And the work continues...

Last's week's blog title of a "letter of resignation" caused some alarm to some of you who may not have read the whole email, so I just want to assure everyone that I have not resigned from DML, just from acting in the place of the Holy Spirit!

Last week we learned of a coup by the military in Niger.  This makes a swath of sub-Saharan Africa currently under military rule through coups in the last four years - Mali, Guinea, Niger, and Burkina Faso.  There are similar reasons for why this happened in all four countries, with terrorists being a primary cause.  Security crises and a lack of integrity in the leader are the two key reasons for coups.  Experts say that this is leading to a "dangerous self-perpetuating instability." 

Yet another contributor to instability is economic freedom, which directly relates to the flourishing of the citizens in a nation.  Economic freedom is based on the freedom for individuals and businesses to make economic decisions. You can see a map of Africa, in which each country is ranked out for economic freedom based on four key factors:  

1. Rule of law: property rights, judicial effectiveness, government integrity
2. Size of government: tax burdens, fiscal health, government spending
3. Regulatory efficiency: labor freedom, monetary freedom, business freedom
4. Open markets: financial freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom

Globally, the top three countries for economic freedom are Singapore, Switzerland, and Ireland, with scores around 83.  In North America, Canada is #16 with a score of 73.7 and the US is #25 with a score of 70.6.  [A score of 80-100 is free; 70-79.9 is mostly free; 60-69.9 is moderately free; 50-59.9 is mostly unfree; and 49.9 and below is repressed.]

Africa is the region with the least economic freedom in the world but the most potential for economic growth.  Because the population continues to grow in Africa (although that growth is slowing) the opportunity for innovation and a labor force are very strong.  Botswana scored the highest for mainline Africa (#52) and Sudan scored the lowest at 172, with a score of 32.8.

China ranks at #154 globally with a score of 48.3, which is categorized as a repressed economy. India is at #131, with a score of 52.9.  

While we continue to work toward the flourishing of all, we also need to step back and look at the big picture, understanding what is going on behind the scenes that are holding people back from being able to fully release their potential.  We continue to both pray for individuals to do work as worship, while at the same time praying for these other situations to see significant change for the better in years to come.  

Mapped: The State of Economic Freedom in 2023 (visualcapitalist.com)

Letter of Resignation

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, the DML Board had their annual retreat.  This year it was held at the Hermitage, a silent retreat center, and we were able to intersperse our meeting/discussion time with silence, walks, and prayers.  

But I started the board meeting on Tuesday with sharing a letter of resignation, and I thought it important to share this with you as well.

I officially resign from my role as the third person of the Trinity.  I submit my resignation as the Spiritual head of DML (and my family).  I want Christ, by his Spirit, to be the Spiritual leader of this organization.  I no longer want to be the center.  I want Christ to be the real, functional Spiritual head.  I repent of any desire to control or be prominent in his body.  I realize that he has entrusted me to teach and guard the flock, but I recognize it is his flock.  I am merely an under-shepherd.  I commit myself to being a praying minister who desires to lead a praying organization. (Taken from A Praying Church by Paul Miller)

Thankfully, this letter of resignation was accepted.  

Unfortunately, the next day I had to submit it again as I had attempted to retake the position.  And again the next day.  And again...

But I am committed to continue to try to be a "praying minister who desires to lead a praying organization."  

How difficult it is!  It is so difficult to give up control, to be quiet, to listen, to pay attention.  

I was reminded by a board member that we are to pay attention.  The verb here is important - pay.  Like paying for an item in a store.  There is a cost to our attention.  Am I willing to pay that cost?  Our focus has value.  Do I value it enough to put aside my own desires and will?

When my children were little, there was a store called Naked Plates in Grand Rapids, where you could design your own plates, bowls, etc.  We went in with the four of us and each painted our own mugs.  Bob selected the phrase "Pay Attention" for his mug.  It was his desire to be consciously aware of the need to pay attention.  He knew how easy it was to drift - so much so that he wanted his daily coffee mug to remind him.

Scripture also reminds us to pay attention:

Isaiah 42.20 - You have seen many things, but you pay no attention; your ears are open, but you do not listen.

Proverbs 22:17 - Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach.

Seeing and hearing are not the same as paying attention.  It takes special focus and intentionality.  It includes quieting oneself.  And it includes having open hands before the Lord, letting go of trying to be the third person of the Trinity.  

May God help me.  

God and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

I just returned from a camping trip at Letchworth State Park in New York State, with my children, their spouses, and Michael's boys.  Letchworth is known as the "Grand Canyon of the East", and while this name may be a bit generous, it is a very beautiful park. We were eight adults in four tents, camping the way we like - "roughing it."  Unfortunately, the trip started with two days of poor-quality air from the fires in Quebec, followed by a number of days of rain in campsites that turned out to be very, very muddy.  Turns out that roughing-it can be rough!  

This led to a number of thoughts and conversations about the weather...and about order and disorder.  Anyone who has tent-camped knows that it doesn't take long for there to be chaos as it relates to where to find things.  The most common question during our camping trip was, "Who knows where the ____ is?" (The second most common question was, "Who knows what the weather will be for the next couple of hours?")

This led me to think about the second law of thermodynamics.  The second law of thermodynamics talks about how nature moves from order to disorder.  Thermodynamics actually addresses the laws of heat, and how, without energy, things will cool down and get more disordered.  Think about a car that sits without being driven for months, then years.  Tires go flat, things begin to rust, fall off, and so on.  And as we think about the wildfires in Quebec, we know that new energy keeps coming in, which keeps the fires burning.

Renowned scientist Steven Pinker says, “The Second Law defines the ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and information to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order.”

I love this.  This reminds me of our purpose in fulfilling the Great Commitment of Genesis 1:28 and 2:15. It reminds me of our purpose to work.  Cultivation is all about bringing order (countering entropy) so that we might grow food. When we stop cultivating, vegetation joins the process of entropy, destroying the order that came about because of work (the added energy).

In camping, and in life, we strive to bring order.  When we stop striving, we can't find where anything is!  The purpose of being commanded to "subdue the earth" in Genesis 1:28, is to help curb some of that disorder and bring creation under our will, which is subjected to God's will, in order for people to flourish.

Sadly, the same is true of our faith.  Without the purposeful process of discipleship empowered by the God of order, our faith gradually diminishes as the process of entropy is not purposefully challenged.  Discipleship and the "church gathered" on Sundays help to keep entropy at bay, while we seek to actively and intentionally live out the call to work against entropy from Monday-Saturday as the "church scattered."  We do our work as an act of worship.

Just some musings from this happy camper (who wasn't really happy the whole time, to be honest!).  Oh...and a couple of other lessons from this past trip...avoid poison ivy, don't put your tent on the spot where the water drains, and beware of popcorn that can crack teeth.  Just sayin'!

Disorder is all around us, people, and we need to be on guard! :)

Benjamin and Jonathan at the Upper Falls

(L to R) Hannah and Noah, Hannah and Matt