Climbing (Down) The Mountain

Let’s be honest.  Things are going good for you, aren’t they?  Right now you are on top of your game, sitting on the mountain peak.  Everything is going your way.  Life couldn’t get any better, right?  I really hope that is where you are right now, but honestly not all of us can say that.  For me, I think I am emerging from the valley headed for that place, but I still have a long road in front of me.

I am trying to remember when I was last on the mountain top – I mean a REAL mountain top.  Sure there have been ups and downs here and there.  There have been reasonably good times (mini-mountain tops you might say), but some of the valleys have been pretty dark.  The last time I can really, really say I was way up there… well, it’s been a while now.  For a short while, it was dark enough that I couldn’t even see what was right in front of me.  It was truly a Valley of the Shadow of Death.  I thought I would never emerge from that place, but God was faithful as he always is and brought me through to the other side. The words of the Psalmist are so true: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (or the valley of deep darkness) I will fear no evil for you are with me" (ESV).  Since emerging from that dark place there have been foothills, mini-peaks, and small valleys in my life; but nothing like the Valley of the Shadow of Death…but also nothing like the absolute pinnacle of the mountain either.  I remember...

It’s so nice on the mountain top.  The view is spectacular.  The air is clean.  You just want to sit back and bask in the majesty of it all.  Too bad you can’t stay there.  Sure, all of us want to build our house on Mount Olympus and glory in our accomplishments, but is that truly realistic?  Imagine what it would be like to stay on the mountain top forever.   The top of the mountain is a very lonely place.  The truth is, most people are in the valley most of the time.  Plus, after a while, that awesome, majestic view just becomes a bunch of rocks and snow peaking through the tops of the clouds. Where is the green?  Where is the warmth? There are no flowers and no trees and probably no other life of any kind.  And to put it all in perspective, it gets pretty cold on top of the mountain.  The mountain top is a GREAT place to visit, but a pretty lousy place to live.

Let’s face it.  You can’t stay here.  After all, why did you climb the mountain in the first place?  Were you looking for a sense of accomplishment?  Mission Accomplished: time to move on.  Were you trying to find out what was on the other side?  Well, you may have reached the pinnacle, but you still don’t know what is on the other side if you stay here.  If you take a good look around, you will probably notice as well that this mountain top is not the end of the world.  There are other peaks out there waiting for you to find and discover them. The only way for you to do that is to leave this place and begin a new journey. 

So here is what I say.  Enjoy the moment.  Spend a little time in repose.  And while you are there, be sure to give out a really good shout (there is nothing like shouting from the mountain top, right?). However, don’t stay there long.  YOU MUST MOVE ON.  Here’s the rub, though.  To leave, there’s only one way you can go.  You have to go back down into the valley, and there’s only two ways you can get there.  You can climb down or you can fall down.  Personally, climbing down seems much less painful than falling down, but either way you are going to end up back at the bottom.  Hopefully, it will not be a Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Fortunately, not every valley is that dark and dangerous.  Instead, let’s hope it will be a green, lush valley teeming with life and beauty.  Unfortunately, you won’t know until you get there.  Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you.

Right now I really believe I am climbing out of the valley towards another peak.  I’ve been in the valley a very long time.  Some of the time it has been very dark and dangerous, but honestly there have been parts of this valley that were beautiful and lush and green.  I can honestly say I am thankful for both. 

As for the lush and green part of my valley, I could have stayed there for quite a while with only minimal complaints. However, just like you can’t stay on the mountain top, you can’t stay in the valley either – even if it is a green valley.  You have to keep moving and that means starting the slow, difficult climb up the next mountain.  I am facing a pretty big mountain in my life right now, but I know it is time to move on and thus it is a mountain that needs to be climbed.  I know there will be an awesome peak at the top. It will be hard work getting there, but the memories of the last mountain peak will keep me going.  I cannot even fathom the joy that is waiting at the pinnacle. Plus, I am really curious what’s on the other side… onward and upward! (and then back down again)

Reflections on Designs for Hope

When I first started working with Designs for Hope (www.designsforhope.org), I really had no idea what God had in mind or where he would take my involvement in the ministry.  All I knew was that God’s hand was moving in the work that Designs for Hope was doing and I wanted to be a part of it.  Even though I haven’t done any real engineering in many years, my background and education is in electrical engineering, and so the very nature of the goals and vision of Designs for Hope intrigued me from the beginning.  I was captivated by the thought of using engineering designs and skills to develop simple, low cost solutions that can be used to enhance the lives of impoverished people around the world and could even be used to further the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Although I will always be an engineer at heart, my first calling is to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has called me into the service of his ministry.  As such, one of my passions is missions.  Imagine the joy of being able to combine that which is imprinted on you through education and years of secular employment with your divinely inspired passions.  That is how I first saw Designs for Hope.  To be honest, when Chris Bond first approached me about his ideas, I must admit that I was a bit jealous because he had come up with the idea and I had not.  More importantly, when Chris first came to me with the idea and was asking for some electrical engineering help with the design, I was more than a bit embarrassed that I was so far removed from actual engineering design experience that I really couldn’t help him.  I distinctly remember sitting in a Milo’s restaurant with Chris and thinking (a) what a neat concept and (b) I can’t believe he came to me for help and I’ve got nothing really to offer in return.  I shared a few elementary things that I am sure made no difference whatsoever to his design and he graciously listened.  It was a little bit disheartening.  That was a little over a year ago.

God, however, had other ideas about how I should be contributing to the Designs for Hope effort; and as is always the case, his plan has been far more fulfilling than whatever simplistic plans I might have desired.  It took until this past March before my involvement with Designs for Hope became “official”. In the last seven months, I have been talking about Designs for Hope just about everywhere I go.  When I do, it never fails that someone will say, “Hey, I know someone you need to talk to!”  As a result, I have been making all kinds of connections that I never dreamed possible.  I have talked to everyone from missionaries and pastors to finance wizards and lawyers.  I’ve spoken to people directly involved in missions in two different states in India, in Uganda, in Zambia, in Nicaragua, in Peru, and in Haiti.  In addition to missions ministries that I already knew about – such as E3 Partners (www.e3partners.org) - I have learned about all kinds of ministries out there that I never knew existed,  such as TLA Ministries in India (www.tlaministries.org), African Children’s Mission in Uganda (www.africanchildrensmission.org), and Zambikes in Zambia (www.zambikes.org).

I think that sometimes here in America we get an unfortunate case of tunnel vision and forget about what God is doing all over the world.  Yes, the economy is bad.  Yes, college tuition is insanely out of control (trust me, I have two in college).  Yes, it seems like our moral standards have fallen off the proverbial cliff.  These things are all true.  However, maybe we need to take a moment to open our eyes and see the handiwork of a Sovereign and Almighty God who is still very much at work in this world and is still faithfully carrying out his plan despite our blindness and narrow vision.

Designs for Hope is very much a young organization, still struggling to get off the ground and make an impact on the world for the gospel of Jesus Christ.   Sometimes it seems we are moving too slow.  Fundraising is not an easy task.  However, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and I have no doubt in my mind that Designs for Hope is progressing at exactly the right pace that God wants in order to carry out his plan.  I am just excited to be a very small part of that.

The Acceptable Sin

***PLEASE SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG FOR AN UPDATE***

If there is one thing that the Chick-Fil-A fiasco has done, it has revealed to me my own hypocrisy and the hypocrisy of many like myself.  Before you roll your eyes and stop reading, this blog is not about gay marriage or homosexuality.  We can debate – or rather argue – about that all day long.  Some of you will agree with me.  Some of you will not.  You can accuse me of hate and I can accuse you of ignoring or misinterpreting biblical principles; but at the end of the day, it is not likely that either of us will change our relative positions.  One view is right, and the other view is wrong. For either of us to change our minds about which one is right will more than likely require intervention by something greater than ourselves, such as the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

What the debate has done, however, is remind me that I cannot allow my own conviction about one particular sin to blind me to the Holy Spirit’s conviction to me about other sins – and for me, one sin in particular.  You see, with the Chick-Fil-A debate, many of us who support Dan Cathy’s right to oppose gay marriage will look at homosexuality as a “high-handed” sin – open and deliberate defiance of God’s commands.  We will say that God makes it very clear that people who continue in such a lifestyle of disobedience are disqualified for leadership in the church.  I would not support a homosexual in a leadership role in a church just like I would not support a practicing alcoholic in a leadership role in a church – or an active drug addict or someone addicted to porn or any other such high-handed sin.

During the height of the Chick-Fil-A uproar, I was having such a conversation with a friend.  It was at that moment that the Holy Spirit spoke to me in a profound, life-changing way.  As I was telling my friend how I would not support someone actively practicing any of these “high-handed” sins being a leader in the church, the Holy Spirit said plainly to me “then why should I support someone who is a practicing glutton to be a leader in my church?”  I was stopped in my track.

OK, let’s put things out on the table.  I know gluttony is a sin.  Proverbs 23:2 is especially harsh on gluttony: “put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony” (YIKES!).  I know I have struggled with my weight all of my life.  I also know that being overweight is not the best representation of Jesus Christ to the world.  To be honest, I am not even overweight – I am grossly overweight!  I have been really convicted about this for a number of years now.  I know that as an ambassador of Christ my physical appearance needs to reflect self control – which is part of the fruit of the Spirit.  I know that I need to be healthy so that I can do whatever Christ may ask me to do in terms of ministry and service. So I have been “trying” to lose weight for a long time.  As an engineer, I know how to do it.  It is basic thermodynamics – heat in (calories in) minus heat out (calories burned).  For whatever reason, I have not had the discipline to carry out that equation (i.e., stop eating more than I was burning).  It even seems that the harder I try to lose weight, the more weight I gain.  It has been a frustrating phenomenon in my life and I would even go so far as to say I have been battling with the fact that as a Christian I have not achieved victory in this. I know that in Christ we have victory over all spiritual battles, but I have not had victory over this spiritual battle.

NEVER, however, have I ever sat down at the table and said, “God, today I rebel against you and choose to be gluttonous.”  I can’t imagine very many overweight people admitting to that.  So when the Holy Spirit spoke to me that way, accusing me of being a practicing glutton, I was stunned.  “I can’t be a glutton!  I have no desire to openly and defiantly sin against God.  In fact, I desire to be obedient in this regard.  What do you mean, Lord?”  I have even actively repented on a number of occasions when I knew that I really had behaved gluttonously. That was when the Holy Spirit followed up, as the Holy Spirit does, with some very convicting facts… two in particular that rocked my world.

One.  The Holy Spirit asked me this question:  Can you honestly say, looking back over the last 20 years and the results of your action over those years as they are reflected in your body – my temple – that you really are not a glutton?”   Ouch.  The truth is clearly in the results.  Whether I actively chose to do so or passively allowed it to happen, I am overweight. That is the evidence - evidence that demands a verdict.  I am guilty.

Two.  The Holy Spirit reminded me of this scripture: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17).  That was it.  Put a fork in me. I was cooked and done. My sin of gluttony was not one of active commission, but of passive omission.  It was not that I sat down at the dinner table every night and consciously chose to disobey God.  Rather, I sat down at the dinner table every night and did not do the good I knew to do – namely to be conscious and aware of everything that I put into my body for consumption.  I was guilty of gluttony by omission. 

I believe it was Winston Churchill who said “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.”  It is just as much of a sin to not pay attention to what you are eating and, as a result overeat, than it is to actively and blatantly choose to overeat.  I was sufficiently broken and right then and there repented of my sin.  I have put myself on a strict caloric-limited lifestyle that requires me to plan ahead and check calories BEFORE I sit down to eat.  I am also looking to several people, including my wife, to hold me accountable to staying on the wagon (so to speak) – much the same way I would if I were addicted to alcohol, drugs, or porn.  In fact, I now look at eating in much the same light as I would those other addictions.  It is very much a cumbersome pain – but isn’t recovery from any addiction difficult? I praise God that in the three weeks since this revelation that the power of the Holy Spirit has enabled me to hold true to this commitment.  If this were AA, I would be closing in on my 1 month chip.  The result in my body is evident as I have lost 20 pounds so far (woohoo).  I pray that God will continue to empower me to be “food sober”.

That was all introspection - now for the outward reflection.  It is not my desire to be judgmental, but I am afraid that in the church there are way too many of us who are guilty of this hypocrisy.  Looking first at myself, I look around the body of Christ and see many who, like me, are walking evidence that demands a verdict.  Unfortunately, many of those are devoted men of God in the ministry of his service who would never dream of being involved in such high-handed sins as drunkenness, drug addiction, or pornography.  And yet, for some reason, the sin of passive gluttony remains the unchallenged, acceptable sin.  It is not a good reflection on Jesus Christ.  We have allowed passive gluttony to become the acceptable sin.  God forgive us.

I pray that the Holy Spirit keeps me victorious in this regard, helps me not to be judgmental of others in this regard, but also gives me the wisdom to help others see that not taking active steps to prevent themselves from passively sinning is no different than actively choosing to sin.  God help us all to be holy and pure.

***UPDATE: 1/6/2013***

I am now 165 days into this new lifestyle and I am pleased to report that I am still committed to this change in lifestyle.  Putting away sin in my life - even the sin of passive gluttony - is very important to my spiritual growth.  Yes, I will admit that the Holidays were a bit of a challenge, but thankfully God gave me the grace of "reasonable" restraint and I did not gain back more than a pound or so over the holidays.  The New Year brings renewed commitment to living holy in all respects, including my eating habits. As of today, I have lost a total of 60 pounds.  While I still have approximately 100 pounds to lose before I reach my goal, I consider that a great accomplishment for which I give all the glory to God.
With respect to this topic and the whole concept of modern American evangelical Christians ignoring this acceptable sin, FoxNews.com actually did an article on this topic today.  It is worth a read and is called "Fat in Church."  It can be read at http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/06/03/obesity-epidemic-in-america-churches/
Remember, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Let us continue to treat them as such.

Blog copyright (c) 2013 by Joel J. Dison
Comments are welcome and encouraged.

Remembering Ecuador

In a remote village in the mountains about an hour outside of Quito, Ecuador lives a 10 year old girl named Celina (right above). The only Jesus Celina ever knew was the one hanging on the cross in the Catholic cathedral in the nearest town, which her family only visited on very special occasions. She never saw a gringo except perhaps on TV, and we all know about the gringos we see on TV.

One day some gringos came to her village. They spoke through a translator, telling them Bible stories she had never heard before and about the love of the Jesus hanging on the cross, except they said he was still alive.  They said she could make a choice to follow Jesus. Whether she understood the importance of this choice is unknown.

One gringo in particular touched her heart, and she his. He played games with her, jumped rope with her (which was both funny and strange since he was "muy gordo"), and threw a frisbee with her. He showed her this same love the translator spoke of concerning Jesus. It made enough of an impression that she brought him flowers, melting his heart.

He tried to communicate with her using very broken Spanish, with poor pronunciation, poor grammar, and often just plain wrong. It was both funny and frustrating and on more than one occasion they both ran to find the translator to understand what the other was saying.

When he had to leave, she did not understand. She wanted to know when he would return, and it crushed him to have to tell her "yo no se". They both cried inside (and later he cried outside as well). As he left, he told her how much he liked her and that she would be his friend "siempre". Each will likely remember the other forever.

I pray that Celina understood the gospel of Jesus about which she was both told and shown. I pray the seed planted will grow into full blown salvation. And I pray that one day I will see her again, if not here, then in eternity .