Should We Fire God?

Just recd advance copy of "should we fire God" by @nlcfjim. Can't wait to read it!, originally uploaded by cherylsmith999.

That’s the question posed by my friend Jim Pace’s new book—it’s also the title! Should We Fire God? Finding Hope in God When We Don’t Understand. Jim was kind enough to send me an advanced copy, but unfortunately I was unable to write a review in a timely fashion. The good news for you is that you can now buy a copy in bookstores and not have to wait. It was released about a month ago (April 8th).
I really enjoyed Jim’s book, and saw a number of ideas presented that I found to be particularly intriguing. In fact there were a couple that I wished he would have expanded upon. They were so intriguing to me, and I feel like there is much more to be said about the ideas than his book was willing to delve into. One of these ideas shared briefly was the idea of mirror neurons. What are mirror neurons?
Well, these are neurons that fire when we experience empathetic pain with someone else. Have you ever seen another person getting injured and felt a shudder run through you? Maybe you watched someone get hit playing football, or saw someone prick their finger with a needle, and you winced. It is something beyond empathetic pain though—it’s as though our nervous system is registering another person’s experience as though we were injured. What this means is that we are much more connected to the suffering that we see in the world than we would like to think or realize. While Jim doesn’t delve much deeper than that, I kind of wonder if we reach a point where we wall off some of our emotions because we get so overwhelmed by the suffering around us—maybe it’s a coping mechanism for attempting to deal with the massive degrees of hurt we experience in this world.
Anyhoo, enough about mirror neurons . . . for now. I want to tell you a bit more about Jim’s book. I will keep it brief though. If you are looking for a deep philosophical book—this probably isn’t it. But, if you have a background in the Christian faith, and can appreciate insights from both the scriptures and from real life as people work their way through difficulties that are both overwhelming and make little sense, then you might want to check out this book. Jim led his faith community through one of the most heart-rending campus tragedies I can imagine. He leads one of the largest campus churches in the country, and this church is in Blacksburg, VA. In April 2007, a young man shot dozens of people one morning at Virginia Tech, and an entire nation wrestled with the question “Why?” And Jim was charged with answering questions from the media during this trying time.
Beyond that, he was challenged with the even greater and more important task of walking with his faith community through an ongoing period of mourning.
Jim writes not from the ivory tower of theology or philosophy, but rather from the hard school of experience. I believe that this is the greatest asset of Jim’s book. He’s writing as someone who has had to think through some really difficult stuff about God and about human nature. In fact, in some of the closing chapters, Jim brings in another interesting thought. Maybe one’s desire to fire God has a lot to do with one’s own cognitive biases as well as other less wonderful things that we have chosen to invest our time and energy in.
Give it a read if you are wrestling with a question about the goodness of God.

Encouragement for the Journey

That's the view from my house. I took the photo last fall. I usually walk down a set of stairs/sidewalk for a few blocks to enter the heart of Morgantown and the heart of WVU's campus and start my day of work. I think it's pretty incredible to live in a town where I can walk to and from my primary workspace, and where there's a pretty reliable public transit bus system to boot. The morning air in Morgantown refreshes me, but when I see a view like this image every day, it's just a great encouragement as I start my day.

Do you know what else is an encouragement to me? The words of others. Late Saturday night, my friend Jim Pace sent me a message across twitter. Jim and I have both been involved in the spiritual development of college students and young professionals for the last few year. We also spent a few summers working together in a summer leadership training program that we (along with a few others) led for college students. He's a great friend, and he's just written a book called Should We Fire God? Jim leads a church of about 1000 students at Virginia Tech, and has walked through some really difficult times there. In fact, he had the challenge of representing the faith community of Virginia Tech on major network television and walking his parishioners and staff through the grieving after the shootings back in 2007. Honestly, he is an inspiration to me.

And that's the irony. Late saturday night, I received this message on twitter. "@chanchanchepon just want to say this... You inspire me man. No joking, you really do." I don't know what prompted the message, but I do know that it meant a lot to hear words from my friend.

A similar thing happened to Jamie Sunday morning before church. She received a text from a mutual friend that said "Thanks for bringing me to Jesus." Can you believe it? What a text! It was from a mutual friend who left the area just a couple of years ago. Needless to say, Jamie was very touched by that text, and honestly, so was I.

You see, I've come to a realization lately that we end up touching people's lives far more than we realize. And yet, we are so slow to share that truth with others. Maybe you've shared your faith with friends or family members and then lost contact with them, and they now have embraced a life of faith. Maybe you took the time to listen to a friend when they were hurting and didn't know where to turn, but you comforted them. Maybe you were the one whose words may have seemed to sever a friendship, but they were actually the words that rescued someone from destroying their life.

Or maybe you are reading this, and realizing, "You know what, when ________ said or did _______, it really helped me, and I never took the time to thank them or let them know."

You know what I think? I think that YOU have had more of an impact on others than you may ever realize in this life. I also think that YOU have a great opportunity to encourage someone today just by sending a note, a text, a tweet, an email, or (deep breath) a letter. Never, never underestimate the power of your words or your presence in the life of another.

Maybe you are reading this and thinking about all of the people who have touched your life (to be honest it's what I'm doing too). You probably feel overwhelmed (because I do). Can I make a suggestion? Take a moment to send a little encouragement to just one person today.

Honestly, your note could make more of an impact in that person's day than you realize, and it will probably make a difference in your own day as you take time to remember the kindness of others.

So get to it. Seriously. It'll just take a second, and it's a really good thing.

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NLCF Fall Retreat

NLCF Fall Retreat, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

This past weekend, a handful of us from chestnut ridge church traveled down to Blacksburg, VA to participate in the fall retreat of our sister church, New Life Campus Fellowship or NLCF.

For me, it was awesome to finally bring to fruition in some small way a goal that we have been striving toward for at least four years. We wanted to have some type of joint fall retreat experience, and every year, something would get in the way with scheduling and timing, but this year, a handful of us could make the trip and join with our sister church.

I have had the pleasure of working with a number of the staff and students at NLCF for many years through programs like GCM's summer Leadership Training Program. These people have become a sort of extended family for me, and as family often does, they went out of their way to make our group feel welcome and a part of things.

Dave and Jeanette, pictured above, have been serving with GCM all over the world for many years. They are great friends, and as always, my time with them was a very encouraging time of sharing ideas and stories.

It was cool to see what another campus does for their fall retreat, and it was cool to experience blacksburg, and the great ministry that is there.

While we were there, we visited the memorial from the shooting that took place on April 16, 2007. It's easy to have things out of sight and mind, and to forget. The students and staff of VT won't forget though, and as we stood at the memorial, they began to share their stories. In our journey of a few hours travel, we had been given the privilege of carving out a space for them to process, and to remember the events of a few months ago.

I think that's part of the beauty of the body of Christ. We carry each other--we carve out space for each other. We end up both blessing and being blessed.

I could go on and on about the weekend, and the time we spent together, but I wont. I could talk about the incredible conversations four of us had as we made the drive to and from Blacksburg, but I wont--at least not now.

I'll leave you with this thought. WIll you make yourself available to people? Will you let them bless you? Will you be a blessing to others? Too much of our lives we spend in quiet isolation. Because of our isolation we miss out on soooo much!!! I'm not saying you have to drive to a faraway town, or travel around the world, but I think it behooves us to live beyond our own little bubbles of comforts--step out and see what happens--you won't be the same!