Isn’t it tempting to think of the Future “as a promised land which only favored heroes attain” as Screwtape instructed Wormwood to tell his human “patient” in CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters?  Why is it such a struggle to acknowledge that I myself am not static, but am on a journey that will have a destination?  Do I believe that the choices I make today actually matter? It’s so much easier to live with only the comfort of today in mind, ignoring the future, avoiding unpleasantness and reacting to difficulty, pain or unwanted change with fear or anger. Or when we do contemplate the future, to see it as an uncertain place that we have to navigate alone.
 
At January’s Calling Retreat Gary Barkalow reminded us that we are all “between touches.” Like the blind man who saw dim, blurry people who looked like trees after Jesus first touched his eyes and needed a second touch to fully restore his sight, we have been touched by Jesus and invited into fellowship with Him.  We may have experienced some new clarity, healing and direction in our lives as we experienced His touch on us.  But we need more; His touch on a life isn’t a one-time thing.  The picture isn’t as sharply focused yet as it will be.  The journey of discovering who He created us to be and living into the role he calls us to play in His Kingdom is an ever-increasing one.
 
“The realization of knowing our calling, glory, splendor and becoming the person who can carry it well is realized in a journey, a pilgrimage” (Gary Barkalow).
 
Of course, the problem is that along the journey when we find a comfortable resting place we want to settle down and treat it as the end destination.  When it’s time to move on and journey further, we don’t always want to.  In order to overcome our inertia God often has to use touches that don’t feel very gentle in the moment.  To get us moving toward the next stage of our journey God will:
 
 * Disrupt our life/disrupt our story
 * Dismantle the things that we have created/constructed to make life work without God and without pain
 * Rebuild and restore
 
The test, of course, is to see the redemptive hand of God in these disruptive, uncomfortable and often painful things and “to believe that God knows what He is after.”
 
It is in this crucible that we become who we were created to be.  It is here that we discover thenew name that God has given us.  Saul is knocked off his horse, struck blind, and becomes the apostle Paul.  Abram is called to leave home and follow God into the unknown, and becomes Abraham.  Jacob wrestles with God and walks with a limp for the rest of his life, but becomes Israel.  Who are you becoming?  Do you believe God has “a white stone with a new name written on it” for you?


Psalm 84:5-6
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the Valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs;

John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
 
Questions we are exploring this week:

1)      What amount of clarity do you have regarding who God made you to be?  Do you believe God has more to show you?  Are you willing to go on a journey with Him to discover it?

2)      What does it look like to be a man who not only realizes the glory God has bestowed upon him, but also has developed into the kind of person who can carry and wield that glory well?  Do you see the glory God has bestowed on your life?  Where are you vulnerable, through the lies of the enemy or your own sin or lack of full maturity, to mishandling your glory?  Have you given Jesus the permission to work in this area of your life and train you to handle your glory wisely and well?
 
3)       If you have ever mishandled your glory, has the enemy tried to use that painful experience to shut you down, create shame and convince you that what you thought was your glory is actually dangerous, bad or never to be trusted?  Are you willing to invite Jesus into that situation also, and ask his guidance as you seek to wisely wield the weight of what he has entrusted you with rather than hide it?

4)      Where in your life has it felt like things were being disrupted or dismantled?  Do you believe God had something for you in the midst of those circumstances?
 
5)         If you are in the middle of a disrupting or dismantling time, are you willing to: accept that God has either purposed or allowed these circumstances; believe that they contain an invitation to journey with Him; and will you trust that God knows what He is after?

Here’s to believing that God knows what He is after.  May you go with God.

The Piercing the Veil Team
 
 

It’s hard to believe that we were together at Wintergreen just last month.  With the Olympics now in full swing, it calls to mind the story Gary shared about the eagle and the 1984 Opening Ceremony in Los Angeles.  None of us want to be that eagle—to live a fat and coddled life such that, when called upon to be the man God created us to be, we fall short.  What is our view of God the Father?  If we believe the lie that He is distant and disappointed in us then we will almost certainly misinterpret any tough circumstance as the barometer of His heart towards us.  “Man, if I could just ___________, then maybe God would 'fix' my circumstances.”

Oswald Chambers said, “God gives us a vision and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way.”  Wouldn’t it change everything if we saw with the eyes of our heart?  What if God is passionately for us and has a crucial role that we were created to play in His grand adventure?  Doesn’t something deep inside our heart long to be trained so that we have the character to fulfill that role?  To be fathered by the One who knows each of us intimately and is for us without reservation?

So how do we “…live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received,” as Ephesians 4:1-2 tells us?  “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Humility. Don’t we so often confuse this with shame (“I have nothing to offer”)?  Phillips Brooks said, “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.”  Remember, to be humble is to exercise “sober judgment” (Romans 12:3).  And we desperately need the Lord and true friendships with trusted men to help us see and interpret our life more clearly…

Gentleness. Without humility, there is no gentleness.  If we know who we are in Christ, we are able to offer mercy, grace and hope to others...especially in areas in which we have experienced suffering.  As Oswald Chambers said, "Sorrow burns up a great amount of shallowness."  In Romans 5, we are called to "rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."  If we ask for eyes to see what He is up to in the midst of suffering, it puts us in a place where He can train us..molding our character into the men He created us to be.

Patience. Without gentleness, there is no patience.  God does not want us to grind it out and be resigned that things will be hard until we die--only then to experience freedom and life.  If we trust the heart of our Good Guide, it allows us to be patient...to rest...to hope.

May the Lord gives us eyes to see what he is up to.  And may we give him permission to train us up to be men characterized by humility, gentleness and patience.

Questions we are exploring this week:

1)  What is God developing in you right now?  Is it possible that God has you in a "training circle"?

2)  What does it look like for you to exercise “sober judgment?” (Romans 12:3)  In what areas of your life are you under the influence of fear, anger, lust or arrogance?  How does it sit with you that failing to recognize and exercise the gifts He has given you results in living in the counterfeits (shame, fear and resignation)?  Why are we afraid to let His glory shine through us?

3)  Do you have another man in your life who has total freedom to speak truth in love to you?  Are you willing to take the risk to share your life stories so that you can help each other see your lives more clearly?

Here’s to believing that God knows what He is after,
 
 
 
The Piercing the Veil Team
 
 
Men-

"Keep a clear eye toward life's end. Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God's creature. What you are in His sight is what you are and nothing more. Do not let worldly cares and anxieties or the pressure of office blot out the divine life within you or the voice of God's Spirit guiding in your great task of leading humanity to wholeness. If you open yourself to God and His plan printed deeply in your heart, God will open Himself to you." ~Francis of Assissi

In many ways that quote, taken from Gary's 5th Session titled, "Discovery," sums up our quest for the entire Calling weekend.  We have purpose and destiny in the Lord.  We must keep a clear eye and recognize that our truest selves rely solely upon God's view of us.  We must be led by the Holy Spirit. Our task is important: we uniquely fulfill, through our gifting, His desire to lead the world to wholeness.  We must look to our new hearts and there we will find Him opening Himself to us.  There, in our hearts, He is at work revealing our desires and their alignment with His plan.
Wow.  This calls to mind Morpheus in The Matrix as he invited Neo into the truth...into the journey to discover his true self:  "It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth...That you are a slave...Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."  

But our new vision demands that we exercise maturity and wisdom.  In order to discover we must be able to discern God's truth in contrast to the false desires that litter the landscape of this world.  We are called to..."examine everything carefully; holding fast to that which is good." (1 Thess. 5-21)  This demands that we look candidly at the four sources of desire (our flesh, the enemy, our wounds...and our new heart) and that we be vigilant to guard against all lies while we pursue the hope of our hearts.  Remember Neo's distraction: the woman in red?  His heart is coming to life but he too must learn to identify the source of false desires in order to overcome them.  

This is a process...God's process of Awakening, Deepening and Fulfilling.  And, as Oswald Chamber said, "the test is to believe that God knows what He is after."  We discover what He is after as we listen to our hearts.  What are we curious about?  What core questions do we return to again and again?  What stories and films kindle our desire...and what about them matters so much to us?  What words of desire made our hearts race or skip a beat when looking at Gary's worksheet?  

As we live into an ever deepening relationship with Christ we find truth reflected in our deepening relationships with one another.  Those whom we entrust with our story - our personal history of how and who we've come to be -  are able to speak wisdom into the blindspots that persist on this journey.  C.S. Lewis said it best: "In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity."  

Our loving Father wants us to come to Him with hope, again and again, praying for His revelation.  Praying that He speak truth into our lives and guide us on our path.  As Paul keeps asking, "...that the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints..." (Eph 1:17) 

Questions to consider this week:

1) Consistency is a great measure of importance.  Looking back, what has brought me to life...?  In films...?  In books...? In the workplace...?  In my home...?  Are there consistent themes? Without using a label (e.g., "teacher" or "writer" ), can I put into words what it is that I love to do...? Am compelled to do?  Can I articulate my desire?

2) What does it look like to open my story to others?  Coming out of our time at Wintergreen, am I willing to risk sharing the truth about myself with other men knowing that the payoff may be new vision and insight into who I am and who I'm called to become?

3) Do I believe that God has words for me that only He can share?  Can I even put into words what it is that I would love to hear from Him?

Please feel free to share your thoughts and discoveries.  We are posting these entries online at www.piercing-the-veil.com.  There we hope you will be able to revisit earlier messages or to share the site with other men as you continue on your journey.

With a grateful heart,


The Piercing the Veil Team

 
 
"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one...As you have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world."  That was Jesus' prayer to God the Father in John 17 - well worth revisiting the entire chapter as we acknowledge the reality of the enemy's assault on the life we are each called to live.

Nearly a month removed from our time set apart: how does Satan's assault look in your life?  Take a moment to recall the enemy's strategies as Gary relayed them to us in our fourth session titled "Assault."  Have you heard whispers such as these?  Are you fighting not to believe in similar lies?

Deadening. We are wounded...damage has been visited upon us through our life; damage that short-circuit's God's calling for us.  The enemy is quick to conjure up our wounds as he seeks to keep us from living in the freedom Christ has to offer.

Diminishment. If I were really significant I would hold a position of significance...with a bigger paycheck; a better title.  If my story really mattered it would be more dramatic, more compelling...like <fill in the blank>'s story.

Disdain. You cannot live into this life God promises...it is for other men.  You've tried this before...and failed.

Disqualification. I've blown it, even this week...even today.  It's too late for me.  I'm lost.

Amazing, isn't it, how easy it is to fall under the influence of the enemy’s lies?  Even when we pause to see and interpret the enemy's assault...we are still vulnerable.  Yet our failings and our doubt are fully redeemed by the Lord through Christ: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)   We so easily go to the altar with our “surface” sinful actions; failings that really point so much deeper to the roots of our brokenness...to the lies that we have allowed to define us.  Why is it so hard to go to the Lord with more authenticity…to give Him access to ALL of our heart?  Our loving Father wants us to admit our failings of disbelief...of disqualification...the true fears of our heart and the underlying lie that we've stumbled too much and are, ultimately, irredeemable.  Then He can reveal the truth to each of us in an intimate way and deliver on His promise in Isaiah 61 to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free.

"The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Romans 11:29)

IRREVOCABLE!

Your gifts.  Your calling.  The glory you are called to fulfill in Christ...to God's glory!  Pure and redeemed by our Lord.

But it is hard to believe in the face of the assault.  Hard to stand fast, shoulder to shoulder.  Yet here we are: 96 men who threw in their lots together for one weekend at Wintergreen, now drawn along the front line with resolve and faith that our strength is not our own. 

Difficult questions we are wrestling with this week:

1)  With this idea of God's calling revealed, what am I to do with my daily struggles?  Not just failings or temptations - distractions - but the recognition that I'm still fighting not to be consumed by a smaller life than I'm called to live.  How do I approach this Life that's offered in the midst of my to-do list, my calendar...my obligations?  How do I remember?

2) How have I been diminished... disdained... disqualified throughout my life?  This week?  Today?  How can I gain strength by recognizing the attack?

3) This "deadening" idea...the burden of old wounds.  Lord, what does real healing look like? What does it look like for me to give you permission to take me on a journey towards restoration?

As we each struggle with the realities of the assault on our lives, we look forward with hope.  This is a journey, not a destination.  The next session is about discovery: that there is more to discover and we are being trained up through our circumstance.  Our stories carry weight - the wounds and the baggage matter - and the Lord desires to see us healed.  But our wounds do not define us. And how we have sinned in the mishandling of our wounds is not the final verdict on our lives.

Stand fast - you are not alone.


With a grateful heart,


The Piercing the Veil Team