Have your burger, and drive off of it too?

As Oil Prices Soar, Restaurant Grease Thefts Rise (NYTimes, 5/30/2008)

Great article. My question... does it make your car smell like a hamburger or fried chicken? And is it bad for your cholesterol levels? Or is this actually the good kind of cholesterol?!

Considering the criticisms that Biofuels have received as of late, is it possible that this provides a great alternative?

For the first time ever, is it possible that you can have your cake and eat it too?

Or in this case, eat your burger and then drive off of its refuse?

I assume that...?

I love assumptions.

"she wouldn't want to..."
"he'd think it was silly..."
"well what they really mean must be..."
"everyone thinks that..."
"he must be that way because..."

Now, let's be frank: most assumptions are based on some form of logical rationale. That rationale might be as weak as "Well, he's male, and I'm female, ergo, he must be flirting with me when he says 'hello' when he answers the phone!" But typically, there is some basis of truth for our assumptions. The problem is that the truth is typically only half-truth, and our assumptions also come with two detrimental side-effects:

1) They limit the person about whom you are making the assumption.
2) They limit you in your ability to relate to the other person.

Let me give you two examples...

I am currently in the process of doing support raising for my job, which means that I often have to sit down with potential donors, and ask them to join my support team, supporting me in prayer and financially if possible. There are often very loud voices in my head that say "They don't want to give. You're offending them by asking." Now there is some basis of truth in that mental accusation: money is a touchy subject. Sometimes people don't want to give. But more often than not, my donors are really excited to support the ministry with InterVarsity. Often times, they are waiting for me to invite them into partnership. If I operate based on my assumptions, I limit my donors' generosity, and I limit the depth of my own relationship with them. I place them in boxes that are perhaps not accurate.

Secondly, let's talk about men and women. All too often I see both men and women making assumptions about the other person's behavior... and either getting wigged-out or uncharacteristically excited... "I think she likes me!" "I don't know if I can co-lead with her, because I'm afraid that she'll get a crush on me!" "I can't hang out with him, because he might get the wrong impression..." "So because he did ____, I know that he meant ____!" Again, there is some basis of truth: men tend to be attracted to women; women tend to be attracted to men. However, when we automatically assume that there is sexual tension in any cross-gendered relationships, we severely limit our ability to relate across genders... we sell ourselves short of the other person's friendship... and we lose our ability to relate wholly to the other person.

So can I offer you a gift?

Take this week entirely assumption free. Give yourself the freedom, especially cross-gender, to relate to the other person as a friend, without worrying about sexual tension, flirting, or anything else. Instead of insinuating and hoping the other person "gets it," speak truthfully and say what you mean! Allow the other person the freedom to define themselves, rather than limiting them with your self-imposed boxes...

And this is the promise that I will make to you in return:

I will always tell you what I mean.
I do not play games.
I try to operate assumption-free.
When I am in doubt about what you mean, I will ask you, rather than assume that I know.

There is great freedom in operating without assumptions. Try it. You'll like it!

beauty for ashes... and beauty for ashes.

the great exchange.

created. designed. molded. made. whole.
and yet broken.
somewhere along the way, shards of sin
penetrated both the penetrator and the penetrated.
yet it did not touch the source,
leaving hope for healing and
an entirely convincing sense that
things are not right.

sexuality. trading our beauty for ashes.
life-giving exchanged for death and dying.
the acronyms are overwhelming.
AIDS. STD.
the words at times even worse:
rape. disease. lust.
addiction. apathy. incest.
to be summed up in one word: broken.
inside, outside, shattered.
fragments of what the LORD intended.
same sex, opposite sex, self, others:
shards of glass, mini-mirrors
reflecting broken relationship and image.
how do we even begin to imagine...
....wholeness.

"it is good; very good" quoth He
in the garden.
male and female he created them.
good, very good!
and so, in this restoration revelation
do i dare believe that God can
yet again
begin to redeem, restore, ransom
giving beauty for our ashes,
wholeness for our brokenness,
and celebration for our desolation?

the spring, the source, the origin,
is untainted.
therefore, from that well
must we draw for our healing.
receiving beauty for our ashes.

A boy named God

A friend of mine teaches English in a non-English-speaking country...

As students enter the program, they are asked to select an English name, which will be their name for the duration of their stay in the program... and the students can choose whatever name they desire, and choose how to spell it.

Currently my friend has an unintentional jungle theme going on in her class... several of the students have elected to name themselves "Tiger" or "Bear" or "Lion"... She also has a student named "Rick" who has elected to spell it "Rikk" because he thinks it's cooler that way... and we thought Americans gave their kids strange names... just imagine what could happen if the kids were to name themselves!

But the name that struck me the most, was the student who elected to name himself "God."

No, not a joke. This is actually his English name, and has been for the last three to four years...

"God, would you please come up to the board to diagram this sentence?"
"God, do you know what the answer is?"
"God, did you do your homework?"

... ah the possibilities are endless! It's a good thing I'm not his teacher...

But friends, here's the take-home...

When we detach the name "God" from an understanding of who God is... what He's done in the past, what He's doing in the present, what He says He will do in the future... His power, His authority, His glory... His desire to be known... when we divorce His name from His identity and character, then it ceases to be anything except a name... and for this little boy, that is all that it is...

So, the question for you and me is... when we say that we believe in God, do we knowingly worship "I Am" or are we merely giving lip-service to a name which means very little to us? Are we worshiping the Lord, at whose name"every knee shall bow and every tongue confess" or are we merely reciting the title of an unknown being?

Who is your God?

*caveat* I am not at all saying that we should be flippant with the name of the Lord. But the reason that we're not flippant is because we know who He is...