I wonder if anything is more despised or looked down upon than the wisdom of a poor man.

If you sat on a sidewalk for hours a day with a poor man, do you think you’d be wiser?

If you knew someone who sat on a sidewalk for hours a day listening to a poor man, do you think they’d be wiser? Or do you think they’d wasted their time?

Is a poor man’s words less wise than a rich man?

Does a person with worldly success possess wisdom? Maybe not you’d assume, because you think of yourself as less shallow than that. But, then again, when was the last time you listened or sought the wisdom of a poor man.

Our minimum standards are probably upper middle class mean at least I think – credible enough because they have some standard of success yet authentic enough that they have struggles and a measure of brokenness.

We should be more appalled at ourselves than this. After all, Jesus did some pretty great talks explaining the distinction between the foolish and the wise and the rich and the poor.

But we still think the poor man speaks of only madness and failure. We think the poor man earned his place because of his own choices and sin.

Sounds kinda familiar to me, because they thought the same thing about Jesus:

Isaiah 53:2-4

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ..yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

Lately, I’ve pressed in to God a bit more.  I can’t really take credit for that.  It’s a response to grace and the drawing of the Holy Spirit obviously.  I realize in me there still exists things that have kept God at a safe(r) distance.  Which is stunning to me, because you can’t help but convince yourself that you grow to a point of trusting God implicitly, where you truly know that He’s good.

But I’m continually coming to the realization that this revolution of the heart is an unending process.  Until God is so known and locked into our hearts, until fear is completely washed away and only love remains, God still exposes places in our hearts that He’s not taken yet.

I’m learning that a lot of stuff that I said was no big deal or were just old hurts of the past really still are a big deal to God.  They numb our hearts and keep us from experiencing His love.

I’m actually really excited about peeling the layers back.  I know that sounds like a scary prospect for some people, but the level of intimacy with the Father is of such great value to me.   I just want to know Him more.  And I want to trust Him more.

ME: What kind of issues?

VICTORIA: Anything we go through…like depression…puberty…

ME: Puberty? They have a crisis line for puberty? What kind of call would… that be? ‘Hello Teen Crisis Center, can I help you?’ ‘Help me! Hair has started growing in my pits!’

JADYN: Daddy, what do you want to be when you grow up?

ME: I don’t know yet.

January 1 kinda came and went.  I went to bed 2 hours prior so I pretty much left the new year to arrive on its own.

Newness, hope, and beginning has been sort of a running theme with God over the last year or so.  Life has changed alot.

But I think a simple mark of following Christ should be newness.

Think about what Jesus said: Old to New, Death to Life.

Could death to life be any different?  It’s drastic.

And I think the mark of following Jesus is not a one time change, but a perpetual newness.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV)

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Yes there should be a beginning change.  But there should be another change.  And another change.  Glory is one thing, but another glory or an increase in glory?  It’s fascinating.

Is death to life still happening for us?  Is New from Old still happening in us?  It should be.  If there’s not drastic change then we’ve somehow settled.  Somehow Christ is not manifested in us yet.

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Besides that, I’ve gotten the opportunity to see changes externally as well.  God’s really changed the way ministry looks for me these days.  I’m appreciative of all that I’ve experienced thus far and the fact that God’s totally dropped my jaw many times over.

Now is such an amazing time because after so many years of saying that I wanted to see the next generation get it, own it, and advance the Kingdom of God, I’m now getting to experience that.

In starting a new church, one of the most important things was having a team, a family to share it with.  No more lone rangering it for me.  & over the last quarter of 2009, God granted that desire with some phenomenally gifted young men who have a passion for Him and a passion for this community.

One commitment that I’ve made going in to this thing is a commitment that is honestly missing in a lot of churches.  Most youth guys I’ve known (and still know) have a longevity of about 24 months max at any given place.  That’s unfortunately the norm in ministry.  It’s not a leadership thing or a lack of gifting or maturity.  It’s a relational problem.  How many people would say, “Hey, I’m going to make a commitment to you personally.  I’m accountable for your life.”  Not that many.  And I think that’s the problem.  If there’s safety & security in relationship, there can be honesty, change, discipleship, frank discussions, growth, and longevity.  And we simply don’t have time for these things anymore.  Or we’re just not willing to make those kinds of investments.

If you’re pastor that’s reading this, it’s your job description to love & give your life for your people.  Don’t hand them a Maxwell leadership book if you’re not going to commit yourself to them.  Your accountable for their life.

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So for me this has been pretty phenomenal – getting the opportunity to come alongside, to mentor, nuture, to give permission to the next generation to do what they were made to do.

Who thought this could be so fun & graceful?

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Lastly…Christmas…

On the way to bring some gifts & hang out with some homeless friends in the area, Jessica asked me if she could run in to Rite Aid. Yes, it was open on Christmas Day & I feel it’s wrong to shop in places that keep people from their families on holidays…BUT Jessica needed something, and I’m smart enuff not to argue.

She was inside forever & I was thinking: “That’s some kind of line in there.” Eventually she walked out & I pulled up the car to pick her up. She handed me a small gift bag & said, “Merry Christmas!” I was like, “What kind of overpriced gift comes from Rite Aid?” I opened the bag & found this. She had a hunch. I was amazed. Then it crossed my mind that I might have urine on my hand with no way to wash it as I made my way to the party.

I’ll be on quite a whirlwind speaking tour around Iowa for the week of November 15th, 2009.

If you live in Iowa or the nearby Omaha area, I’d love to see you.

Check out my main website for full dates & locations:

www.PaulDabdoub.com

Well, I learned the hard way that natural athleticism has NOTHING to do with surfing. I’m absolutely not a natural and was shocked to find it so difficult.

Licking my wounds today.

My bucket list for 2009 included “learning to surf” and “failing at something.” So at least I know I’m going to cross out one of those before December.

I walked outside my back gate this morning to take out the trash and pull out the recycling bin. Trash & recycling trucks only run on Mondays in my neighborhood.

In some of the other neighborhoods in OB, the poor and homeless strategically beat the big trucks for the best in plastics. But I’ve never seen any of these guys in our neighborhood…that is, until this morning. Or maybe I was pulling our recycling bin out at a different time than normal.

A white-haired guy was across the way about to dig in my neighbor’s recycling bin when I let out a friendly “Hello” as though he was walking his dog on my front sidewalk.

I have to say he was equally friendly to me as I asked him how he was doing, etc.

He politely asked me if it was okay for him to go through our recycling bin.

Obviously it was okay with me, but unfortunately, we don’t really buy plastic stuff for the simple reason that we invested in the much more cost-efficient Brita water filter.

Hope he’s around next Monday despite the fact that we don’t have many finds in our recycle bin.

Today on my TWITTER:

TWEET: approx 10:45am People are so easy to inspire but rarely do they ever change.

TWEET: approx 10:46am I think churchgoers are addicted to inspiration, but people who truly follow Jesus are marked by change & transformation.

TWEET: approx 10:49am I think some churchgoers are addicted to inspiration, but people who truly follow Jesus are marked by change & transformation.

Let me introduce you to the Paul that I live with every day.  This Paul is a guy who lives in spiritual frustration in a good kind of way.  It’s one thing to be just frustrated.  I think that’s bad.  But I live in a frustration of what can be and what is….with myself, not so much with people or the Church.

A lot of people don’t get that about me.  I remember a former colleague of mine saying, “Paul, you always say such weighty things and people aren’t always ready to handle that kind of stuff.”

It doesn’t always help to tell people that you’re teaching this out loud to yourself and letting others in on the conversation.

That’s actually why the spiritual musings section of my blog is called “Outloud Thoughts.”  That’s what they really are.

But I suppose I would be frustrated with people if they are totally comfortable living in a place where they can’t handle prying, difficult statements or questions.  Or if their mere allegiance and faithfulness is brought in to question.

I mean, Peter got kinda got upset at first too when Jesus kept repeatedly asking, “Do you love me.”  I think part of following Him is that He’s not afraid to keep asking that question no matter how frustrating it is. [John 21:15-17]

For me, I simply must have my mind insulted with the hope that it will reveal my heart.

So this morning I both got re-tweeted and lightly slammed for my tweets because it was a bit misunderstood.  And I’d have to give people a break when it comes to that, first because no one lives in my head so they can’t understand.  But I do often say things, as a pastor, a teacher, or a wrestler with God, myself, and life that are controversial at first and are meant to ask the question of ourselves.

Sometimes we can ask those things on a deeper level; take them to heart and find that nothing sticks and there’s no conviction.  Other times we react to those things in other ways because they are pointing to something in our hearts.

And sometimes?  Well, we just don’t get it.  PERIOD.  We’re like the teachers of the law after Jesus unleashed some heavy woes:

LUKE 11:45

One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”

And Jesus is like, “Um…yeah, that was intentional.  I’m talking about you!”

SO REGARDING MY TWEETS THIS MORNING…

How did I arrive there? What was I talking about?

If you’re around me for very long, you’ll probably notice that I have a huge expectation of God to bring His power and His presence to bear and bring change and transformation to ourselves and to the world around us.

I think the very evidence of God alive in us is going to be radical change.

A few years back, I guess I used to think that some people were more holy or more righteous than others.  Or that they had less to get over than others who were into really bad sin, and so the change that we’d see in their life would be less than those who had more for God to clean up.

As non-sensical as that previous sentence is in its poor construction, I think it is just as non-sensical when it comes to our theological understanding of  God’s power and presence in our lives.

If we are being brought from death to life and what was old is now new, then that is incredibly drastic.  We can expect some things to look totally different than before.  We should be very different people.

I don’t know about you, but God is much bigger than me, much better than me, more powerful than me, and much more holy than I could ever dream of being.  His ways are not my ways.  At times they are the opposite of what I understand in my humanness. I am starting to get that.  And my sincere desire is to see His likeness more evident in me every day.

New from old – I think I should be radically different than I was a year ago, even though I’ve been following Jesus since I was 13 and full-time over the last 9 years….(full-time…that was clever wasn’t it?)

If I don’t have an expectation of change that is that radical, then  one of two things I believe:

1. I’ve in some way arrived and I can’t be changed that much more.
2. God’s not powerful enough to bring that level of change.

And if either are true, I might as well forget this following Jesus thing.

INSPIRATION VS. TRANSFORMATION

There are a handful of guys that I really enjoy listening to whenever I’ve got a chance.   And there are times that I listen or I’m reading one of their books and I honestly do engage with God and have that warm fuzzy feeling.

But I walk away – maybe days or weeks or months later – and I realize that I wasn’t actually changed by those inspirational words.

Sometimes it has to do with the very words themselves.  They aren’t words that have an authority or a weight.  Sometimes they appeal to my sense of accomplishment and achievement and wanting more out of life.  They appeal to my selfish senses.  I do think there are a number of those voices out there.  And we have to be careful.

Sometimes though, these words are the Words of God.  And somehow, when I look back over the months, I recall that inspiration but wonder where…or more importantly why I left it.

I think this is what James was talking about:

JAMES 1:22-24

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

The Word of God should result in something – it should result in our responding to God in relationship.  It should result in our seeking Him more.  Because a mirror in and of itself cannot change us.  But God’s power through relationship  with Him can.

The result should be us knowing Him more, drawing more to Him, and a byproduct being our transformation.

Even scarier though to me is the thought that there have been times I’m so inspired by these words or moments that I own them on my lips and not with my life.

You can preach and re-preach Truth – because it still is Truth – and not live it.

So I just leave you with my statements as ways to insult your mind and your walk with God so that possibly it can reveal your heart:

People are so easy to inspire but rarely do they ever change.

I think churchgoers are addicted to inspiration, but people who truly follow Jesus are marked by change & transformation.