A few years ago, I remember hearing an explanation of our Christian walk that went something like this:

We are all climbing a mountain and sometimes we struggle where we are with our climb. When we see people who are farther up the mountain, we can get jealous of them and their climbing accomplishments. At the same time, when we look down the mountain and see others that are not as far as us, it is easy to talk about how far we've climbed above them.

The teacher went on to explain that we need to reach down to those that are climbing below us and help them out. You know? Help them with their climb, so they can be up with us. We need to climb together, because climbing is hard work and it is easy to slip and fall down that mountain. He added a bunch of illustrations about sure footing, climbing up and not sideways, etc...

I'm not a mountain climber. Just going up and down the stairs in my house reminds me of that fact.

I've been wondering and thinking if this is even a good illustration for our walk. I'm beginning to think it's not.

What about an illustration, that we are not climbing AT ALL?

What about an illustration that says Jesus already climbed the mountain for us and there is NOTHING left to climb? That seems like a more appropriate illustration, but it begs the question...what do we do while Jesus climbs?

The simple answer is nothing. How can we add anything to the work Christ accomplished (or in this case the climb He finished).

Follow Christ? Hang onto Christ? I'm hopeless. I will let go and I will wander. It is in my nature to not follow and to let go.

So, what about this illustration: We are not climbing a mountain. Christ climbed the mountain for us. We don't hold on to him. We don't follow him. He holds onto us. He won't let go of us. He takes us up the mountain personally and delivers us to the peak. It's all Him. It's all His effort. We don't add anything to the climbing.

We live under a banner that says, "It is Finished!" Caput. Done. It is Jesus plus nothing.

Quietly making noise,
Fletch 

For the past two years, I have worn an "I Am Second" bracelet. I have had more opportunities to talk about Jesus because of this dumb rubber ring around my wrist. 

If you haven't checked out the site, drop by and watch a few of the videos. They are filmed/edited well.

Quietly making noise,
Fletch 

I am reminded today of one of the many things God used to wake me up from my slumber. Some of his reminders were gentle. There were many I probably missed along the way. All the sermons, the books, the conversations that I was too busy to really listen to at the time. This wasn't one of those reminders. This one was hard, but it did the trick.

It wasn't an overnight awakening. It was really more of a gradual thaw. A little at a time, the gospel penetrated my hardened behavior-based faith. Slowly I remembered just what made the good-news good.  

Like Narnia, the long cold winter gradually came to an end. I'm still not thawed. I live in the crisp days of spring and I am enjoying the freshness of gospel-centered living, but I'm still finding areas deep in my soul that have not been penetrated by the gospel. Although less often, I still find ways to shift my hope off of God and onto myself. I still look for my security and acceptance in things other than Jesus, but thankfully it is less and less.

So, I am thankful for a day like today, when I can pause and think back on God's quiet reminders with a heavy heart, but with a thankful heart. (RIP E.D.)

Quietly making noise,
Fletch 

Quietly Making Noise,
Fletch 

For the past few years, the most ridiculous inconsistent law I have found involves our cell phone/speaking/driving laws. Like many states, California requires drivers to use a "hands-free" device when speaking on the phone and driving. Law enforcement officers are quick to write a citation if the driver is even holding their phone while driving.

Here's where it gets good. California drivers are free to eat a hamburger, chew on fries, and slurp on a coke while casually talking to everyone in the car. If they want, they can even drink scalding hot coffee from McDonalds while manuvering their car through traffic, but when it comes to their portable phones, drivers need to make certain to connect with a hands-free device.

This is the real kicker: Drivers must use a "hands-free" device to talk on their phone and when they do not have a "hands-free" connection, they need to put their phone down (probably next to the cup of coffe that they are free to pick up whenever they want. Phone = Bad, Coffee = Good

That's when the following piece of brilliance hit me. 

The Hands-Free Coffee Phone
I've provided the step by step guide below.

Step 1: Acquire and finish your favorite coffee drink in a medium sized paper cup. For this example, I finished a Grande Cappucino from Starbucks. Yummy!

Step 2: Clean and dry your cup. Get your phone.

Step 3: Turn your phone to Speaker setting and drop it into the empty cup.

Step 4: Pretend to drink from the cup as you drive, but speak into the cup as you drive. To pull this off, you have to look like you are drinking. The sound generated will be amplified throughout the cup (added bonus!).

Step 5: Think to yourself, what other kind of stuff does Fletch have locked away in that brain of his. Then call me (with your Hands-Free Coffee Cup Phone) to thank me.

Technically this works, because you are not touching the phone with your hands (just the cup), making the phone truly "hands-free" and we all know that holding a coffee cup while we drive is legal. As the Looney Tunes genius, Wild E. Coyote, would say, "Brilliance. Sheer unadulterated brilliance."

Quietly making noise, 
Fletch 

In this specific post, Cheryl relayed an encounter she had with a homeless fellow. She and her daughter had been doing errands and she wrote how they were able to provide this man with a quick meal from a stack of McDonald's gift cards they kept in their car. I liked reading how they went out of their way to chase this guy down and loved the idea of keeping gift cards in the car to hand out.

Then, the more I thought about what she wrote, the more I was challenged by my own reactions to folks I had seen around town looking for help.

At the time I read her post, our family had recently made a change in churches. We had been attending a small church located in a secluded residential neighborhood. Strangers rarely showed up and when they did, they stood out among the clean-pressed families who attended. From there, we ended up at a very public church located on a busy downtown street. At this new church, we regularly have strangers showing up. From homeless individuals who are just walking the downtown streets to thirsty vagrants looking for a warm cup of coffee, this church is easy to find and often welcomes the less fortunate.

I realized that I had become numb to folks asking for help. I had become very good at saying no and moving on my merry way without batting an eye. I was neither moved with pity, nor was I bothered by them. I had become numb to vagrants, beggars with cardboard signs, and homeless families migrating through my city.

At the same time, I justified this response by supporting ministries that served the homeless and on occasion I even got my feet wet by serving food at our local homeless shelter. To make matters worse, like one of Chery's critics, I questioned the safety of interacting with vagrants. 

It seems I was looking for a safe, controlled environment or an official ministry to support. Yet, when I read this post, I was struck by the fact that she and her daughter saw and met a need.

That motivated me. I happened to have a hundred dollar bill sitting in my wallet, so I jumped in the car and drove to our local McDonalds and bought ten $10 gift cards and split them between my car and my wallet.

It was my goal to be prepared for the next person that asked for help/food/money. Like Cheryl and her daughter, I wanted to be ready to meet the need in the moment.

It was actually humorous at first, I found myself looking for opportunities to get rid of the cards. I quickly realized that the harder I looked for someone in need, the harder it seemed they were to find.

This adventure began as I was getting into my car after church. A young man yelled at me from across the street, asking if I could spare a few bucks for food. To be truthful, in the moment, my initial response was fear followed by a desire to just ignore him and drive away. But as I reached for the door, I rememberd the cards and decided to do more than ignore him. I also decided to do more than just hand out a card. I took the opportunity to do what I thought God was calling me to do.

His name was Chris and he was 22 years old. I would describe him as a ModRocker, dressed in dark black clothing and a dark black trench coat. I think he was just as shocked as I was when I jogged toward him across the street. I asked what he needed. He just wanted money and when I asked why, he told me he was hungry. I decided to press him a little more. At first his answers were short, but as I leaned against the wall and showed no intention on leaving soon, he began to answer the questions with more depth. By the end, I found out his mom had committed suicide when he was 14. He didn't know his father, so his life quickly spiraled into alcohol and drugs.  He had been homeless for six years, moving from place to place.

As the conversation continued, I was able to talk with him briefly about the gospel. It was at least eight blocks to the closest McDonalds, but he was very happy to know that there was a meal waiting for him when he got there.

And that started it.

For the whole year, I began looking for opportunities to not just hand out cards, but meet the people in need. Most of the time I was alone, but often I had one or two kids with me and they sat in the car while I spent the time talking to someone new. It wasn't easy. It wasn't comfortable. I worked through the whole stack and found I needed to replenish it.

It wasn't without incident. I met a few crazy people that didn't want anything to do with me (or a conversation), they just wanted the free food. But for the most part, it was a bunch of real people, with real needs and real stories. The food card was good, but most of them (like me) seemed to enjoy the conversation just as much.

I met Ed (and his dog Joshua) on the front steps of the church. I gave him some coffee and invited him in to worship. He had been homesless for more than 5 years and was just plain hungry. He didn't know what to do with Joshua, so we ended up sitting together and drinking coffee and sharing our stories.

I also met Carl and his wife in front of the grocery store. Somehow God provided twenty minutes in the middle of my day for me to sit and talk with the two of them as they continued to pan handle from cars driving by. (I'd like to think that I helped their situation, but most cars passed by as we sat together). Carl had a normal job in construction until the economy soured. Their living situation disappeared and eventually so did their transportation. Now they just survive. They walk around town, trying to get enough money to eat.

My favorite experience was in the garage of my VW mechanic. This dishevled looking guy stumbed in asking if there were any simple jobs that needed to be done. My mechanic, who is approached regularly, quickly said no, but I quickly launched into a few questions. Why? What do you need? In a few quick moments, I discovered a guy that was lonely, hungry and in need of some help. I ran out to the car and grabbed a gift card.  When I returned, I asked him for his name. Russell. I asked him if I could pray for him, and he agreed. I would like to think my desire to serve this guy helped to meet his need and helped to be an example for my friend that watched our interaction.

What began as a blog post, became an exercise in obedience and eventually an opportunity to engage my neighbors with intention and purpose. Thanks Cheryl!

Quietly making noise,
Fletch 

I'm not working so much on measurable resolutions this year, mostly because I've been a huge failure every year at maintaining my New Year's resolutions much past the month of January.  

I have found that I'm not a very good rule keeper, but I do well when I focus on general changes in life. We can call them themes or like a good pirate, maybe I will just call them guidelines.

As I kick-off this year, one of the major themes for 2012 will be "Jesus + Nothing = Everything" which is based on a new book of the same title by Tullian Tchividjian (Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church). It has already started, but I know that "J+N=E" will work itself into my conversations, blog posts and social networking.

It is a catchy phrase and a simple articulation of the gospel, but it serves as a daily exercise in mathematics for me to see if I am trying to change the equation.  On his blog today, Tchividjian communicates the principle like this: "The gospel is not a command to hang onto Jesus. Rather, it’s a promise that no matter how weak and unsuccessful your faith and efforts may be, God is always holding on to you."

This year, it is my hope that I remember more and more what the "nothing" means in this equation.

Quietly making noise,
Fletch 

MightyJoe's Advice: Unzip the nylon leisure suit, raise an eyebrow and let it all hang out in 2012!

Quietly making noise,
Fletch 

Repeat the Sounding Joy!

Fletch