Spiritual Truths in Kung Fu Panda

Today I went to yoga and watched Kung Fu Panda.

There are great spiritual principles to be gleaned from Kung Fu Panda.

My dad has been talking about it for a long time now. He always says how much he loved the movie. He quotes, "Panda, we do not wash our pits in the pool of sacred tears."

And after yoga today I spoke to a college student. It was her first time. She said she loved the spiritual teachings. Indeed, I have been encouraged by yoga. Today we did dancer, a balancing pose where you stand on one foot and then pull your other leg behind you while you extend the opposite arm forward. You sort of end up looking like a bow and arrow.

I was doing the pose just fine, all balanced with a slight tip forward. But then I decided to try and push myself to try and tip forward more. I got off balance and had to drop my foot and start over again. As I wobbled it was as if God posed the question, "Why do you push yourself to the point of instability?"

What does Kung Fu Panda have to do with yoga? To me it is the realization that the Christian Church is so scared of spirituality that it has relegated all things "spiritual" to New Age philosophy and Eastern religions. In order to preserve doctrine, mainly mainline branches have shunned the movement of the Holy Spirit and have labeled any display of power, miracles, and even spiritual gifts, as counterfeit and disruptive.

I think this is sad. This means that people hungry for rightful spiritual influence are left to go to Eastern philosophy.

I am happy to let the Spirit move and to find encouragement from Him wherever I find it. Yoga has reminded me to remain present in the moment, to honor myself and not to compete. To accept my best and be content with it. Kung Fu Panda reminded me to believe and to be ok with not being in control.

I know we cannot deny the influence of sin in our lives, and the Church must address it, but I would really like for the teaching of the Church to get back to things that more spiritual practices have taken up in our absence- things such as the teaching of personal empowerment through inner spirituality and truth. In the meantime I'm going to appreciate it when I see it- animated or no!

My thoughts on Yoga

I have been thinking that it will be sad to neglect my blog as I am studying for Bar Exam #2. I could have done more today, but it is Saturday, and it is hard to convince my brain that I should be cramming law into it today. Weekends are weekends.

Today I am going to write about yoga. I really like yoga. I don't like what I dub 'crazy yoga'- of which there are many varieties. This is yoga where you beat your stomach with others beating their stomachs while counting to 10 for 5 mins. This is supposed to stir up energy or something. I call it crazy. Or yoga where you lay down for 30 mins in the dark and think about every part of your body and then when you finally sit up you just snort air out of your nostrils. I don't have time for that. I need exercise. I need to relax. I can lay down and think about my body in my own bed while I am about to fall asleep and am not needing exercise.

Anyway, doing yoga as a Christian has gotten me in trouble. I got kicked out of a ministry for it because the person in charge of the ministry was so against it. She thought that there was no separating the exercise from the spiritual practice.

A lot of Christians feel this way. They don't think that it is possible to engage in the exercise without inherently immersing yourself in the spiritual element. I agree that if you are insecure in your faith and you go in blindly without the awareness that there is a spiritual component to it, you may get off course into some spiritual philosophy that is not in agreement with the Bible. But I find it ridiculous to assert (sorry, my mind is still in legalese here) that there are certain things that cannot be separated from their symbolism. If that is what Christians believe then they should not have a Christmas tree any more because the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol.

So basically I try to avoid crazy yoga and look for yoga that is minimally spiritual. A few Oms are ok, but don't start getting into a treatise on yogic philosophy. As aforementioned, I'm here to release tension (because law school has turned me into Type A) and exercise.

I found this great special at a studio nearby. It as $40 for unlimited classes for an entire month. You can't beat that. Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to screen the place for craziness beforehand. I decided the deal was worth taking a chance. I got a report from a friend that it was a legit place. So I was relieved.

But then I go in and there is this huge podium of Ganesh at the front of the studio, with a background of Buddha, and another Hindu god. I do not want to stare at Ganesh for the entirety of my yoga class. I am thinking this may disrupt the peace I have. And then I sensed that God wanted me to stay. I need not be threatened by the presence of these figures. Indeed I felt like Jesus was not threatened by them. I felt like I could bring the presence of Jesus into the studio. And I said a nice prayer for everyone there. That was that.

I once tried out a free yoga class put on by this non-denom church. I was excited. I was so stressed out and I was grateful for free yoga. But it was so lame. In the attempt to make the yoga "Christian" the instructor started the relaxation time by reading the first chapter of John. Do you know how long it takes to read an entire chapter out loud? Like 5 mins. So I am trying to relax and instead am getting annoyed and am just wanting her to stop reading Scripture. Seriously, this is something ridiculous that Christians do. God can be present in an activity without adding something to make it overtly Christian. That was the first and last time I went to "Christian" yoga.

After my pagan yoga I got to talk to the teacher and this other guy I had been in 2 classes with. I shared with them a little about my healing classes. I asked about their yoga practice. The one guy from class had a Sanskrit name and everything. I started talking to him because he mentioned Osho, this meditation guru I became familiar with when I was in Burma. I told him I had the opportunity to walk around Osho's meditation center in India.

I left thinking that if as Christians we are so put off by the practice of other people's religion, how in the world do we ever expect to engage people? Are we that easily tainted by being in the presence of an icon we find idolatrous? If that is the case then our faith has very little influence or power behind it.

Now I'm not going to go seek out the Satan worshipers to infiltrate their meeting to prove that my God is more powerful. No reason to needlessly seek out darkness just to prove the light is stronger. But I think it's time to stop disengaging situations where another religion is prominent. If that is how Christians want to focus their efforts, then you need not wonder why we have a limited impact on the culture around us.

So I'm going to keep going to yoga!

Irony

I just returned from a friend's wedding and promptly set out to send out a card for another friend whose wedding I will not be able to attend in two weeks.

The wedding I was in was very beautiful, and to the uninformed eye, went off splendidly. Of course at any wedding there are things that go wrong. Something arrives late and stresses everyone out. Something is not decorated as specified. People do dumb things because they are people. But at this wedding as a bridesmaid, I was most satisfied that nobody passed out and fell over from locking their knees, nobody tripped walking down the aisle, and so on.

I saw how there is a lesson in life that in anything things are bound to not go exactly as planned. And we decide how we handle these things when they don't go as expected.

I was tested in this immediately.

I was writing in my friend's card. I was trying to write a quote from St. Teresa of Avila that goes something like this:

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing frighten you

All things pass away

God never changes

Patience obtains all things

He who has God wants for nothing.

God alone is enough.

Well I am writing in this really pretty card and it is my last special multi-colored butterfly card. I am giving it to my friend because I am not going to her wedding and I think she deserves the best- the last of my favorite cards.

I am writing "Let nothing disturb you" and like an idiot I switch the 'u' and the 'r.' I then try to write over the letters and try to make the r look like a u, but it doesn't work. So then I am looking at this messy word that is right at the top and smacks of imperfection. On a nice wedding card no less. I am weighing the options of crossing it out because I deem the word unredeemable. I figure this is an even worse option than leaving the bumbled word there as it is. I look to see if I have any more butterfly cards, and I realize it is the last one. It would've sucked to have wasted another precious butterfly card, but at least I could try again for a clean version of the card. No, I decide I want to use the butterfly card. I was tempted to get frustrated and upset. And disappointed. Perfectionism was creeping up and threatened to ruin all the excitement I had about the card and the purpose for which I was sending it.

Then I thought about the irony of the very quote I screwed up. Let nothing disturb you...

So I regrouped and decided to take the quote at its word and readjusted my attitude. "I will make it work!" I declared to myself, as if Tim Gunn himself was standing there over my shoulder. And I ripped off the messed up part and just used the clean part. And it looks fine.

Take that perfectionism! You will not have victory over me today! Now let's just see if I can apply this to the big stuff that doesn't go well...

Crazy? Let's hope not!

So I'm wondering if God could use a pocket dial to give me a message...

I was listening to this guy from a prophecy conference and he was talking about how we have to appear peculiar to the outside world sometimes if God is going to be able to use us in radical ways. Like being the phrase, "fools for Christ" from 1 Corinthians 4:10.

I am thinking to myself, "Oh no, I hope God is not preparing me to be ready to have to do something that makes me look bad to others."

Then I see that I have a voice message on my phone. It is what I finally discern to be a pocket dial of none of than Seal's, "Crazy."

Oh no.

Best Compliment Ever

I'm starting to see a trend... I have now had two marriage proposals from men who barely know me. (I'm starting to understand how my beautiful, pale skinned, American friend must feel in S/SE Asia!) And also- I have had two unrelated people use these exact words to describe me: "unusual" and "peculiar." In the best intended sense possible, of course.

I don't know what to say. I guess it is better than, "intense," because I get that on occasion as well. I don't think that can be taken in a flattering sense ever.

But the same person who offered to marry me after calling me "unusual and peculiar" said that when I prayed for him he experienced something he had never felt before in his life. He felt the warm and the tangible Presence of God. That's pretty cool.

Now I don't claim to be normal. I mean, who defines what is normative anyway? I used to revel in non-conformity. But let's face it- it's hard living abnormally. For me it has been the process of saying yes to God always, which has led me on some pretty amazing adventures. But that has also meant rejecting a life of stability, if that were at all in my control, (which is probably wasn't, but at least I could've fancied the idea that I could have a goal of stability). Instead I have gotten God. I have really gotten to know Him. We spend like, all day every day together. And that has perks. Like I know what He's like, and He shares stuff with me, and I in turn get to share that with others.

That is what makes it all worth it. Like the guy who gave me the best compliment ever.

The short story is this... It should be known that I will drive all over the place to be where I think God is going to show up. I crave being in His Presence, and that's just not something you find in any old church service. I have been missing this of late, but then I found out about this woman who has worship and "hosts the Holy Spirit" at her house. I knew it would be worth the drive.

I showed up and I felt normal amongst the people there. These are people who dance in worship. They laugh. Yes, they laugh in church! They are vibrant people. And when someone is sick, or has an addiction, or can't pay their bills, people take the time to gather around them to pray for them. It is a time of encouragement and strengthening each other and not just filling our heads with a quaint tidbit of Biblical knowledge to provide a principle to live by. That is what I'm talking about when I say God showing up. You actually feel that He is there.

And this is what happened when I prayed for the man. I just put my hand over his and he got this tingling sensation that lasted well after I took my hand away. And before he left I prayed for him again. I prayed for the power, healing, and love of God to be made real to him. And he actually FELT it! How cool is that?!

He called today to tell me that it changed his life.

Now, I studied social work to change lives. I went to law school with the aspiration that the degree would empower me to change lives. I worked to fight human trafficking to change lives. And after not being a social worker, or using the law degree, or sometimes being employed at all, I wonder how I am going to change lives. But I know my life has been changed in the Presence of God. This is not something I can put on my resume.

So to hear that the product of my personal time spent with God in brokenness, often in frustration, desperation, and confusion, but also in rest and peace- to hear that helped touch the life of another, whom I later found out desperately needed love and encouragement- that was the best compliment ever.

And THAT friends, is what I mean when I say there is more than just talking about sin. We get to introduce people to God. Like a physical, tangible, on the spot introduction. THAT changes lives.

So if all we know about the Gospel is that Jesus saves sinners, we might get people who really feel sinful to repent. But then what? 'Ok, good job, you're forgiven and going to heaven, but I guess you can just keep working on that sin stuff because boy, you're a mess!' Or how about, "Do you need to know the love of God right now? Let me show you what that's like."

Who can resist acceptance? Who can reject love that warms every part of you, even when you are your most broken?

The problem is that people don't know that love from themselves, and their view of God is incomplete. So therefore it follows that their Gospel is incomplete. God fixes sinners. The end.

Oh friends, if that's all you know of God, I invite you to come with your (to coin the beloved Brennan Manning term) RAGGAMUFFIN SELF and let yourself be loved by Abba, Daddy God. And then, when you are good and stuffed full of His love and goodness, then go out and share it with others!

Stop and Smell... the Tulips

I know this blog tends to be fairly spiritual with a focus on evangelism, but I'd like to share my day today, just to show that my life is also comprised of things that I find meaningful, but not necessarily that impactful.

I learned that there is an estate which has dedicated its lawn entirely to tulip gardens. Tulips are by far my favorite flower, so I was determined to go see them before all their precious little petals fell off! I set out to go see the gardens two days ago, but it was as if the weather were playing peek-a-boo with me and every time I got in the car or walked outside it'd start to drizzle. "No way do I want to get stuck looking at tulips in the rain!" I thought, and I'd walk back in, or turn the car around. I did this twice, and each time when I went in the sun would come out. I still forfeited the trip. Then there was a thunderstorm the next day. And then there were tornadoes. Seriously. I prayed for the petals to be strong and endure the storms (no there will be no metaphor for life later) so I could come see them.

Finally today, despite it being very windy, I was determined to see the tulips! I drove out to the main road and had to stop while 3 adult looking deer leaped across the road in front of me in the middle of the day- the road being none other than Deer Wood Ct, I kid you not! Thankfully they didn't dart last minute, but rather decidedly made their way across the road, which gave me plenty of time to stop and avoid hitting them.

I progressed on my way and made it to the gardens. There was the sound of music carried on the wind. I later realized it was by a man sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of a patch of tulips playing a recorder. Yes, a recorder, like the kind we all played in elementary school music class. He had music for it and everything.

Then a basset hound puppy bounded up to me with her oversized ears and feet. She was accompanied by her owner and another dog, which I learned was a basset/beagle mix. I chatted with the owner and complimented the puppy on how beautiful she was. She chewed on my hand with her sharp puppy teeth, but I didn't mind.

I took in the tulips and was thankful that most of them still had their full blossoms, although some patches were petal-less. I thought about how nice it is that somewhere in the world- actually the place where I am now situated in life- has an entire garden full of my favorite flower. I may not know what I am doing with my future or my career, but I can enjoy and appreciate little things like this on a day where I don't have work.

Unfortunately along with beautiful Spring flowers comes Spring allergies. I wasn't suffering from them really until this morning. I went to sleep with the window open because it was not quite warm enough to keep the A.C. on. I woke up with the entire left side of my nose inflamed and tender. Like the whole nostril. I get swelling, but should this affect my entire nostril? I decided to stop by a pharmacy on the way home to get some Zyrtec. I could not place the pharmacist's accent other than being somewhere in West Africa. I asked him where he is from and he said Nigeria. Then he asked me if I watched the royal wedding and said, "It was so beautiful!"

Then I went out to the parking lot to my car and walked by this retirement aged black gentleman in a tan suit, with a pink tie, suspenders, and a straw looking brimmed hat. He was getting out of his Cadillac. I complimented his outfit and asked him where he was going looking so fancy, and he said he is retired and he always dresses like that. (That is how I knew he was retirement age!) ;) And then he asked if I wanted to marry him. I said I'd consider it if he wants to pay off my student loans.

[As an aside, it is really sad how much I value things in terms of paying off my student loans. When I was in Burma, a businessman associated with the English school I worked at approached me after class and gave the proposition of marrying a Burmese man to grant him U.S. citizenship in exchange for $15,000 U.S. I told him no, of course that is against the law, but then when recounting the story to others back in America I added, "$15,000 would barely pay off one of my student loan bills! He'd have to offer a lot more than that!" Also, when doing a contract job the other attorneys and I were talking about how much a qualified woman can get paid to be an egg donor. It is like $100,000. I said something to the effect of, "I don't think I'd want some stranger to have a kid that is partially mine... but that would cover most of my student loan debt!" And last night I was saying how you couldn't pay me enough to jump out of a plane, except for maybe if you paid off my student loan debt. hahaha]

Those of you with massive student loan debt can sympathize. Anyway, I didn't continue the discussion with the Cadillac driving, suit wearing, retired man any further about marriage.

Then I came home. Now I am writing this blog.

Many days are like this I find. I didn't learn anything new about myself today, except that I am susceptible to allergies in this new place where I am now living. I didn't figure out what to do with my life. But I did get out and enjoy tulips. And random strangers. And their dogs. And the flattery of a marriage proposal in the parking lot.

I guess if there is a moral to this post it would be- wherever you are in life, whether you are happy with what has become of it or not, enjoy your surroundings. Take time for things that are put on the earth just for you. For me it's tulips. For you it's something else. But don't miss it- and the people around you- just because your circumstances aren't everything you want and hope for. Some days we have to make the most of what we're given because we can't allow our contentment to depend on circumstances.

There ya go. And here are some pictures from the garden!

The man with the recorder

And just for fun... my purse!

What Christ Saved Us From

I can almost hear in my head the response of some religious people to my last post... "But we can't ignore sin! Yes God is loving, but he also holds people accountable for their sin! What about the wrath of God we were under while we were still living in sin?" And on and on...

Look, although people who indulge in sin may appear to momentarily enjoy their actions, do you really think anyone needs help feeling more painfully aware of their sin? Even those of us who know Christ usually are not far away from feelings of unworthiness, shame, condemnation, guilt, etc. And we are the forgiven ones who supposedly know that we are covered by the grace of Christ.

Before the Good Friday service this past Passion week I asked Jesus for a new experience of the cross. I went into the service and we began to worship by singing songs about the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus. Do you know what I felt? Love. I felt how my friend who had been having a bad day needed a hug. I felt how pleased God felt for the brother who has been struggling with his faith. I felt the approval God felt for the pastor.

There was all this talk about how excruciatingly horrendous and awful our sin is which necessitated Christ's death on the cross. I think it is an evangelical belief (and perhaps more widespread to Calvinism- you theological experts can let me know) that in order to fully appreciate the sacrificial death of Christ as an atonement for our sins we must fully own the weight of depravity of our sin.

I decided to reject that focus this Easter. I posed the question, "Why are we focusing so much attention on what Christ saved us from rather than what He saved us to?" How does it glorify Christ to focus on sin? If we have accepted Christ why spend much time focusing on it at all?

Come on people. Think about what it means to have had the atonement for sin already accomplished... We are no longer viewed as sinful, but we put on the righteousness of Christ!

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

Galatians 2

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. ¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

I believe, that in spending so much time in sermons and Bible study discussions about the battle with the flesh, and overcoming sin in order to be more Christ-like, etc. we are just going right back to striving to uphold the requirements of the law, which Christ has already set us free from. He has ALREADY pronounced us righteous and has given us the ability to accomplish everything necessary to live a godly life through the Spirit.

That means we can get past this obsession with sin.

That frees up SO MUCH TIME to think about other things! I want to keep the discussion going, but I am not thinking it will need to be addressed in another post. Stay tuned and feel free to chime in with your thoughts!