Doing It All By Yourself
Most people that begin a Spiritual Journey do so to discover something of themselves – or some unknown about Spiritual Journey itself.
Christians will embark on a Spiritual Journey to discover deeper truths about Christianity for an example. Personally I have walked this kind of Journey as I discovered more of my faith.
I have watched Muslims and Jews take a similar journey. I have seen completely non-religious people do the same. For all it seems to be a kind of cleansing, a refocus on the priorities for sure.
The Journey may take days or longer. Depending on the person’s commitment mixed with desire – it can go longer than a mere few weeks.
Whatever is decided upon, the results will be matched with personal change and growth. This all comes out of the discoveries we find about ourselves. The Bible has a number of good examples of this kind of Journey.
Moses, born as pauper became a Prince of Egypt, would escape a life of privilege to spend 40 years in a desert herding sheep. It would be during this time that he would discover God personally. The burning bush was his meeting place as God spoke to him. From this Spiritual Journey he would become the greatest leader that Israel would ever know – leading his people from Egypt to the eventual “Land of Promise”.
Paul in the New Testament, the man once known as Saul of Tarsus, would spend at least three years in a quiet place sorting things out. In one spectacular moment prior to this he met the Spirit of Jesus on a road to Damascus. He had been well schooled in deeper theological ways than most people of his days – yet he knew little of God personally. The three years in the wilderness would allow him to sort out who he really was.
Personally again I can think back to many places where I questioned why I was there and what the reason was for the things I was facing at that time. Now after the years have passed by I can now see. The “A-hah!” moment has arrived and it makes sense.
Having said all that I come to another kind of Journey that one man made over the last year. It is an odd one. After having read about the Journey that he embarked on I was puzzled as to why he did it. Other than trying to prove that most ‘Spiritual Journey People’ are nuts – he did it on his own.
Then he wrote an account of what he experienced. He chronicles the journey in The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.
Mr. Jacobs is Jewish – but not very Jewish… In one quote he said, “I'm Jewish, but in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian -- not very Jewish at all.” But he wanted to know what it would be like to be “Bible like” for one full year. It is interesting to say the least.
A.J. Jacobs seems to have no great reason Spiritually to take such a journey – other than to prove that some religious people are nut cases. Then it backfired in a way. He discovered that what he was doing had an affect on his living. It affected how people related to him – including his wife.
In MacLean’s Magazine(Oct 8, 2007), Kate Fillion asked Jacobs the following with his response noted…
Fillion… “How did you avoid feeling self-consciously ironic about this whole project?”
Jacobs… “Well, there was some irony to the whole thing, because here I was, a guy in Manhattan dressing like someone walking around the Negev desert thousands of years ago. But if you really commit to something for a year, you go beyond irony. You can't be doing all this stuff without it having an effect on you. That was one of the big lessons: behaviour shapes our ideas. So if you're acting completely faithful, you will become faithful. And even better for me, no matter where you start on the morality scale, if you force yourself to act like a good person and volunteer at the soup kitchen, you actually take a step toward becoming that person. I certainly am not Gandhi or Angelina Jolie, but it did help me, not gossiping or lying.”
The statement that he makes… “You can't be doing all this stuff without it having an effect on you. That was one of the big lessons: behaviour shapes our ideas.”, stands out for me as a Pastor.
A wonderful confession and discovery…‘What I do purposefully to change, truly makes a difference on how I think.’ We often think it is the other way around…. Think then Change…
The problem is that many of us make choices that allow us to do pretty much what we want to – without any checks and balances. The results are tragic in many cases. I read at least three account today of young people and adults making very foolish choices, without any desire to change. Their actions and thinking is so odd that it confronts society and now has them behind bars.
Today I made choices to CHANGE. Even at 63 years old I am making that conscious choice to do it differently. Guess what… I find my thinking is changing too. That leads to further actions and reactions – and I change more again.
Could this be a week that you will change your actions… then your thinking may follow. That is a Spiritual Journey that may become something new for you.
One final thing that I have discovered is simple. I do not have to do this alone. Doing it by myself is not smart. God has promised me that he will never leave me or forsake me. That is simply very cool.
Have a great week of discovery.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
Resource
Accounts of A.J. Jacobs’ acting a Bible Person for one year
MSNBC Report http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/08/401474.aspx
One Book review- http://www.bookswim.com/book/the_year_of_living_biblically:_one_man_s_humble_quest_to_follow_the_bible_as_literally_as_possible-0743291476.php
MacLean’s Magazine article…
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/lifestyle/article.jsp?content=20071008_110093_110093
Christians will embark on a Spiritual Journey to discover deeper truths about Christianity for an example. Personally I have walked this kind of Journey as I discovered more of my faith.
I have watched Muslims and Jews take a similar journey. I have seen completely non-religious people do the same. For all it seems to be a kind of cleansing, a refocus on the priorities for sure.
The Journey may take days or longer. Depending on the person’s commitment mixed with desire – it can go longer than a mere few weeks.
Whatever is decided upon, the results will be matched with personal change and growth. This all comes out of the discoveries we find about ourselves. The Bible has a number of good examples of this kind of Journey.
Moses, born as pauper became a Prince of Egypt, would escape a life of privilege to spend 40 years in a desert herding sheep. It would be during this time that he would discover God personally. The burning bush was his meeting place as God spoke to him. From this Spiritual Journey he would become the greatest leader that Israel would ever know – leading his people from Egypt to the eventual “Land of Promise”.
Paul in the New Testament, the man once known as Saul of Tarsus, would spend at least three years in a quiet place sorting things out. In one spectacular moment prior to this he met the Spirit of Jesus on a road to Damascus. He had been well schooled in deeper theological ways than most people of his days – yet he knew little of God personally. The three years in the wilderness would allow him to sort out who he really was.
Personally again I can think back to many places where I questioned why I was there and what the reason was for the things I was facing at that time. Now after the years have passed by I can now see. The “A-hah!” moment has arrived and it makes sense.
Having said all that I come to another kind of Journey that one man made over the last year. It is an odd one. After having read about the Journey that he embarked on I was puzzled as to why he did it. Other than trying to prove that most ‘Spiritual Journey People’ are nuts – he did it on his own.
Then he wrote an account of what he experienced. He chronicles the journey in The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.
Mr. Jacobs is Jewish – but not very Jewish… In one quote he said, “I'm Jewish, but in the same way the Olive Garden is Italian -- not very Jewish at all.” But he wanted to know what it would be like to be “Bible like” for one full year. It is interesting to say the least.
A.J. Jacobs seems to have no great reason Spiritually to take such a journey – other than to prove that some religious people are nut cases. Then it backfired in a way. He discovered that what he was doing had an affect on his living. It affected how people related to him – including his wife.
In MacLean’s Magazine(Oct 8, 2007), Kate Fillion asked Jacobs the following with his response noted…
Fillion… “How did you avoid feeling self-consciously ironic about this whole project?”
Jacobs… “Well, there was some irony to the whole thing, because here I was, a guy in Manhattan dressing like someone walking around the Negev desert thousands of years ago. But if you really commit to something for a year, you go beyond irony. You can't be doing all this stuff without it having an effect on you. That was one of the big lessons: behaviour shapes our ideas. So if you're acting completely faithful, you will become faithful. And even better for me, no matter where you start on the morality scale, if you force yourself to act like a good person and volunteer at the soup kitchen, you actually take a step toward becoming that person. I certainly am not Gandhi or Angelina Jolie, but it did help me, not gossiping or lying.”
The statement that he makes… “You can't be doing all this stuff without it having an effect on you. That was one of the big lessons: behaviour shapes our ideas.”, stands out for me as a Pastor.
A wonderful confession and discovery…‘What I do purposefully to change, truly makes a difference on how I think.’ We often think it is the other way around…. Think then Change…
The problem is that many of us make choices that allow us to do pretty much what we want to – without any checks and balances. The results are tragic in many cases. I read at least three account today of young people and adults making very foolish choices, without any desire to change. Their actions and thinking is so odd that it confronts society and now has them behind bars.
Today I made choices to CHANGE. Even at 63 years old I am making that conscious choice to do it differently. Guess what… I find my thinking is changing too. That leads to further actions and reactions – and I change more again.
Could this be a week that you will change your actions… then your thinking may follow. That is a Spiritual Journey that may become something new for you.
One final thing that I have discovered is simple. I do not have to do this alone. Doing it by myself is not smart. God has promised me that he will never leave me or forsake me. That is simply very cool.
Have a great week of discovery.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
Resource
Accounts of A.J. Jacobs’ acting a Bible Person for one year
MSNBC Report http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/08/401474.aspx
One Book review- http://www.bookswim.com/book/the_year_of_living_biblically:_one_man_s_humble_quest_to_follow_the_bible_as_literally_as_possible-0743291476.php
MacLean’s Magazine article…
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/lifestyle/article.jsp?content=20071008_110093_110093
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
1 Comments:
If you'd like to hear A.J. Jacobs talk about his new book, "The Year of Living Biblically," check out this audio interview link.
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