The Good Life.

What images do those words bring to your mind?

For me, I picture my camp chair in a mountain valley, a campfire circle, warm mittens and a thermos of coffee.

Or maybe it would be sitting in the warm sunshine around a farm table in Italy, covered with ceramic flasks of wine and platters of cheese and bread.

I also imagine a bright blue chair on the deck of a cruise ship or a beach lounger in the sand, an umbrella drink, a sun hat and a book.

So last Saturday morning, when I gathered with my gals for Bible study and the topic heading was, What is the good life?, I have to say that I felt a little something clench up inside of me.

A swirl of thoughts began,

I don’t want to give up my own image of what the good life is.   And I know this woman on this video is about to tell me that the good life is not the world’s picture of the good life but that the good life is something else.  It’s reading my Bible and being nicer to my husband and probably giving up this cup of coffee I have right here in my hands.

I have to tell you that I was all set to be kind of closed off to what this woman was about to teach us.  I had spent the first two videos fixated on the height of her heels and the condescending fill-in-the-blank portions of my book.

Whose idea was it to do this video study?  I like it better when we have more time to share with each other.  We have new people in our group this fall that I am not even going to get to know because we spend so much time listening to this woman who does not even know us.

I don’t have much to say for myself about my bad attitude.  You don’t want to live inside my head because it is ugly in there.

I’ve been through a lot of Bible studies friends.

I started early, moving to the more serious studies at a young age because I could no longer handle the fluff of the teen studies.  Sadly for us preacher’s kids (and wives), sometimes more study doesn’t translate into more growth, but instead only into more self-righteousness.  I have been on this road I call my faith journey for long enough that I know I don’t really want that to be me.  Deep down, I really do long to be always growing, always changing, always becoming.

So sometimes I can stop myself mid-mental critique long enough to hear the Spirit say,

Deep breath, honey.  There is something for you here.  Maybe even something new. Just. Listen.

I am so grateful for that voice.

I have been spinning a few days now in the words of James 3:13

Who is wise and understanding among you?

Let him show it by his good life

What is the good life?

One that saves you from yourself.

Myself? You mean this voice inside my head that is always critiquing? Always biting? The one that I wish I could get away from?

What is the good life?

One that is marked by a willingness to yield.

Give up.  Let go.

Instead of Just Do It?  Or Go For It?  Or Look At Me!

I think the good life might be to actually do less instead of more.  Could that actually be true?  Because what I’m thinking is that this posture is similar to the one you might take in a lounge chair.

What is the good life?

One that is full of mercy.

A quote from this section: Mercy morphs into depression when we take God’s responsibility instead of our possibility.

This was key to me, because I am easily depressed and overwhelmed.  A good life full of mercy is all about being open to what God has for me today.  Who is in my path today?  Can I show them mercy today?  Can I meet their needs?  If I can’t, can I give the gift of dignity, of conversation?

What is the good life?

One that is full of good fruit.

I’ll be honest.  I don’t have any notes on this part because I was still busy writing down thoughts about being full of mercy.  But I’m pretty sure the fruit from the vine trickles down from the first three points and into my glass on that Italian farm table.

What I mean is that my original ideas about what the good life looks like are not necessarily contradictory with James’ ideas.  However if James’ version doesn’t somehow infiltrate my version, then I’m deluded in my thinking that I have a lock on the good life.

I’m still working this all out in my heart and I am more than happy for you to share your thoughts as well.

All quoted thoughts in this post have been lifted from the video and study guide Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore.

Dear Lord, I have to confess:

At the risk of sounding like a middle-aged, white, Southern housewife, I think Beth Moore might be changing my life.

Did I just say that out loud?

The post The Good Life appeared first on Alison Chino.

Matthew 18.

In the moments of clarity between the clouds of sickness, i have been thinking a lot about what it means to be great.

This has been a conversation on my heart for a while now. Last weekend, a friend and I spent a late night talking about how we celebrate people’s failures because it makes us feel better about ourselves.

Because we have this idea that there can only be a few who are great.

And then I studied Matthew 18 in Bible Study this week, where the disciples ask Jesus what it takes to be the greatest.

I worked through my questions. I listened to my leader talk about this word “great” as God sees it and as the world sees it.

This thinking has worked its way through me this weekend. and it is serving as a filter for all of the other muck i hear and experience.

And it comes to this sad truth. Jesus said it. My leader, Carla, said it. My friend and i said it last week.

The world loves to see people taken down.

We don’t rejoice in another’s success, because somehow we feel there will be less “great” leftover for us. When someone succeeds, we sit back, watch and wait…for them to fail. Or fall. Or both.

Why do we do this? Why don’t we long to see each other lifted up? Why are our hearts so dark? As dark as my head stuffed with the cold that threatens to explode it at any moment?

And in the midst of it…hearing different people tell their stories of being stomped on by the world or by a trusted other, a song has filled my heart.

This morning, Simon and I sat with our sick selves on my yoga mat this morning, praying as we listened to this song over and over. (i think he was praying.

Broken but singing

My life is shining

Broken but singing

My life is shining.

The song is called Walk the World by Charlie Hall.

it’s about shining the love of jesus in the world.

Which is great.

A different kind of great.

Great in God’s economy. because God chose the lowly, the despised, the weak things of this world.

And that’s what I am.

Who is great?

Those of us who are broken and need lifting up.

I prayed today for myself and all the people I know who need it, that though we are broken, that we would still be singing and shining. and for that alone, we are great.

And there’s no shortage of room in the world for this kind of great.

The post Who is Great? appeared first on Alison Chino.

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

I was doing my bsf lesson (on Matthew, Chapter 12) and a question referenced Isaiah 58.  So, I flipped back in my Bible to Isaiah and there were these words.

They are old, familiar friends. I wasn’t even thinking about it as I turned the pages to find them, but these are words that have deeply impacted me. and reading them yesterday brought back many emotions to my heart, as well as new encouragements because they apply so deeply to what my parents are currently doing in Kenya.

Our move back to Arkansas several years ago rocked me in a way I can’t really explain, but after about three months of being here, we were heading into the Christmas season and I was in one of the darkest places I can ever remember being, either before or since. That Christmas is a complete blur, but I vividly remember hearing about a suicide happening on Christmas eve and feeling jealous of that man, because he didn’t have to get up on Christmas morning and I did.  I was in a bad place.

A few days after Christmas, I was in our house, one into which we had not yet moved.  I was painting and trying to get it ready. It was late at night and for some reason, I was listening to a sermon on a cd that Taido had burned for me. I can’t even remember the miracle of how it got into the cd player or how I managed to decide to listen to it but the words were the first truth that had broken through to me in weeks.

When I am in the darkness, I have usually let my mind feed on all kinds of lies for weeks and weeks and the truth is no longer accessible in my heart. Lies about who I am and my worth and about the people in my life who actually love me. So it doesn’t matter what anyone says to me because I can’t hear it. It’s strange how this has occurred a number of times in my life, and I can see that pattern in my rear view mirror. But for the life of me it is hard to see it coming.

Anyway, for some reason this sermon just shattered my lies.  All of sudden it was like a wall came down, and I fell down on the floor crying and crying, for who knows how long. When I finally got up, I knew that the clouds had parted. The world was not going to end this Christmas season.

I began a very slow uphill battle back to being normal (whatever that is) with these sweet verses as my arsenal. I had been given back a little fighting power against all the lies. the verse that stayed with me was also the title of the sermon,

Your light will break forth like the dawn. 

I come back to those words a lot. Because I want to be in the light, not the darkness. and I don’t want to hold all of the light to myself, but I want it to somehow shine out of me. I want it to pour forth like the sun. but it doesn’t always seem possible.

Over the next few months I probably listened to that sermon 20 times and I started memorizing Isaiah 58. I wanted to have it memorized by my 30th birthday the following September, when I would gather with many women I love dearly and we would walk through Isaiah together over a long weekend. That weekend is an event I hold so tightly in my heart that I still haven’t been able to really write about it, but I know that I would never have had that weekend if these verses had not broken through to me one cold winter night.

So how precious to see them again this week.

And to know they are still true. This winter. This dreary day. Light will come.

And as I read them, I prayed them for my parents and many others in Kenya whose frames must need to be strengthened after days of grueling medical clinics in the hot Kenyan sun. I feel confident that they are being like springs. Waters that never fail.

And that I too can be a part of that same well-watered garden.

I want these verse to be true of me. Even when they are not true, when I am sapped, dry and broken, I still have within me, however faint, the desire that they would be true. I continue to ask that they would be more true of me tomorrow than they are today.

The post Light in the Darkness appeared first on Alison Chino.

I have gone to a Bible study every week since I moved back to Arkansas called Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), and I really love it.

I’ve studied the Bible a lot of different ways with different groups and different materials…with just women, with men and women, with children…with books studies, with topical studies, with discussions about books written about the Bible.

There are as many different ways to study the Bible out there as there are personalities.

So what is special about BSF?

Let me tell you. It’s very very straightforward…just you and the Bible. You read the scripture. You answer your questions. It’s set up to do a little bit every day.

You go to bible study on Wednesday. You discuss your questions in a discussion group. (not a small group…a discussion group…I’ll come back to that.) You hear a lecture from the teaching leader, which at my class is very good. (My teaching leader’s name is Carla and she is precious).

After the lecture, you pick up your questions. You go home and start over. It’s routine. It’s consistent. It can even be monotonous. But, I can honestly say that I have not ever learned more about the Bible or studied as consistently in another Bible study setting.

If you stay in BSF (a lot of people drop out), you just do it. You kind of get lost if you don’t, so you just plug through.

As far as my spiritual journey goes, I have had a lot of ups and downs but one thing I’ve learned is that I am pretty much guaranteed for DOWN if I’m not reading God’s word. It’s that simple. I can still be down anyway, but I don’t have a chance without the words of God pouring into me consistently. BSF sets me up for success as far as studying the Bible daily.

Also, I love the preschoolers’ program (ages 2-6). It’s so good. This spring Ben has enjoyed his last season in the children’s program at BSF and I just cannot say enough about how wonderful it is. I will definitely take simon when he turns 2. Again, very bible based, very consistent. The teachers take so much time preparing to teach the bible story. And they really love those little ones, praying for them and encouraging the mommies. It is such a great ministry.

Every week at BSF, they pass out these little invitation cards and strongly encourage us to invite people to come to BSF. So why haven’t I told you about BSF?

Why haven’t I invited you?

Well these cards are very small and I can’t quite fit all my disclaimers about BSF onto the margins of this little card. So I thought I would invite you now. But first I will tell you some of the things you might not love about BSF, so that you will not get mad at me when you show up and you are ushered to your seat. That’s right, you will be told where to sit. Just like kindergarten. And that brings me to my next point. There are sort of, a lot of, well, for lack of a better word…rules. What’s crazy is that the rules that really bug me also contribute to creating the environment for consistent Bible study that I love.

For example, you can’t talk if you don’t do your lesson. And you can’t talk about anything except your lesson. That is why it is a discussion group, not a small group and definitely not a support group. You are talking about the lesson. No one is saying what their pastor said last week or worse, what Oprah or Dr. Phil said last week. I appreciate this because everyone is motivated to complete their lesson and I love hearing what the other ladies got out of their lesson. They are all from way different walks of life than me, which is another great thing about BSF. Varying denominations, ages, races, spiritual maturity.

But all these rules can be a little intimidating. Especially because on your first visit to BSF, you don’t attend a discussion group. You go to what is called Introduction Class…also known as a boring recitation of the history of BSF and all the rules and guidelines. This class is more than I can bear, and I am sorry to send you to it, but you must endure it if you are going to enjoy the wonderful benefits of being in BSF. All I can say is, endure it with a friend and maybe you could get some material if you worked for a comedy channel or club that needed material for making fun of Christians. Ok, that is a little harsh, but really. It is also true. I have said that I wish somehow BSF could sort of ease up on things like strict attendance records and a very short window of opportunity to get your lesson for the following week, because it seems to hinder a lot of people from coming to something that is actually really good. But the legalism must preserve the whole thing from becoming fluffy. And incidentally, if you are a BSF-er, you kind of need something fluffy on the side to balance you out. Because bsf is not fluffy. It is anything but.

In fact, it is best to approach it as signing up for a seminary class, because, if you wanted to, you could get as much or more out of it as some people get out of a seminary education. And unlike seminary, it is free.

So consider yourself both invited and warned. The next two wednesdays are introduction classes for the fall BSF study, which is Matthew. C’mon matthew! May 2nd and 9th. at Cornerstone Bible Fellowship on Warden Road. 9:10am. If you wander in around 9:15 or so, come stand in the back with Whitney and me and enjoy the singing of a very old and noncopyrighted hymn an octave higher than is humanly possible. You’ll love it, I promise!

Update, January 2013:

I wrote this post about BSF six years ago, and I need to add that BSF has become kinder and gentler with the rules about lessons and attendance and such.  It is still the very best way I know to study the Bible and now all of my kids have graduated from the wonderful preschool program, which makes me a wee bit sad.  Some days I think I will just wrangle up a preschooler to take along to class.

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The post Introducing BSF With A Warning appeared first on Alison Chino.