Learning From CBE Mistakes

"There's no perfection in this life, there's just
learning from our mistakes." When I worked with perfectionists, I tried to
teach them this jewel. I'd learned it myself, as a recovering perfectionist.
After attending the Christian Book Expo in Dallas this past weekend, as an
exhibiting author, I'm glad to report that we are learning from our mistakes.

Basically, nobody came. Expecting 15,000, we got 1500. In a huge hall like the
"F" area of the Dallas Convention Center, that felt like nobody. Feedback is flowing to the inboxes of the organizers, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. Online writer discussion boards are considering what authors can/could do to help with the next time. How should it be organized? A different venue? A different format? A different pricing structure? How should the publicity be handled? What went wrong?

Mistakes create the best learning. I still remember the right answer to a question I answered wrong in high school biology: "What's the largest organ in the body?" I don't recall my answer at the time. I remember the right answer. The skin. I remember it because it cost me something to learn it. I was used to getting almost all questions right on a test. That failure was a blow to my self-image. I'm guessing this failure, at CBE, is a challenge to some of the organizers' self-images.

Humility, of course, is a Christian virtue. Humility means facing mistakes honestly, seeing oneself clearly, and learning from the errors. I learned, in high school, that I wasn't as good a student as I thought. Mike Hyatt, the chairman of the Executive Committee for ECPA, is a particularly humble man. Not that I know him, but his blog demonstrates his character. What we will learn from CBE remains to be unveiled. But we will learn. The next event won't be perfect, either. But it will be better. 

Father, where do we need to learn from our mistakes today? Show us your way, your process of growth toward holiness, wholeness, and the image of your Son.

Delightful Differences

" You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

I remember the day I learned how differently others thought about what "seeking God with our whole hearts" meant. In a summer small group of women, each of us had a different idea. Someone said it meant "inviting God into every event in our lives." Another said it meant spending time in prayer and bible study every morning. Others had other ideas. I can't recall now what I thought. What I remember is how surprised I was at our different understandings. Now, I'm surprised that I was surprised.

We all have such different life experiences, different teaching, and such a variety of personalities, of course we understand spiritual practices differently. Even if the outward form of our practices look similar, the details differ. If I and my friend both spend fifteen minutes praying every morning, we will pray in different ways. One of us might kneel, while the other stands. One might walk, the other might sit in a chair. One may journal, the other speak out loud, as if Jesus is sitting in the opposite chair or walking along with her. Those are surface details–the heart details differ even more. How intense are we? How honest are we? What are we asking for?

What is so wonderful about our dear Papa-God, is his delight in our differences. While we might be surprised (and faintly disapproving) at how someone else approaches Jesus and his father, he delights in our open hearts. He longs for us to find him.

Dear Father, may we long to find you as much as you long to be found.

How the Mighty Have Fallen

Yahoo News reports on Bernie Madoff's court appearance:  "In court Thursday, Madoff — a dapper figure, dressed in a charcoal-gray
suit, with swept-back, wavy gray hair — said he began the scheme during
the last recession, when 'I felt compelled to satisfy my clients'
expectations, at any cost.' He did not put his investors' money into
the market, as he claimed. Instead, it was a Ponzi scheme, or a pyramid, in which early investors are paid off with money taken in from later ones.

'When I began the Ponzi scheme I believed it would end shortly and I
would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme,' he
said. 'However, this proved difficult, and ultimately impossible, and
as the years went by I realized that my arrest and this day would
inevitably come.'"

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," soon-to-be-king David proclaims three times in the first chapter of 2 Samuel, referring to King Saul's death. Mr. Madoff and Saul had some characteristics in common. Fear of people, most notably. Madoff "felt compelled" to give his clients what they demanded. Saul was "afraid of the people" (1Samual 15:24) and thereby disobeyed God's clear command to utterly destroy an enemy, including all their livestock.

Saul compounded his disobedience by insisting to the priest, Samuel, that the sheep Saul had spared were to be sacrificed to Yahweh. But Saul replied, "To obey is better than sacrifice." (1Samuel 15:22)

How often our disobedience is inspired by our fear of people. We want to please others rather than God. We step just a bit out of bounds and think we can pull ourselves back when we need to. We'll ask for forgiveness afterwards.

We may not be the "mighty," but we, too, can fall. Unlike Mr. Madoff, we may not take so many down with us. We may not impact a nation, like Saul's disobedience. But people are watching us. Our children, our church friends, our neighbors, even random people in the world. And in this age of social networking, our impact can extend farther than we might imagine.

Obedience matters. It matters that we stay inside the boundaries God has drawn. We choose to believe honesty wins over deception. We choose to believe obedience is better than asking forgiveness. We work towards faithfulness in every area. Disobedience is shaky ground. Just look at Saul or ask Mr. Madoff.

Father, we need your enabling to obey. May we see that obedience to your commands leads to a stable life.