Fly Free

Struggling for words has never been a major issue for me (Okay, most of my friends are collectively shaking their heads at this point and saying, "No kidding Sherlock."  Mind you, I picture them saying something more along the lines of, "No kidding Lanigan.  But we still think you are like so totally super funny and incredibly good looking so don't worry about it because you are awesomer than awesomeness."  And frankly, I am pretty sure my friend Jon says that all the time.  Primarily because he grew up in Saskatchewan.  Not that growing up in the flatlands is bad, it's just that he still struggles in his attempts to describe what a combine does, never mind the fact that he wears toque's with his name stitched into them.  And yes, I can see how my description may lead you to lean heavily in the direction that he is special needs.  He is not.  Really.)

Today words are a bit of an issue (unless I am describing friends who may no longer be my friends).  Mostly because I made a pretty big leap in my career and putting it to words just doesn't feel adequate. 

I quit my job. 

And I have got zip waiting in the wings.  Nothing. 

To be fair, the story is long, eventhough the journey has been short.  Earlier this summer I sensed a major change coming yet struggled to make it happen.  Well, hesitated to make it happen.  Fear of my circumstances overwhelmed my faith in the supernatural.

Silly.  Stupid is a better word but we are not supposed to say that in our house.  Apparently, we are allowed to 'sort of' say words though.  Caedyn helped us understand this point the other night when she proudly exclaimed "I still know what the 'F' word is" Here's the whole story.

Eventhough I knew deep down that I needed to make a change, I was overwhelmed with the here and now.  I desperately wanted to get some things in order first.  And who wouldn't if they figured on making an occupational change in the near future.  There was one problem.  God was calling me to step out into the uncontrolled, unseen, unfreakingnerving unknown.  To trust him above my circumstances.

Leave the details to me Scott.  It's time to Fly Free. 

After all my worry, all my failed attempts at controlling, I finally relented.  I allowed that Big God to show up.  And amazingly, supernaturally, profoundly I sit here today, completely at peace.  In the midst of having no clue where any money is coming from after October 15th (which is less than 3 weeks away).  

When I get a little tense thinking about the future these words beckon me to remember who is in control.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;

and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Give ear and come to me;

hear me, that your soul may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

my faithful love promised to David.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty

but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

You will go out in joy

and be led forth in peace;

(Flying Free)

the mountains and hills

will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

will clap their hands.

-Isaiah 55

 
I will share the whole story in the near future.  For now, check out my sermon from a number of weeks ago.  It was smack dab in the middle of my battlefield. 

Big Idea was:  Big Faith in the midst of Big Fear allows and even Bigger God to show up.

The Vid of My Sermon

VHF - Departures Ecuador

Today my offering is a bit different but probably one of the best VHF's.  It is taken from the OLN show "Departures" which highlights 2 Canadian boys endeavouring to "find themselves" by traveling the globe.  Check out their website to understand a wholistic view of the show, and then check out this clip to understand the beauty and comedy of encountering an entirely different culture.

Unfortunately I could not cut the clip to where I wanted it.... so you'll have to put a little effort in.  Drag the bar to start the clip at 37:45 and ride it out until 42:50.   Enjoy.

http://www.oln.ca/?bclid=34540927001

Post Supper Showdown

Post supper in the Lanigan household usually consists of the following:

Shock and awe from our children that dishes need to be cleared from the table.  This is somehow a completely stuning revelation every night.  How as parents, could we not understand that we should just be thankful that we have the incredible privilege to make them supper each and every night.   Like come on. This results in an extremely quick revelation by our children that they are about to be sold to gypsies, which is going to be followed by a huge party they are not invited to, the conversation typically turns to whining:

"Dad, like, you ask us EVERY DAY.  So not fair. 
"I already got out of the van and walked in the house after school and now this?"
"I am not touching Caedyn's plate there are boogers on it."
"My hands are cramping."
"I have to go poo."

To combat the gong show.  We came up with a trivia game.  With the winner recieving the golden "I am so awesome card."  Which apparently is a very popular ticket because it means you don't have to do dishes.  We have 5 rounds.  Winner is the one with the most points after the five rounds.  Each round, the kidlets get to choose a 1 point, 2 point or 3 point question.  1 being easy and 3 being like "super hard."  We allow for steals after a wrong answer.  If another kid gets the answer right on a steal, they recieve half of the original points.  We do not kid around people.  The topics flip flop between school subject trivia and bible trivia.  Needless to say the humming and hawwing is intense.  Well, a few nights ago, after everyone went poo, the hand cramps were massaged out, and caedyn ate the boogers of her plate, we dove into it.

After a hard fought battle we had a three way tie at the end of 5 rounds.  Out came the Free For All question.  First one to answer it right wins the game.  I tossed out an easy one cause someone had to go poo again. 

Which book of the Bible in the New Testament starts with the letter 'H'? 

Brady pipes up immediately with, "Dad, I am pretty sure I know what it is but I don't know if I want to say it in case I get it wrong."  I laugh because he knows as well as I do that if he gets the Q wrong he is disqualified and loses the competition.  Like I said people, we do not kid around.

I say, "B-man, if you don't take the risk, you'll potentially lose the competition.  Gotta take the shot pal."

"Okay I am going to do it...   Hepatitis."

Incredible.  Carla and I lost it.  We could not stop laughing.  Hepatitis?? Brady figured he had gotten the question wrong yet couldn't quite figure out what the right answer was.  Megan popped up with, "That's in the Old Testament Brady."
    
Okay, let's get serious, that does sound like an OT book of the Bible.  With Habbakuk, Zephaniah and Leviticus out there, Hepatitis is not that much of a stretch.  I know, if it wasn't for the fact that it's a disease.   In the midst of Carla and I almost doubling over, we suggest to the kids to sing the NT Books of the Bible (yes, we have a song) and within seconds, out of nowhere, Caedyn pipes in, "Hebrews." 

Unreal.

And guess who had to do the dishes?  That's right me.  Apparently, Hepatitis gets you out of doing dishes.  Who knew.

VHF - Wipeout Wipeouts

This is beautiful and horrible.  Similiar to everytime I put on a wetsuit.  Beautiful that I get the chance to wakeboard.  Horrible because my back hair never fails to get caught in something and I start screaming and flailing like a girl.  Most of the time it is mid-boarding so unfortunaltely, everyone in the boat thinks I am having the time of my life.  That's it.  I am going mankini from now on.

 

The Nines

The Nines returns today.  An online conference featuring 100+ speakers from around the world summarizing their thoughts into 9 minutes or less.  Sweet.  Theme this year is "Game Changers."

Check it out here for free.

Clenched Fists

Victor knocked on my window just as I put my '97 Accord into Park.  Starbucks was calling and I was answering. 

I hopped out of my car and said "Hi, what can I do for you?"
With a strong Ukranian accent Victor launched into it. 

"My name is Veektor and I from Europe.  I needa lunch.  You help me eat?"

Didn't take long for me to realize that I had this coming.

You see, I have battled something my whole life... Generosity.  Not the regular kind of deal like taking a friend out for coffee or having people over for dinner or giving to charities or tipping 11%.  No, it's the controling power of money.  Or should I say, the incapacitating influence of money.  I have never earned a high salary in North American terms.   Therefore my life month to month is typically hoping to make ends meet.  Tough when your oldest hits Grade 7 and is not impressed with the Transformer Velcro shoes you just got a sweet deal on.  There were like super cool colors.  And lit up when you walk,.  Like come on.  Back in the day we had those mesh slip on shoes.  Not even cool on any level.  

So I live always questioning, always wondering how we are going to make all the payments.   And with precision timing every two weeks the "What if''s" start to lurk.  What if my car needs new brakes? (which it does so that's more of.. lovely, my car needs new brakes, "use both sides of the toiler paper kids!")   What if we can't afford the monthly payments for my son's $6500 braces?   What if I don't have enough to pay my mortgage?  What if...

I mentioned a few weeks back that Carla and I were launching into a new book called Big God by Britt Merrick.  It stemmed from the conviction that God had been tapping on my shoulder for months (years) about faith.  Trusting Him to provide (period).  Sounds all trite and wonderful and exactly what a pastor should do and say.  Yet I read it and it doesn't even sound easy.   Today, in this country, and this culture, there is very little we have to rely on others for.  

(Okay I absolutely have to interject right now.  As I was typing the sentence "Today, in this country..." I looked up for a moment because a lady walking by caught my attention.  50ish years old, trench coat and I kid you not, I am not making this up, she was casually strolling along smoking a joint.  So I sit corrected, I rely on people for freakishly crazy stories.  Which totally reminded me of another great marijuana story that will have to wait.)

It's true isn't it?  Think of your day to day life?  What do you rely on others that is a necessity for you to survive?  Not much beyond a paycheck I am guessing.

Victors knock was God's hand.

I had come to a point where I was sick of not trusting God the way I should.  Loving so many things about Jesus but falling short of loving Jesus.  When I love Jesus.  When I understand his love for me.  Love becomes the fuel for faith. \It fuels my capacity to lean into Jesus.  It propels me to peace, to extend hope, to ecnourage joy.  When I am tight fisted that becomes impossible.  When I clench my hands around my paycheck I am holding on to the tangible not the supernatural.

Victor was stunned when I clenched my fists around his arm and starting dragging him to the nearest restaurant and said "We are going right now wherever you want and we are buying whatever you need."

3 weeks before Victor knock I heard another knock.  That one was in my head.  I was taking a break from doing some hosting at a Conference.  So I took a stroll for a few blocks and hit the nearest Timmy's.  Got my large coffee one cream and started heading back.  As I exited the joint, I saw a huge drive-thru line up.  Thankful I was on foot, I started passing the cars one by one, looking to cut through to the sidewalk.  It was then I saw her.  She was in a beat up old Chrysler.  Off-white.  Seems a car wash was not top priority.  3 kids in car seats filled up the back seat.  Her head was held up by her hand, window open, elbow on the door.  Her head kinda of dropped.  Tiltied to one side.  I sensed she was clenching on to the tangible.  As I was about to pass her car, my head and my heart tweaked.  Be generous.  I stopped.  Our eyes met.  I smiled and walked away.  I cannot express to you how much I have thought about that moment ever since. 

I blew it.  

The clincher is that I had been asking the God of heaven, the God who promises to show up to show up and he did.  He chose me in that moment to be an extension of him and I clenched my paycheck.  I suck so bad.

I thanked God for hearing me and begged him to forgive me.

And Victor knocked.

To be honest, I hesitated a fraction of a second when I heard the knock.   It wasn't a clench.  It was a thank you.  I thanked God for second chances.  And third chances and grace beyond what I will ever deserve or ever have the capacity to earn.

I am pretty sure God was smiling cause Victor chose KFC.  For real?  Kentucky Fried Chicken are you kidding me?  If I had to choose between KFC and gum under a bus stop bench I would gnaw it off the bench.  I tried to get him somewhere that didn't leave you smelling like foot when you left.  To no avail.

I smiled regardless.  Victor was pumped.  Smelling like a foot and all.