Who or what is your cornerstone?

For those of you who know me realize that I probably could never be mistaken for a contractor or builder, which is probably wise that I choose sales as my profession. However, even I know that one of the very basics of building anything is to start with a strong foundation or cornerstone (there's our word) to build upon. In 1 Peter 2:4, it describes Jesus as a "living stone" and in 1 Peter 2:6 it states "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious..." Is Jesus my cornerstone? Lets get back to that in a bit...

As I listen to this being preached on Sunday the obvious question that came to mind is what kind of foundation have I built my life and my families life on? What is the one thing or things that are the crucial stone or cornerstone that is evident in my life? If this is evident based on my actions or responses it could be a wide range of things, some good some bad. Worry, pride, stress, possessions, identity, Jesus, The Bible, relaxation, anger, to name just a few. However, can I put my finger on the one cornerstone?

Now, back to my original question. If I say that Jesus is my cornerstone and my true identity, shouldn't Jesus show up somewhere in my life? In other words, shouldn't the stones in my life that are connected to the cornerstone (which is everything) represent Jesus? Do I daily remember that my true identity is in Christ and that we who call Jesus our Lord and Savior are part of a Royal Priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)? Maybe this explains why so many times in a week, month, year that life seems to be so out of control or fragile that it feels like breaks or stones are about ready to break. When I choose to go it alone and to try to "build" things on my own, why am I so surprised when they start crumbling?

We don't have to worry about coming up with a answer to who our cornerstone is because our words, works and wealth will reflect this.

Grace....again!

"God drops grace into our lives to show us a glimpse of where we will be going" (Mark Driscoll '09) Am I a grace seeker? Anyone who has spent a good amount of time with me can answer that question without much of a thought. One of the many, many things I love and admire about Buttercup is that she has a way of speaking truth (yes, there is such a thing) into my life about what I need to work on. Being truthful, there are time (most) that I don't appreciate it at the moment, but can look back and see where her heart is and the reason she is so bold about it. This is a reoccurring subject in the Otis/Buttercup household. My lack of grace can usually can be seen in how I react or act towards Buttercup, my daughters, friends and family.


Grace is also tied to hope. which can be described as confident security. This leads to another thought. Is the reason that I struggle with showing Grace because I don't have hope? In myself, in others, in general? Wait, this also can be tied to Faith (see previous post). Is it just me, or are you seeing a trend here? Grace, hope, faith all are related to the heart. I know that even though I have a public education, I can at least see that trend. OK, so these are related now what? It seems like I continue to come back to this same well, over and over again.

What prevents me from showing Grace to those that I love and care for? Why is it that this is not something that comes to mind first, instead of anger, frustration or impatience? Maybe I don't truly appreciate the Grace that has been shown me from God and others. You would think that a person who makes as many mistakes over and over again and struggles in may areas as I do, would understand the importance of expressing Grace to others.

As I think about how I can change this trend I plan on integrating the following three questions into my daily life as a barometer of have I am doing in this area:

1. How is my hope?
2. Where is my faith?
3. Am I being a grace seeker?

Faith and a motorcycle

So I have been struggling for a long time or you could say that a major theme in my life is my issue of not having faith. No, I am not questioning my faith in God but rather the issue of why I tend to worry about everything instead of having faith. Although, one could argue that what kind of faith in God do I really have if instead of trusting fully in Him, I let the stress and worry about things overtake me to the point of frustration and possible many grey hairs! What makes this seem even worse is that faith seems to come much easier to Buttercup.

I tend to bottle my worries up inside until they are peculating within me and usually they get released on whomever seems to be in front of me at that moment. I was taught when I was a kid and continue to be reminded that you can only worry about what you can control and to give it all to God. Easier said than done, if you ask me! There seems to be so many examples recently where others are going through much worse things that I am but seem to exhibit a mountain more faith that I have. You don't have to look very far to see this, if you open up any newspaper or on the web, you will find another stat about a company closing their doors or laying up a large portion of their work force. I think of my dear friend Toirdhealbheach Beucail and the trial that he is going through right now, in looking for employment in such difficult times. I also think of my brother who is dealing with some very difficult relationships and the stress and worry that comes with it. Yes, there have been some changes to our home finances due to a pay cut and the slow economy hurting our compensation payout and raising two daughters, there never seems to be a lack of things that can consume my mind with worry. This includes future plans that Buttercup and I have in regards to home improvements, education, etc.

What does this have to do with a motorcycle, you may ask? I had the pleasure of going for a long ride last weekend (yes, we actually do see the sun every now and then). As I enjoyed the adrenaline that you find on a sport bike and the excitement of both taking the curves at a greater speed than you would in a car and the scenery that one finds on many of the winding, country roads in the area. I suddenly realized that being on my bike is one of the few things in my life that I don't tend to struggle with Faith. In a strange way that I can't really describe, I just have total faith when I am on my bike. Now, don't get me wrong the WA state drivers still freak me out at times but I still don't have a problem putting my faith into God's hands as I enjoy this testosterone driving activity.

I want to live a life where I can put my entire faith and being into God's hands and to be able to say "do with me as you will" with a open and generous heart. There are many signs and reminders of the things that God has done in my life but why is it that unless it smacks me in the mouth, I can't seem to remember that?

As it states in 1 Peter 3:7 that "our faith is more precious than Gold". This doesn't mean that we don't have reasons to be concerned or worried. In the previous verse it talks about grieving through our trials. I heard our Pastor describe it that we need to sometimes grieve down to the core of who we are and then rejoice in the mercies of God and what He has done for us and will continue to do for us. Grieve first for a little while, and then rejoice.

What can I do today to start building a deeper faith, one that is more valuable that anything I have or could every have within myself?

"I make the coffee"

"A teenage son once asked him dad what he said to bereaved families when he would go to the farmhouses after the funeral of loved ones. Surely, I thought, even my father with his close proximity to disease and death and grief would have some wisdom to impart.
'Mostly,' he answered, 'I make the coffee.'
I had some disdain for his answer then, but I honor it now. There is little to do in the face of death but make the coffee. We have no words to blunt its awfulness. It was his presence, more than anything he could say, which mattered." (Chris Hedges, "Losing Moses On The Freeway)

What a great example of what the gospel is really about. If I am being totally honest, I get so frustrated when I hear Christians respond to someone griefs (such as a death of a loved one, a job loss, a recently diagnosed disease) by saying "God is going to make you stronger", "God has a plan for you through this". Please don't misunderstand me, these are valid statements and there is truth in these words but the point is when you choose to say them. We ( I am speaking to myself, as I have done this many times) tend to forget that the most loving thing we can do outside of just being there for someone as they go through trails and pain is to simply tell them: " I am so sorry", "I love you and I'm sorry you have to go through this", "I don't know what to say.." "That sucks!". There will be time to reflect on how God is going to use this trial or grief for good or to make you stronger, but these should not be the first words out of your mouth, when someone has just shared their heart and grief with you (at least that is my opinion).

We live in a world that seems to have an unending supply of grief, sadness and loss. We also live in a world where so many Christians have lost touch with what the true meaning of The Gospel is. We get so wrapped up in the DO (do this, don't do that) we forget that what we should be focused on is what has be DONE.

I want to be a person where my presence is what truly matters, much more than what I say to loved ones, friends, coworkers. I also want my words to reflect the Gospel and not some catchy Sunday School sayings that make myself feel better or more comfortable, in the situation.

Fighting with God

I had the pleasure of attending a very unique conference last weekend with this title. It was the first ever conference put on by Agon Fighters which encompassed professional MMA (Mixed Martial Art for those who are testosterone challenged) fighters as well as a few Pastor/Speakers. Being that I follow MMA closely and have seen many fights over the last couple of years, it was pretty cool to be in the same room and only a few feet away from at least one of the fighters that I have seen fight on TV. Seeing the fighters up close, it also reinforced the fact that I was smart picking a non-violent profession!

During one of the sessions they had a Q&A session with the fighters as well as our Pastor Mark Driscoll (who is a huge MMA fan). One of the questions to the fighters was how do you prepare for a fight or in Mark’s case, how do you prepare to preach? The answer given was so simple but yet so enlightening at the same time…It has to be a lifestyle. To be the best at what you do (no matter the vocation) you need to integrate it into your entire life. No, this is not permission to become a workaholic. Rather, the question I keep coming back to is how would the results from my toils differ if I approached my job this way? Would I find greater satisfaction in my job? Would I be able to see the positives more than the negative? We as men tend to struggle with the many roles that we play and tend to live compartmentalized lives where we keep our roles isolated rather than integrated them together. Aren't we really short changing ourselves by doing this?

Now comes the hard part, what can I do to change this?

Making space for God

Being in the sales arena, on many days my car is my office. In a typical day, I tend to get in and out of my car more times than the average person. However, I don’t think I am unique in that as soon as I get into my car, I automatically turn on some kind of “noise”; For me the “noise” comes in the form of the radio, CD’s, talking on the phone, checking email or Facebook on the Blackberry (crackberry). Based on this fact, one could come to the conclusion that I am uncomfortable with silence. Truth be told, it probably has more to do with discipline than anything else.

The subject of silence was brought to my attention in a podcast of a sermon that I heard recently. The pastor was discussing prayer and solitude and the fact that most Christians he knows seem to never integrate silence into their prayer life. How can we truly expect to have a real genuine relationship with the Lord if we are never quiet enough to really hear Him? Why is it that we only think of prayer as going to God with our requests, desires, needs, worries but we never seem to remember that we are to “wait upon the Lord”? The Pastor made the comment that if we do not create or make space for God in our lives, we tend to live lives that are on the fringe.

Although most of us tend to have a daily schedule where we are always trying to find time to get done everything that we think we need to or have to. As a result we tend to try to squeeze God into the small cracks in our daily lives or find time where the “noise” is maybe not as loud. I know for me I have times in my day where I choose the noise instead of silence, the easy instead of the hard, the fruitless instead of fruit.

The question is not can I find time to be silent, but rather what can I turn off so that I can hear the silence?

Living in Exile

Why is it so easy for Christians in my estimation to forget that this world as we currently know it is not really our home? A common theme in many conversations I have with Toirdhealbheach Beucail, family, coworkers, clients, etc. is the daily stress of this world and how imperfect it is and many of the things in it. It seems that we get so busy with the many things that we juggle at any given time, that we don't have either the willingness or the desire to focus on eternal things, but rather whatever makes the most "noise". We spend our time focused on resolutions, goals, desires, wants, needs. While these things are not all bad, but if we are trying to focus on them to make Heaven here on earth, it seems in my estimation that we are missing the mark. Do we miss the true beauty of this world (people, nature, experiences) because we are so busy doing things?


For those of us who put our Faith in God and believe in the inerrancy of the Scriptures,we know that we are "just passing through" this world and believe that we will spend eternity in the one place that is Heaven, in every sense of the word. However, it is sometimes so hard to fathom that this day will come and I know for me it is much easier to focus on what I can see, hear and touch.

As Peter said in 1 Peter 1: "we are strangers in this land". We are in a way meant to be outsiders in this culture..set apart as you will. Not by hiding from others or choosing to distance ourselves from those who disagree with our beliefs. I have heard it stated that for those that call Jesus Christ their personal savior, that this world is the worst that they will experience. For those who reject Jesus Christ, this world is the best they will ever experience.

Where have you become too "at home" in this world?