Dale Cresap's blog

Are you a self-made person? How many people do you meet who claim that no one ever gave them anything, so they take credit for all of their success? No newborn child takes care of their own needs. An enormous amount of effort went into getting you to that point, and even more comes after before you are able to fend for yourself. Your parents put in this effort in advance with no idea of how you would turn out. So no one has a valid claim to their own success. This alone is the basis for a lifetime of humility and gratitude, giving back, and paying it forward. 

If you were interviewing applicants for a position, and the future of the world depended on getting the right person, who would you choose? If one applicant said, I had a dream and then I went out and did exactly as the dream directed without consulting anyone, and then I had another dream, and carried it out as before, and so on. Would you hire this person? I did. Joseph who stood in as my father on earth had to be able to accept divine direction apart from the religious establishment of his generation, for actions that were not explainable in any familiar context.

Do you want to change? If you have an ideal in mind and you do not meet it, the result is tension between the real and the ideal. Do you find that genuine, enduring improvement is rare in yourself and others? Confronting your problems head on can be ineffective and frustrating. Is there another way? The Bible speaks of beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and describes this as the way we are changed from one degree of glory to another, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Changed by beholding? This is an unconventional approach by the wisdom of this world. Could it really work?

Has the Bible become familiar to you? Have the stories lost their impact because you grew up with them and have heard them so many times? Would you agree with the statement that if you are not shocked by what you read in the Bible then you don’t get it? Consider the impact that these stories had on the original audience. For instance, the story of the prodigal son. This story is really about the Father. Can you imagine a father giving in to the younger son’s request in the first place, knowing how it would end, and then welcoming him back with a celebration when it did?

Do you need an audience? Do you think that people who do are needy and self-absorbed? Is it an insult to say that someone is looking for attention? Some people are more secure than others, but everyone has a story to tell, and needs an audience to listen to it. Have you ever been in a one-way encounter where someone unburdened themselves to you and showed no interest in your situation? This cannot truly be considered a conversation. Did you feel violated and ignored? Be sensitive to others that you do not do this to them.

Do you sing? Do you look at the Psalms as something to read or something to sing? You can read them, but they were meant as a songbook. You can read the lyrics to any song, but would you agree that their true meaning and impact only comes to life expressed in melody? That is their purpose, and their essence is lacking if they are merely read. You can agree with this in principle, and acknowledge the benefit of singing the Psalms rather than reading them, but do you find that you have to overcome cultural resistance to break into song? Do it anyhow, and see how it affects you.

Are you required to sit still in church? How do you do your best meditation or conversation? For some people these things come more easily when they are moving than when they are sitting still. You could say that their wandering facilitates their pondering. That is the method I used to get from place to place, and you may recall that much of my teaching to my disciples was when I was in the way with them. Movement can facilitate any way of understanding, but especially the intuitive and imaginative ways that are characteristic of spiritual encounter.

You understand that capital usually refers to money used as an investment, but the term could be used in a broader sense to include things like emotional capital that you only have so much of to spend. Another form would be relational capital which is different in that it exists between two people or more. You have experienced this whether you described in these terms or not. You have an intuitive understanding about how much weight or disturbance a relationship can bear, and it isn’t much in the case of shallow relationships. Don’t you prefer relationships that are not fragile?

Do you notice shifts in your behavior as you get older? Some people notice that they become more like their parents whether they intend to or not, and whether they welcome the change or not. Another way to describe this is becoming more like yourself as time goes on, based on the assumption that your parents were further down the road on the same path. Blessed are those who see their lives moving in a positive direction. Even if you don’t, the fact that you recognize the issue is a start. Do you see my transformative work in your life as a lifelong project?

Are you familiar with the story of the wheat and the tares? They grow in the same field, and the tares, which are weeds, were planted by an enemy. The workers want to separate them but the land owner instructs them to wait until the harvest for the separation lest the growing wheat be damaged. The story identifies the tares as being children of the wicked one and the wheat as the righteous. Can humanity be so neatly divided? Can people switch categories? Isn’t this what you would describe as the process of redemption?