The Lame Shame Cycle

You know how it goes: You feel lame about something in your life -- your debt, your weight, your diet, your habit. You want to be more well-read, more well-rounded (or ... er ... less rounded ...). You want to be less stressed out, budget your money better, stop yelling at your kids.

So you vow to stop. Or start. Or do better. You're going to change. You vow, you resolve, you promise yourself (and others). And you try. You really do. Maybe for a week. (Studies show that's about how long 30% of New Years resolutions last! Ha!) Or longer. But then you fail.

And when you fail, you feel lame. Bad, guilty.

So you vow again. You double vow. You're going to try harder. But then you fail again, even worse! And you feel worse.

Round and round we go with that -- vowing, trying, trying harder, failing, failing farther, feeling lame. Until we begin to give up. "Lame" turns into "shame." "What a loser. I'm so weak. Failure. Why can't I get this? Other people can ... what's wrong with me? I just can't ..."

Believe it or not, the Bible actually taps into this cycle in Romans 7.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing!

Can you relate? (You're thinking, "That's in the Bible?! Man, that's the story of my life!") Join us at TerraNova this weekend to discover how to get out of that vow/try/fail/lame cycle.

Revolution

Jesus' message was not a message of resolutions -- vowing more, trying harder, failing (again), feeling lame. It was a message of REVOLUTION. A revolution of kingdoms. A revolution of wills.

"The time has come! The kingdom of God is near," he would say. "Repent and believe the good news."

Jesus once actually used the phrase "among you." Like it's all around me. An alternative reality.

What will I believe to be true today? How will I think and see the world?

I want to live as if the most powerful, attentive, faithful being in the universe is my Father. That he is surrounding me like the air I breathe. Guiding me moment-by-moment into my best possible life. A life that brings healing to myself, my family and community, and to the world he loves.

New Year, New You

There's something that's great about a new year. It gives us the excuse to do 2 really important things:

(1) Look back, remember and learn.

(2) Look forward, change some stuff, start fresh.

And that's really what all the hubbub's about at New Year's. Well, that and football. Last year's 10 best of this or 10 worst of that (the looking back part), and this year's new goals, new hopes and dreams.

So as you look back on 2011, what did you learn? How did you grow? What did you see God do that you couldn't have done for yourself?

And as you look forward to 2012, what would you love to see happen? How would you like to grow?

I want to invite you to join us this January for a great new series: (RE)NEW. Check out the link to it here.

It's not your normal "Try harder! Double down! Resolve!" kinda' message that you'll hear plenty of in January (especially from your own inner voices). Instead, we're going to look at some really unbelieveable things God has to say about the life He really created for you to have, the life that Jesus died so that you could have, a life that He can give you and create in you. A life that's totally  ... NEW!

See you this weekend at TerraNova.

Tell Us About Your 60-60 Experience!

The 60-60 Experiment is simple. It's all about staying connected and staying responsive in this moment. Here's how it works:

(1) Get something to beep, chime, vibrate, ring or otherwise interrupt you at least once every 60 minutes for the next 60 days. Stick post-it notes or reminders in places. Prompt your awareness to turn toward God.

(2) When you're interrupted:

• Acknowledge that God is right here and tell Him you want to be connected to him like a branch to the vine right now, in this moment, whatever you're doing.

• Turn whatever you're doing God-ward. Just talk to Him about whatever you're doing, whatever you're feeling. Ask Him to bless the person you're with right now ... whatever it is.

• Ask Him to lead you into the next moment. Is there anything He wants you to be doing, saying, learning; any person he wants you to maybe engage or help out.

• Listen, look around, and if something comes to you -- DO it! (I know, crazy, huh?) See what happens!

3) Tell us how it's going. We want to hear all about your 60-60 experience -- the good, the bad, the lame. Hit "Comment" right now and pass it on!

The 60-60 Experiment (Again)

A couple of years ago, TerraNova did a series called Soul Revolution, based on the book by John Burke. At the heart of that series was an "experiment" in moment-by-moment connectedness and responsiveness to God, called "The 60-60 Experiment." A couple hundred of us did it, and it was ... revolutionary. Probably the single most impactful thing I've done in my spiritual journey. This idea of connecting over and over again with God throughout the day, expressing my desire to be connected to him like a branch to a vine, simply asking if there's anything he wants done / said / learned / etc in this moment, and then ... watching, listening ... and responding.

This year I had been planning a series for the fall on the Fruit of the Spirit. The passage from Galatians 5 that describes this "fruit" is such a foundational place to turn to reflect on the kind of people God wants to shape us to become. And as I read and meditated on that passage through the spring and summer I really kept landing on that simple phrase that starts the whole ball rolling: "Walk by (or even "in") the Spirit." This is where character and growth and ethics and transformation always begins for Paul. Do that, he says, and fruit happens.

And that's when we decided to bring the 60-60 Experiment back. To make this posture of "walking by the Spirit,"" staying connected to the vine," living in moment-by-moment connectedness and responsiveness to God the beginning point for our discussion of what God wants to do in our lives as that happens. So we hope you'll join us for this series, and especially join us for this experiment.