control of affirming and rewarding us (Matthew 6:1-4). We must resist trying to control both "hands" of the giving process. We give, and let Him take care of everything else.

- Don McLaughlin

Day 14 / Appreciated

There are times I really struggle with the whole left hand/right hand concept. I suppose it’s because I also sometimes struggle with giving honor to whom honor is due. Is it just me or does it seem like they could cancel each other out?

Have you ever worked hard on something, only to have someone else take credit for it? That can really rankle. Or have you ever anonymously given someone a gift, only for the recipient to think someone else was the giver?

I recently watched a rerun of Criminal Minds. It was an episode where the research tech, Garcia, received a bouquet of flowers that had a card thanking her for her hard work, signed by Gideon (a senior member of their team). She was practically giddy about it. It made her feel ten feet tall. And when she went in to thank him for it, he barely acknowledged it. But that just made her all the more thrilled. It wasn’t until the end of the episode that it was revealed that another member of the team had actually sent the flowers, but signed Gideon’s name to the card. When Gideon asked him why he had done it, the character Hotchner replied, "Everyone needs to feel appreciated" (or something like that).

But you know what struck me? Neither character was bothered by who received the credit. Both recognized the value in honoring and validating another person. That’s cool.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 13 / Be in the Scene

It seems that no matter which movie I watch that stars Tom Cruise, I’m always aware that it’s Tom Cruise. What I mean is that while he is a good actor, for me he never seems to "become" the character. All the way through Mission Impossible, I’m thinking, that's Tom Cruise instead of Ethan Hunt. All the way through Top Gun, I’m thinking, that’s Tom Cruise, not Maverick. It doesn’t seem to have hurt his career any, but I really do prefer believable characters.

On the other hand, whether or not I like the movie, I always buy into the characters portrayed by Russell Crowe. I totally believed he was Maximus in Gladiator, and then bought into him being John Forbes Nash in A Beautiful Mind. (Disclaimer: these are my opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management.)

So lately I’ve been spending my Sunday afternoons in rehearsals for the upcoming His Kids’ Christmas musical.  Yesterday (due to the distracting anticipation of Trunk 'n Treat) we had to be reminded several times to "be in the scene."  We were guilty of saying our lines without becoming the characters we were playing.  The director kept saying to us something along the lines of, "Don’t be yourself saying these lines, be the character, interact with the others' characters. The audience has to believe you are this character.
So, we will see in several weeks how well we were able to follow the director’s instructions."

You can draw the parallel here. Most people can tell when we are who we say we are.

So what motivates us to be engaged in active compassion, not only on this 40-Day Journey, but for the rest of our lives?  What motivates us to want to engage in active compassion? There may be as many answers to that as there are people in this congregation. I want to be motivated to please God – not my co-workers. I want to be motivated to help others who are in need – not to gain recognition. I want to be motivated to do good for the sake of doing good – not for the credit others might give.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 13 / Character

Were you ever in a high school or college play? In the only school play I’ve ever been in, my high school drama teacher tried desperately to get me to understand the value of "staying in character." Mr. Sherlock was a patient man and certainly understood and loved theatre. But he didn’t have much to work with in our little high school. No one else auditioned for the role I got, so he was stuck. Thankfully for everyone involved, it was a pretty minor role, and the other actors could make up for my on-stage foibles.

But I have carried one lesson from high school drama class with me into adult life: Being your character is more important than perfectly knowing the script. Now that doesn’t mean that the script was unimportant, but Mr. Sherlock emphasized that beyond everything else, a great play was dependent on "the believability of the actor." In essence he was teaching us that you must so embody the role that the audience gets caught up in the sense that they are watching real life.

One of the stories surrounding the passing of young and talented actor, Heath Ledger, who played The Joker in the most recent Batman film, The Dark Knight, was that Jack Nicholson warned Ledger about the role. Nicholson played The Joker in 1989 and spoke of the awful toll it took. New York Daily had this to say after Ledger’s untimely death in the weeks leading up to the films much anticipated debut:

"It's going to be tough, because The Joker is such an indelible character, and Heath was such an indelible actor. It could be tough to disassociate ourselves from reality."

It is so interesting that in theatre the idea is to completely embrace a roll, even though you know going in that the role is temporary.

So what does this mean for us? In our 40-Day Journey toward a Life of Active Compassion, we are pursuing a transformation of how we see, feel, and touch our world. We want to be filled with the compassion of Christ so that we see with His eyes, feel with His heart, and take action on behalf of others in such a way that they feel the love of God through us.

But this is not theatre. This is not a temporary role we are playing. Our life of active compassion is someone we are becoming. We are emerging into the fullness of Christ living in us and through us.

But one lesson from theatre does apply: Our words and actions must be reliable and believable. People need to hear in our voice, see in our eyes, and experience through our actions that we truly do care about them and the outcome of their lives. This is not theatrics. This is about being transformed into the true character of Christ Jesus who lives in us by his Spirit.

- Don McLaughlin

Day 12 / What Do You Want?

"What do you want?"

This question is asked millions of times per day around our globe, in multiple settings, and with a variety of voice inflections and facial expressions

I am thinking about a tired and exasperated mother of an energized three-year-old walk through a Wal-Mart.  She turns to her pitiful, pleading, nagging child after thirty minutes of non-stop “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” and she exclaims, “What do you want?!”

I’m thinking about the midnight-shift waitress at a truck stop in the middle of Nebraska, taking orders from bleary-eyed truckers and weary motorists. She has about two hours to go before she can call it a night.  She fakes her best smile and asks, “What do you want?”

What do I want?

In Day 12 of our 40-Days Toward a Life of Compassion Workbook, we are challenged with this question. But it doesn’t stop there. The further challenge comes when I have to compare and contrast what I judge to be "wants" versus what I am calling "needs." And how many times in daily conversation do we get those two mixed up?

I need a new car. I need that outfit. I need that new driver on display at the pro-shop. I need a different job, school, coach, teacher, boss, etc. The list goes on.

In Luke 10, just after the story of the Good Samaritan, we follow Jesus to the home of Mary and Martha (sisters of Lazarus–See John 11). Mary is going crazy with the arrangements for hosting Jesus. Her exasperation with her sister's lack of help spews out in her conversation. She demands that Jesus step in and tell Mary to get up and help. To which Jesus utters this paradigm-shifting reply:

"Martha, Martha," [Jesus answered], "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

That "one thing" is somehow rooted in our personal walk with God (Luke 10:39). It is that relationship, our relationship with our Creator, Sustainer, Savior, Comforter, King, Guide and Friend that recasts what I believe I need, and what I simply want. This challenge cannot be resolved on a whim, or fully transformed just because we have been pummeled by an international or personal financial downturn.

The challenge to really identify the difference between my needs and wants will ultimately only be solved in an ongoing walk with the one who knows me from dust to destiny. I can only hope to get a glimpse of the big picture when I spend time with the Artist.

- Don McLaughlin

Day 11 / Unstuck

Jesus challenges me at several levels, but perhaps the one I appreciate the most has to do with my motives. Trust is based to a great degree in how we perceive other’s motives. We discern their motives perhaps by their words and actions. We must be humble about this because we can misinterpret the words and actions of others and judge their motives inappropriately. This is where the "Golden Rule" would certainly apply. (Judge the motives of others with the same honor and humility that you want from them as they are judging your motives.)

But even with all the difficulty of discerning our motives and the motives of others, Jesus still boldly addresses the issue of motive. He wants us to be diligent in being concerned about why we do what we do.

In Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus delivers some blunt advice about motives in regard to our acts of righteousness, our giving to the needy, and our prayers. Now don’t mistake Jesus’ teaching. He is all for acts of righteousness, giving to the needy and prayer! But he is calling us to consider that when we do these things, there is a right way to do them that reflects a right relationship with God. The way we do our acts of righteousness, giving and prayer can either promote ourselves or invite people closer to God.

But this can be where we get "stuck." Consider...

1. How do I help in certain situations if all my acts of righteousness are supposed to “be in secret?”  If someone is broken-down on the side of the road, or is in need of help, how do I reach out to them without them "seeing" my acts of righteousness or giving?

2. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus commands us, "Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." How does that passage fit in with Matthew 6:1-4?

3. How do we combine our efforts in helping our community if we are never to let the "left hand know what the right hand is doing?"

4. How do we ever pray out loud in a small group or worship service, or even pray out loud with someone who is hurting, if we are to only pray in an "inner room" where only our Father in heaven hears us?

Okay...so this means we will have to think a little bit about how to live a life of active compassion!

It seems to me that these statements of Jesus are not opposed to each other. These are not unsolvable riddles. Jesus is speaking to the issue of motive. Jesus himself feeds the five thousand, gives aid to the hurting, prays in the presence of others, and calls us to do all these things as well. But his teachings in Matthew 6:1-4 are about MOTIVES. Jesus is not calling us to never do anything for others in their presence, or with a group who is working together to help others. He is challenging us to do it all in the name of God and for His glory.

Once again, we get unstuck by taking all this to the Father.

- Don McLaughlin

Day 11 / Righteous

Today's entry in the 40 Days Toward a Life of Compassion Workbook is entitled Giving to the Needy, but it's mostly about Jesus' teaching on being righteous.  The passage we read today was Matthew 6:1-4, which talks about kingdom living and the concept of being righteous.

I know I have been exposed to this word "righteous" in many Bible classes and vacation Bible schools, but the moment that sticks out most in my mind when I hear the word "righteous" is from the infamous movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

This movie is a comedy/science fiction movie in which two slacking metalheads travel through time in order to gather historical figures for their high school history presentation.  Great movie!!!  In this movie whenever they see something awesome or they come in contact with someone who is cool or helps them out they automatically say, “Righteous!"

After contemplating this concept about righteous living I have been thinking about what the word “righteous” actually means for our daily lives.  You might be familiar with the Dennis Jernigan song “For the Lord is a Righteous God.” The lyrics for this song, taken from Psalm 11:7, include:

And the righteous will seek His holy face,
washed in His blood, saved by His grace.
To the righteous He promises this special place,
right next to His heart, face-to-face.

This song and scripture got me thinking that if righteousness is me expressing the transformation within me, through my spirit and my intent, then what am I expressing and where am I getting that expression from?  I think for me it starts with realizing if I am looking at God’s face.  Because if I am looking at Gods’ face then I will begin to reflect his face to others and begin the process of being righteous.

You might laugh at the reference to the Bill & Ted movie, but I think part of the concept is right on the money.  The question is: When I interact, give to the needy, work, etc.--would Bill & Ted say that they saw something that was righteous?  It would not be that they saw me being righteous (for personal recognition), but instead they saw the Righteous One through the face that I am reflecting.  Today, stop and look for the face of God.  Then go out and be righteous!!

- Justin Bagwell

Day 10 / Stuck

Being seventeen can be so fun...and so quickly go south! My cousin and I were cutting wood and loading it in pickups. It was a construction site where my dad's company was clearing the ground to put in streets, curbs, water lines, drainage pipes, and all the other services necessary for a new neighborhood so sprout. So our job was to cut up logs into smaller pieces, chop them into firewood, and haul them away.

Did I mention this was before there were streets? The brush was cleared and fresh blacktop would be in place soon, but for now, it was just a lot of mud. The rain couldn't have helped our situation. My dad had suggested that we park the trucks near the road and then use a tractor and trailer to haul the wood out. But that would have meant loading it, unloading it, and loading it again. Somehow that did not compute in my seventeen-year-old mind.

But now the trucks were loaded with wood, and stuck so deep in the mud that they wouldn't budge. But hey, things happen. Dad would understand. Go to a phone, (Ya...no cell phones then!), call a tow truck, etc.

Nope. Never crossed my mind. My cousin and I, at my urging, hotwired an excavator and drove it down to the trucks. It didn't take long to get it stuck...all 25 tons of it!  My cousin was quick to point out that we could still go make a call. I was like, "Are you crazy? We gotta get this thing out of here!" So I fired up an earthmover. Yep...a 35 ton behemoth with huge engines, giant tires, and lots of yellow steel!

Who could have known how powerless the earthmover was against the mud? Especially when chained to a "stuck-up-to-the-top-of-the-tracks" excavator! Trucks stuck. Excavator stuck. Earthmover stuck! Wow! Better make that call.

It got worse. As I was walking up from the bowels of mud hell, an Oregon State Policeman was waiting on me. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, BOY?" he bellowed. Scared the mud right off my body. My dad and I have the same first and last name. He named our construction company the Don McLaughlin Construction Company. I never really had an appreciation for that lightning bolt of creativity until I showed the officer my driver's license! Actually, that little revelation got him laughing. In fact, he got quite a sadistic kick out of the whole thing! Maybe that is why he waited there with us until my dad arrived.

Ugh! It would have been so much easier to get unstuck if I would have called my father first.

Hmmmmm.

In many of the conversations I heard and had this week, some of us are a little stuck. But not all for the same reason. Some are stuck as we feel a little overwhelmed with the opportunity and responsibility to use a special gift to serve others. Some are little stuck as the generosity of one gift has hightlighted some patterns of selfishness. But as the week continued, there was a great sense that God is the author of this wonderful journey, and when we focus on him, we will get unstuck!

- Don McLaughlin

---

I don’t know about you, but over the last few weeks I’ve gained several new and different perspectives on the story of the Good Samaritan. For years I taught Bible classes and pretty much just encouraged kids to be the Good Samaritan. I’ve taught active compassion. So why am I surprised when those kids who have grown up actually practice active compassion?

More than one time I’ve been driving to the airport in whatever city I lived in at the time, and I’d have my own children with me. Inevitably, there would be someone at a stoplight who looked really destitute, holding a sign up that said "Will work for food" or "Disabled veteran: Please help." As most kids are naturally inquisitive (and mine asked more questions than the average) I would be asked all manner of questions like, "What does the sign say?" "What does that mean?" "Can we give him/her food?" "Can they mow/clean/dust/ vacuum/pick up (or whatever the kids’ job was that day) for us? We can feed them supper."

Wow. If you’ve never tried fielding those questions from kids, give some thought to it. Kids get it that we are to have compassion and help those who are in need. What they don’t get is why we don’t practice what we preach.

Unfortunately, I’ve made poor attempts at helping and I’ve made no attempts at helping, and I’ve made plenty of excuses for both. When I look back at my track record, I think to myself, I’m going to try and do a better job of this.

Well, like Yoda the Jedi Master says, "Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

I wonder when I crossed that bridge from not getting it to not practicing it.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 9 / Habits

As I contemplate the characters in the story of the good Samaritan, I am reminded of one very simple truth: We are all living in God’s story. He is the main, recurring character and in one way or another, we are all involved in His story. Misguided or faithful; loving or hateful; gracious or spiteful, we are all God’s beautiful children. Sometimes, we convince ourselves that this is our story; that the children have surpassed the father and created their own, more entertaining, more rewarding story.

How can we forget that this is the God who spoke the universe into existence with the power in His voice? The very words He spoke formed our bodies and the breath from His mouth gave us life. Fortunately for us, God did not just stop with this action either. He continued and continues to be the main character as He poured and continues to pour out His love on His children.

So here we stand, with God beckoning us to join Him in His story by completely changing the mindset that we have become all too comfortable in. Luke makes a point in the story of the good Samaritan to say that all three characters (the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan) had one thing in common: They saw the broken, beaten man on the side of the road. We all see needs around us, but many times, we are so caught up in the stories we are writing that we passively choose to not actively be a part of God’s story. God wants us to do more than just see need. He wants us to join Him in providing for His children. God did not intend for us to solely witness great things happen in His story, He wants us to join Him in making them happen.

May you have the eyes to see, and the heart to join God in what He is already doing!

- Brett Flanary, Minister to Students

---

Habits. We all have them. One author wrote, "Habits are our ability to do more than one thing at a time without thinking about one of them." I’m not sure that definition is perfectly sound with the physiology of the human brain, but it certainly makes practical sense. How else can you drive and do your makeup at the same time? Ha!

Okay...so maybe you don’t even wear makeup, but you still have patterns that are so predictable and doable that you don’t even have to think about it. But I wonder what impact this has on our compassion?

Maybe you’ve heard someone gasp, "What were you doing on that side of town? I wouldn’t be caught dead down there. Don’t you know how dangerous it is?" And maybe it is dangerous, and maybe it would require some advance thought to determine the best way to serve in some circumstances, but these questions and statements reveal a pattern that directly influences how we show our compassion. If my habit is to avoid a certain part of town, there has to be a reason. Something about that part of town, or at least the way I have been taught to think about that part of town, created in me the habit of avoidance.

Habits of avoidance are not always geographically determined. Sometimes we just avoid people. And I would be lying through my keyboard if I didn’t admit that I struggle with this also.

What is behind all this? Maybe there’s some fear or painful history. Maybe you were cultured in a time and place where you didn’t have a lot of personal involvement with people of a certain background. Maybe you’re uncomfortable around certain people because you lack familiarity or confidence. Maybe during your growing up years you heard negative things about some kinds of people, or you were simply taught not to mix with them. However it happened “then," these experiences are still affecting how we look and feel toward others.

The Samaritan in Jesus’ story would have most certainly been characterized in nearly any Judean story as the "villain." Biblical commentators and historians have noted for years that, "Jews made it their pattern to avoid contact with Samaritans by traveling the roads around Samaria, which significantly increased the distance of their journey."

But then Jesus, a Jewish man and rabbi, actually makes the Samaritan the hero, over and above priest and the Levite. Somehow the Samaritan matured beyond all the stereotypes, attitudes, and negative feelings in order to help the beaten man on the side of the road. We do not know if this Samaritan felt these feelings from others, or felt them in his own heart toward others. We just know that the reason Jesus used the Samaritan in his story is because the Jews would have characterized the Samaritan as the villain, and Jesus was turning that thinking upside down.

The Samaritan represents us all in some ways. He is the person who is capable of helping others, but was also raised in a social atmosphere that would have excluded Jews from his list of those to help. And he certainly could not depend on any help if the tables had been turned. But he chooses something different than what everyone expected. He chooses active compassion.

What are some habits or patterns in your thoughts and actions that limit the circle of people that might receive active compassion from you? What distinguishes them from others? Is it where they live? Clothing they wear? Gender? Their skin color? Their age? The list could go on for quite some time. But maybe an even more important question might be, what will you do during this 40-Day Journey Toward a Life of Compassion to remove those patterns and habits from your life?

- Don McLaughlin

Day 8 / Perception

Have you watched the 40-Day Journey videos on our website? Take a look at the interview with Major Boglin. At one point in the interview I ask him what he hopes will be the outcome for our church family. He remarks that he hopes there will be an "ongoing dialogue" concerning acts of compassion. As he is leaning against a wall in  our church building, he mentions that he hopes in the future that  "if these walls could talk" they would tell countless stories of active compassion throughout our church and community.

His words are so inspiring!  But as is always true with Major, his inspiring words came mixed with sobering comments.  He opens his interview with a reference to philosopher Thomas Kuhn who noted that we see what we look at--but with the influence of our perceptual experiences. In essence, we see only what we have been taught to see.  So we also overlook the people we’ve been taught to overlook.

This concept has been the core of most of my conversations over the last three days. As the amazement of Sunday’s gift settles in on us, our true heart is beginning to show.  I have had so many people say to me that when they first received their voucher, their first thought was wrapped up in the excitement of giving all the funds to some organization or charity.  But then as they prayed, and began to see their world more completely (…work, school, commute, MARTA, airport, sidewalks, libraries, study hall, cafeteria, walking in the neighborhood, in the grocery store, at the gas station…) they began to wonder if God wasn’t calling them to more personal engagement.

Maybe the easiest and least engaging thing I could do is just request a check to an organization somewhere.  Of course it would be one that is doing great things to serve others. And that is a wonderful thing to do. Support worthy efforts that are making a difference in our world.  But it that is ALL I do, then I have missed the core of the Good Samaritan story!  This is not a story of a guy that simply gives money to a needy man and then hurries on his way.

The Samaritan does not flip two silver coins at the dying man as he scurries along his sterile path.  Can you imagine what the Samaritan looked like, smelled like, felt like by the time he bandaged the man’s gaping wounds and picked him up, certainly staining his own garments with sweat, dust and blood?  What fatigue did the Samaritan battle as he stayed up nursing the man through the night in the inn-turned-ER?

The scene of this story is filled with the sights, smells, sounds and stimulus of the “Bloody Way.”  But the main character in the scene fears neither the way of compassion nor the way of personal engagement.. He makes room in his life for both the kind of active compassion that simply cannot stay disengaged.

What will it take for you to step closer to the hurting?  What fears will you have to overcome to actually get close to the hurting, broken, and poor?  Do you have some past experiences or examples that have kept you from being deeply engaged with people who are really down and out?  What might God have in mind for you in regard to serving others if He has his way in your life by the end of the 40-Day Journey?

- Don McLaughlin

---

You know, I’ve lived in Atlanta for over 11 years, now, and I have never--not once--driven to Crawford Long Hospital (yes, I know it’s an Emory facility now) without getting turned around. I went from getting lost each time I drove there--I mean, tried to drive there--to the point where now I just have to backtrack and turn around a couple of times.

What I do know is this: I do not like being lost around that area after dark. The unfamiliarity of it makes me uneasy. I have found myself accusing the GDOT of narrowing the lanes after dark. Illogical, I know. But an unfamiliar landscape or roadway can make me nervous and anxious.

In kind of the same way, doing things in a new way with a fresh perspective can also make me a little uneasy. As I’m keeping my eyes open for those who are in need, I may find myself in unfamiliar territory--literally and figuratively. But I’m paying attention more.

Consider these quotes as you think about paying attention to the scenes you’re in each day:

Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.
- Jose Ortega y Gassett

When you make a commitment to a relationship, you invest your attention and energy in it more profoundly because you now experience ownership of that relationship.
- Barbara de Angelis

The best way to forget ones self is to look at the world with attention and love.
- Red Auerbach

Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.
- Augustine of Hippo

The studies indicate that focusing our attention on someone else, takes our mind off of our own problems. We stay healthier and thereby live longer.
- Allen Klein

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 7 / Paying Attention

I love to bake. Really. I love the whole process of baking. I love to look at recipes online. I collect church cookbooks. I can spend hours reading through cooking magazines and thinking about recipes. When I find a recipe I really want to try, I start scouting the shelves of groceries stores and specialty shops for ingredients. I read the recipe over and over so that I’ll be familiar with it when I actually start the baking process. I make sure I have the equipment - pans, mixer, spatulas - that I will need. And I know what I’ll need because I’ve read the recipe so many times.

Occasionally, I’ll find a recipe that’s a little different that calls for an ingredient I don’t have on hand. (Most recently, this was cinnamon chips.) Every store I go into, I look for the hard-to-find ingredient. I may not be able to bake the new recipe for a while because I’m keeping an eye out for that ingredient. If I don’t find it after a bit, I’ll talk to the managers at the grocery stores, asking if they can get it. I’ve gone so far as to order it online!

And when I finally get that last ingredient, I’m ready to bake! I set aside plenty of time so that I can be sure I don’t hurry through and miss something. I get out everything I’m going to need, as well as some things I just might need. And then...it’s go time. Most of the time, the results are awesome. However, sometimes, no matter how much I tried, or how much I wanted it to be perfect, it just doesn’t turn out the way I hoped it would. But that doesn’t deter me from trying again - or trying a different recipe.

If you aren’t a baker, or if you don’t like to bake, or even if you’ve never baked, that may not sound like something worth doing. And I will be the first to tell you that if I didn’t engage so completely in the baking process, it’s likely I wouldn’t want to repeat the process. I mean, really, all that preparation for little or nothing?

We’ve been preparing for this 40-Day Journey for a while. We may not have known the details, but we’ve been praying and watching. Now we have a more defined reason to step up our preparation. Just like in the baking process, I am committed to paying more attention to the people around me - that special ingredient of someone in need. I have committed to being diligent in my awareness. I have committed to active engagement. I believe the result will be awesome. But even if it doesn’t turn out just like I imagine, I know that God is in control and all of the glory belongs to Him.

I was recently channel-surfing and came across the Whoopi Goldberg movie Sister Act 2. There’s a song in that movie called "Wake Up and Pay Attention." The message is valid.

Just as when I am on the lookout for a hard-to-find ingredient, I’m committed to being on the lookout for those around me who are in need. I may not find them in the usual places I go, but I’m paying attention more.

Just think...all this preparation will result in a transformed heart in me, as well as a blessing for someone who really needs a blessing.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

---

My friend Bill and I were eating ribs in Branson, Missouri when we got on the topic of travel. We had known each other about a year, and I knew he traveled extensively, so I asked him, "So is there any country in the world you haven’t been that you would really like to go see?" "I’d love to go to the Holy Lands," he replied. I thought to myself, "You’ve been to over 140 countries and you skipped over the Holy Lands? There is no possible way that he found 140 countries more interesting, compelling, and meaningful than Israel, Jordan and Egypt!"

So with a slight seasoning of sarcasm I said, "So what’s wrong with the Holy Lands...you scared a war is going to break out while you’re there or something?" He snapped, "No...I just don’t want to waste my time in a place where I wouldn’t even know what I was looking at!" So I shot back, "Then take me with you, and I will tell you what you’re looking at!"

Now bear in mind, I’d never even been to Canada or Mexico! I hadn’t even been on a flight longer than a few hours, let alone to a foreign country. And I certainly had never been to the Holy Lands! I was actually just caught up in the banter. But then he threw down the gauntlet! "Okay," he said, "let’s go!"

I was in a state of shock. Was he kidding? Serious? Calling my bluff?

Within the week it was evident that he was dead serious. We would fly into Amman, Jordan, and visit the ancient Nabatean capital of Petra. From there we would spend a week in the footsteps of Jesus in Israel. We would finish the trip with an eight-day archaeological tour of ancient Egypt! I was in disbelief. I didn’t even have a passport. Never needed one. They never ask for one when you cross the Mississippi from Tennessee into Arkansas!

When the time finally came for the trip, he loaned me a big suitcase appropriate for international travel. I took it home and started stuffing it with everything I could imagine wanting if I was going to be away from home and half-way-around-the-world for two weeks.

Did I mention my friend is brash? Did I say anything about his lack of boundaries and his general miscalculations concerning personal space? Ha! The night before the trip, he came over to our house, walked over to my neatly packed suitcase, and just started ripping stuff out! He kept muttering things like, "Won’t need that...pffffft...who would ever pack that?...what’s that doing in here?...Don’t travel much, do you!"

I couldn’t believe it! Who unpacks someone else's suitcase? But he wasn’t done! He then pulled out pen and paper and made me a list of what I needed now that he had rid me of what I would not need.

When he left, I was more than a little ticked off! Who did he think he was to come into my house and get into my suitcase and throw out my clothes? But then I heard that little voice of wisdom in my head...OK, actually it was Susan talking sense into me. She simply asked, "Don, if you have never even traveled outside the country, and he has been in over 140 countries, who would know better what to pack...you or him?" Ugh! Right again! And then for the next two weeks I used everything he told me to pack, and missed nothing he through out! Hmmm. Maybe there is something to letting the one more experienced with the journey be the one who tells us what to pack for the trip?

What about this 40-Day Journey Toward a Life of Active Compassion? The Samaritan was obviously prepared in multiple ways for both the journey he planned, and the possible journey he planned for. His travel experience told him what to pack for his journey, but he included some items in his packing that clearly prepared him to be effective when he came upon the wounded man.

This 40-Day Journey is about removing some things that are inside us that do not belong in a lifestyle of active compassion. But it is equally about opening ourselves up to what God would put in, even if we do not believe we need it, or want it! What would God "pack" into your life that would open your eyes, heart, and hands to the needs that are all around you?

- Don McLaughlin

Day 6 / Prepare

A good steward is a prepared steward. The importance of preparation has been noted throughout history. Preparation is a central theme in the thoughts and actions of successful people throughout history. Consider the priority preparation receives from these experts in their field.

"The game may be played in a stadium, but it is won or lost on the practice field."
- Joe Gibbs

"Whatever you are ready for normally shows up."
- George Burns

"Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success."
- Henry Ford

"Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with preparation."
- Thomas Edison

As we have been entrusted with a wonderful opportunity to serve and bless others, we still have some important preparation to do. We have a minimum of an entire week to notice our world with fresh eyes and feel for our world with fresh compassion. This preparation will shape how we reach out and touch our world with open hands.

So how am I preparing this week? I began today simply thanking God for reminding me that I have so much to give. Before this special opportunity ever came about, I already have been blessed with gifts I can pass on. I then began to read some passages in the Gospels to remind myself of how Jesus made himself available to the world around him. This gave me ideas for how to see others and get engaged.

I started making a list of people and opportunities to whom I may be able to offer some support. As I am in conversation with other brothers and sisters in Christ, I am learning of many different ways people are planning to give. Although it is too early for me to commit to any need just yet, these conversations reveal so many great ideas, and they are helping me think more creatively.

All of this goes into my intentional preparation so that I can make the most of this wonderful journey. What are you doing to prepare?

- Don McLaughlin

---

Yesterday was amazing, wasn’t it? I am still blown away by the generosity of someone I don’t know. And there is still a lot to do. So, I find myself asking the question, now what?

I know that this component of our 40-Day Journey is making me rethink my concept of how I’m managing what God has blessed me with. I’m having to stop and take stock of how I’m spending what the Father has given me. There are some months that I think I’m doing a pretty good job of stewardship. But then, there are other months when I think just the opposite.

After spending more time with the story of the Good Samaritan, I appreciate the different perspectives that have been presented. When I recognized that I had been cast in the role of Innkeeper, it changed my thinking.

Rob Bell, in his Nooma video "Rich" brings an even deeper awareness of my place in the big picture. It reawakens me to the recognition of the importance with which I handle God’s blessings.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 5 / Hurrying

Author and minister John Ortberg delivered a sermon to his congregation a couple of years ago around Christmas. In that sermon he told a story about a classic study of faith and compassion that was done by Princeton seminary several decades ago. In this study there were two groups of seminary students; each group was given a topic and told to go to a different location (in a different building) and deliver a talk. As they went, one at a time, each one came across a man in need. (This was actually a set-up, but they didn’t know that.) The man was slumped in an alley, semi-conscious, groaning a little – obviously in some kind of trouble.

Most of the students (remember, they were seminary students) did not offer help, they didn’t even stop to check on him, ask him a question, anything. Ironically, the topic the students were given to speak on involved the story of the Good Samaritan. How shocking is that? Students who had just read the parable of the Good Samaritan and were on their way to give a talk about the parable of the Good Samaritan were no more likely to stop and help the hurting guy in the alley than students who hadn’t just read or thought about that section of scripture. Ortberg made the point that it isn’t just hearing or reading the story that makes people stop and help.

However, the study did find this. One fact that made a big difference was how much of a hurry the student was in. They found that the students who were in a "low-hurry" category were 600% more likely to help or to notice than people who were in a “high-hurry” category. Wow. The study found that "compassion becomes a luxury as the speed of life increases." Ortberg observed that one of the reasons the issue of hurrying is so important is not so that we may have a more pleasant life. He makes the point that we cannot come and do and go as Jesus would have if we live in a chronic hurry.

Ouch.

Maybe I need to rethink my concept of open eyes. Certainly I’m going to try to give myself some extra time so that I am more likely to notice others and see those who might be in need. I wonder if that’s why I sometimes have to think hard about the last time I saw someone who was really in need.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

---

Day 5 of the 40-Days Toward a Life of Compassion Workbook ends with this challenge:

"let’s take a moment and consider all the characters in the story: the robbers, the beaten traveler, the priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, and the innkeeper. As you imagine each of these characters, what might have been some of their thoughts and feelings? In what ways have you been like each of these characters? In what ways would you like to be different than some or all of these characters? How will you become more like the person you want to be tomorrow?"

I really want to see myself as the Samaritan. I guess if I’m open about it, I just want to see myself as one of the good guys. I want to think that I would reach out to the battered soul on the side of the road.

The problem is that not everyone on the side of the road looks as obviously beaten and vulnerable. In fact, maybe the real question in the story doesn’t have to do with who my neighbor is, as much as with the question, "What kind of neighbor am I?" As Sheree Hill challenges us in this journey, the whole issue of being the good neighbor lies within my own eyes, heart and hands.

So as I look at the characters in the story again, I want to grow in two key areas:

1) As I walk, drive, or ride in my daily life, I want to see my world with godly compassion, and not as if they are in my way or even just on my way. I am asking God to help me see myself as a servant to others. This would grow me more like the Samaritan.

2) But I also want to grow to be more like the innkeeper. I don’t just go to the world. Sometimes the world comes to me. How will I receive others when they come to me? Will they find me caring, open, willing?

- Don McLaughlin

Day 4 / Fasting? Really?

My first thought when I woke up this morning was, "What am I going to do today about this whole fasting thing?" Of course, I have been thinking about it for a few months now, but it seemed kind of distant. But as my stomach began to voice its opinion about the whole idea, I knew this was "go-time." I had to get my mind wrapped around the fact that I had to follow-through. So I started to pray. Just a few lines into the prayer, I heard what Margaret Feinberg calls, The Sacred Echo. It was like God was whispering to me, "Don, its ALREADY working. You are already praying. You are already depending me on me, looking to me, calling out to me. Isn’t that what this whole fasting thing is about?"

I kept on praying, but I started thanking Him for the day, my relationship with Him, my life, this 40-Day Journey, our church, etc.! I felt like this could really be a good day in my walk with him. Then Susan and I started talking, and the first thing we discussed was the fasting, which then furthered our discussion about the 40-Day Journey, our ministry, our love for God, etc.

And it just keeps rolling forward...We are still talking...and I am writing this blog...and I am thinking about prayer...and I suddenly become aware that I am not following all the "appetites" of my daily life. My routine is interrupted, and it made more room for God. I am more calm in my thoughts, and more gentle in my interactions.

God bless this fast, even for someone kind of slow like me!

- Don McLaughlin

---

For me, fasting is intensely personal. I have a hard time talking about it at all. I’d prefer to talk about almost anything other than fasting. Oh, not because I’m against it – not at all. It’s just between me and God.

In studying Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, he discusses the spiritual discipline of fasting, and he brings several good points out for thought. Many folks have talked about how – because of medical reasons – they cannot fast. What they mean is that they cannot do a total food fast, I’m sure.

There are other kinds of fasts. The point of Christian fasting is to give God time you would normally use for something else. So, if a total food fast is not practical or healthy for you, try another type:

- Caffeine fast
- Sugar fast
- Media fast (no radio, television, newspaper, etc.)
- Meat fast

There are many kinds of fasts. If you can and choose to have a food-fast day, good for you! But good for you, too, for choosing another type of fast. So long as we are praying that we will open our eyes, hearts, and hands while we are fasting from whatever is the key.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 3 / Do I Have To?

When I was a kid, I remember very clearly looking my mom straight in the eyes and asking her, "Do we have to go to church?" I’m sure I had some really great reason right that moment – like a television show I wanted to watch (waaaaaaayyyyy before DVR) or something really important like that. Can you guess her answer? She said, "No." But don’t get concerned; she followed that up with, "No, we don’t have to go to church. We get to go to church."

Now, I grew up in church. So, she didn’t have to go into any further explanation about people who want to go to church but their governments won’t let them, or people who want to go to church but are confined because of sickness or other physical limitation, or people who lack the means. I knew about people who didn’t have the same blessings and kind of life that I was privileged to grow up with. I just didn’t always appreciate that perspective. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I still don’t appreciate that perspective.

That perspective is sometimes uncomfortable. That perspective sometimes makes me feel a little guilty. That perspective sometimes moves me to go out of my way to be kind. Kindness can be a link to compassion. I do think that kindness – and yes, random acts of kindness – is a forerunner to active compassion.

Here are a few interesting and challenging quotes about compassion:

"It is a great consolation for me to remember that the Lord, to whom I had drawn near in humble and child-like faith, has suffered and died for me, and that He will look on me in love and compassion" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart).

"Some people are filled by compassion and a desire to do good, and some simply don’t think anything’s going to make a difference" (Meryl Streep).

"Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men" (Confucius).

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion" (Dalai Lama).

"The value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands" (Arthur H. Stainback).

"I came upon a doctor who appeared in quite poor health. I said, 'There’s nothing that I can do for you that you can’t do for yourself.' He said, 'Oh yes you can. Just hold my hand. I think that would help.' So I sat with him a while then I asked him how he felt. He said, 'I think I’m cured'" (Conor Oberst).

I find active compassion to be difficult sometimes. So I’m starting with kindness. We’ll all get there, I believe. Not because we have to...because we get to.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

Day 2 / Open Heart

Several years ago my dad had open heart surgery. Just a few weeks before that, he had been undergoing a routine physical when the doctor detected that he had some blockage in at least one of his arteries. So, he referred my dad to a cardiologist. And upon further testing the cardiologist found that, indeed, my dad would need bypass surgery.

After all was said and done, three bypasses later, my dad is hale and hearty. Of course, he was hale and hearty before the surgery. As he reflects on that time, he has referred to his "open heart" more than once. But his reference is more than just the surgical reference. He still talks about the surgeon holding his heart in his hands, and then he compares it to God holding our hearts in His hands. Such imagery.

There is no one like our God. I am praying today that I will open my heart to see those around me who are in need. This is such an incredible city – and it has so many in need. I am reminded of Chris Tomlin’s song "God of This City." In those lyrics, Tomlin sings:

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You Are

You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are

It’s been said, "Be careful what you pray for…you just might get it." I am praying for an open heart.

- Sheree Yasko Hill

---

Yep, God thought this one was pretty funny apparently. I leave the house this morning at 5:10 because a friend is having surgery and I want to meet them at the hospital. I work with her and her husband is one of my buddies. He and I have been in the same men’s weekly Bible study for the past twelve years. They anticipated a positive outcome, but I still wanted to be there.

So I head out of my driveway imagining that there will be no "slow-poke-McGillicuddys" out that early. (That’s just what my dad used to call slow drivers. Why? I don’t know. It remains a mystery!) Who is going to even be out that early? But then it happened. I was not even three minutes from the house when the "McGillicuddy Conspiracy" began to unfold. It was one slow driver after another. They timed their hand-offs perfectly. Just as one would turn on their blinker, indicating they were not going my way, another would slip in front and the snail’s pace would continue.

Now bear in mind, I have already prayed through Day 2 in our 40-Day Journey workbook. You know, the page about praying for an Open Heart toward others. Blah, blah, blah...Ya, I read the parts about "How well do you see others around you?" and, "Ask God to help you prepare to open your heart to others and be moved to compassion." and, "Whatever you did for the least of these…you did for me." but I didn’t want to think of them as Jesus! I wasn’t interested in thinking compassionately about "25 mph in a 35 mile-per-hour zone!"

Then the Holy Spirit began to wake me up. This was not the result of the McGillicuddys of the world. God used this experience to show me that it is going to be tougher to see the world with the eyes of compassion than I thought. I had it in my mind that God would lead me down under the bridges of Atlanta to the homeless. That he would stab me in the heart and make me bleed for the hurting in the darkest haunts of our city. And He may still lead me there. But first he had to say to me, "Don...when are you going to quit thinking that I want your compassion to make stereotypical and geographical sense to YOU?" His Spirit in my heart kept pressing, "I want you to love the ones you ALREADY imagine to be the 'least of these,' but I also want you to quit aiming your compassion, and just live it. Make your compassion a life you live, not a place you go or a thing you do."

So the McGillicuddys were waiting for me when I left Emory Hospital. In fact, I think today was "Slow-Poke-McGillicuddy Day" on the freeways and byways of Atlanta! But I started looking beyond the cars and thinking about the stories inside those cars. I found myself praying for the people around me instead of wanting them out of my way. This turned out to be a good day for me, and God, to be on the road together.

- Don McLaughlin