Stupendous Change Leadership Series: Wonder springs from - - -?
03/January/2007 09:08 Filed in: Weekly Column
Volume 9, Issue 1
PDF copy
Wonder springs from? Well, (a deep subject) this morning I was wondering why we have this entity called time that marks the passage of our lives. We take time for granted. We waste a lot of it. We assume that it will go on forever, just like today, yesterday, only better. If we didn’t have time, our lives and those of others would be undefined.
I recall a time many years ago, how that now has some true meaning, when I made a resolution. But I doubt that it was a New Year’s Resolution, to try to integrate my life into some type of unity. I had my work life, my home life, my private life, my desired life, but they were all sort of compartments. Compartments that really shared very little with one another.
All of us ask ourselves the same type of life questions. The typical American solution seems to be: I will work at a job I; A = enjoy, B = to make a lot of money, C= tolerate, D = despise, E = all the previous, so that as soon as possible, I can retire and do what I really want to do with my life. That gap seems to be, time wise on average 30 to 40 years.
The problem then, being that old and lofty age, you physically can not do a lot of the things you desired to do, the way you could, when you began this future quest. Furthermore, most in that intervening period never develop the skills necessary to really accomplish the now real task that retirement hands us. If that were not bad enough, you have to rest a lot, just to mentally adjust to all that stuff you did, all those years, you were waiting to do what you wanted to do now. Whew, can you wait?
As many have said and I concur, retirement as we define it, isn’t in the Bible. There are some references of moving out to let others in, but there seems to be little concept of traveling to Mexico and sitting in a bar. There is an emphasis on going to a foreign land to do God’s work, but you are way too busy to sit in a bar. That also happens when you are young (and perhaps too idealistic to understand what you are really signing up to do.)
However, it seems amazing, that people going to that distant land in their own might and determination, do spend a lot of time sitting and drinking in bars. At least that is true in all the movies. So is liquor the quicker fixer to cope with change and circumstances beyond our comfort zone?
Contrary to the world’s perceived notions, alcohol is just a reality altering drug and very dangerous when taken to extreme, both in time and over time. Wonder does not spring from booze, or any other performance enhancing, depressing drug, or stimulant. Wonder springs from unexpected places, that is why it is called Wonder Springs.
I believe it was late in 2002 (see 13 November 2002 Chronicle archive on website) I was looking for a cool name for my company. As I was reading some secular something, as the writer was going along, unexpectedly I read something similar to, “then wonder springs from.” It was like wonder springs was written in large super bold colored type. Further research found that as far as I know the only real Wonder Springs in the world are in Death Valley.
Paul in Romans Chapter 8 describes all the things that he as gone through in his life, but at the end of the chapter he describes the personal Wonder Springs of the Christian in verses 37-38:
Yet in all these things we are more than (Wonder Springs) conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the (Wonder Springs) love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wonder Springs from all aspects of life, all you need is to know where to look for them. Wonder Springs do not spring in the well watered plain. Wonder Springs do not emerge when life is easy. We stumble across Wonder Springs, when we are so dry and parched we hope we might die of thirst and know we still have some time left. Wonder Springs really can be only counted upon by true Christians. It is Christ’s death in our place, that gives us access to the liquidity of the Holy Spirit. Wonder Springs from God’s Holy Spirit.
The problem is that we never seek out Wonder Springs. In fact, we will go through all sorts of contortions to drill our own well, build our own cistern, or our own aqueduct, rather than believe God for a drink from the living water of Wonder Springs.
As we begin this series on Stupendous Change leadership, the one constant that is present in all these situations is that the contortions no longer work. The well has caved in. The cistern is contaminated with radiation or a harmful pandemic disease, and the aqueduct was destroyed by the storm or the earthquake. There when all else is gone, is where Wonder Springs.
Wonder Springs from impossible places. It accepts that acts of God, are really acts of God. Therefore, there is nothing that has happened to you that God did not allow for His Ultimate Glory. In that context, disasters, catastrophes, and other events that first appear horrific are not so, - - - if you strike the meanings of those words as being impossibilities because of Wonder Springs.
One requirement for Wonder Springs however, is to face all situations as real reality. If the falling tree only does minor damage to your wonderful home that you spent most of your life strength and emotions preparing, accept it as a gift of God. Except by the grace of God, it could have fallen through the nursery and killed baby Sue. Wonder does not spring from worrying about and harassing the satellite company to come repair your dish so that your plasma TV will again work.
A few verses before his Wonder Springs statement in Romans 8, Paul in verse 28 defines the territory of stupendous change and it’s liquidity: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
In that dry and desert land there is an oasis of fruit if you look for it. Paul elsewhere defines that fruit in Galations 5:22, 23: But the fruit of the Spirit (of Wonder Springs) is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (only God’s grace).
Christians are the only people who have access continually to the living water of Wonder Springs. As a consequence, by accepting the reality of stupendous change, they are also God’s messengers and also ambassadors of His fruit. Stupendous change events are places to distribute fruit, not make conversions. It is the fruit that changes lives, not you persuading techniques, nor you wrath and judgment.
I heard on the news yesterday that Pat Robertson said God told him that there was going to be a terrorist attack on America late this year, and it might be nuclear. This was reported in the context that it was in 2006 that he declared that a tsunami would also hit the US, which did not occur.
Ok, a tsunami did not hit the US, but in November flood waters flooded places in western Washington that had never flooded before. A hurricane did not hit the area either, but hurricane force winds did knock out power to more than a million homes. In between, a snow storm idled most of the Puget Sound region for a few days. Tuesday wind and rain again plummeted the region with another major storm, but this time people were much more prepared. The American dream is that it won’t happen to me, but it is only a dream.
Winter in Colorado is now described as the worst since 1997, and winter there only took effect a few days before Christmas. Seeing the pictures on the news, I think I would rather live here. But what about the potential earthquake on the Seattle fault, about five miles up the street. Or the terrorist attack so easy to carry out in this tree hugger mecca. Too bad, the terrorists don’t recognize such a religious holy place. The American dream is that it won’t happen to me, but it is only a dream, a bad dream. Reality is being awake to the signs of the times.
As we develop this stupendous change leadership series keep in mind that in the last 2000 years, Christians are and were the first to arrive and work tirelessly in any catastrophe. They were calm because they knew the power of the Wonder Springs well. Something the world did not and could not understand, but only appreciate.
They carried with their personality the fruit of Wonder Springs as they dispensed food, medicine, or just listened to peoples stories. Essentially they had been given a gift, and the only way that they could keep it is to give it away, free to those who can not pay anything. That is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is dispensed by loving on people. That is the true Christian message.
Change is the only constant in this world. Sometimes that change comes with stupendous consequences. This series is geared to help you accept stupendous change as real, and deal with it with love and compassion. That is the reality of where Wonder Springs from.
PDF copy
Wonder springs from? Well, (a deep subject) this morning I was wondering why we have this entity called time that marks the passage of our lives. We take time for granted. We waste a lot of it. We assume that it will go on forever, just like today, yesterday, only better. If we didn’t have time, our lives and those of others would be undefined.
I recall a time many years ago, how that now has some true meaning, when I made a resolution. But I doubt that it was a New Year’s Resolution, to try to integrate my life into some type of unity. I had my work life, my home life, my private life, my desired life, but they were all sort of compartments. Compartments that really shared very little with one another.
All of us ask ourselves the same type of life questions. The typical American solution seems to be: I will work at a job I; A = enjoy, B = to make a lot of money, C= tolerate, D = despise, E = all the previous, so that as soon as possible, I can retire and do what I really want to do with my life. That gap seems to be, time wise on average 30 to 40 years.
The problem then, being that old and lofty age, you physically can not do a lot of the things you desired to do, the way you could, when you began this future quest. Furthermore, most in that intervening period never develop the skills necessary to really accomplish the now real task that retirement hands us. If that were not bad enough, you have to rest a lot, just to mentally adjust to all that stuff you did, all those years, you were waiting to do what you wanted to do now. Whew, can you wait?
As many have said and I concur, retirement as we define it, isn’t in the Bible. There are some references of moving out to let others in, but there seems to be little concept of traveling to Mexico and sitting in a bar. There is an emphasis on going to a foreign land to do God’s work, but you are way too busy to sit in a bar. That also happens when you are young (and perhaps too idealistic to understand what you are really signing up to do.)
However, it seems amazing, that people going to that distant land in their own might and determination, do spend a lot of time sitting and drinking in bars. At least that is true in all the movies. So is liquor the quicker fixer to cope with change and circumstances beyond our comfort zone?
Contrary to the world’s perceived notions, alcohol is just a reality altering drug and very dangerous when taken to extreme, both in time and over time. Wonder does not spring from booze, or any other performance enhancing, depressing drug, or stimulant. Wonder springs from unexpected places, that is why it is called Wonder Springs.
I believe it was late in 2002 (see 13 November 2002 Chronicle archive on website) I was looking for a cool name for my company. As I was reading some secular something, as the writer was going along, unexpectedly I read something similar to, “then wonder springs from.” It was like wonder springs was written in large super bold colored type. Further research found that as far as I know the only real Wonder Springs in the world are in Death Valley.
Paul in Romans Chapter 8 describes all the things that he as gone through in his life, but at the end of the chapter he describes the personal Wonder Springs of the Christian in verses 37-38:
Yet in all these things we are more than (Wonder Springs) conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the (Wonder Springs) love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wonder Springs from all aspects of life, all you need is to know where to look for them. Wonder Springs do not spring in the well watered plain. Wonder Springs do not emerge when life is easy. We stumble across Wonder Springs, when we are so dry and parched we hope we might die of thirst and know we still have some time left. Wonder Springs really can be only counted upon by true Christians. It is Christ’s death in our place, that gives us access to the liquidity of the Holy Spirit. Wonder Springs from God’s Holy Spirit.
The problem is that we never seek out Wonder Springs. In fact, we will go through all sorts of contortions to drill our own well, build our own cistern, or our own aqueduct, rather than believe God for a drink from the living water of Wonder Springs.
As we begin this series on Stupendous Change leadership, the one constant that is present in all these situations is that the contortions no longer work. The well has caved in. The cistern is contaminated with radiation or a harmful pandemic disease, and the aqueduct was destroyed by the storm or the earthquake. There when all else is gone, is where Wonder Springs.
Wonder Springs from impossible places. It accepts that acts of God, are really acts of God. Therefore, there is nothing that has happened to you that God did not allow for His Ultimate Glory. In that context, disasters, catastrophes, and other events that first appear horrific are not so, - - - if you strike the meanings of those words as being impossibilities because of Wonder Springs.
One requirement for Wonder Springs however, is to face all situations as real reality. If the falling tree only does minor damage to your wonderful home that you spent most of your life strength and emotions preparing, accept it as a gift of God. Except by the grace of God, it could have fallen through the nursery and killed baby Sue. Wonder does not spring from worrying about and harassing the satellite company to come repair your dish so that your plasma TV will again work.
A few verses before his Wonder Springs statement in Romans 8, Paul in verse 28 defines the territory of stupendous change and it’s liquidity: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
In that dry and desert land there is an oasis of fruit if you look for it. Paul elsewhere defines that fruit in Galations 5:22, 23: But the fruit of the Spirit (of Wonder Springs) is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (only God’s grace).
Christians are the only people who have access continually to the living water of Wonder Springs. As a consequence, by accepting the reality of stupendous change, they are also God’s messengers and also ambassadors of His fruit. Stupendous change events are places to distribute fruit, not make conversions. It is the fruit that changes lives, not you persuading techniques, nor you wrath and judgment.
I heard on the news yesterday that Pat Robertson said God told him that there was going to be a terrorist attack on America late this year, and it might be nuclear. This was reported in the context that it was in 2006 that he declared that a tsunami would also hit the US, which did not occur.
Ok, a tsunami did not hit the US, but in November flood waters flooded places in western Washington that had never flooded before. A hurricane did not hit the area either, but hurricane force winds did knock out power to more than a million homes. In between, a snow storm idled most of the Puget Sound region for a few days. Tuesday wind and rain again plummeted the region with another major storm, but this time people were much more prepared. The American dream is that it won’t happen to me, but it is only a dream.
Winter in Colorado is now described as the worst since 1997, and winter there only took effect a few days before Christmas. Seeing the pictures on the news, I think I would rather live here. But what about the potential earthquake on the Seattle fault, about five miles up the street. Or the terrorist attack so easy to carry out in this tree hugger mecca. Too bad, the terrorists don’t recognize such a religious holy place. The American dream is that it won’t happen to me, but it is only a dream, a bad dream. Reality is being awake to the signs of the times.
As we develop this stupendous change leadership series keep in mind that in the last 2000 years, Christians are and were the first to arrive and work tirelessly in any catastrophe. They were calm because they knew the power of the Wonder Springs well. Something the world did not and could not understand, but only appreciate.
They carried with their personality the fruit of Wonder Springs as they dispensed food, medicine, or just listened to peoples stories. Essentially they had been given a gift, and the only way that they could keep it is to give it away, free to those who can not pay anything. That is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is dispensed by loving on people. That is the true Christian message.
Change is the only constant in this world. Sometimes that change comes with stupendous consequences. This series is geared to help you accept stupendous change as real, and deal with it with love and compassion. That is the reality of where Wonder Springs from.