Author Archives: Scott Jeffries

About Scott Jeffries

Christ follower, son, husband, father, brother, friend, librarian, neighbor, sports fanatic, music lover, reader,

The Story of Joy, Part 2

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One part of my spiritual and personal story that I haven’t discussed much is the pregnancy, birth, and early life stages of our daughter, Joy. My wife recently wrote about this and I thought I would share it on the blog with a series of posts. God has moved in profound ways concerning Joy and her life has taught me many things:

Enter my wife, Leah.

joy2

When Joy was born, the main issue that she had was a severe and complete unilateral cleft lip and palate. The other issues that the doctor predicted, some being life threatening, were not present. Other issues would come later, but nothing beyond the cleft lip and palate was immediately noticeable.

The issue with cleft lip and palate is that the ability to get suction to eat is almost impossible. Joy had no “roof of her mouth”. Everything that went in her mouth, came out her nose or went down into her airway.

Her orthodontist made an oral appliance (like a retainer) to put in her mouth to give her a sort of barrier between her mouth and nasal cavity. We kept it in her mouth using denture cream.  It took a long time to feed Joy and she would get so tired . Scott and I would both get up with her so that one of us could help keep the other awake. It was exhausting. Joy had issues with pneumonia due to aspirating milk and even had a feeding tube at one time.

The first surgery to repair her lip was coming up. She was scheduled for a time in August and we were ready for the healing process to begin. It would just be for her lip and nose, but it would help. As the date approached, we received a call that the surgery was rescheduled for a later date. I was so upset. Joy needed to have the surgery soon!. I didn’t understand the delay.

It wasn’t until her pre-op that God revealed why her surgery was delayed.

We found out that the world renowned Craniofacial Surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Sayler (he helped separate the conjoined twins from Egypt) would be performing a live teaching surgery at a Cleft Lip and Palate Medical Conference. Joy would be his patient and a group of surgeons from all over the world would be watching the Doctor repair Joy’s cleft lip. Joy would not only receive the best care from the best surgeon in the world, but other children would be helped because of what the surgeons were learning from watching her surgery. We were overwhelmed with God’s timing and plan!! I am thankful we had to wait and be rescheduled. God’s plans are perfect! 

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It’s Time To Grow Up

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Birth receives far more attention among Christians than growth. Born again, new birth, new life are all terms in high use among Western Christians, and rightly so. But, ignoring or overlooking growth leads to the absence of growth and in the words of Eugene Peterson, we become “a nation of adolescence.”

Peterson goes on to say, “the most significant growth that any of us does is growing as a Christian…all other growth is prep for this growth.” Scripture is full of growing up both physically and spiritually and sometimes both. Moses grew up, David grew up, John the Baptist grew up, and Jesus himself grew up. Then after Jesus returned to his father, we see the spiritual growth of his followers who go from clueless, scaredy cats to courageous and bold ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

woman wearing red dress on gray stairs

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Could it be that the most important thing about you and me is our Growing Up as followers of Christ? How would that change our work place? How would that change our families? Our marriage? Our solutions to society’s biggest problems?

I am a more patient, friendly, happy, and trusting person because of my Growing Up. I have seen God do some miraculous things in and through me because of my Growing Up. I have made odd and foolish career decisions that demonstrated that God knew what he was doing. I have gone out on a limb and seen God handle the outcomes far better than I ever could. I have grown up and that growth has made it possible for more growth. I am not where I can be or should be but I have matured and developed in my faith.

Let us not put Growing Up on the periphery of our Christian life. Let us make it the other side of the coin from new birth. Let us no longer be a church of adolescence.

The Story of Joy, Part 1

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One part of my spiritual and personal story that I haven’t discussed much is the pregnancy, birth, and early life stages of our daughter, Joy. My wife recently wrote about this and I thought I would share it on the blog with a series of posts. God has moved in profound ways concerning Joy and her life has taught me many things:

Enter my wife, Leah.

joy

I was 18 weeks pregnant and went to see a specialist because they thought there was an issue with my uterus. At this appointment, they actually found something wrong with our baby.

I remember the nurse and doctor walking in the room. They had that “look” on their faces that something was wrong.

Scott and I sat and listened to a list of serious issues that the doctor felt was wrong with our baby from the findings on the sonogram pictures. There was everything from Down Syndrome, to heart issues, to intestinal issues, cystic fibrosis, and her cleft lip and palate.

The doctor felt strongly that she would have serious issues and we should consider aborting the pregnancy. I felt like someone punched me. I remember saying a strong “no!” to the abortion topic, and we left with lots of questions and feelings of helplessness. We got home and just felt so saddened. We did find out that day that our baby was a girl and soon realized we needed to find a name so that people could pray specifically for her. More on that next time…….

Reading Now/Listening Now

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Reading Now

What I am Reading: I am going through my highlights from Dallas Willard’s Life Without Lack and starring the best sections.

What has Meant Something to Me: Willard describes the movement of faith from sufficiency to abandonment to contentment.

LWL

Something I am Going to Try: A day with Jesus. At the end of the book, Willard maps out how to spend a day with Jesus. I am looking to schedule this and plan for this later in the month.

Listening Now

What I am Listening To: As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Eugene Peterson. This is a collection of sermons from the long time pastor, translator, writer, and professor.  I have the audiobook version and I listen to it on my way to work. Unlike the Baptist preachers that I am used to, Peterson’s sermons are usually around 20 minutes long. So, I often finish the sermons on my commute.

What has Meant Something to Me: Peterson isn’t trying to conquer the known world with each sermon. He simply has a text, a word from God, and fantastic use of language. This helps you chew on the message and let it swim around a bit in your head. There are no set of points to map out, just grand, holy ideas to consider and pray through.

Something I am Going To Try: Reading the Psalms in the Message translation in order to get a fresh taste of the full range of human experience and God’s provision in that experience.

No Pain, No Gain?

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When we were told that our youngest daughter would have birth defects, possibly severe ones, did I need that situation to develop a sense of ruthless trust in God?

Would I have ever made Jesus the Lord and center of my life if I didn’t have a breakdown full of darkness, depression, and frustration?

Did I need to be cut from my high school basketball team to know that God can still value me despite personal disappointment and failure?

Did I need to be a lonely college student to take advantage of long stretches at a lake setting with just me and God?

Did my Dad have to die and my friend drink himself to death for me to learn to love God even when I don’t agree with how he has allowed things to happen?

Is pain and struggle a prerequisite for growth?

adult alone anxious black and white

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Job, in the Bible, needed one catastrophe after another in order to finally make this statement about God, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job’s struggles awakened his spiritual senses to truly appreciate and savor God.

Paul begged for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh” but God didn’t. Instead, God told him this, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul would then come to this realization, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul needed hardship and difficulties and weakness for God to be his strongest. I don’t know if I can say that I delight in struggles and disappointment just yet but if that is what it takes for God to be the strongest in my life then I will sacrifice my comfort and ease along the way.

For I have seen too much growth, too much of God’s presence, too much of God’s provision, and too much of a change in myself to think otherwise.

Where What God Wants Done Is Done

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God acts here among us. He moves, creates, shifts, directs, speaks, and transforms. He restores souls.

Do you believe this?

The place where God gets done what he wants done is called the Kingdom of God. Jesus announced the arrival of the Kingdom of God within himself at the beginning of his ministry and constantly taught his followers about the Kingdom of God.

He said the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is here, accessible, inhabiting, and available. All he ask of us is for us to repent. Surely, this means repent in the revivalists sense but also in the basic sense of “rethinking.” We are to rethink the way we look at the world because in Jesus the Kingdom is at hand, right here.

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Brooklyn Museum

If I have committed myself to Jesus, I have become “one in whom Christ dwells and delights.” I have access to this ever present Kingdom and can commit myself to what God wants done and join forces with other believers who are indwelt by Christ to expand and strengthen the Kingdom. I Grow Up and the community Grows Up.

But if my view of the Kingdom is that it is for another time and some other place then I will never experience its potential, power, and progress. I will be stuck as an observer and not a participant.

 

What We Care About May Not Matter That Much To Jesus

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Would it bother you if I told you that I listen to the Grateful Dead and a band called the Mother Hips? Would it matter if I tell you I don’t like Christian movies?

What is the first thing you think of when I tell you I would rather listen to NPR than Christian radio stations? That I follow some liberals on Twitter and have voted for Democrats on occasions? That I own a Subaru?

I tell you this not because I think I am cool (I know me and I am not cool) or because I think the people that make different choices than me are stupid or less sophisticated. I am not trying to shock anyone. I am not saying that I am right or better than anyone else.

What I am trying to do is point out the absurd tendency in humans to use cultural markers to categorize, identify, judge, and even dismiss. These cultural markers often have nothing to do with the emphasis that Jesus clearly stated for his followers.

Jesus said that if we are his children, we will obey his commands. What commands? You can start with the Sermon on the Mount. He later said that anyone who follows him must take up their cross and die to self. That is a demand much more costly than whether my kids watch Sponge Bob or not. He also said that the world will know his followers by how much they love. Wow, that takes work and humility and sacrifice and is hard to quantify to impress followers on Facebook.

I have expressed my problem with judgement here, so I am trying not to turn this into a finger pointing session. I simply think that the time has come for Christians to shift their focus away from superficial Christian subculture markers and who is in and who is out thinking and, instead, become obsessed with character transformation, spiritual growth, intimacy with God, and love, in the most Biblical sense.

You may not like my choice of music or politics but in the words of John Wesley, “If your heart beats in love for Jesus, then take my hand and we will walk together in fellowship.” And our focus will not be on categories of cultural adherence but on our love for God and others. If we work on that, then these other things will take care of themselves.

 

 

The One Thing The American Church Must Not Be Fueled By

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Twelve years ago, I quit one of the great joys of my life. I had enough. I was disgusted and embarrassed and I felt hoodwinked, used, and deceived. So I quit.

Baseball, this great game that had captured my imagination and heart since I was in junior high, had become bloated, monstrous, and impure. Steroids had turned the game into a chemistry experiment and the players barely resembled their true selves. Worst of all, every sense of pure fascination and enjoyment I experienced as a fan became a fool’s errand because surely none of these players had achieved transcendence and great heights without taking a short cut, without cheating themselves and the game. So, I was done.

In the last few years, I have started to feel the same way about the American church. It seems to be taking short cuts and injecting itself with a substance that makes it swell and produce unusual results. This substance is fueling the church and has increased its power and significance. But this substance is anything but Godly, only serves to achieve results while corrupting the body with a toxin that looks just like the rest of the world and dismisses the purity of the Christ that it proclaims.

This artificial and harmful substance is anger. Somehow, anger has become accepted as a means for the church and its members to handle life in the 21st century. And it keeps holding on to it because it keeps getting results even though it reveals a heart that is corrupted, unchanged by Christ, and linked to false power, deceit, hate, lying, greed, and oppression. I don’t want any part of this acceptance and complicity with anger.

human fist

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Jesus was so against the use of anger that he described three different levels of punishment due the angry person. He says they are worthy of judgement, arrest, and even hell, simply on the basis of their anger. A wise man once said, “Anything that could be done with anger can be done better without it.” We may think that anger is the only way to get results and that we have to join the ways of the world to be significant in the world but all anger is doing to the church is poisoning any real value it might have; any real word it might bring that is loving, hopeful, merciful, faithful, gentle, kind, and peaceful.

Jesus continues his emphasis against anger in the passage referenced above by saying that our worship will lose its meaning and purity if we still harbor anger. He knew how anger corrupts and he makes quite an effort to get his followers to eradicate anger from their lips and from their lives.

I don’t want to quit the church or my affiliations to it but I will not participate in a steroid version that barely resembles Christ’s intent for it or turns it into a bloated, ugly, malformed entity. May we all assess our methods of fueling the body of Christ, the church, and end our love affair with anger. Christ will have nothing to do with it and we shouldn’t either.

Hearing God? Not Just For Super Christians

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Does God speak to you?

If you are Growing Up into a wise and courageous follower of Christ, you should be surprised when God doesn’t speak to you. Dallas Willard, in his book Hearing God, quotes E. Stanley Jones, who says:

“He that made the toungue and gave us the power to communicate with one another, shall he not speak and communicate with us? I do not believe that God our father is a dumb, noncommunicative impersonality.”

man wearing black headphones

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If Jones and Willard are to be believed than we should move God speaking to us out of the sensational category of spiritual experience.

What if our mature and Spirit-filled life with Christ is more like Samuel? He approached tasks in an ongoing conversation with God. Samuel didn’t always interpret situations and directions correctly but that didn’t stop God from continuing to speak to him. We too can hear from God and, in fact, we should expect to and not be surprised when we do.

God speaking may be a still, small voice or may be an audible one or be simply words that someone else speaks that seems to reach you from a depth only you recognize. The point is that it is not just Samuel or Moses or Elijah that hear from God but you and me. God is not checking our credentials.

As long as we are seeking him with all of our heart and mind, we will hear from God. He wants to speak to us as much as we want to hear from Him. Let’s start that conversation today.

My Journey of Grief

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This month marks a year since my Dad died. I thought it might be useful to note some observations I have had about loss, grief, and recovery:

Individuality of Grief – Until you have been through the death of a parent or someone very close to you, there is no way of knowing what it is really like to go through grief. I was ignorant of grief’s twist and turns and ups and downs. I had been guilty in the past of expecting people just to snap out of it and move on. Now I know how insensitive and arrogant that mentality was. Grief is a real thing and there isn’t a clear formula for how it progresses.

Loneliness – When you lose someone so close to you it is like a part of you has been severed off, never to be replaced. I miss that part that was lost and never getting it back is a lonely feeling. There were months of just deep loneliness despite the great love and belonging I have around me.

Letchworth State Park, one of the incredible scenic locales that I have experienced over the last year. 

Counseling helps – I was blessed enough to have, on my campus, free counseling that allowed me weekly conversations about the grief process and all that was associated with my particular situation. As an introverted, contemplative thinker type, I am much more accustomed to the conversations I have with myself. Yet, here was a trained person blocking out an hour a week to listen to me and help me through my issues. At one point, my counselor asked me, what do you think has been the most beneficial part of our time together? We agreed that it wasn’t any of the activities he had me do or the strategies we worked out, it was the chance to talk about my dad, my sadness, my loneliness, and how I try to cope with these situations.

God provides – In the midst of my grief and inner turmoil, God provided the Apprentice Experience to give me resources and capacities to grow in the midst of my grief and not to be swallowed up by it. I have incredible co-workers who provided support, prayers, and practical acts of service that made me feel loved and strengthened my resiliency. I had unusual opportunities to travel, see some beautiful sights, and breath in God’s wonderful creation (see photo above.) It was life-giving and soul restoring.