This could be the biggest “What if?” of all

Posted on April 12, 2017 by jwfisch

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What if in the interweaving, each of our lives is defined by and interwoven into one another’s lives? 

You’ve heard stories of a mother feeling like someone just kicked her in the gut, when, unbeknownst to her, and halfway around the world, one of her children has just died. Or a man or woman on a business trip suddenly sits up in bed out of a sound sleep in the stone cold middle of the night and knows something is wrong with their loved one at home. You could say this is the Holy Spirit waking them up to pray, but this happens to believers and unbelievers alike.

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What if God is closer than we think?

Posted on April 11, 2017 by jwfisch

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What if God is a lot bigger than we ever thought, and by that I mean deeper and wider and all-encompassing and all-connected? What if God is virtually everywhere, not just hovering over things, and closer than we ever imagined? What if God is so intimately connected with us that He is the matrix that is holding everything together? What if that’s what Paul meant when he wrote: “He is before all things, and in him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17).  What if God is the missing part of everything? What if when Paul writes that there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all,” he actually means that He is over all and through all and in all?

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What if?

Posted on April 10, 2017 by jwfisch

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It’s Easter week. We’re going to do something a little different. We’re going to call this “What if?” week. We’re going to ask questions about things we already assume are true — and some we may not have even thought of before — and look at them again in fresh light. Often we don’t really think through enough what we believe. Is faith like that? Do you just believe a certain number of important things and then go on your way with that thing settled? Or are you constantly being stretched by the ramifications of what you believe? Is it a sign of lack of faith to ever wonder about some of the obvious things? Don’t we have to keep thinking it through? Don’t we have to keep on asking questions? Is that okay? Is that healthy?

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Walking in the liberating truth

Posted on April 6, 2017 by jwfisch

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But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. (Ephesians 5:13)

People are becoming more and more invisible. Advances in the access and use of the Internet are most likely responsible for this. More and more we are communicating with friends and strangers from a vantage point of invisibility. We send emails and texts from a safe distance where no one can see us. This can be both good and bad. Bad, because we can fool people more easily if they can’t see us, but good, because the anonymity gives us a certain protection with which we can divulge what we might not tell even our closest friend. In other words, in what sounds like a contradiction in terms, invisibility can make you more visible.

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Pardon the politics; feel the pain

Posted on April 4, 2017 by jwfisch
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Typical Millennial.

The Catch has a friend; his name is Alex, and he is 25 years old. That makes him an official millennial. We consult with him about the Internet, and he teaches us a lot about his generation.

First off, he is brilliant. He understands and speaks three languages (English, Chinese and Spanish) fluently. He may have more languages under his belt; we’ve just never asked. His mind is constantly traveling at a high rate of speed and he is very culturally and politically conscious. He considers himself a left-wing Republican. (That sounds refreshing.) He’s seriously thinking about running for office, starting with governor of California someday, and he would do that not to be popular or famous, but because he cares about this country and the world, and feels he can make a contribution.  We don’t doubt that he could. He works with his father in Internet security, which means he understands hackers because he understands how to hack. He was aware of the Russians’ propensity to hack our systems long before we ever heard about it. His mind is wired to the Internet in a way mine will never be, because he was born into this cyber world and he moves in it fluidly.

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A static faith or a fearless one?

Posted on April 3, 2017 by jwfisch

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We need to be smarter about our witness in the world.

Taking a cultural stand in society today and linking it with our Christian faith may not be the best thing to do. It can make us look like supporters of a static faith, one that wants to go backward rather than forward; a faith that longs for the bygone days when “this-far-and-no-farther” ultimatums meant something. It looks like a memorized faith rather than an internalized one. It’s hit and run Christianity — all words and separation. It’s not the words that are needed as much as the touchable, everyday expressions of the gospel that come through human hands, heart and conversation. We need to be connecting with our world, not separating from it. We need to build bridges to our culture, not create fault lines.

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A candle in the darkness

Posted on March 31, 2017 by jwfisch

Live out your years in humble fearth

Love the Lord

As innocent children you’ll appear

Like a mysterious light

In the darkest of night

We’re going to spend one more day with these words and with the words following that I hope you are adopting as a directive for your life right now. This is who we are as members of the Catch. This is what it looks like with our boots on the ground. This is a reminder — something we need to refer to often.

Love, empathize, build bridges, lift up (not tear down), create respect for all, resist the temptation to find fault even when you’re among people who all agree, choose not to take part in criminalizing anyone, speak well of people who are not in your presence, give everyone a second chance — then a third, and a fourth — up to 7 X 70 (Matthew 18:22) in fact, be a catalyst, a peacemaker, a healer. Stand in the gap; resist taking sides. Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Live like this, and you will make a difference — better yet, you will be the difference.

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Mysterious lights in the darkness

Posted on March 30, 2017 by jwfisch

Work out the life God works in yousearch

Day by day

It’s His good pleasure to see you through

If you simply obey

He’ll lead all of the way

You have a new mind and you have a new heart

Created by the King

You have a new hope and you have a new start

You don’t lack a thing

Live out your years in humble fear

Love the Lord

As innocent children you’ll appear

Like a mysterious light

In the darkest of night

You have a free spirit you have a new soul

Given you by the King

You don’t have the pressure to make yourself whole

He has given you wings

Work out the life God works in you

Day by day

It’s His good pleasure to see you through

If you simply obey

He’ll lead all of the way

[Click here to listen to this song on YouTube.]

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world. Philippians 2:14-15

“Children of God … in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.” Almost makes us seem like aliens doesn’t it? Like we glow in the dark or something. Well, maybe we are, and maybe we do. Peter seems to think we are a little strange when he writes, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). “Aliens and strangers.” I’m sure he’s referring to the fact that, as ultimate citizens of heaven and eternity — our real home — we are, as Larry Norman coined the phrase in one of his early albums, “Only visiting this planet.”

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Arise and come along

Posted on March 29, 2017 by jwfisch

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Naphtali is a doe set free

He gives beautiful words

We have been bound by fear and rejection

Now it’s time to see

That we were made to be the reflection

Of His creativity

We have the one who created the world

Living inside our bodies

There should be rivers, mountains and oceans

Flowing from our lives

So let the one who created before

Create again in you

Songs and poems and painted expressions

The glory of His truth

Naphtali is a doe set free

He gives beautiful words

Naphtali can be you or me

Taking God at His word

O God we thank Thee

That Thou hast given us of Thy Spirit

That all our living might be

Expressions of Thy love

To love someone is to set them free. Love is freedom, not bondage. Love loves as is. It doesn’t wait for change. It just loves, regardless. This is what is most extraordinary about love — it makes no demands. It just is.

We are all so exhausted — tired of trying to be loved or live up to love. You don’t live up to love; if you have to, it’s not love. Love is. That’s all. Love is. You accept it where you are. You give it where you are. You don’t go there for it, or over here for it. Love comes because you are loved.

Love is; like God is; and that is why God is love.

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Arise my beloved, my beautiful one and come along

Come along

For lo, the winter is past and the rains have come and gone

Come along.

He has given you virgin purity

And He has given me all that I need to be

Your lover and lord all the days that we dwell on this earth

So arise my beloved, my beautiful one and come along

Come along

For lo, the winter is past and the rains have come and gone

Come along.

You who live your life like a frightened doe

Tensely watching and fearing the hunter’s bow

He has brought in His kingdom where you can go free

To be who you are

So arise my people my beautiful ones and come along

Come along

For lo, the winter is past and the rains have come and gone

Come along

And arise my beloved, my beautiful one and come along

Come along

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Giving beautiful words

Posted on March 28, 2017 by jwfisch

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Naphtali is a doe set free; he gives beautiful words. Genesis 49:21

In this unusual blessing/prophesy about his son, Naphtali, Jacob is speaking to what I would call a biblical mandate to artful, creative living. Freedom, beauty and truth are the three most important elements in art and artful living. Yesterday we established freedom as a prerequisite for creativity. Today we look at the balance between beauty and truth. Jacob is telling Naphtali that he is going to be a man of “letters.” Words — communication — are going to be important to Naphtali and his tribe, but not just words … beautiful words.

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