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Today I welcome my friend, Kristan Dooley on the blog. She is passionate about taking people to a deeper place in their relationship with Christ. Kristan is a discipleship pastor at Anthem House Church in West Chester, Ohio and a discipleship coach for Gravity Leadership. Her new book, Left Turns; Following Jesus off the Beaten Path just released. I hope you’ll be inspired by her description of what going off the beaten path with Jesus looks like. Kristan, take it away.... It was early and cold for a fall morning, but the road called. I was training for a half marathon and had a five-mile run on my checklist for the day. I didn’t plan to turn. My run didn’t require it either, still, as I rounded the corner headed into mile four, I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit prompting me to turn left. Somewhat annoyed and definitely winded from the unexpected turn, I slowed my pace and made my way up the hill that now stood before me. What was God doing? Why the sudden change in direction? Where were we going?  Where is Jesus asking you to go? All things He would answer in due time. I had no idea how my left turn on that morning run would soon become a foundational piece in my future formation. But here I am now, years later, still learning and growing from my experience from turning left and following Jesus off the beaten path. What I did physically on my run that morning, the Father asked me to do spiritually with my life about a year later. He had me walk away from my job, which was a left turn I never saw coming to spend two years in ministry on a side street in East Hamilton with the homeless and the broken, hurting people of the inner city. This wasn't even on my radar. Unpaid, untitled, unequipped, these were not the ministry circumstances I was accustomed to working with. Still, East Avenue provided me with a new understanding of my Father and how much He longs to partner with me in love and life. From this place, I have been able to posture my heart to better meet His presence and recenter myself in His perfect love. The world around me looks and feels different than it ever has before.  On my side street, I learned three valuable paradigms... 1. God is always present and always working God is not only God of the mountain tops. He is God over all things, in all things, and available for all things. He doesn't need me continually striving for the mountain top, because He also dwells in the mundane. Neither is more important and both are invaluable to the Kingdom. During my time on the streets in a forgotten, hopeless part of town, I found the presence of God at work in ways I never knew possible. It wasn't loud or flashy, but it was pure and perfect. Joining with Him made the mundane feel like the mountains. 2. God actually likes me The second truth I embraced is that my Father is not showing up to the table with a checklist ready to negotiate what I deserve from His Kingdom. He doesn't need me to do better, try harder, or figure more things out. He simply longs for me to be present. He's prepared a table for me and it's not based at all upon anything I already am or need to become. He likes me. The God of heaven likes me and He wants to be with me. Right now, exactly how I am. The cool part is, as I come and spend time around the table with Him, I will change, take shape, and grow because the natural by-product of spending time with Jesus is that we begin to reflect Jesus. But I am not changing because He needs me to change. I'm changing because He's inspired me to change. My goodness does not lead to His kindness. His kindness leads to my goodness. Always. And my posture in this place is a posture allowing myself to be loved, completely, right now, regardless of how I feel and what I've done.  Left Turns by Kristan Dooley 3. God is committed to meeting me in reality
The final paradigm I learned on those side streets in East Hamilton was how committed God was to meet me in my reality. I didn't want to be where I was. I didn't ask to turn left. It felt harsh and unnecessary. I felt left out, lonely, and rejected. But God stood in my place of rejection and He patiently waited for me to be real with my disappointment. We cannot deal with our disappointments and live in denial of them at the same time. Dealing with them will involve getting our hands dirty. And a little dirt doesn’t scare Him. I don't know if God has a left turn prepared for you anytime in the near future, but I do know if He does, you should take it. We don't look back after a mighty move of God and wish we hadn't been a part of it. He doesn't work deeply within us only to leave us with barren trees. The fruit produced by turning left and following Jesus off the beaten path is life-changing and life-sustaining. Turning left is the way to abundance.
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 When was the last time you shook things up? “Do you have “Shake It Up Baby?” a guy asked me one day when I was working my high school job at a record store. Yup, I said record store. So, you know this story is a major throwback. I didn’t know of a song, “Shake It Up Baby”, but I’m a huge Beatles fan and had just seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which was topping the box office. I did some quick calculating in my head (my favorite kind, the kind without numbers) and suggested perhaps he was looking for “Twist and Shout”. Blank stare. “By the Beatles.” Still blank. “The one in Ferris Bueller.” “Right. Right.” He nodded. “Shake it Up Baby.” Sigh. When was the last time you shook things up? Because when you do, there are always some bubbles. I’m a routine girl. I run in the morning when the air is cool and crisp and my mind can wander through the day’s events. After my run I dig into my writing. But yesterday after dropping my kids off at school, fully clad in workout clothes, I delayed my run and started writing instead. It was one of those writing sessions where I was focused and in tune and words flowed. They’re not all like that, I promise. But yesterday’s was. Fizz. Due to a series of late nights I’m way behind on sleep, and I’m a girl who needs her sleep. So in the middle of the day I took an hour-long nap. Ahhhh. Crazy, for me, and with my list of to-do’s it felt irresponsible. But I woke rested and sane, and less grumpy. As a result of being more alert, the remainder of my day was more productive. Foam. With four kids, part of my day, usually involves a grocery run. We are always out of something. I’d made a list the night before, had it in my purse and didn’t go. Instead, after school I took the kids to the farmer’s market. They ran around the straw maze and ate apples fresh from the orchard while I grabbed the necessities. We got what we needed and it was way more fun. Bubble. My husband and I try to find a way to “date” every weekend. Sometimes that means going out to dinner. Sometimes our date consists of sitting by the fire chatting while the kids watch a movie in the next room. But between travel and soccer tournaments our weekends have been packed. So last night, Thursday, we had a date. We ate delicious fig and prosciutto pasta with brown butter sauce from the market on our porch and talked and laughed and shared. It was lovely. And it was on a school night. Carbonate.
Maybe you’re the opposite. Maybe you never have a list or a plan or a schedule. And you’re reading along wondering what’s so shaken about any of those occurrences. What if for one day, just one, you made a list before going to the grocery and planned out how you were going to use your day? For you, that might be the shake up you need. Stir. None of those things are radical, but the small changes to my everyday routine refreshed and revived me. Don’t get me wrong. Routine is how I make things work. I can’t skip my runs and the grocery every day. I can’t take naps everyday and have dates on every school night. Our family unit would start to unravel. But every once in a while, it’s exactly what I need to see things through fresh eyes. What about you? Have you shaken things up lately?  Book cover of Divergent by Veronica Roth Truth, knowledge, bravery, love and selflessness. What if you had to pick just one? Which would become most important to you - so dominant that you would dismiss the other traits?
The bestselling novel by Veronica Roth, Divergent, creates a dystopian society where you must choose. Future-day Chicago is divided into factions. Each faction hones in on one of these important traits, and dedicates themselves to performing the tasks for society that best suit their traits (i.e. the faction who reveres bravery acts as security). Prioritizing core values is not a new idea. The Scarecrow, the Tin man and the Lion set out to find three of these abovementioned traits over 100 years ago when Frank L. Baum’s book, The Wizard of Oz, was first released. More recently, in the 39 Clues series the Cahill family is divided into branches based on their dominant traits and talents. Classifying humans by their personality traits isn’t new either. Myers-Briggs has been doing it since the 1940’s. I had to take this standardized test before given my first real job offer to be a shopping mall marketing manager. I was offered the position, probably because I indicated I would rather “cobble shoes” than “compare the relative areas of similar spheres” on the multiple choice test. At least, I think that’s how I answered that one… The HDMI test color blocks our personality traits. I’m RED – glaring, bright, fire truck, stop sign red. That apparently means I’m emotional. Duh. In The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg there is a free personality test administered by Monvee to help readers identify their strengths and weaknesses. Mine came out that my personality is similar to Joseph’s from the Old Testament – you know the guy who dreamed about skinny and fat cows. The best and the worst of me (and apparently Joseph) – we are organized, task-oriented, detailed, punctual, impatient, easily flustered by change. Okay, enough about me and the guy with the rainbow coat. The point of all these tests is to help us define ourselves, find ourselves, figure out what makes us tick. By identifying our strengths and weaknesses we can determine what jobs suit our personalities, what roles in groups best suit us, what we need to work on, why we react to certain situations the way we do, how we can maximize our strengths. So, what do you value most? And how does that effect who you are? Would you ask the Wizard of Oz for courage or a heart or a brain or something else altogether? The truth is we need some of all these traits to complete us. As Tobias says in Divergent, “I want to be brave and selfless and smart and kind and honest.” I agree, Tobias. I want to be all of those things too. Have you read Divergent? Which faction would you choose? |
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