On Studying the Bible

I AM A BIBLE NERD.  I love reading the Bible.  I send emails to my friends with lots of exclamation points telling them what I'm studying and what I'm learning.  I am in love with Moses and Joshua and John the Baptist. (And Esther! And Ruth! And Micah!)  I love to talk about the Bible with people, I love to hear other folks' perspectives.

But I have two big problems with people who study the Bible (and I'm just as guilty as the next guy of both).

ONE: People who study for the sake of studying.  I'm looking at you theologians (both amateur and professional).  People who get so deep into the study that they never apply it.  To quote Paul, "My brothers, this should not be."  The Bible is God's WORD...He spoke it and there was a reason.  Not so we would memorize it and quiz each other, not so we would fill libraries with books about what this book was trying to say, not so we could sit in classrooms and argue Calvinist or Weslyan.  NO.  God spoke so we would DO.  James 1:22 (Oh, did I mention how much I love James? So much that I named my first born after him!) says, "But don't just listen to God's word.  You must do what it says.  Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves." (emphasis mine)  Francis Chan has a great illustration about telling his daughter to clean her room.  And what if she went to her room for hours and came back out and said, "Okay, I heard you.  I talked about it with my friends and I translated it into Hebrew, and I really GET IT."  What does any decent parent say in response?  "Great...but did you actually clean your room?"  The Bible is worthless if it becomes just another book on a shelf, a discussion among great thinkers, and nothing changes.  Make no mistake...I love to read and discuss the Bible.  But it can't stop there.  It HAS to move me.  It has to get me off the couch, off the computer, and in the world doing some real Jesus work.

Jen Hatmaker writes, "The careful study of the Word has a goal, which is not the careful study of the Word.  The objective is to discover Jesus and allow Him to change our trajectory.  Meaning, a genuine study of the Word results in believers who feed poor people and open up their guest rooms; they're adopting and sharing, mentoring and intervening.  Show me a Bible teacher off mission, and I'll show you someone with no concept of the gospel he is studying." (from 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess)  So let's get real: Are you reading the Bible?  If your answer is no, then come talk to me and I will light a fire under you so that changes.  But if your answer is yes, then I have a follow up question.  What are you doing about it?  How are you imitating Jesus?  Who are you caring for?  How well are you loving the people in your circle, your spouse, your kids, your parents, your neighbors?  Are you making a difference in the life of an orphan or a widow? ("Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:27 again emphasis mine)  If your religion is merely reading and studying the Bible, then God Himself will say you missed the point.

TWO:  People who study the Bible so they can smack other people in the face with it.  I mean folks who quote the Bible at their unbelieving friends/relatives/neighbors/co-workers/televised audience.  People who use God's Word to shame the rest of the world.  NO.  What we learn when we study the Bible is meant for US.  1 John 5:13 says, "I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life."  The Bible isn't meant for Buddhists or atheists or Muslims or agnostics, the Bible is for Christians.  People who claim the name of Jesus over their lives and renounce sin and want to be transformed.  If you haven't accepted Jesus as your savior, then you can keep on doing whatever it is that you're doing.  It's not my job to be the Jesus police and write a ticket to every sinner (believer OR non believer) I meet.  My job is to examine my own heart and my own life and see where I need more Jesus and less Rachel.

The Bible is not a weapon.  The Bible is a collection of stories and songs and poems and lists and rules and correspondence.  The Bible is meant to teach whoever has ears to listen.  Jesus spoke against this misuse of the Bible in Matthew 7:3-6, "And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?  How can you think of saying to your friend, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First, get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.  Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy."  Yeah, that's right.  The Son of God called us hypocrites.  Let me tell you, I've been studying the Bible since I could read, and I still can't see past the log in my own eye.  So guess how much time I spend picking dust and specks out of other people's eyes?  Big fat zero.  (Unless you count the kids, but I'm their mom, so it's kind of my job to pick crap out of their eyes.  And lick my finger to wipe stuff of their faces.)

I know it can seem confusing, since Jesus also told us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit later in Matthew.  But He didn't mean to force religion on people who don't want it.  Absolutely you should share your faith.  Absolutely you should preach the gospel.  And when necessary, use words. (Google tells me Francis of Assisi said that.)  It's the same solution to the first problem: our lives are our gospel.  Our actions are our message.  James 2:18 says, "Now someone may argue, 'Some people have faith; others have good deeds.'  But I say, 'How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds?'  I will show you my faith by my good deeds." (emphasis mine)  Sermons are great in church on Sunday morning; the rest of the week your life should do the preaching, not your mouth.  So again, I'll ask: How are you imitating Jesus?  Are you healing the sick?  Are you feeding five thousand people with a few loaves of bread and some fish?  Are you walking on water?  Are you sticking it to the religious leaders who follow the letter of law but have no love in their hearts?  If your religion is shoving the Bible down another person's throat, then God Himself will say you missed the point.

On Letting People In

James at school

We are revising our son's IEP this week.  It's been five years now that I have been attending these meetings, ever since we wrote the very first one a week before James turned 3.  It's been a journey, to say the least, for our family, navigating the world of autism and special education, and it's made me aware that I am a wall-builder. I have barricades and closets and vaults to keep all of me in, and everyone else out.  But I've been learning these past few years about how amazing it can be to have a community, to have people that are inside the walls.

My initial response upon realizing that my son was different was my tried-and-true coping mechanism of shutting down and shutting out.  I took a lot of blame on myself, and spent long days wondering how I got it all so wrong, how I didn't adequately teach my child how to talk and dress himself, and how could I be trusted to continue raising him and the baby brother who was learning to walk at the time.  I researched speech therapists and attended meetings at school and read books and spent too many hours studying my children, expecting the answer to fix all this to appear.

What I learned is there is no answer or quick fix.  This life is one that requires more of me than I was expecting to give.  But I've learned how to do it.  A big part is sharing the load and letting others in.  The first person I needed to let in was my husband.  In many ways, I had kept him at bay with most of my sensitive areas, and our son became one of those sensitive spots.  I was the parent at home, so it made sense for me to be the one taking James to appointments and filling out paperwork and attending IEP meetings and conferences.  When James was in kindergarten, I came down with a bad case of strep throat the day before the IEP meeting, and my husband had to stay home to take care of us.  I whispered hoarsely to him that he needed to take my place at school, to sign the papers so James would be all set for the next school year.  He looked at me blankly and asked what was going to happen at the meeting and what the IEP was.  I realized I should have kept him in the loop better as I tried to explain with as few words as possible what he needed to do.  I wondered why we hadn't tried to get a sitter so we could both attend these kind of meetings together.  Until that day, I'd carried the burden of helping our son on my own shoulders, but it made me see how much better it would be to share the responsibility and decisions.

It was around this time that we were becoming involved with our Village at church, the people who hold our family so tenderly and support us so completely.  It took a huge leap of faith on my part to share my life with these new people, to trust that when I opened up, they would be able to handle all of our touchy areas with kindness and love.  These days, we have ample opportunity to let people in.  We don't even have to leave our house or get dressed to announce big news and start conversations.  But the problem with social media is that sometimes we don't guard the doors properly.  Some people shouldn't be inside the walls.  Some people aren't safe enough to handle our tender parts.

It reminds me of the book "Generation Ex" written by my friend Jen Abbas (now deJong).  In it, she describes different levels of friendship and trust.  She calls the groups Multitude of Acquaintances, Fellowship Friend, Comfortable Confidant, and Accountable Advisors.  These groups begin to shrink in size from the very large and impersonal (the "Multitude") to the very intimate few (the "Advisors").  This concept has always been a bit challenging for me, since I spent most of my life keeping everything important to myself.  As I've been opening up more, I still have to remind myself to keep certain trusted people inside the walls, and everyone else rightfully outside.  I want to be an honest person.  I want to be truthful and open.  So now I tend towards overshare versus secrecy.

I know I need to learn the balance in what is okay to share and what isn't, especially as a wife and mother who blogs.  I love looking through past years that I've written about; it's a chronicle of what our lives were like then, and an interesting comparison to what has changed.  But stories are mine to tell when my life intersects those of my children?  What will hurt or embarrass them in the future, since what is posted online lasts forever?  At what point does my need to discuss something that I'm feeling or experiencing get trumped by their need for privacy?  One step I've taken lately is to share funny or gross stories in person with people I see regularly rather than posting them on Facebook.  It's more likely these tales will be forgotten when they are only heard by a small group of friends.  I'm also trying to take the advice of Glennon Melton, of momastery.com.  I heard her speak in May, and she addressed this issue as it pertains to her family.  Glennon is a self-proclaimed "truth teller" and her own life is an open book on her blog and in her book "Carry On, Warrior".  Her advice was to stick to our own personal journey as much as possible and to use good judgement when crossing into another person's journey.  Of course, there's always the advice of St. Anne, "If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better."  (This one doesn't seem appropriate for kids, since they all behave terribly at one point or another, and that's just the nature of childhood.  Side note: I really hope at least one of my kids writes about his childhood.  I'm curious to see what role I'll have.)

I write frequently about how my son's autism diagnosis changed everything, in many cases for the better.  Finding the right balance of letting people in and keeping others at a distance definitely falls under the "for better" banner.  We are a work in progress, but work I'm glad to have each day.  Without these little people, I imagine my life would have been less colorful and open.

I'm including this video from Ted talks about "coming out of the closet" because it is a universal idea that is worth sharing in the context of opening up to the people who will help carry our burdens.

Autism Speaks Doesn't Speak for Me

A few years back, I signed my family up for our local Autism Speaks fundraiser walk.  I was looking forward to an activity we could all do together, surrounded by people who wouldn't think us odd or unruly.  I was happy to raise money and encourage my friends and family to do the same; after all, Autism Speaks was the only organization I'd heard of for people like my son, recently diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.  We arrived on the morning of the walk, a sunny Sunday that was perfect for spending time outside at our local park.  We converged with many other families.  We saw large groups wearing matching shirts; we saw men dressed as superheroes and women dressed as princesses.  It was my first experience with an autism community after an isolating couple of years filled with tests and questions and frustration.  I kept looking around in wonder that there were so many people like us, that we had found a place where our son could be accepted easily.

Wearing blue as we walk for Autism Speaks 2012

There was something else I noticed that morning.  The walk organizers had posted signs along our path announcing statistics about autism.  There was one stating the latest CDC findings of autism occurrence.  There were signs about the cost of treating autism.  It was good to remind us why we were walking.  It was good to spread awareness among the walkers and anyone else out that morning.    But I got uncomfortable when I saw the sign comparing autism to pediatric cancer and AIDS ("More children are diagnosed with autism than pediatric cancer and AIDS combined.")  After all, autism affects my son's mind; it makes him process information differently.  But cancer and AIDS...they affect the body.  They make children sick.  They require lengthy hospital stays and expensive medication.  And they are lethal.  Autism will never take my son's life.  A lack of support and understanding by strangers could very well put him in danger, something that has happened to autistic teenagers and adults who have been unable to communicate properly with police officers and other public officials.  Beyond that, I am thankful every day to be the mother of healthy children, to be able to send my kids to public school, to barely give cold and flu season a passing thought.  The comparison of neurology and immunology seems ridiculous.  Then I saw some walkers carrying signs which demanded a cure.  A cure?  For autism?  Therapy, sure.  Assistive technology to bridge the differences between my son's mind and the neurotypical world in which he lives, of course.  But what would we be curing?  If some medication took away my child's autism, what would be left?

I went home feeling unsettled, but not sure what it meant.  Over the coming months, I learned more about the organization we had been supporting for our walk.  Autism Speaks.  What a great name.  For the confused and desperate parents trying to figure out how to best care for a non-verbal child, what a promise it offers!  They state on their webpage that their goal is "to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders."  That's something this advocate mama can get behind. But how are they actually doing that?  What percentage of the money raised from walks like the one my family participated in is being used to alleviate the "struggle" of autistic individuals?  I read a book called "Raising Cubby", which introduced me to its author (and awesome role model for my son), John Elder Robison.  The book offered insight into the experiences of growing up autistic, the criticism and confusion he experienced, as well as the jobs and discoveries his mental makeup allowed him to excel at.  And then I read his blog about resigning from Autism Speaks after his efforts to be heard were repeatedly ignored.  He writes, "We do not like hearing that we are defective or diseased.  We do not like hearing that we are part of an epidemic.  We are not problems for our parents or society, or genes to be eliminated. We are people."  This resonated with my feelings after the walk; this put words to the twist in my stomach.  My son is not sick.  My son is not a problem or a burden.  And an organization that describes itself as changing the future for autistic people shouldn't be misleading the public about what exactly they struggle with.

I found more perspective on my beloved Diary of a Mom blog.  I read her words and nodded.  Yes.  YES.  This organization that compares my son's brain to an immunodeficient body is missing it.  They are missing what it is like to live with autism.  They are missing what is going on inside that beautiful brain.  This organization that claims my son is a burden is missing it.  They are missing the joy we experience every day as a family of five.  They are missing the laughter and chatter coming from the bedroom he shares with his brother long after the lights have been turned off.  This organization who claims that my son is MSSNG, or that he is MSSNG some vital component of humanity, they are missing it.  They are missing the vital presence of autistic people.  They are missing the conversation autistic advocates are desperate to have.  They are speaking, but they don't speak for our family.  They don't speak for my son.  

He is learning every day, he is gaining words and the skills to express himself.  We are equipping him to speak and stand up for himself.  And the greatest opportunity we can give him is to listen.  That voice, oh how that voice delights me.  If he's angry, he tells me.  And I want to know: Why are you angry?  What do you do with those feelings?  What can I do to help you?  If he's happy, he tells me.  And I want to know: What makes you happy?  What can I do to make you feel happy more often?  And sometimes he just laughs.  I don't know why, it's something that only he is seeing or hearing.  So guess what I do?  I laugh with him.  It doesn't really matter what's causing it, honestly.  I love an excuse to let out a good belly laugh.  And then he looks at me, as we laugh together, and often he hugs me as we experience this happy moment.

So this is my plea, today and every day:  Don't support Autism Speaks.  Give your money to an organization that will actually use it to help autistic people right now.  How will you know which one is doing that?  Use this guideline, shared so generously by John Elder Robison:

"What we need right now are therapies to help us be the best we can be, as we actually are.  We need tools to help us overcome physical limitations.  We need solutions for the medical problems that plague many people on the autism spectrum.  Those are things autistic people – child and adult alike – want and need right now.  The range of therapies, tools, treatments, and services needed is long and varied – and largely attainable, given the budget and the focus.

We also want societal change and acceptance.  We want sensory friendly workplaces.  We want jobs shaped to our different abilities.  We want help navigating the education and employment mazes.  We want to be productive members of society.  Those too are things we want and need right now.  They too are attainable given the resolve, budget, and legislation to back it up."

On Life-Changing Moments

"Don't think for a moment that because you're in the palace 

you will escape when all other Jews are killed.

If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief 

for the Jews will arise from some other place, 

but you and your relatives will die.

Who knows if perhaps you were made queen

for just such a time as this?"    

Esther 4:13-14

Life is full of moments, of decisions that will change our lives.  Movies convince us they are easy to spot, like that magical first kiss when you realize you have found the one who completes your heart.  I wouldn't know about that.  The word that comes to mind when I think of my first kiss with the man who became my husband is awkward.  Two 18 year olds tentatively looking out opposite windows of an old Buick, wanting to move forward and yet terrified of messing it up somehow.  And yet, for all the fear, there is an underlying certainty.  This is it...this is what comes next.  There was fear when I held that pregnancy test in my hand one early Saturday morning, there was fear as I considered turning in my notice and becoming a full-time at home mother.  But there was also a sense of rightness.  And as we became licensed foster parents, fear was never far away, wondering what the future would hold for us all.  But we did it, we kept completing the steps, because we knew, in some inexplicable way, we knew it was the right thing for us, for just such a time as this.

A year ago, I had a conversation that once again marked a life change for me.  I didn't know it at the time, as it was shrouded in that familiar cover of fear.  See, I was talking to my pastor's wife, a pastor in her own right if we're being totally honest.  I was telling her about a women's conference I had heard about, a conference that we could host in our very own town, in our very own church!  For once, I wouldn't have to miss out on something new and exciting, because it would be right down the street.  And she listened and she nodded, and she said yes, we could host this conference.  But only if I did the work.  Her life was entering a big transition, and she wouldn't be able to do any of the preparation.  So if I wanted to have the event, I needed to make it happen.  In about 6 weeks.  With no experience in planning such an event.  With no confidence in myself as a leader, as someone who could put her name on something and accept full responsibility for the outcome.  The fear was bountiful, but so was the belief that I had to try.  If not me, then who?  If not now, then when?

IF: Local February 2014

On the advice of my pastor's wife (again, she is just as much a pastor herself, I should really drop the wife part), I gathered a team, just a few women who also said yes with little information but with a great desire to be part of it.  There wasn't time for advertising, for decorations, for all that I would have liked to do.  I was worried that no one would come; I was worried that many would come.  I had  to admit often that I just didn't know.  I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know how it would turn out, I didn't know if I was getting it all wrong.  But I followed through, and the weekend came, and...women showed up!  Women I'd never met had heard about it online or through word of mouth.  The live stream worked.  The speakers were powerful, the message clear.  We are all like Esther, in our places, in our communities, in the lives of others for just such a time as this.  It's scary to leave that comfortable seat, that well-situated status quo.  After all, no one would blame me for not opening my home to traumatized children.  No one would ever know the burdensome secrets that I carried.  No one, not even myself, would be aware of wasted potential as I sat quietly, week after week, year after year, letting others lead.  When the time has come for me, over and over, I have only been able to see it all clearly in retrospect.  The moments are a jumble of emotions, of deliberation.

This past week, I experienced two clear moments.  The first came on Wednesday, as I was in the midst of getting the children off to school and meeting with my Bible study ladies.  A phone call, in many ways so similar to that one we received three years ago.  Another baby, in need of a home.  It could change our lives again, the way Michael changed everything.  And yet, amidst the deliberations, the hurried texts between my husband and I, one thing was lacking.  That sense of rightness and certainty.  The fear was there, only in a new form.  What if we say no?  Are we the only ones who can help this baby?  What if we say no?  Will we be missing out?  Will another opportunity come, one that better fits our situation, our family schedule?  Is this our last chance?  We decided to decline.  We passed on the opportunity that didn't feel quite right, and prayed that it would be right for someone else.  Then Thursday came.  I met with a group of women, all gathered by that same pastor's wife.  You see, the conference is coming again in just 8 weeks.  I am hosting again this year, with much more confidence and excitement than last time, because I've seen what God can do through me, with all that I lack, that He can more than make up for it.  And these other women, they are hosting too.  Five of them came to my church for that weekend, and when they left, they vowed to be a part of it next time.  Not to just sit in the seats, but to open the doors.  Instead of just one conference in a small church in Northeast Ohio, this February there will be several.  Our whole state is lit up with locations offering the same opportunity to many more women.

Because life is full of moments, ones that will change us forever, creating new paths that we will follow into a great unknown.  We must recall Esther, her fearful crossroads, her life or the lives of her people?  The potential loss of reputation, of position versus the potential extermination of an entire race of innocent people.  The stakes may not be as high in our modern culture...or maybe they are.  These choices we make, they have the power to change us, to touch our souls, to echo through eternity.  Most likely, we will not have books written about us, there won't be festivals celebrating our bravery each year around the world.  But our obedience to do what is right...it matters.  It matters to the child who is no longer an orphan, to the homeless man who is offered shelter, to the person whose hope is renewed by an act of kindness, to the prisoner who is set free.  So do as Esther did.  Use all that you have in the place God has given you.  Remember that He is sufficient for all that you lack.  Remember that deliverance and relief can come from anywhere, but you will miss it if stay silent.

"If God is real, then we want more than anything to live like it."  Jennie Allen, founder of IF