Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 91 Week At A Glance and Month in Summary Scripture focus: Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV Scriptural perspectives reveal truth AND baffle. When we hear wonderful words of promise - words like freedom, abundance, sustenance, everlasting love, and more - we thrill at the potential. Thrill at the potential paired with sincere and repetitive, failed attempts to embrace all our God-given potential is confounding, confusing, and condemning. This is our experiential truth - even though it is not God's desire for our hearts. Our perception of where we are on the potter's wheel isn't always accurate; our good intentions, our verbal statements of belief, and even our desires for a spiritual life can be side-tracked by the passionate pursuit of cravings. We are created to live passionate, productive, loving lives. Whenever this passion is abused, somebody gets hurt. There are many things that spark our passion - we must be careful what we choose to pursue. Cravings are a symptom of a misfiring mid-brain. A broken pleasure center in the brain, which results in an inability to think clearly and propels us into survival mode is the result of several factors, including stress. When maladaptive coping strategies, prolonged exposure to stress and perhaps a genetic vulnerability come together, they can create the perfect storm of addiction. The mid-brain - the seat of pleasure and the source of cravings - fights hard to survive. In survival mode, we become extremely self-focused. Helpless and hopeless people sometimes look like the hopeless causes that they believe themselves to be - but hold on. There is more to the story. Although it is true that the seed of potential sometimes gets stolen from us, or falls on ground too hard to nourish its potential, or seems to be received only to be choked out by more stress and the passionate pursuit of cravings, take heart. God has made a way to restore the hopeless and helpless. Once in a while we confuse a big dream with a delusion of grandeur. Big dreams are best defined in the light of God's love - not in the darkness of our own mind. If we've ever run smack into the wall of delusion, then we may have grown wary of our passion and thirst for adventure. That's sad, because passion is not our problem; we were created to live passionate lives. Our problem is one of light and dark; we are created to thrive in the light, we struggle to survive in darkness. The fulfillment of big dreams and destiny will require that we learn new things. Many of the "new things" we'll need to embrace are spiritual in nature. We're going to have to learn that bumblebees fly because that is within the realm of God's prevailing purpose for them - even if aerodynamics and the laws of physics say that flying, for the bumblebee, is impossible. Defying naysayers and dream thieves may lead to grand epic adventures, but it will require us to struggle. Expect a fight. Although God desires an abundant life for his children, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy these dreams. Be warned. Hopeless and helpless people, though lost, can take heart. The good shepherd seeks and finds those that are lost. That is the beginning of the story. Freedom, faith, passion, and ambition can help the lost find their place in the story - a rich, epic adventure - requiring hope and a huge heart. This completes the first ninety one steps of your 365 step journey; I pray you are nearer to God as a result of the steps you've taken this week. Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 15, 16 and 17 in the morning; Psalm 72 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 90 - Despair Scripture focus: Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. Hosea 6:3 NIV "You were not created to run from challenges, to live in angst, or to drown in despair. This is not a good place for your soul. You also can't move forward into your future when you are paralyzed by fear. Over the years I've heard many people condescendingly describe faith as the activity of the weak. Is it possible that the reason we find God in our deepest despair is that this is when we are most earnestly listening? The word despair means "to live apart from hope." It can then also be translated "to live without a future." No one knows better than God that we cannot live like this. Despair is to the soul what toxic waste is to the body. It's a troubling thing when your soul demands what your brain rejects. We will always be haunted by this soul craving, this seemingly irrational need for hope. We should be able to live perfectly well without God and without hope. But neither proves to be the case. Ironically, when we should least believe in even the existence of hope, when we are most consumed with a sense of our insignificance, it is here we will crave it the most. You can't give up on hope and go on with life. Without hope your life may not come to an end, but does come to a stop." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 13, Destiny. Have you ever despaired? Lost hope? Lost your ability to see your place in the story and with it, your willingness to even try? Victor Frankl learned lessons on survival as a result of his experiences in a Nazi death-camp. He believes that hope is essential for life - and those that lost it in that concentration camp environment, soon lost their will to live. McManus quotes him in his thirteenth entry on Destiny, in his book, Soul Cravings. "Frankl goes on to explain in addressing the issue of despair, "What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us." This is huge. When we fret over what we expect from life, we're only using a small portion of our brain! Our expectations fire up the mid-brain - that pleasure seeking, self-preserving, survival focused part of the brain where it's all about me! Frankl is suggesting that we must engage our entire brain in the process of learning a new way to think about our lives. McManus continues, "Frankl's writings became an introduction to his development of logotherapy, and from that his book was retitled Man's Search for Meaning. But I think rather than moving his fellow prisoners toward meaning, he instead took them past meaning to purpose. Their despair was overcome not by making sense of life, but by believing in the future. Their resolve and resilience to endure the unimaginable came out of souls that believed that their destiny could not be thwarted by their present tragedy. A sense of destiny gives us the strength to face overwhelming obstacles and hardships. At the same time living a life with a powerful sense of purpose gives us the energy and enthusiasm to get up in the morning and face the day. It is in the worst of situations that we are able to discover the best in us. It is also in these moments that we are able to see most clearly what is true and what is real and what it means most fully to be human." When we acknowledge God, we are positioning ourselves to have a fully engaged, complete brain encounter with hope. Hope builds the heart, strengthening it for the future. Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 12, 13 and 14 in the morning; Psalm 71 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 89 - Future Focused Scripture focus: He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:2-5 TNIV Last year I took on the project of studying the last week in the life of Jesus. What I learned certainly altered my Easter-reality. (For more details, order Insight, Finding Your Way Back To God, Part 3 at www.northstarcommunity.com) Anyway, Isaiah 53 prophetically sums up what the gospels reveal - we didn't understand Jesus' ambition. He was passionate about living out his story. His story invites us into a world larger than ourselves. His story speaks of suffering and serving, kingdom and community, belief and betrayal, madness and maturity. Even Jesus himself had to seriously pause to prepare in the Garden of Gethsemane before the final curtain call, when the last scene of his story on earth would be revealed. I continue to marvel at his desire to call the whole thing off. Three times he asked his father for a cancellation of his story. But in the end, he rose above the stress and the cravings of his mid-brain. He ignored the shouts for self-preservation. He accepted his place in the story. Why? It wasn't because he felt like it! I think it was a four letter word that compelled him to obey. He possessed hope. "When there is no future, there is no hope. Where there is no hope, there is no reason to live. There is only despair. Our souls are not designed for despair. It's not where we are intended to live. If we live there too long, we will find ourselves soul-sick." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 9, Destiny. You and I have come to understand that prolonged seasons of stress cause our brains to break. Specifically, the pleasure center of our brain goes haywire. Our brains become neurologically impaired. Despair is a stressor; part of soul-sickness is related to brain distress. "When we have no dream, it kills us." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 9, Destiny. You want to know why? Because it takes an entire, intact, communicating-with-all-the-parts kind of brain to dream. When our mid-brain goes bonkers, it causes a thing called "hypo-vigilant" response. Literally, the mid-brain refuses to talk to the pre-frontal cortex (the seat of reasoning, delayed gratification, ability to see cause and effect) and the other parts of the brain that help us find profound meaning in our daily lives. "It's the same way with hope. Hope pulls us into the future. Hope is rare, but we don't need much of it to experience its power. When we are full of hope, it's not because everything in the future is certain to us, but because the future itself is filled with promise. At the same time, like the promise of a future, hope comes only from something we do not yet have, something we have not yet attained. In other words, how much you have in the world has no bearing on how much hope you have. In actuality, everything you have no longer qualifies as a conduit of hope. Once you have it, it's out of the arena of hope. Hope pulls you into the future because it comes from there. " Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 9, Destiny. Jesus suffered AND he hoped. His story provides a reason to hope - even in the midst of a messy chapter in our own story. Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 10 and 11 in the morning; Luke 9 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 88 - Faith Scripture focus: "When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that he Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord."Ex. 14:31 NLT I have a kid who is headed to grad school on the West Coast. He doesn't know how he's going to fund this adventure. And he is really quite the homebody. I have an adventuresome child who loves big cities and international travel - this isn't that kid. He likes being home. But he has a calling; this calling compels him to act. It goes against every natural inclination in his being. Other choices were available - cheaper choices, options closer to home. But he is committed to living this big dream because he believes that it is a God thing. Frankly, his dad and I don't necessarily understand this strange calling. We always thought he'd end up in law school - he's an excellent arguer; stubborn too. He even loves to hang out with lawyers. Doesn't that sound like lawyer material? He loves to read books on the constitution and bill of rights - even when he's not in school. Go figure. "All of us are called to a place we have not been. Our lives were always intended to be journeys into the unknown. The invitation is both personal and mystical. No one else may fully understand what you are being called to. You may not even fully understand. The path you must walk may appear to others as strange or unreasonable, but you know there's more going on than meets the eye. When I began to search for God, he opened my eyes, my mind, and my imagination to a future I never could have dreamed of. I began to see what life could be if I would read the signs and choose this great quest. God calls us out of the life we have known and calls us to a life we have never imagined. The signs are all around you, but even more the signs are all within you. Your soul is being pulled forward. You are being called to a God whose voice your ears have never heard. You are having visions of a life you could not possibly create alone. You are no longer satisfied with where you are, and now you are on a quest for where you do not know. You were created not to live in the past, but to create the future. Your soul craves to become, and you will never be satisfied with less." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 7, Destiny. How do we distinguish between the cravings in our mid-brain, and the soul cravings McManus refers to? Brain cravings are motivated by fear and fueled by the urge to survive; they're a fight for self-preservation. Soul cravings are nurtured by faith, and often produce visions that are beyond anything we could have imagined on our own. Brain cravings are frantic and demand immediate attention. Soul cravings are passionate and blossom as we pause to prepare. Brain cravings speak loud and demand attention. Soul cravings listen for confirmation. Brain cravings put their trust in what has worked in the past. Soul cravings put their trust in God. But hear me on this - every single solitary one of us has a good story inside us; it's a story that invites us into a world larger than ourselves. Maybe that's why it is a dangerous thing to follow the compulsion to survive - that's too small a dream. God intends for us to thrive! Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 8 and 9 in the morning; Psalm 70 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 87 - Free Scripture focus: I will heal their waywardness and love them freely. Hosea 14:4 NIV God fully expects us to be wayward. This morning in my quiet time I listened to an interview with Eugene Peterson (he wrote The Message, an awesome modern translation of the Bible). Among other really good stuff, Peterson said, "Most of what we know about life is wrong, and especially [what we think we know] about God. We're ill-formed when we are born. Our imaginations are unsanctified. Christ is so central to inform our unsanctified imaginations." (You can check his thirty minute interview out on our website - www.northstarcommunity.com.) God makes provision for our waywardness. Knowing that waywardness is a function of humanity, can we all just relax? We're going to find ourselves in a wayward state. Calm down. God will heal us and love us in the process. With this foundational truth in place, let's return to the topic of ambition. "It was Niccolo Machiavelli who observed, 'Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast that however high we reach, we are never satisfied.' You can conclude ambition is a bad thing but the problem isn't ambition; it is what we are ambitious for. To lack ambition is to become complacent. To lose our passion is to become apathetic. If this is our only option, now that's pathetic! Have you noticed, by the way, that those with great ambitions have a disproportionate effect on the future? The future is not simply entered into; it is created. To create we must first dream, then act. The future doesn't happen by accident; it happens through engagement. We were created to strive for progress and to pursue it with passion. It is God who designed us this way. He made us creative, and he makes us responsible. Somehow there are many of us who have missed this point. We have allowed human history to be shaped by those who are distant from God and hostile toward people. Evil never looks for permission...too many of those who long for a better world have sat passively by, watching and wishing the world could be different. God created us to engage, solve problems, meet needs, do something with our lives. He made us to get involved and expects us to act." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 6, Destiny. Do you remember the other yukky thing that happens to a stressed out mid-brain? It goes into survival mode. Survival mode kicks in and we get kicking. This is natural and normal, but it is motivated solely by the passionate desire for SELF preservation. A stressed out brain is a problem because big dreams can't inhabit a brain that is in full-blown survival mode. So let's put these two seemingly random points together: We need maturity and healing so that we can prepare to passionately pursue our dreams. Don't mistake obsessive cravings with a big dream. Calm down. God is here; He is with us. He loves us. He has promised to hear our cries, respond and rescue us. Faith and trust allow us to calm down and wait. This isn't the kind of passive waiting that thinks that good things come to those who sit around waiting for God to hand deliver our destiny to us like the UPS guy/gal! It's a God thing to pursue our dreams passionately; but it is a bad thing when our passionate pursuits are fueled by fear. Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 6 and 7 in the morning; Luke 8 and Psalm 69 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 86 - Found Scripture focus: you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 NIV Yesterday I was worrying over the sad possibility that we might not realize our lost-ness, get confused by our credentialing, and forget to look for a way out in our time living in the valley of the shadow of darkness. Today, I'm concerned that, once free, we forget why someone went to all the trouble to hunt us down and carry us into the light. Search and rescue missions don't end with the retrieval of the lost. The party that ensues when lost people are found is a kick-off event, a grand opening - a new beginning. "Somewhere down the road, many of us either lose our ambition, or we come to believe that ambition is a bad thing. We were told that if we are going to be truly spiritual, we have to free ourselves from all ambition. The tragedy, of course, is that this is not true. Not only is ambition a good thing; it is also a God thing. It is God who has placed within you the fuel of ambition. You cannot live the life God created you to live without being ambitious. The reason your heart leaps when you see greatness is that your spirit is drawn to it. The reason we can experience the vicarious exhilaration of a great victory or an amazing accomplishment is that the human spirit resonates with greatness. " Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 6, Destiny. Unfortunately, we get so confused about who we are and where we're going that our inner urge to excel, our stress over presumed "failures," our broken pleasure center and its nasty by-product (cravings) - often leaves us both fearful and frantic. So may I offer a word or two (ok, three) of advice? We are created with a sense of God-given destiny. But we must be careful. In our youthfulness, confusion, and ignorance - we might be tempted to hijack the dream, and limit its scope. In our fear and frantic frustration, we might rush after the only dream we think we can achieve - on our own. What a waste. I'd like to suggest we try something different. Knowing that we are created by God with a destiny, it makes sense that the better we know God and the more intimate our connection with Him, the less likely we are to stumble into a delusion and end up side-tracked from his grand epic adventure for us. When overcome with anxiety, it is time to pause to prepare. Anxiety is the fuel that a stressed out mid-brain runs on. (Remember - when stressed, the brain erects virtual walls around the mid-brain, putting us in an anhedonic state. Anhedonia is the inability to experience pleasure. Stressed out people end up with blown out brain circuitry. They lose the ability to notice all the good stuff. They feel perpetually uneasy. The brain literally gets shut off from itself - with only the mid-brain calling the shots. It gets lonely, and craves stimulation, so it begins "craving" something to get back into the game of life. These cravings are specific to learned behaviors that have worked to stimulate a response of pleasure in the past. I crave crunchy peanut butter and chocolate. Other people crave a cigarette, or a shopping spree, or a new car.) Our big dream is waiting for us. We won't get there by freaking out. After we pause to prepare, we first must prepare by learning how to exercise the gift of faith. We must build trust with our heavenly Father, learning to rely on him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Oh, stuff will get done. But it is much better to enter into God's prevailing purposes for us than to flounder around in a sea of possibility, hoping the next "new thing" that our mid-brain thinks up to crave will lead to peace and contentment. Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 4 and 5 in the morning; Proverbs 12 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 85 - Lost Scripture focus: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep." Luke 15:4-6 NIV Most of us are familiar with the parable of the lost sheep. My question to you is this: do you understand what this story means? Here's what worries me. I'm afraid we hear this story, nod our heads and think: Sure, God loves us! Of course he rejoices when the lost are found. My greater fear is that we assume we're found, and it's all those helpless and hopeless victims "out there" who need finding. My greatest fear is that we secretly scorn the lost, assuming they did something wrong to end up on the wrong end of a shepherd's crook. I so hope that we will see that, indeed, when we stumble into darkness - we are all lost. And our "credentials" don't change that reality. If we go to church on Sunday, and sprinkle in a few meetings in between, but we're still wandering around in the darkness - we're lost, folks. We may know the source of the light, but if we're not accessing its power - we're still lost. There's a verse in scripture that I simply love to hate in the book of 2 Timothy (3:1-5). It goes like this: "People will be." and it lists a whole bunch of bad behaving and terrible thinking. This section concludes with: "having a form of godliness but denying its power." Huh having a form of godliness - so we assume they know the source of the light, right? But denying its power still living in darkness. And it is this dark-dwelling that results in the symptoms of bad behaving and terrible thinking. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this, was it? In tomorrow's devotional we're going to consider the concept of ambition. We're going to utilize the help of the writings of Erwin McManus to turn our thinking right side up. (When this happens, all sorts of better behaving and terrific thinking and blessed believing and hopeful healing becomes our "new normal." In other words, the lost get found and find themselves attending a big party - thrown in their honor.) Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 2 and 3 in the morning; Luke 7 and Psalm 68 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 84 - Week At A Glance Scripture focus: Invitation - Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. Revelation 3:20 NIV The week in summary, said a different way: Once in a while we confuse a big dream with a delusion of grandeur. Big dreams are best defined in the light of God's love - not in the darkness of our own mind. If we've ever run smack into the wall of delusion, then we may have grown wary of our passion and thirst for adventure. That's sad, because passion is not our problem; we were created to live passionate lives. Our problem is one of light and dark; we are created to thrive in the light, we struggle to survive in darkness. The mid-brain - the seat of pleasure, and the source of cravings - fights hard to survive. In survival mode, we become extremely self-focused. Everyone knows that the skill necessary to outrun a hungry, charging bear, does not require us to be the first out of the woods - we just need to not be the last in line. This kind of survival-of-the-fittest inclination is normal and natural. Carnal knowledge is acquired through normal, natural means. It's all the things we can learn from human experience. It'll get us out of the woods, but it probably won't sustain us to the point of living a big dream. The fulfillment of big dreams and destiny will require that we learn new things. Many of the "new things" we'll need to embrace are spiritual in nature. We're going to have to learn that bumblebees fly because that is within the realm of God's prevailing purpose for them - even if aerodynamics and the laws of physics say that flying, for the bumblebee, is impossible. Defying naysayers and dream thieves may lead to grand epic adventures, but it will require us to struggle. Expect a fight. Although God desires an abundant life for his children, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy these dreams. Be warned. Dream big and expect revisions to the plan; know that these mid-course corrections are designed to fulfill our dreams far more effectively than our own dreams could. This completes the first eighty four steps of your 365 step journey; I pray you are nearer to God as a result of the steps you've taken this week. Recommended reading: Deuteronomy 1 in the morning; Psalm 67 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 83 - Dreaming Big Scripture focus: Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12 NIV Some dreams aren't meant to become reality. I once dreamed of becoming a research scientist who would crack open a few skulls and uncover the mysteries yet-to-be-explored in the brain. A severe reaction to blood - fainting - caused me to rethink my plan (that and an appalling lack of ability to grasp chemistry). When I encourage us to become big dreamers, I'm not suggesting that we live in a dream world. "Some of our dreams are meant to be just that - dreams. We may not be able to accomplish everything we can dream, but we will not accomplish anything without our dreams. That's not to say that things don't happen beyond our wildest dreams, but that effect seems to come into play only when we are actually pursuing wild dreams. The bumblebee effect (describes how great and apparently impossible dreams can set in motion a chain of events resulting in a seemingly insignificant person living an extraordinary life) is a reminder that you may be underestimating what you're capable of doing. Certainly design matters. But even in nature purpose overrides design. The bumblebee has a purpose that makes it necessary for it to fly, and so it does. Bumblebees are a great reminder that we should never underestimate potential. In fact, every life that is pulled out from the mundane and ordinary and finds unexpected flight becomes proof of God." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 5, Destiny. Past experiences of abuse, neglect and abandonment teach many of us the wrong lesson; they diminish us. An angry young boy, parented by a "mean" dad, often becomes a "mean" kid - pushing others away. I know a boy like that. Let me tell you what happened to him. He chose to believe in bumblebees. He let a good man show him a different way. He had a million reasons to continue in the footsteps of his dad, but made a crucial mid-course correction, and decided instead to follow in the footsteps of a coach who took the time to point him in a different direction. Reality predicted a sorry end for a sorry kid. Instead, this kid followed a dream and rejected the dire predictions of prognosticators (like his dad) who said he'd never amount to anything. "Without dreams we have nothing to pull us forward. It is, in fact, our dreams that energize us to literally go to war against reality and make what only exists in our imagination our future. There may be no more uniquely human capacity than the ability to anticipate. We dream of a destiny, and it fuels our desire. When we dwell on the past, we tend to want to live there. When we dream of the future, we want to go there. Our dreams are where God paints a picture of a life waiting to be created. Dreams are god's way of fueling the future, and in this we are all the same. All of us need to believe in tomorrow. A life in God is never absent of dreams." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 5, Destiny. So press on. Follow your dreams, passions, and desires. Move toward the light, and let it inform your big hopes and dreams. Some dreams are not meant to be - but if you step as God speaks, this refining of the dream process is thrilling, not chilling. "Ahhh..." we say. "Now I get it. I thought I was going to be a researcher of brains. But God had better plans for me." Momentary disappointments, struggles, and mid-course corrections are all part of the process. But we press on. We dream big and embrace God's guidance we're pulled forward energized equipped, and encouraged. Recommended reading: Numbers 36 in the morning; Luke 6 and Psalm 66 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 82 - They said it was impossible; "they" were wrong Scripture focus: No more lying then. Each of you must tell the truth to the other believer because we are all members together in the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:25 GNT Did you know that, technically speaking, bumblebees can't fly? It's true! "By all theories of aerodynamics and physics, the bumblebee should not be able to fly, but it can. No scientific reason why it should; it just does. I guess no one bothered to tell it that flying wasn't possible." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 4, Destiny. I wonder. Did you once have a dream, but decided that it would never happen? Did someone ever try to tell you that your big dream defied all theories of aerodynamics and physics? Did someone steal your hope and dreams for a future? "every one of us has a longing to become. Our souls crave progress. We need to believe in the future." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 4, Destiny. When we lose hope in our dreams, I promise you, it won't be long before we're living in darkness. When I was a kid, my family visited the University of Virginia. I remember turning to our collegiate guide and saying, "I love this place; I want to go here." To which he replied, "No can do little lady! This is a men's college. You should check out Sweetbriar. On the weekends, we come down and visit the women there. It'll be almost like coming to Virginia." Ha. Almost? I didn't want "almost" - I wanted the big dream. I wanted to stroll across the grounds on my way to class; I wanted to read a good book on the steps of the Rotunda - not as a "visitor" but as one who belonged. I determined on that day to do whatever it took to fight for the right to attend this school. Fortunately, by the time I was ready to enroll in college, the University had seen the error of its ways - and I was one of the early classes open to both men and women. It wasn't easy. Some of the guys would have preferred that we stay a nice, convenient distance from campus. Those of us who were early adopters to this new way of thinking (the first co-ed class for all programs was 1970) experienced some "unpleasantries." But I came to that school convinced that there was a value in trailblazing for a worthy cause. Little did I know that I'd be one of many women who set the stage for an entirely different experience for my daughter and thousands of other young women, who would one day walk across these same grounds and read their books uninterrupted on the steps of the Rotunda (with more than 50% female enrollment many years). Recently a TV commentator said that this generation of young adults will be the first to fail to achieve the same level of success as their parents. Hogwash! Don't you dare let anyone tell you what you can and cannot achieve. If God can create a bumblebee to fly, what do you think he has planned for you? I know it's easy to fall back into a victim mentality and find lots of excuses for what you cannot accomplish. Maybe someone has told you that your gender or skin color or socio-economic status is a hurdle too big to jump. Don't believe 'em. The bumblebee flies! And so can you! Yes, along the way we'll have struggles. Truth be told, it is as we struggle that God is building the character and spiritual muscles we need to fulfill those very dreams that others have tried to steal from us (or we've tried to sabotage). "It's amazing how much we can endure when we are convinced there is a purpose to our struggle." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 4, Destiny. Dream big. God can handle it. Recommended reading: Numbers 34 and 35 in the morning; Psalm 65 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 81 - Transplanted Scripture focus: For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all these saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 NIV I make a better pruner than planter. When spring comes, I relish the idea of trimming off the dead branches and raking away the shed leaves that were missed last fall. I love cutting back my forsythia bushes and using the shorn limbs to create wild and crazy arrangements. I freak out when spring gardening requires planting. I'm certain that I don't have the necessary skill set to nurture a new plant from infancy to maturity. I struggle to determine if my new shrub and the empty spot in my yard are compatible. Have I dug the right size hole? Is this enough light? How's the soil? Will drought be an issue? Is the soil too soggy? All these really good questions help with a key ingredient of successful planting - the root system of the plant. Roots are vital to the health of any plant. They provide water, nutrients and stability. Healthy roots don't assure a successful planting but unhealthy roots guarantee a failed one. People have the same issues. The parable of the sower taught us that the kind of ground a seed falls on is important. Maintenance is also essential - weeds of worry can choke out a good planting. Jesus used this parable to teach us that at our core, we're like plants. We require certain conditions in order to thrive. When we live in darkness, our entire being is under stress. We weren't created for darkness; God designed us for living in the light. As our body acclimates to the darkness, our mid-brain rebels. It cries out, "I want more! More! More I tell you!" Under duress, the pleasure center of the brain (mid-brain) develops cravings, becomes hypo-vigilant (cutting itself off from the rest of the brain where common sense and good judgment reside), and eventually compels us to do whatever it believes will provide a moment of relief from its dark-dwelling. Usually, nothing good comes from buckling under and caving into the insistent cries of a mid-brain under the influence of a strong craving. Some have falsely concluded that folks who cry for "more" are greedy, selfish and self-centered - and to be sure, they appear to be all that and more. Here's the truth of it - God created us to expect more from life than living like a mushroom in a dark, dank room. But our grand epic adventures require a healthy root system, appropriate nutrients and regular doses of light. In short, some of us mushrooms need to be transplanted. This is a violent experience. First, God arranges to have us pulled up by our roots and requires that we leave the unhealthy soil where we failed to flourish. This causes distress, initially we may feel worse than we did living like mushrooms. Perhaps that's why the Apostle Paul prayed so fervently, "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power to grasp the love of Christ." Only when we trust the hand of the gardener can we allow him to transplant us. I pray that you will allow God to have his way with you today. Who knows what kind of flower you'll become when allowed to live in the light, with the proper nutrition? Recommended reading: Numbers 32 and 33 in the morning; Luke 5 and Psalm 64 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 80 - A New Thing Scripture focus: Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. Mark 16:8 NIV I have a realtor friend whom I like to bug with silly questions. One day I asked him, "What do people say they want most in a new home?" "Lots and lots of light," he replied without hesitation. "No one wants to live in a dark house." I believe him. He's a great listener and an experienced realtor - he obviously knows what people desire in a dwelling. I think people desire to live in the light in every area of life. No one wakes up in the morning hoping that they'll walk around in a fog of confusion, under the dark oppression of depression. People want to walk in the light. But we have a problem - as much as we desire light-living, many continue to experience dark-dwelling. What's up with that? I think we continue to stumble around in the darkness simply because we've stopped looking for the light. We've lost hope that a way out exists. We struggle to believe that God can do a new thing in and through and with us. "Our lives are stolen from us, and our hopes and dreams are killed off slowly over time. Old, tired patterns of futility will make us old and tired too." Running In Circles, p.80. "Christ was all about breaking up old patterns. Do you remember to whom he first appeared after his resurrection? It was to women! In ancient times women were considered the worst witnesses. Their testimony wouldn't even hold up in court. Many women could not leave the house or courtyard without a man's permission. They were meant to stay passive and compliant, under the authority of father or husband. This was the old pattern - the norm. Yet Jesus taught something different. He taught women about trust and action. Trusting God, they were to move out in faith and become something new. They were to go and be his witnesses. Moments before, the women had thought there was no way out of their predicament. Jesus was dead. His body was gone. Suddenly they turned around and everything they had thought was hopeless was gloriously full of life and wonder. The resurrection had put them in a new place and reshaped their perspective. The potter's wheel of the cross where they had wept led to a resurrection morning in which they were liberated. 'You're it,' Jesus declared, 'You are my witnesses.' It was up to them to respond." Running In Circles, p. 80. We were created for a big dream and abundant life. That may not be part of our current existence. No need to panic! Instead, start at the beginning. In the beginning God had big dreams for you. He still has big dreams for you. Perhaps your passion and God-given compulsion to walk has become misguided, and your feet have stumbled into darkness. Maybe you're dwelling in a shadowy valley of confusion. Once in awhile you try to flee your dark dwelling, only to run into a wall or stub your toe on a previously unseen object. Take a deep, cleansing breath, and pause to prepare. Finding your place in the story of abundant living is going to require you to break some old, dark-dwelling patterns. But take heart - God is in the light business, and his kids are too. Recommended reading: Numbers 30 and 31 in the morning; Luke 4 and Psalm 63 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 79 - Broken Scripture focus: "I will set out and go back to my father and say to him; 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son' But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him." Luke 15:18-20 NIV The best day of this son's life was the day he had a moment of clarity. He realized the truth of his situation - he was living in a season of darkness, dangerously dancing through the shadow lands of death. He realized it with the clarity that only the light of God can reveal. He wasn't coerced or cajoled through shaming and intimidation - instead, he was given the gift of clear vision. When he asked his dad for his inheritance and headed off to the big city - his intention was not to live in darkness. He was searching for the good life. We can commentate on his bad judgment and criticize his poor picking and even condemn his moral fiber and work ethic. But the finger pointing and head wagging may miss a larger truth. This boy went looking for a grand epic adventure. "As children we assume that greatness is within our grasp. Whatever inspires us, we begin to dream that one day we will be the best. It is only as we lose our childlike innocence that we begin to settle for far less. A part of growing up seems to be acquiescing to mediocrity. It's easy to say that we're just becoming realistic, that it's just a part of growing up. But, in fact, it's the death of our souls. When we stop dreaming, we start dying. " Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 3, Destiny. Fifty years of research focused on understanding the nature of addiction has revealed that our cravings and compulsions are the result of a breakdown in the pleasure center of the brain. Our mid-brain, the section of the brain that thrills to pleasure, gets broken - and soon, our cravings rule us. People, it's time for us to lower our wagging fingers and stop wagging our heads in judgment. Although our pleasure center sometimes breaks and causes us lots of heartache, it is reparable. It's broken, not bad. Like the young man who wasted his inheritance on wild living, we can make a decision to leave the darkness and run toward the light. What we're not running from is passion. I suspect that many of us have been side-lined by a propensity to believe that we are "less than" when our passionate pursuits have landed us in pig pens. Can we reframe our experience? Passion isn't our problem; our issue is one of darkness and light. Recommended reading: Numbers 29 in the morning; Psalm 62 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 78 - Into the Light Scripture focus: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2 NIV I confess - we are terrible at turning off lights before we go to bed. This bad habit eventually produces enough guilt to push us into compliance - and for a few nights we'll commit to our best intentions and compulsively run around switching off the lights on our way to bed. This never lasts. Soon, we're back to our sloppy light-leaving-on ways. On the rare nights when our home is plunged into darkness, we've had a few accidents. Walking into walls, tripping over shoes, ramming toes into sharp corners of furniture that jumped into our paths - all sorts of consequences for living in darkness. Isaiah 9 reminds us that walking in darkness is treacherous business; seeing a great light provides a sacred way out of our confusion. Obviously, we all know it's easier to walk in the light than the dark! Today I want you to focus on a truth that is more subtle. We are created to walk. "We are designed with a need to move forward. Without it our lives become only shadows of what they could have been. You can live without pursuing a dream, you can function without passion, but with each passing moment, your soul will become more and more anemic. Your soul longs to become, and you can try to ignore it, but soon you will find yourself hating your life and despising everyone who refuses to give up on his or her dreams. Our intrinsic need for progress can be seen from our earliest dreams and childhood longings. We humans are instinctively ambitious our dreams naturally gravitate toward greatness." Soul Cravings, Erwin McManus, entry 3, Destiny. Frankly, I think we're confused and walking in darkness when we believe that part of coming to believe requires that we check our passion at the door of the church. God made us passionate, lusty, and adventuresome. But this passion must be lived in the light. The light guides us along the path of our grand epic adventure. Without the light, we still live with a compulsion to walk. We crave purpose and passion and fulfillment. However, without the guidance of a well-lit path, we walk in darkness AND end up walking into walls, tripping over shoes, ramming toes into sharp corners - and all sorts of dark-dwelling crises. Our urge to walk is not the problem; our willingness to settle for living in the darkness is not only a problem, it is a potentially fatal error. May the dawn of the light of God wash your life today with color and clarity. Recommended reading: Numbers 27 and 28 in the morning; Luke 3 and Psalm 61 in the evening

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Day 77 - Week At A Glance Scripture focus: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV What we studied this week, said in a little different way. Cravings are a symptom of a misfiring mid-brain. A broken pleasure center in the brain results in an inability to think clearly and propels us into survival mode which is the result of several factors, including stress. Community is a vital resource in the healing process. When maladaptive coping strategies, prolonged exposure to stress and perhaps a genetic vulnerability come together, they can create the perfect storm of addiction. Helpless and hopeless people sometimes look like the hopeless causes that they believe themselves to be - but hold on. There is more to the story. Although it is true that the seed of potential sometimes gets stolen from us, or falls on ground too hard to nourish its potential, or seems to be received only to be choked out by more stress and the passionate pursuit of cravings, take heart. God has made a way to restore the hopeless and helpless. We can never know whose going to find themselves the blessed recipients of a transformed heart; those that do become, through perseverance, good and noble people, who bear much fruit. Big dreams and epic adventures await those who have receptive hearts. A big dream is sometimes served up in lasagna pans, children's activities, hot coffee, heated rooms, comfortable chairs, good listeners and willing helpers. This completes the first seventy seven steps of your 365 step journey; I pray you are nearer to God as a result of the steps you've taken this week. Recommended reading: Numbers 26 in the morning; Psalm 60 in the evening Click "Comments" Below to Join the Discussion Scroll down to the Archive Section to View Previous Devotionals.