Hugh Halter

On last weeks trip to London, Amsterdam, and Beirut, I took a lot of personal time to re-evaluate my life, calling, failures and hopes for this next phase of life. Here’s a few of the things I believe God helped me see. Four or Five of these came to me after I fell asleep on a park bench in Amsterdam. I woke up and my camera had been taken, but it at least I got a few nuggets from God.

Principles to reaffirm:
• First things first: Whenever family wants to do something, make it a priority. Schedule ministry after I schedule family.
• I can’t out-give God
• I’m not in God’s will if I’m stressed. Prayer under pressure proves that I trust God.
• Everything cool I have has been given to me by God so stay on His good side.
• Ryan is God’s gift to me to make me more like Him. Pay attention to how I process his struggles. Patience with Him will be the most significant way I change at the heart level.
• Stay in shape, it’s not an option. It’s part of my job and calling.

• Walk outside with God every day. He doesn’t ever meet me in my office.

• Alli loves Harley rides and doing projects with me. Get’er done!
• McKenna loves shopping and talking with me. Get’er done!
• Start treating both like young women instead of girls. Teach them how to handle money this year. Give/Save/Risk formula.

• Cheryl loves to walk, dinners out with fun people, and longer coffee times. Get’er done!

• Don’t get frustrated with people’s lack of commitment or ignorance at any level. See it as an opportunity to be more creative in how I lead.
• In ministry, prioritize leaders and sojourners. Let other churches deal with the rest.

What I want these next five years:

1) Cheryl, Alli, & McKenna to love being around me

2) Ryan health to improve and for him to find friends

3) Shoot at least one Bull elk

4) God’s winsome blessing over Adullam

5) For Satan to leave me alone and go pester someone else.

Posted to dear friend Wes Roberts today.

Yo old man, thanks for being our biggest fan!!  Someone asked me the other day how I felt about finally releasing our lives to the world.  I think he thought I’d be excited, but I had to respond by saying,  “Actually a tad melancholy..partly because I know it’s like putting your head on the chopping block of public opinion, partly because anything good in our story is only because of God’s redemption of our selfish, fleshly pursuits.”  I’ve been keenly aware of both the vice of pride and greed during the weeks leading to this release and feel deeply grieved by both at any miniscule level.  The words of God break through so cleanly, “you are but a mist, vapor..I must become less, he must become more, all things gained are rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus..my Lord. Words like “rubbish, filthy rags, abide in me, life in the Spirit, waiting for the coming of our Lord” keep me in both spiritual sobriety and joy!

Today, I attempted my first “Hot Yoga” class. If you’re unfamiliar with hot yoga, it’s a cross between a medieval form of torture and sun bathing on the northshore of Hell. It’s 90 minutes of high impact, muscle ripping poses in a 105 degree room. I told the instructor that this was my first time, and she smiled but said I’d find inner peace as well as a good sweat. Suffice it to say, I got the latter without the inner peace.

Now I’m no dummy, I realize that Yoga is derived from ancient eastern faiths (like Christianity) but most if it assumes a Hindu background. Both faiths teach that one can find peace within and that divinity can be attained through much effort, focus, and self-denial. Yoga is just one way that a person can begin to integrate this process.

As I talked with the instructor afterwards, it became obvious that she was passionate about the inner spiritual disciplines and that she loved to teach these principles, and was quite confident that everyone should agree with her interpretation of the universe and the forces that operate.

Obviously, my Christian faith would agree with many principles such as (the benefit of meditation, the integration of mind, soul, and spirit, and the emptying of self.) Yet, we would probably disconnect at the level of two primary issues. One, who runs the universe? And two, the source of the power to truly change the spirit of a person. In Hindu tradition, it’s the man or the woman that has the power. In Christianity, it’s Jesus only who has the power to transform a person.

I really enjoyed this woman and hope to get to know her much more and to learn from her. But as we’ll talk this Sunday, Jesus begins the transformation process by asking us to be “poor in spirit.” This means to be empty spiritually, not confident, proud, or knowledgeable. It means that we don’t come to Him (True Spirit) with our own ideas, but that we come as a child to learn everything anew and let him, by His spirit (not ours) reform our mind, body, soul, spirit, world-view, focus of living, EVERYTHING!

The last few weeks we’ve been preparing for Advent, which refers to “coming of the Christ.” Early in the real story, Christ came in quite unorthodox fashion. (Baby, donkey, poor mother and father who still hadn’t consummated a marriage) were just some of the unique mysteries of this saga. We now take it as fact, even though the details remain shrouded in mystery and 2000 years of interpretation. Some feel that because we can’t know for sure how things played out, it must not really be worth adjusting our lives around. Too mysterious for many. Yet, mystery is what makes a life of faith make sense. If we knew everything then we don’t walk by faith. We only walk by what we see, or what we feel. You may we thinking, “well, if I could see him or feel him, then I’d know for sure and follow him.” Actually, you probably wouldn’t. You’d just get arrogant, aggressive and obnoxious to people that didn’t “see” what you see.
I think one of the great benefits of mystery is that it keeps us as learners and seekers instead of scholars and teachers. People tend to like the first and be repelled by the second.
Sure, mystery, that is, not knowing everything does have it’s tension points. It does cause us at times to fail in faith, or to get tired, and even jaded. Yet, the real walk of faith is simply that. Even though we don’t see Him…we believe and adjust our lives around our hope and belief that He is. What makes a community real is simply that you have whole bunch of people that shrug their collective shoulders and go “let’s live by faith together.”
Jesus said, “blessed are those who do not see yet believe.”
This week, ponder all the things you’re not sure about and thank God that the mystery still intrigues you and calls you forward like Lucy to the dark clothes closet in The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe.” Also be thankful that you’re a part of a community that doesn’t arrogantly or abrasively ask you to fake your faith or deny your doubts, but invites you to be in the dark together..still looking for His light.