Life Update

Hello again friends, I just wanted to take a few minutes to brief you on how things are going at the Dau House.

We finished the June Immersed Intensive last Friday and it was awesome! We had a great group of interns who stuck it out and really wowed us with how quickly they grasped the content and were able to participate in prayer and ministry time. My sister was one of them and I am so proud of her. She impressed me a lot with her tender heart and desire to seek God. Way to go Caitie!

Amy is also finished her work at the Learning Center. She has worked with TLC for about 15 months and now God has called her full-time into the House of Prayer. I am so excited to be working with my wife. We make a really good team (read: I am going to be blogging a lot more because I have someone to keep me on track... :) ) Amy has long felt the call to be in the House of Prayer and God has finally worked things out so that it can be a reality. I am excited for all of the songs that God is going to release through her. She is my favorite worship leader and musician.

Also, we have now officially said goodbye to my friend Quovadis Marshall. :( Q's last day on staff was this last Friday and I am sad to see him go. I know it is God's call to move him to Kansas City, but you find few friends as faithful and loyal as Q. Best of luck to you and your family my friend!

This weekend I really got my pastor on. I was privileged to be the Officiant at my friend's wedding. Dana and Erik Lehmann are going to have a fantastic marriage and I was so excited to be a part of their special day. This was my first wedding as an "official" pastor. I will cherish those memories for a long time.

I also preached this Sunday on being the bride of Christ. If you are interested in listening to this message it should be posted within a few days on the Vineyard's website

Shamar

The second duty/reason that God placed Adam in the garden was to "keep" it. This word in Hebrew is shamar. Shamar is also a multi-faceted word which variously means: to guard, protect, beware, be circumspect, keep, observe, preserve or watch (as in, be a watchman). This second function is vitally important for our lives as believers. God doesn't just want us to carve out a space in ourselves to meet with Him, He also wants us to guard it and be watchful over it.

In some way this was a tip off to Adam that the serpent was in the Garden. Adam was called to be vigilant in making sure that nothing tampered with the atmosphere that God had set in place. God created the Garden to be a place of rest for Himself; a place where He could meet with humanity and have relationship and fellowship with them. Adam's duty, then, was to protect this space from the chaos of the outside world. Adam's task was two-fold, to take the order of the Garden into the wild places of the earth and to keep the Garden from falling into chaos. It was Adam who was supposed to be the hedge of protection around the Garden, discerning what would benefit and enhance his relationship with God and what would detract from it. Sadly, Adam was not very good at this particular function.

Neither are we, if we are perfectly honest. Cultivating the Garden of the Soul is one thing, protecting it and keeping it set apart is quite another. In our zeal to meet with God it is easy to set aside time in the beginning, but as time goes on weariness sets in. It becomes easier and easier to neglect our Garden. Sure we come back for a visit from time to time and enjoy our fellowship with God, but the "weeds" begin to grow.

I don't want to land too heavily on anyone - I am the first in line of those who do not protect their Gardens (hearts, quiet times, choose your image). Even though I say that my relationship with God is my top priority, it is the first thing to get "Xed" from my day. I am tired so I sleep in, I am busy so I postpone Bible Study, I get wrapped up in temporary excitements and neglect eternal matters. I suck at shamar.

But Jesus was awesome at it. He would frequently retreat to the quiet and desolate places of the earth. He protected His time with God something fierce. It didn't matter if it was the middle of the night when He was free - He was out meeting with God, even if it cost Him sleep or food or comfort. That is the example He set out for us and it is something I so desperately long for. Not because I long to keep the rules, oh no. I long for that because Jesus had a tangible Reality of God's presence. He had a relationship with God that was extraordinary! THAT is what I desire - a passion for God that counts losing sleep as a small consequence.

Abad and Shamar - tend and protect, these are the things that God asked Adam to do in the Garden. They are the same things that God desires from us in our relationship with Him. I pray that we would all be strengthened by God's grace to pursue these things in greater measure. Amen.

"Abad"

I love the book of Genesis, especially the first three chapters. There is so much to study and think about within these three chapters that I come back to them, time and time again, just to get lost in the story and imagining what it would have been like to witness. I have been struck lately with God's heart behind the job description that God gave to Adam in the Garden. Genesis 2:15 says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." What is translated as "work it" is the Hebrew word "abad".

Hebrew is such a fascinating language because so many ideas are wrapped up in a single word. Being one of the earliest languages, there were very few words, therefore each word had to convey a plethora of meanings that context would make clear. Standing at 4,000 years of distance, we can look back and see all sorts of neat things that native users might miss. Abad is one of them.

Abad, according to the Strong's Concordance, means all of the following things (and then some): To work, serve or till; to be; to be a husbandman; to bring to pass or make fruitful; to be a servant; to be a worshipper - how cool is that? One word means so many things, each definition is one facet of what it is that God was looking for in man.

God wanted man to work and tend to the Garden, that much is certain. God gives man dominion over the earth, but what does that dominion look like? I think all of the above definitions of abad fit to some degree. Adam was to be master over creation, but he himself was mastered by God. He was to do what was necessary to produce fruit, but to do it with tenderness, as a husband of the land. Adam was also to "be" in the Garden. He certainly had work to do, but he was to be observant, a beholder of God's work in creation - he was to be a worshipper.

What I think is really cool about the creation story is that the whole world was not a garden. The whole world was wild, and in the midst of that chaos God carves out a space for He and man to meet. He tames a small portion of the globe and plants a garden. He makes it beautiful and fruitful and then he invites man into it. God gave Adam a template of what He wanted the whole Earth to look like, but it was up to man to take it would into the wild - to impose his will upon it and make it like God's design.

Can you imagine Adam walking into the Garden? How beautiful, orderly and perfect it must have seemed compared to the wilds in which Adam was created. To come into a place where every detail speaks of the intention, heart and emotions of a Creator must have been overwhelming. And then to be able to walk with God in the cool of the day, to talk freely and have unhindered relationship - how awesome that must have been... how awesome that will be again. God's plan, His desire hasn't changed. His purpose is still to walk with man in intimate fellowship. One day that will be in literal time and space, for now it is an internal reality.

God wants us to create an inner garden of the soul. He wants us to carve out a space where we can meet with Him amidst the chaos and distraction of our daily lives. He wants a resting place in us, a place of peace and tranquility where He can stretch out and relax, where He can spend time with His Beloved. I think that understanding abad is critical to fulfilling this desire of God's. We need to master our own inner dialogue, we need to bring our very selves into submission before God so that we can meet with Him in peace. We need to be people who are comfortable "being" with God, not trying to fill every moment of every day "doing" various things. We need to reclaim worship as our primary mode of existence. May God give us the grace to do so. Amen.

June is a Good month

Hello everyone! Time to get back into gear here on the blog. SO many updates, let me begin with just a few.

My sister, Caitie, is living with us here in Waverly for the month. It is awesome. We haven't lived together in the same space for 7 years. So, we are getting to catch up on brother/sister bonding time. We go to a fitness class on Tuesday and Thursday and and so far watched two Harry Potter movies and demolished a couple pints of ice cream :). Why Cait is up here leads me to another exciting thing...

We have started out June Intensive here at the House of Prayer. This is a month long intensive that meets MWF from 9-5. Amy, Q and I are the main teachers. Amy is teaching on intimacy with God, Q is teaching Christology and I am teaching on the Book of Revelation. Amy and I are co-teaching a class called Developing a Devotional Life. All is all it is really cool, really fun and REALLY intense.

In other good news, Amy will be joining the House of Prayer full-time at the end of the month. This will really be great for us and our schedule. We will work more closely with one another, have more time to write and be able to be more focused on the things that are most important to us. This is a very exciting time for the Dau House.

Thank you all for sticking with us. I look forward to writing on here again soon.

Ben

Self-Correction

One of the temptations I have when I am surrounded by like minded people is to not explain myself fully and to go from point to point with little in the way of transitions. This isn't so apparent when I write, but I notice the most when I am speaking and teaching. This tendency mostly stems from having so many conversations with people, that the points I make have become common knowledge, they have been said, repeated and explained so many times that further comment is unnecessary. In some regards, this is cool and it dramatically speeds up my teaching. In other regards, this is a problem because newer people to the community/teaching/group have a hard time catching up - they have difficulty connecting my points, they have other strongly held beliefs that keep them from understanding what I am saying, etc. This is what brings me to the point of this post.

I am going to make a concerted effort to explain myself more fully and to add in Bible references that support the things I say.

I am terrible at memory verses. I can quote you a verse almost verbatim (thank you God, mom and dad for giving me a near photographic auditory/visual memory) but I can't tell you where it comes from. Now I can see it on the page of my Bible, I can tell you what column, where it is approximately on the page, but telling you which chapter and verse is remarkably difficult. Because of this, I tend to omit references and rely upon the biblical knowledge of my readers. This is a poor habit for a bible teacher. And so, I want to apologize - I am sorry for not doing the leg work necessary in order to present things biblically, accurately and accessibly. It is my goal to improve this area of my teaching so that my students and readers will have the tools, resources and references necessary to study things out on their own.

I wanted to post this today because I realize that I say many things on this blog that I do not support with references. They are biblical and I believe them to be true, but I don't want you to believe them because I say them - I want you to see them in the Bible for yourself. This means I will revisit some posts, explain them more fully and ask for your feedback. I WANT YOU TO ASK ME QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGE ME! I need to see things from different angles, I need you to think critically and to challenge me. I need to refine my teaching material so that I can be the best I can be in equipping God's people for what is coming ahead. So there you have it, free reign to ask questions, challenge and critique. Thank you for taking it. :D I love you guys, thanks for reading.

Some clarity

Thankfully, some things are beginning to come into focus. The big picture is still blurry, but smaller details are becoming clear... let me explain.

My good friend and brother, Q, is leaving IHOPE to head down to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO. He has been offered a position there to start up a jail ministry with national potential and also be heavily involved in the African American Forerunner Alliance. That is fancy name to say that Q and his team will be working intensively with the black community to transform the culture from the inside out. This is a very exciting time for Q and his family and I am thrilled that God is opening such big doors for them.

I am also very sad because Q is a good friend to Amy and I. He has been a great mentor, leader and confidant and I am sorry to see him go. But I know that God has other things in store for IHOPE as well as for Amy and I. As I mentioned earlier, I don't know exactly how things will pan out, but it looks as though Amy and I will be part of the Senior Leadership Team which will give fuller purpose and expression to our core beliefs and values here at the House of Prayer. This is also very exciting, but also a little nerve wracking. However, I know that God is Good and He saw this coming a long, long time ago so I refuse to fret. Things will be tough, but they will work out and everything will be better off than it was before.

Thank you for your prayers and emails from yesterday's post. I really appreciate them and I was also able to get some ice cream. :D Love you all.

Come, Holy Spirit

I have been abnormally grumpy today. I am tried, restless and dry. The heavens seem like brass - it is impossible to pray, read the bible or focus on anything of any importance. This happens to me on a frustratingly regular basis and the best remedy I have found is journaling and/or eating an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia. Ice Cream was not an option today, so journaling it was.

As I was venting my frustrations, I found myself asking God a question: "Why am I so dead and dry?" Now, I wasn't really expecting an answer. I am fond of asking God rhetorical questions because it allows me to get stuff off of my chest without actually having to do anything to change. Perhaps you can relate.

I think God had finally had enough because He gave me a response that was disarmingly simply - "So you can easily be set on fire."

Gotcha. God 1, Ben 0.

Why is it I don't cry out with intensity until I suffer? Why do I wait until I am starving to ask for spiritual food? I don't do that in the natural. Most of my free time is spent thinking about food actually.

I need the "Desperation Factor" in my life. I hate it, but I need it. Now, if I were feeling particularly spiritual I would postulate a thought on Saint John of the Cross' "Dark Night of the Soul." But I am not feeling very spiritual and ice cream is still not an option. Damn.

And so, as always, my last choice should have been my first.

"Come Holy Spirit. I need your touch in my life. Set me ablaze. The fuel is ready, the fire is on You."