The Wonder of it All

London it is! The girls are asleep on the train to Edinburgh, John is thinking about it and, well, I'm blogging. A few moments ago we could see flat wheat fields surrounded by distant  rolling hills and I said: "Ah, the English countryside." John's tired reply: "It looks like Ohio."

There is such great wonder all around us yet it's so easy to miss - been there done that kind of approach to life. But I was shocked back into a life of wonder through the eyes of two young boys on the flight to New York. First time on a plane for the boys as they prepared to travel to Ireland. They were speculating about what the plane ride would be like: "We'll go up and then we'll go down. It'll be like a roller coaster." And I said to Stephanie: "O, Lord, I hope not!"

Backyard pools and golf courses, baseball fields and highways were all pointed out as we rose into the sky. 2 hours later as we were landing in New York they stared at the "enormous" buildings that make up the Manhattan skyline. They were full of questions for their dad as they tried their best to spy THE plane they'd be taking to Ireland. They were so excited.

Jesus said that unless we become like little children we cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven. I was reminded today to not lose that child-like amazement at the wonder that surrounds me even if I've "been there done that."

A child's approach to life is carefree and full of energy; playful and curious; sometimes saying things that they want you to believe they know more about than they really do.

What excites me about life, ok, just about this journey on this specific day? Am I approaching life like a child, asking my Heavenly Father all sorts of questions, speculating on what might be next in anticipation of something great?

What about my approach to following Jesus? Do I trust Him so much that I can let go of all care for the things of this world and simply enjoy the journey and anticipate the next leg that He has already planned out? The tickets are booked, the plans are made, the journey is ready. Let me approach it with the child-like wonder of these boys.

"First"

"First" we hear about it a lot around Olympic time. One person gets first. That's it. Everything is about winning in London. Everyone wants to have an Olympics like 15-year old Lithuanian swimmer Ruta Meilutyte who went 7 seconds faster than her best time - at just the right time.

John and I are at Brian & Kathryn's place for the night and their first dinner hosted for family. We had a great time and a good meal in their cute little apartment - that I remind them is nearly double the size of our first place!

We're about to take a first overseas trip as a family and we're very excited. Obvioulsy it's a first for a Sabbatical.

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

- Matthew 20:16

First wasn't as important to Jesus. Life for Jesus wasn't about having the most (The Rich Young Ruler) or being the most recognized (servant versus ruler). Life is found in giving, in generosity, in serving and not worrying about who gets the credit. Those who try to be first will ultimately lose in the end. Even the heart of the Olympics gets this:

The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”  - Olympic Charter

I'm certainly not about "visualizing world peace" in hopes that it will actually do something. I do like the words of "friendship, solidatiry and fair play." Nothing about first there. It's the humbleness of a Brendan Hansen (bronze in 100 breaststroke) acknowledging his parents and the lessons they taught him about being grateful in life.

"When one has nothing, God becomes everything."

The Christ-follower who views life as a competition against other local churches, other individuals, seeking to be "first" is losing. It's the Mother Theresa's and Mama Maggie's of the world who are the most respected and revered because they are servants - first of God and then of His people.

To be first means seeking the lowest and the least position instead of recognition. Those who are recognized greatly in this life have received all the recognition they will receive. (Matthew 6) Billy Graham is recognized but he doesn't seek the recognition. Others who claim to be Christ-followers can't say the same.

What's the answer? Just serve. Do something today that nobody knows about and you won't tell about. Do something extravagantly generous, anonymously. Show up to church early on Sunday and pray as you walk around the property inside and out. Pick up any trash in the parking lot. Pull weeds. Sweep the steps (bring your own broom). Offer to help those who are there early every week. Don't concern yourself with being recognized for what you do. You and God know. That's all that matters. If you are about to complain about something, stop and fix it yourself. Just serve.

  

Ego - Friend or Foe?

Ego is our silent partner - too often with a controlling interest.

- Cullen Hightower (quoted in Egonomics)

I'm working my way through Egonomics, finding it challenging and encouraging with similiar themes to the other books I've been reading. Paying attention to those themes is providing some significant growth in my heart and transforming my thinking.

The authors, among other things, go through 4 early warning signs (more on that later) and give three principles that help keep ego in check and working for us instead of helping us implode. No matter where your ego is in your life, these three principles are excellent topics to take inventory of in your life.

1. Humility - sort of goes without saying. Humility opens are minds, providing a platform for listening, hearing and learning. Humility from a business standpoint means putting your personal interests behind those of the business. Personally it might apply to family first or what's best for the church before your personal preferences. Humility is what John the Baptist spoke about when he said: "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30).

A Christ-follower is a citizen of God's Kingdom not this present world. Therefore personal preferences have no clout with the heart. There are plenty of churches in the world from which we are free to choose here in the U.S. What we must be careful of, I think, is pressing our personal preferences in front of Kingdom business. Growing churches are filled with unselfish people. As soon as we want what we want and don't think about what others need, we're in trouble.

2. Curiosity - this is what combines with humility to multiply exploration into other ideas. The authors write:

If we lead with questions rather than answers, curiosity can strip us of an agenda and stop us from holding so tightly to our own ideas and beliefs that we aren't able to consider others. (29)

Curious people create opportunities for open communication. Combined with humility, curiosity brings ego into check by insisting that together the team can create something better than one individual can do on their own.


3. Veracity

Truth essentially refers to facts or reality; it implies accuracy and honesty. Veracity, however, differs slightly from truth; veracity is the habitual pursuit of, and ahderence to, truth. Veracity differs from truth in action, not in value. (30)

Truth can be difficult to hear and speak. If we're humble and curious we're sure to run into a truth that hurts. Here's one for me from the book.

I can turn anything into a competition. Right now I'm competing with time schedule and a million additional people coming to London, to make sure we get to our train from Heathrow. No small feat. The authors talk about "being comparative" as the first "early warning sign" that ego is out of control:

Because we're immersed in competition, and the competitive spirit pushes us to do better, we hardly notice when it makes us worse (39)......we lose our competitive edge when we cross the line and become too competitive (40).

That's painful for me to hear because I am one of the most competitive people I know. And if you don't think so, I'll prove it to you (heel Ego, heel!). When someone tells me "it can't be done," that's just fuel for the fire. It can be a good thing but Egonomics and God's Spirit are helping me see it can also be overdone to the point of becoming destructive.


Listening to truth and a firm commitment to speaking truth will change a life. Jesus said it this way:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 

³² Then you will know the truth, and the 

truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Take inventory of your own life. Would your friends and co-workers describe you with these three principles? What in God's Word are you ignoring? If you believe the Bible is God's Word, then it matters what it says. Obedience changes a life. Seek the truth. Speak the truth. Be truthful in all things both big and small.

England - here we come!

These last couple of days have been a constant scramble to make sure we know how to get from here to there in Great Britain! We're very excited to head there next week for a couple of days in Edinburgh, Scotland and then the rest of the time in and around London.


We planned some day trips, attendance at an Olympic event and our budget based on our housing location through Athletes In Action (for which we're very grateful they let us piggy-back with them). The housing was less than 1 mile from Buckingham Palace, which is right next to the Beach Volleyball stadium for which we have tickets. Then 4 weeks ago AIA asked us to move to their second location 45 minutes north of the city! YOW!


The only thing I can control is my reaction to the new circumstances :)

What will God bring our way? Who will God put in our path? How will we see Him along this different path.


Please pray for some connections that are now going to be a little tight with tickets already purchased. Whatever happens we'll rejoice and seek to bring glory to the name of Jesus - with a smile!!


I like to plan (big surprise, I know) and am learning this summer an in depth lesson about adjusting, going with the flow and looking for God's fingerprint in places off the beaten path. England will be an adventure. I'm so grateful that the whole family gets to come - even the newlyweds for a few days. Without AIA's generosity in opening a place for us we wouldn't have been able to afford for all 6 of us to be there. To have my whole family there is a tremendous blessing!

Edinburgh Castle

Having been to London before I'm excited to have the family along and see their reaction to some amazing history and scenery, while I enjoy some new sites and their presence. Never been to Scotland so that will be wonderfully different for us together.


I have no idea how many blog posts I'll get up starting Tuesday. Hopefully a few.

Blessing in the Unexpected

Sunday was a good day. It began a few days ago when I approached Greg Rhodenbaugh, swimming friend from Cincinnati who now coaches in Missouri, about tagging along to church. “Sure,” he said, “but we're going early because we're moving to a new house.” A quick conversation between my brain and my heart said - “I guess the Christian thing to do after tagging along for worship would be to offer to help them move.” Then I looked at the temperature – 102 degree forecast.

I enjoyed my time with Greg and his family – 7 boys (6 are at home) and 1 girl – and his lovely wife, Lisa. Greg and I had a chance to share our faith journey stories which encouraged me. God works in some wonderful ways, using the smallest of circumstances and nudging our decisions to bring us to the places where He can do His best work. It's a sobering thought that His best work is with thing that are dead or at dead ends, without hope in this world.

I thought twice – maybe three times – about not going to church with them and spending the day helping move. I could have stayed at the hotel spending the time reading, writing, drinking tea and catching the hotel shuttle to the airport. Years ago that's what I would have done. For a reason yet unknown to me I have often chosen to be by myself or to say no to surprise opportunities.

I remember being in Germany with friends, turning down an offer to go to a water polo practice with one of his brothers. What did I miss?

I remember offers of golf games, baseball games, movies and more that I've turned down because it wasn't in the plan. Could God have used other things?

I enjoy reading. I enjoy some solitary silence. A lesson learned in the first half of this Sabbatical is the joy found in letting go, paying attention and being spontaneous (not a natural trait of mine). I usually wouldn't have gone out with fellow officials after our evening finals sessions. Partly from a money standpoint. Partly I'm not hungry. Partly I'm usually tired and definitely not a night owl. But I did this week and at Trials and I enjoyed myself, learning about others, growing relationships. The Sabbatical grant certainly helped make those decisions easier.

Today my mind turned to the subject of control. It's an illusion, control is. We're never really in control except of our own responses to the things life brings us. We can make plans, and we should. We can develop goals, and we should. But nothing ever goes as planned. Today my flight from Columbia, MO was delayed to the point that I couldn't get out of Memphis tonight. I contemplated seeing good friends in Memphis. I decided to take a shuttle to St. Louis, fly to Chicago then Dayton, arriving 3 hours later than planned. I had no control, except over my response. How would I treat people on the phone and in person at the airport? What about the shuttle driver? I have control over my behavior.

When I have to be in control I believe I miss the unexpected, unknown blessings God has in store. God can work in anything (Romans 8:28), if He's in control. If I plan every detail with meticulous scrutiny I will automatically put myself on a path that avoids the blessings God can bring my way. I might feel secure, holding tightly to me plans, but what will I miss that I'll never know? He blesses us through friends, through family, through unplanned encounters with strangers.

If I'm trying to control everything and my plans aren't followed and I choose to give an unChristian response, I miss a blessing. I can't be blessed if I speak in anger to the Delta attendant at the ticketing counter. I can't be blessed if I want what I want the way I want it and order everyone and everything around. I get exactly what I want and that is potentially – and probably – less than God intends.

I didn't plan on helping Greg move but I was blessed when I chose it. That's another part of control, saying no to suprise invitations and possibilities. Saying yes more often can be a good thing.

My plans were upended with flight changes but I've been blessed with time to read and write.

Unexpected circumstances – surprise opportunities – detours and re-routes. Opportunities to talk with people about faith. Possibilities of being blessed by the stranger encountered on the new route. All of it can have the fingerprint of God if we'll pay attention and control that which we can control. Us.

Did I mention my car was in Cincinnati, not Dayton? That's for another time and place.

Ego

I watched a talented swimmer before and after a significant race and one word came to mind. Ego. Prior to the race he was taunting the crowd to cheer as he attempted, so he let everyone know ahead of time, a shot at a national record. After the race, which he easily won, the announcer called him to the award stand and with both thumbs extended he motioned for everyone else to get in line behind him. Ego. Few like him. He's not going far. His ego has derailed his potential.


In Jim Collins' great book, Good to Great, he identifies humility as a key component to successful leadership. 


I wrote about humility in an earlier post about Rescue Your Love Life, a book by my summer companion, Henry Could and his co-author, John Townsend. Here's a piece of it:

"Humility is the capacity to experience the reality of who you are. A humble person is one who has no grandiose illusions of herself in either direction - good or bad, strong or weak." (p. 185)

There are many more quotes and sentences to be captured. It was a good book, eye-opening. The way Cloud and Townsend phrase things brings new light on familiar topics. I may have liked the "humility" definition the best of all. Being ok with who I am, owning my strengths and weaknesses, is where true humility is seen. A humble person doesn't try to hide or cover over where they've gone wrong or made mistakes. Humble people, the authors say, take the initiative to admit what they've done before their mate finds out eventually anyway. 

I'm starting a book titled "egonomics: what makes ego our greatest asset (or most expensive liability)". Reaching the next level of leadership (an unplanned common theme in the books I've been reading) takes a balance of ego and humility, say the authors. It's easy to spot an ego out of control. A casual observation of extinct companies, cooked books, and executive pay all point to something amiss. Ego is destructive when it's out of control.

Scripture is clear that humility is a hallmark of a Christ-follower.

Psalm 147:6 "The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground."

Humility doesn't mean doormat or weak but rather right perspective on yourself and your place in the universe. God seems to rank humility at the top of His list.


Matthew 23:12 "For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."


So I'm intrigued by this book before I begin. An excellent leader from whom I would benefit more if he was in town more said once: "I'm arrogant enough to think I can run any company." And he could. Yet I would describe him as humble and willing to serve. So there is a combination that creates a balance. Tip it too far one way and it'll either stop you or you won't ever get started.


Where do you find your ego has gotten in the way? Thinking you know more or better than others is not a good place to start. As I've been coached by many - move from the low road up and you'll go further than trying to start on the high road.

Shortcuts

I spoke with a swimmer and then his coach this morning after the swimmer didn't like his swim, proceeded to angrily remove his cap and goggles and slamming them on the water surface. After the next start I called the young man over and sympathized with his disgust from the swim but recommended a different response as he moves up the ladder of competition. His coach agreed and thanked me saying: "If he'd work harder and actually come to practice that might not be an issue." There are no shortcuts to swimming fast.

I've been known to take shortcuts on trips. At least that's what I call them. My family terms them "the scenic route." I'm sure though that they are shortcuts - and I'm not changing my story!

I cut corners wherever I can, trimming off a few feet instead of making a 90 degree turn up ahead. Golfers look to go over trees, through narrow spots, to shorten a hole. And we all know that the shortest distance between two points.....is a straight line. Yet no matter how many sidewalks Ohio State puts on the Oval, students will still create paths through the grass. We like shortcuts. Look up "shortcuts" on the Internet and it's 99% about computer keyboard shortcuts. Those work if you can remember them all.

But shortcuts don't work in sports, marriage, family, or anything else you can name, except keyboards. Jesus makes it clear there are no shortcuts to discipleship:

“So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.” Luke 14:33 

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.” Matthew 10:39

To be a disciple requires surrender - of everything. Here is what the insighful A.W. Tozer said about it:

 “Breezy, self-confident Christians tell us how wonderful it is to accept Christ and then have a good time all the rest of your life; the Lord won’t demand anything of you. Yes, He will, my friend! The Lord will demand everything of you. And when you give it all up to Him, He may bless it and hand it back, but on the other hand He may not.”

Discipleship is whole life commitment, 24/7. The frustration about a time from a swimmer who makes half the practices is misplaced. Results are usually the evidence of our commitment (barring illness or injury). Discipleship is Jesus' call to us to come and follow, leaving our boats and our nets (our means to sustain life) in order to give ourselves to an eternal mission. His mission...on His terms. Discipleship is not our gift to Him but His command to us.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian Pastor in WWII Germany who put his faith into action by opposing Hitler, an action that cost him his life. His most famous work is The Cost of Discipleship. If you've never read it, I recommend it more highly than any other book except the Bible. Bonhoeffer understood with his life the call of Jesus to follow. Here is some of what he said:

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” 

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Cheap grace is discipleship by shortcut. It's not possible. It doesn't work. It only creates frustration because you can't swim as fast as you want to. Your result reflects your commitment to prepare. So it is with the Christian who wants the blessings of God without the sacrifice required.


Cheap grace is a shortcut that is really a dead end:

• It's Sunday worship without daily Bible reading
• Bible reading without application to everyday life
• church membership without tithing
• tearing down those with whom you disagree while thanking God for loving you
• complaining without being part of the solution
• professing Jesus as Savior but not following Him as Lord of your life

Where are you trying to take a shortcut to discipleship? Look at where you are frustrated in life, it could be an indication you are working on a shortcut. Are you struggling with the same sin over and over again? You're probably taking a shortcut to bypass total surrender.

Reminiscing

Privileged this week to be in Columbia, Missouri @ the University of Missouri for a Sectional Meet (basically a few levels removed from Olympic Trials). I'm catching up with some official friends I haven't seen in some time, spending time with good friends with whom I'm on deck a lot, and having a great time meeting a lot of new officials from Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

I've enjoyed catching up with Greg Rhodenbaugh, a Cincinnati native, and head coach at Missouri and meeting many new coaches - Pablo Morales from Nebraska (former world record holder in the 200 fly) - Brian from Drury University (8x defending Men's Division 2 National Champs).


I titled this reminiscing because the last time I was at Missouri was a recruiting trip in 1982! Definitely not the same old pool! It wasn't the right place at that time in my life. The coach was a Jewish believer who prayed with me over the phone after the trip. He wanted what God wanted for me. I can trace His hand through it all but only in the rear view mirror.


Where can you see God was working, now that you look back? How can you become more sensitive to His movement in the here and now?

To say or not to say

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, 

but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, 

that it may benefit those who listen. - Ephesians 4:29

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep

a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, 

and their religion is worthless. - James 1:26

Words can build up or destroy a relationship and a life. A well placed yes or no can make all the difference in the world. A wayward thought spoken out loud can cripple an image and crack a person's character. Scripture is filled with encouragement and warning about the use of our tongues. In Ephesians, words can become one of the tools God uses to grow us up in faith. But if we don't train our tongues, James warns us that it can render our faith useless.

The tongue has the power of life and death, 

and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:21

Words and how we use them can literally make all the difference in the world. We can build up or tear apart. It's our words that are the expression of what is hidden in our hearts. Jesus said that our words find their conception in the depths of our hearts (Luke 6:45). That's why Proverbs says:

The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is 

even-tempered. 

Proverbs 17:27

I use words for a living. Basically I talk a lot. Words are even the public piece of my hobby, swim officiating. It's only three little words: "Take Your Mark" but they are important words. I've known my heart to be upset or distracted by something and the words are affected.

A big lesson that came from The Next Level was about words and how my role changes how my words are heard. I process stuff out loud. In other words, I like to "think out loud." But in my role as Sr. Pastor I have to be much more careful with my words and my verbal thoughts. To get to "the next level" words have to become far more important:

what you say tends to be quoted and stated and used very actively in the organization (quoting Martin Carter of Hydro Aluminum North America, p. 65)

Out loud thoughts are taken more literally from the senior level office. My coach, Brenda, says to me: "You've got to learn how much you bring to a conversation or into a room."


In Eblin's 1st Chapter, he related some stories, compilations of situations and circumstances he had encountered in his business and coaching careers. One paragraph hit me between the eyes:

To her chagrin and puzzlement, she has found that her newer direct reports will often take the ideas tha she comes up with when she is "just thinking out loud" and implement them without her even realizing that she had given them the idea. Soem of the results of this phenomenon have been less than optimal and have required her time to step in and correct the problems that were created. (p. 5)

I can't tell you the number of times I've experienced that scenario. Words. They can build up or tear down. Words can paint a picture of vision or throw mud on the canvas.  

How are you using your words? For me, I am becoming more aware of what my role does to my words. I also know that it's just not helpful to say everything I wonder about in my mind. My mind is a vast and desolate place at times and that's perhaps how my tongue should be more often.

Are your words building up or tearing down? If your tongue creating life or destroying it?

Being Effective or Being Right

I like to be right; most people do. But some have learned to live more cooperatively, putting the need to be known as the author and replacing it with something of greater lasting impact. Needing to be right will destroy relationships at home and the office.

It's hard being a recovering perfectionist. I want to make recovery perfect so that I can move beyond perfectionism. It's a dangerous and potentially destructive cyclone of thinking that can suck me right back in.

I'm so glad Jesus chose Peter to be one of His followers. I see myself over and over again. Peter was part of Jesus' inner circle of three friends, along with James and John. He was brash, proud, arrogant and a perfectionist who hated to fail and usually thought he was right.

One time Jesus was telling the 12 disciples about the next steps in His life - to Jerusalem where He would be arrested and killed but after three days be raised from the dead. Peter stands up and says: "No way, Lord. I'll never let that happen." Jesus looks at Peter and says: "Get behind me, Satan." OUCH! "You have the things of man in mind rather than the things of God." (Mark 8)

God's plan was for the salvation of all mankind. In Peter's world the steps being followed didn't fit his plans. Jesus wasn't thinking like Peter was and Peter was going to fix it. It's easy to see from reading about this encounter that Peter had his mind on personal desires and thoughts about what should happen. It's called ego and I'm more friendly with it than I'd like to think I am.

"That's not the way I would do it," I think to myself - or sometimes allowing my mouth to move before the brain has processed. This jumped out at me as I finished the last few pages of Scott Eblin's book The Next Level. He quotes Mark Effron of Hewitt Associates:

The right solution is the one that actually solves the problem with all members of the group being relatively happy that they are moving int hat direction. Part of the right solution is recognizing that consensus in most organizations will be more important than individual brilliance. (p. 183)

Keeping my eye on outcomes is a growing edge for me. I like to be right. God is pounding home that right is not the biggest issue. His Kingdom is the only end that matters. 

"It's amazing what you can accomplish when 

you do not care who gets the credit." 

Harry S. Truman

(I found a good blog entry about this at Philosiblog.com)

Peter had to go through a process whereby this selfish, self-centered, myopic thinking could be transformed to see the bigger picture. This wasn't the way Peter would have done it. Peter was ready to fight, as would be seen later as he cut off the ear of one of the guards who came to arrest Jesus. Jesus' way was different. 

Everyone needs a period of sifting (see Luke 22:31-34) to get beyond the myopic tendencies of our human nature. It's not fun. It's painful. But it's God's way of showing us how much our lives are built on sand instead of Him, a Rock foundation. Everything is about us until we realize it's not. Eblin encourages a different approach: "Spend your energy on bringing the group together to come up with smart outcomes." (p. 184)

I need to be better at this as a leader. Where do you find yourself? Does it matter who gets the credit? To achieve great things will take a team where ego's are checked at the door.

Glen Eyrie Marriage Getaway

We had a fabulous time at the Glen Eyrie Marriage Getaway. Beautiful surroundings, good new friends, great memories and many tools to grow a marriage.

Experience is not enough

As my new friend, Andrew, and I traversed some mountain trails this morning (July 15th) - yes we actually used trails on this fine day - we gazed from above overlooking the Garden of the Gods, admired the view across the city of Colorado Springs and wondered aloud about God's work in making it all. We decided to take an off-shoot of the trail we had used to ascend, finding ourselves walking down this tiered path. "That would be a nice run," he said. "Let's do it," I answered. The path curves around at both top and bottom of this picture so it's longer than it looks here.

We set down our cameras and water bottles and after suggesting: "Let's not talk during this time!", off Andrew went with me following. Andrew stands about 5' 7 or 8", a proper British gentleman with short legs and he's fast. The distance between us grew as his altitude trained lungs (he lives just south of Denver) propelled him upward. It was not unlike running inclined hurdles as the horizontal boards seemed to get higher as the trail gained altitude. We walked down and agreed a second time was needed and Andrew suggested I go first. Uh, oh, I thought. I'd been hiking or running each morning but this altitude was really kicking my butt.

Off I went, working harder, stretching longer, encouraged by the voice behind me to dig in and keep going. I didn't quite make it to the top before my legs felt completely conquered and my friend strode past me.

I've read about the benefits of training at altitude. I know all about the Olympic Training Center and why it is where it is. I've never trained at altitude until this weekend. I now know what I knew. Experience.

Experience helps us confirm the knowledge we gain through reading and teaching. By itself, experience isn't as enlightening. If I knew nothing about altitude training, didn't know where the OTC was and knew no athletes who had trained at altitude, then for all I know I'm just simply not cut out for hiking and running in the mountains. Because I have some facts locked away in my head, my experience enlarges my understanding.

Christians often use experience as the authority in their lives. If an experience has been good and positive then it is often seen as authoritative without consulting Scripture.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had a way of "doing theology" called the Quadrilateral. These four things helped him - and us - understand God's and His will more completely: Scripture, Tradition, Reason & Experience with Scripture always being the first and primary resource, the top of the pyramid.

If Scripture said something, Wesley felt like the other three could help shed light on the depth of meaning as well as application. If, on the other hand, through Tradition, Reason or Experience we came to a conclusion about God or God's will, that wasn't enough without the confirmation of Scripture. To do something because of Tradition, Reason or Experience alone was not enough to assure Wesley that it was of God.

Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp for my feet,

a light on my path."

Meeting several adulterers, a Christian comes to the conclusion that they are nice people and therefore adultery can't be that bad. Some friends find that using crystals helps them meditate and feel better, therefore crystals can't be a bad thing. You know people who cheat on their taxes and they are nice people, go to church, serve in ministry and besides the government is corrupt anyway, so it's not really cheating, right?

A church decides to continue a ministry even though it makes no difference in people's lives but is just a social club. If anyone suggests stopping it, there is hell to pay. Tradition triumphs.

Scripture always trumps experience, tradition and reason. These three can help us in our discernment process but it's never strong enough on its own to support truth.

1 Corinthians 3:11 

"For no one can lay any foundation other than

the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."

What's at the top of your pyramid? What is your authority for determining truth? On what do you base your personal core values?