Posted by Jon Wise on Feb 23, 2010
I sat through a sermon a couple weekends ago. The preacher was not our usual pastor, but someone who spoke at a retreat we were at. His talks had some ups and downs — he certainly shed a lot of light on the Hebrew context that Jesus lived in. Toward the end of the weekend he espoused what I’ve come to call the “yard theory” of life. This is the idea that the world is a big playground that God has placed us in: that there is a whole array of options in front of us, many equally good, a few bad, and that He provides boundaries that He wants us to play within, and correction or repercussions if we push at those boundaries too hard, then sets us free to do whatever we want with our life.
While I like that this theory positions God as Father, watching His kids play, I don’t personally buy into it. I think our fallen world, and the forces at work within it, dictate that God has more in mind for His kids than random play. I think that there’s an over-arching plot-line, with Jesus as the main protagonist, and with each of us asked to play a specific supporting role.
I don’t mean, of course, that His plan won’t unfold if we don’t find and play our part — I know with confidence that He doesn’t need us in order for His will to be fulfilled. What I mean is that He’s inviting us to have a part in His incredible plan, and that at the center of His will is a role and purpose unique to each of us — as His handcrafted creation.
My theory (and I’m sure its not unique to me) is what I’ve come to call the path theory. And in it, the redeemed look a little something like this:
I’ll call this the train-truck, because I don’t know what its name actually is. The important thing about this vehicle is that it has two sets of wheels. One set is made to follow a track, the other set allow the truck to go off on its own course. I propose that we are all born with normal wheels, and that when we are saved, God gives us railroad wheels. At no time (in this life) does He remove our original free-will wheels, but He equips us with a mechanism to stay on track.
None of this is really profound or controversial, but what I’m going to say next seems to be debated a bit: I believe that no matter how many times we go off the track, when we repent and re-engage our God-wheels He restores us to the same track. Maybe our wandering costs us some progress, and definitely it seperates us from God’s best, but when we screw up, God doesn’t say “Great, now I’ve got to put you on a new track and adjust my plan!” He says, “OK, you’re forgiven, now get back to where I had you heading.”
We can, and probably will, get to the end of our life without reaching that perfect destination He had in mind for us… but how close we get to that destination is determined by how much time we spend on the track.
Here’s the really wonderful thing about our God-wheels: using them means we don’t need to worry about what comes next. When we’re wandering on our own, decisions like which direction to take, and what roads to follow, are stressful because we’re wandering randomly, hoping to find roads that go roughly in the right direction. When we’re on the track, what comes next just unfolds on its own — a train doesn’t worry about which off-ramp to take. All we need is obedience, and faith that the track will still be there on the other side of the hill, or around this difficult bend, or when we come out this dark tunnel…
I don’t know if I’m communicating this clearly enough, but what I’m suggesting is that the only thing necessary to have a successful, effective life in Christ — where we fulfill our potential, grow, help others, and impact the world according to His plan — is to focus on surrendering our wheels to His. That’s it! There are no critical decisions to make, there’s no reason to worry or fret about what comes next, there’s nothing to debate or argue, there’s nothing we need to convince ourselves or others of. All we need to do is obey.
That track will lead us to our divine appointments: to the people we’re supposed to witness to, or disciple, to the jobs we’re supposed to take or schools we’re supposed to attend, to the places or countries we’re supposed to live in. And if we’re all living surrendered, then none of us have anything to fear.
Of course sometimes there are choices — and sometimes we put more weight on them than God does. Sometimes there are three or four apparent directions on our track, and we freak out and think we’re never going to be able to choose the right one. But God knows that they all lead to the same place, and He’s simply giving us multiple good things to choose from. The only option that’s wrong is to engage our old wheels and take off in a selfish direction.
For my family, this then is our only plan for the future. To work hard at the tasks in front of us, and to surrender our wheels and rely only on His. Knowing that it is our desire to follow God’s track with complete obedience where ever it leads, we will be dilligent stewards and attentive students, so that nothing hinders us from following His perfect path.
Posted by Jon Wise on Jan 25, 2010
When I was 6 years old, my family moved to Bangladesh for a year. Among other things, this left a very young version of myself with an incurable restlessness that my wife would eventually learn to understand, and even share – on occasion.
Five years ago, we responded to a growing passion for missions by booking a trip to Asia. The intent had been to bring a team of students interested in missions… and then just one… and then even that didn’t work out. I’m not sure what to chalk that up to, but it was clearly not His timing for anyone else to go. Thankfully, He allowed Nicole and I to make the trip.
We stayed with new friends in Penang, Malaysia and learned from them, and lent our skills to the daily needs at their YWAM base. We went to Thailand, and learned about the efforts there to rebuild after a tsunami had wiped out thousands of homes and lives, and lent our strength for a few days building a house. We saw both the beauty and darkness of Kuala Lumpur. And we came home changed.
Then we moved to New York. The intent had been to learn about moving to another country, while growing my career and getting involved in serving. Like our trip to Asia, we learned a lot, and found we had a lot to learn – and still do.
But we’ve grown in the past 5 years, and it seems that maybe this time, God will allow us to bring someone along while we go, again, to learn about missions in Asia. Sunday we booked our tickets. We fly to Hong Kong on June 7, for a whirlwind tour of as many countries as we can manage – and this time, its not just our hopes and dreams that we are going to explore.
We discovered, not long after we met her, that our babysitter’s older sister has had a burden on her heart for Asia since 4th grade. Even as a 9-year old, Tatum took this challenge seriously, and began studying Cantonese and saving up her babysitting money, in the hopes that some day she could get to Hong Kong. She’s a young adult now, proficient in the language, a dozen connections cultivated on the continent, and money in the bank. All she needed to get her parent’s blessing was someone willing to take her.
With us itching to get back to Asia, and my parent’s living in Malaysia and connected in Cambodia, it doesn’t make sense for us not to accompany her.
The planned itinerary includes Beijing, Hong Kong, Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Hanoi (Vietnam) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Its an ambitious trip for only 2 weeks, but we’re looking forward to it. Asia is a beautiful continent, with so much to see, and so many people who need Hope. We go for the adventure, for sure, but more than that, we go out of obedience. The Word says to go into all the world and make disciples, and as 29-year olds, we take this challenge seriously.
Our own kids will be sitting out this trip – perhaps in another 5 years they’ll be old enough to come along and get something out of it. For Asia 2010, we could use prayer that all 3 of us are able to discern and follow His direction as our trip takes shape.
Posted by Jon Wise on Jan 15, 2010
A few days ago I tried to start putting down 2 years worth of scattered thoughts on how God seems to work in our lives — from my limited experience. And the conclusion I drew was that our planning role might not be as big (or shouldn’t be as big) as we like to think. That maybe God isn’t so much concerned with how we plan to do things, as He is with our obedience to His plan. I’ll talk more about how I think that looks, but let me tell you how I think planning on obedience works…
First, look at what’s in front of you. Do you have a job? Kids? Bills? Debt? A mortgage? Homework? A youth group?
There’s your 1 year plan right there. God wants you to be faithful with the little things – He put them in front of you for a reason. Work at those things, and do them well.
Second, and this may take some time, but it’ll be worth it: look at what God has built into you. When you’re in church, what sermon topics tug on your heart? What softens you, or makes your eyes water up a little (or a lot?) What things have you seen on TV or in the media that make you feel like you have to do something to change what you’re seeing? What are you passionate about, and what gets your blood pumping? What thing could you do all day long without ever getting tired of it?
Figure out what your passion is, and you’ve got your 10 year plan — that’s the thing you’re supposed to be doing 10+ years from now.
Between now and then, however, are going to be challenges and lessons.
Perhaps the first challenge is that you can’t find that thing or that topic or that situation that causes a righteous zeal to well up within your soul. May I suggest, then, that the author of your soul – your Creator God – cannot speak into your life, because you aren’t listening. Your first order of business, and the discipline you must develop for the rest of your life, is to draw closer to Him. The more you know His heart, the more you will hear His still, small voice whispering into your life.
Perhaps you are already drawing closer to Him every day, and you already cannot sit through a specific kind of sermon, or a certain song, or read a particular verse, without feeling a fire burning in your marrow, or tears streaming down your face. Your 5 year goal, then, is to find out what stands between you and the passion and burden God has placed on your heart, and tackle those things with all your being, knowing His strength and His provision will make a way for you to obey Him.
Maybe debt stands in your way. Maybe its education that you need to get. Maybe its a specific skill you need to develop. Maybe its nothing so tangible as any of these; and instead you are simply in need of His equipping, and His molding in your life. Whatever it is, work on it as your next step.
And the most important thing about this 1/5/10 plan? Don’t write any of it down. Because as you pursue Him, and are obedient to Him – in the every day, and in your life in general, He will transform your will, until the things you want out of life are the things He had planned for you to do since He knit you together… and those things might turn out to be very different than you had originally figured on.
But that’s OK, because it turns out that the plans made by our amazing God? Those plans are way better than anything we could have come up with on our own.
Posted by Jon Wise on Jan 14, 2010
So I sat down at a table at drop-in tonight, and asked the guys there what their hobbies were.
The first guy, a 16-year old pastor’s son, answered that he was a heroin junkie who’d just spent the last 20 years in prison. The next kid said he worked in Toronto as Superman, but had flown in for the evening. The next answered that he worked as a night janitor at a University where he liked to solve complex math equations left on the black board by professors during the day.
All 3 did this with straight faces and not a moments hesitation.
Pretty sure I have the best volunteer gig ever.
Posted by Jon Wise on Jan 07, 2010
In the secular world, wise people will tell you how to run your life. They’ll tell you that in order to succeed you need a 1, 5 and 10 year plan. That you need to write that plan down, and that you need to work toward the goals you established when doing it. Very few people succeed by accident – most are working toward something specific.
For 10 years, and with satisfactory success, we followed that advice. In fact, one of our first conversations together as a couple – even before we were married – was planning. We worked hard toward our goals, sacrificed, and accomplished pretty much everything we set out to get: 2.5 children, a house, a succession of better jobs, travel and adventure, and adequate financial stability.
For the last 2 years, I’ve been disconcerted that we haven’t had a plan. Our plan went as far as New York, and we weren’t really sure what was supposed to happen next.
In the past couple months, during which we’ve still had no set 1, 5 or 10 year plan, its occurred to me that despite this missing, and apparently key, part of our lives, things have unfolded pretty well anyway. And I’ve begun to wonder if maybe it’s not the planning that’s responsible at all. That maybe things happened not because of us, but despite us.
Maybe the key thing we need in life isn’t a plan. Maybe it’s obedience.
I’ll have more to say on this in future posts… we’ll make a series out of it.
Posted by Jon Wise on Sep 17, 2009
This week has been crazy. We’ve had full evenings every day of the week. This afternoon, I put Abi down for her nap with a bottle, and we had our Abi/Daddy time on the rocking chair, and it occurred to me that I couldn’t remember the last time we’d done that. For the past little while its either been a babysitter doing it, or poor Abi getting dumped in bed way past her bed time, having chugged her bottle in the car on the way home.
In other news, did you know that Abraham waited 24 years for God’s promise to him? He was 75 when God told him that his descendants would start a nation — at the time, he had no children at all. He was 99 when God fulfilled that promise and his wife got pregnant.
Of course, he obviously had some doubts along the way, and Ishmael was born, but still: 24 years of faith in God’s promise. I can barely muster the patience to wait 2-4 weeks for Him to reveal His plan for my life…
Posted by Jon Wise on Aug 31, 2009
There was one point this weekend, as I woke up from a nap in the “bunky” with trees all around me, and a lake in front of me, the sun making the water sparkle as the wake from a motorboat in the distance, pulling teenagers on inner tubes, who’s delighted screams and hollers echoed around the little island, lapped gently on the shore, and considered a future that only looks bright and exciting from here, where I broke out laughing — completely spontaneously, and out of sheer joy…
On very few occasions have I ever been so happy and content.
Posted by Jon Wise on Jul 21, 2009
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:13-16
Posted by Jon Wise on Jun 07, 2009
Today I met an amazing woman. Her name is Velma, she’s 73, and she is one of my heroes.
In 1961 at the age of 25, Velma boarded a boat bound for Australia. It was a 3 week trip, at the end of which, she got on a smaller boat, and set sail for the untamed island of Papua New Guinea.
Then she lived there, among the tribal people, for 42 years — minus the occasional furlough home.
Velma was a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators, and she gave her entire adult life to translating the New Testament into 2 obscure languages, spoken by no more than 1000 people each. When she arrived, fresh from University and jungle training, she and an American woman, a year older than her, set up their home with the help of friendly tribespeople, where they lived off rain water collected in a barrel, and food cooked over a little propane stove.
For the next 19 years they devoted themselves to creating a written language for these people — mapping the sounds of their words into an alphabet, and then, since they’d never seen such a thing before, teaching them how to read it. Their first New Testament, in a language who’s name I can’t pronounce, was produced in the 80s — the product of painstaking, hand-written then manually re-typed labor.
The next language, she said, came a lot easier. By then they had a foundation to work from, and computers were just starting to become available to their organization.
Velma, and her partner, meanwhile, accepted positions as directors of their region with Wycliffe and took on the additional responsibilities that came with that. All while facing 5-month stretches in the bush with barely any contact from another English-speaking person. They kept emergency supplies of a treatment for malaria — Velma says she lost count of how many times she fell ill with the horrible disease.
In 2003, at the age of 67, she returned to Canada. Velma has never driven a car — but she has carved her own canoe out of the trunk of a tree. For 5 decades the world changed: wars were fought, politicians came and went, and churches were built and some of them closed their doors. But Velma stood, umoved and unwavering in her mission to bring God’s message of hope and redemption to a people group who might never hear it otherwise. One life, lived all-out so that 2000 others might know the Truth that sets us free.
Velma’s a little lady. She grew up in a single parent home with 4 other sisters. She went to our church as a child, until one day a pastor challenged her to go to Bible College. She is not stronger, or smarter, or more capable than anyone else. She was simply obedient — putting her life in God’s hands, and trusting Him to do the rest. And for that, she is a hero.
Today, on our church’s 75th anniversary, they asked those in the generations who have come before us, and who served in ministry, to come up to the front and tell us what God done with their willingness to follow Him. Velma was among many with gray hair and lines on their faces, who got up and spoke with joy about the decades across which they had worked, and the places that God had taken them.
People who had no way to know are with Jesus today because of Velma’s life of obedience. When I’m 73, will anyone be able to say the same about me? How about you?
Posted by Jon Wise on Jun 01, 2009
When in New York, we briefly toyed with the idea of buying a house. Ultimately, buying real estate in the about-to-crumble U.S. market would have been a bad idea, and property taxes in the town where we lived were insane, but it was a thought. While we were tossing the idea around, someone advised us “you pretty much have to live in a house 5 years before you can make any money on it.” That about closed the book on the discussion, because, I replied “there’s no way we can stay in one place for 5 years!”
So last summer we decided to break that pattern, and bought a house in a growing market, where property taxes were low, and committed to living there at least 5 years. Its been almost a year, and with our only potential summer adventure now clearly a no-go, I’ve got to admit that some of that restlessness that we used to feel every 12 months or so that compelled us to get up and move almost annually, is beginning to boil under the surface…
Saturday was a very nice day off, where we intentionally cleared our schedules to unwind a bit from a month of abnormally disciplined living, and just be spontaneous. Sunday, unfortunately, was another day off. Two in a row is way too much for me. And its looking like this summer is going to be full of them.
Maybe for some people that sounds like a good thing, but not for me. This is probably our first summer ever where we’re not going somewhere, looking forward to something, or working toward some big goal. We have a couple weddings, some gardening to do, some visits with family, and maybe a couple little projects around the house. Other than that there are no goals, no objectives, no adventures, no trips, no crazy stunts to try and pull off. Just 3 months of normal adult life. Of being parents, employees (ok, just employee), home owners, casual volunteers and tax payers — and I still have 2.5 weeks of vacation left to use!
This is not living.
There has to be more than this.
Some friends of ours leave to go back to Africa on Friday. Africa.
My mom is off to Chiang Mai tomorrow. I don’t know where that is, but it sounds a lot more interesting than where we are.
I read an article about an elderly couple building a boat in a back yard so they can cruise the high seas until they drop. That sounds like an idea, maybe I’ll build a boat…
Anyone have any other suggestions?
