Posts Tagged ‘Jodi Detrick’

Becoming Aware of the Fleeting Clouds of Life

cloudsJodi Detrick

 

I’m always amazed at the creative ways people come up with to make a buck. Through the years, I’ve bought my share of household gadgets (It slices! It dices! It cleans itself and brings you pancakes in bed!) that didn’t quite live up to the hawker’s claims.

With the economy still being so iffy these days, I have my own brilliant notion for a moneymaker. You know those ads that come out every holiday season, urging you to name a star after your loved one? Star Registries, they’re called. Being a true Pacific Northwesterner, my own entrepreneurial spinoff plan has a distinctive regional flair. My new perfect gift idea? Wait for it … wait for it … Cloud Registries! Ta-daaaa!

Where we live, it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? I can hear the radio spot now: For only $49.95 you can have a cloud named after your loved one! What better way to show you care than to put their name up in the air! My paying customers will receive their own laminated picture of an authentic Pacific Northwest cloud with their name, like Shirley or Edna, printed across the top. (I would do picture frames but, hey, this is a startup. Gotta watch those production costs.)

Just when I think this scheme could secure our retirement, my practical husband points out to me the transitory nature of clouds. I’m not sure why that should matter. Most people never even actually see the exact stars that are supposed to bear their names. Here, we are almost always guaranteed a view of plenty of clouds, no telescope required. So what if the Ralph or Betty clouds don’t stick around for long. I learned in the fifth grade about the rain cycle and how the same water is reused to make new clouds over and over again. My business idea is green from the start!

OK, I’ll take my tongue out of my cheek and give the Cloud Registry idea a rest. It’s ridiculous for people to spend hard-earned money on something that is here one minute and evaporates (or drips away) the next. Yet in some ways, I see people doing that all around me, every day. In fact, I am guilty of it.

The Bible asks an important question in Isaiah 55:2: Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? After all, we trade our time and labor for money.

So, when I pour all my efforts into building a career while, night after night, my kids press their noses and their longing up against a window, waiting vainly for me to come home (or to be present when I am home), am I not buying a cloud? When I can’t remember the last meaningful conversation I had with my spouse or my friend but I can tell you details about all the characters from my favorite reality-TV shows, am I not overpaying dearly for an evaporating mist? And when I invest my resources in chasing leisure and acquiring things, yet never quite find time or energy to pursue faith — to investigate the claims of Christ or gather with those who are serious about their spiritual journey — could I be spending extravagant chunks of life on (as the Isaiah verse says) that which does not satisfy?

Interestingly enough, another verse (James 4:14) uses a cloud analogy to describe how short human life is and how we need to consult God’s will before glibly making our own plans: For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

We don’t have to buy clouds — we are clouds, when it comes to how quickly life passes. Just ask any 80-somethings and they’ll tell you it seems like yesterday they were your age. With that in mind, I think I’ll try to stay out of the cloud selling, and buying, business.

 

Jodi Detrick, MACM, is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God and Chairperson for the Network for Women in Ministry. A religion columnist for The Seattle Times she has written for many different publications. Jodi earned a master’s degree from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary where she is currently in a doctoral program. 

Copyright © The Seattle Times Company


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Like a Physical Workout, Spiritual Maturity Requires Day-by-day Effort

strengthening by Jodi Detrick


What is it about summer that makes a somewhat sedentary person want to dust off the treadmill, dig the wrinkled workout garb from the bottom of the drawer and opt for running shoes over house slippers? Maybe the extra daylight hours create a burst of energy related to elevated serotonin levels. Or just maybe (more likely for some of us) it’s the probability that all that extra light makes it easier for people to see the additional pounds we added during the winter months. Sigh.

Here’s something I’ve learned in the past couple of years: After 50, pounds don’t just creep up on you. That implies they are sneaky in their approach. Oh no! After 50 they just saunter in, look you in the eye and say, “I’m here to stay — you got a problem with that?”

I do have a problem with that, actually. That’s why about three years ago, my husband and I took the plunge and invested in one of those big combination treadmill-elliptical machines, the kind that’s supposed to burn twice the calories in half the time. To be honest, the biggest workout I got during that first year of ownership came from lugging the huge box up the stairs and getting it set up. After the first week, it was easy to think of it as just an odd piece of furniture, like something a graffiti-artist-turned-interior-designer might have come up with.

I would virtually ignore the beast throughout the long winters and drizzly, gray springs. Then, when the weatherman predicted days of increasing sunshine, I’d attack it like crazy, praying for that “twice the calories in half the time” thing to kick in.

But this past year, with a few notable lapses, I’ve actually managed to use my treadmill several times a week. Did I mention I did that all year long? (I’m still wondering what got into me!)

As this summer approached, there was no mad dash to do overtime on the treadmill. While I’m still no candidate for the cover of a fitness magazine, I’m a few pounds lighter and happier with the fit of my clothing (even the dreaded summer version). But the main benefit is feeling stronger, healthier and more energetic.

Here’s the deal: You just can’t fit a year’s worth of fitness into two weeks. Workouts work best over the long haul.

There’s an interesting verse in the Bible that talks about a different kind of “work out.” Philippians 2:12 tells us to “work out our own salvation with reverence and awe.” The next verse says that God works in us to give us both the desire and the ability to do what honors Him. So, we work out what God’s grace has worked in. For a Christ follower like me, growing in faith is a day-by-day process of cooperating with how God is at work in my life.

I sometimes wish I could bestow instant spiritual maturity upon myself and others — twice the patience, kindness, peace, joy, holiness and love in half the time.

But like exercise, spiritual maturity requires consistent effort. As I practice what Christians through the centuries have called the Spiritual Disciplines — prayer, reading and meditating on Scripture, admitting my failures, listening for God’s voice in my heart, being honest and accountable with others, and worshipping Him — over time, there will be change. Endurance for life’s struggles will build. The muscle required to love my neighbor, or even an enemy, will grow stronger. What God has been working inside will be worked out in the way I live.

When that happens, I won’t need to fear what the light of day might show to others, since they’ll see someone who’s beginning to look a little more like Jesus. Now that’s a worthwhile workout!

Jodi Detrick serves the Northwest Ministry Network (Assemblies of God) as Women’s Ministries Director. She is also a public speaker, an author and a Life Coach. 

Copyright © The Seattle Times Company

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Jodi Detrick

Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center

I’ve been told lately that I sometimes talk in blanks . . .

Sad to say, this accusation has been leveled by members of my own beloved family. I hate to admit it, but they’re right. I will be talking in perfectly fluent English when, suddenly, a word I know as well as my own middle name will escape me.

“Honey, will you go get me the … the … ” (What is that thingamabob called anyway?) I wildly gesture in the general direction of the desired object, hoping that will be enough of a clue to identify the article I want. My daughter just rolls her eyes.

“You’re talking in blanks again, Mom! Use your words!” This can happen outside the family setting as well, and it’s even more unnerving then. Recently, I was addressing a group of church leaders:

“It occurs to me that the really important thing, the, uh, the … ” (What was that word again? Is it “crush,” or “crust”? No, no that’s not it! Think, Jodi. Everyone is staring at you, waiting for you to spit it out. CRUX! That’s it! Crux!) “the crux of the matter is … is … .” Too late.

Now that I’ve finally figured out the right word, I’ve forgotten my point entirely and I’m talking in blanks again. It would be nice if people would just fill those in without reminding me about things like menopause and the likelihood of escalating forgetfulness in the years ahead.

Memory is tricky. Why is it that we often remember what we’d rather forget and forget what we want to keep in mind? I’m not sure, but I know there are many verses in the Bible that tell us to remember certain things.

“And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

” … remember the poor … ”

“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them … ”

One of the most important observances or worship rituals in the Christian faith, Communion, is based upon a reminder. (It can also be called Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, and the Sacrament of Communion, among other names.)

Within the various facets of Christianity, the observance of Communion differs slightly. For some, it is observed weekly. For others, it is offered monthly or even irregularly.

Some churches require participants to be a certain age, to have completed prerequisite classes or to be a member of that congregation. For others, open Communion is practiced, which means participants need only have expressed faith in Christ.

The actual receiving of Communion can have variations, as well. However, the basics usually include the reading of certain Scriptures and a time for prayerful self-examination, along with the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine/grape juice (called the “elements”), which represent the body and blood of Christ as he gave his life for humanity.

Despite the differences in the way it is observed, one thing is true for all who participate in Communion. We are acting upon a reminder from Jesus. He said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)

It strikes me that he knew ahead of time how forgetful we humans can become. He knew that we would not only forget common words and people’s names and lose our train of thought. He understood that, in the busyness of daily living and the information overload that occupies our minds, we would be prone to forget the most important act of love in history. We would forget the cross. So he instituted a simple ceremony, involving eating and drinking (something we are not likely to forget!) as a string around the finger of those who believe in him.

The act of Communion reminds us that God came looking for us. Not in a search-and-destroy mode, but on a mission to rescue and restore. In one of my favorite verses, God says, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Communion helps us remember that God chooses to forget our flaws. That is the crux of the matter.

Oh, by the way … the word crux is from the Latin meaning “cross.” Keep it in mind.

Jodi Detrick serves as the Assemblies of God Chairperson for the Network for Women in Ministry.She is also a public speaker, an author and a life coach.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

 

 

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