151 | The Transcendent Rant (Chapter 4)
February 20, 2023
Today's Topic: The Transcending Rant (Chapter 4)
Lost and tossed
This isn't new
Finding a life raft
// CHAPTER 1: LOST AND TOSSED
The first thing I wanted to discuss is really a gut check for me. Something I've wanted to get off my chest now for a while. Because it's how I've been feeling for a while now: Lost and tossed.
Why? Well, the world is very different these days. There's just something off about it.
Something I can't really put my finger on - but it's there.
Do you feel it too?
I've been feeling it for a while now. Even before the pandemic - there was something brewing - something you just felt in your bones.
Now it's hard for me to be 100% objective. Because back in 2018, Tammy and I went through a very difficult time.
We were both let go from the church we worked at:
The church we attended
The church we moved across the country to join
The church where we found our Life Group
The church our kids were connected to through Junior and High School Ministry
The church where we spent almost every day of our week
For some people - getting let go from a job is just another Tuesday afternoon. Time to look for a new thing.
But for us - it was different.
If you haven't worked for a church before - you won't really understand. Because it's much bigger than losing your job - especially when you aren't expecting it. Because losing a ministry job in this way often means being separated from the church - from the thing you've invested your whole life into.
Now, there's no rule that if you lose your job you can't attend the church any longer. But think about it. Would you be able to keep going to a church where you ran into old coworkers each weekend? Reminders of the job you used to have? Reminders of the team you used to hang out with?
Exactly - not the most comfortable situation.
Think of it this way: If you were a woman in an abusive relationship and the abusive husband threw you out one day because he found someone new - but he said, "There are more than enough rooms in this house. I think you should stay." Do you think the woman would be comfortable staying in the house?
No! Probably not.
And that's exactly how you feel when you're let go from a staff position at a church and they say, "But we really want you to keep attending the church. We believe it will help you heal."
Sorry - not going to happen.
So there's that dynamic, but for me it went even deeper.
Because I'd never experienced termination - ever. I had always been in control of my destiny. If I wasn't happy at a job I would find another one and quit the current job once I had the next thing lined up.
So this was a shock to the system. Making me ask questions like:
Why didn't I see this coming?
How could a church do that to someone?
How am I going to find another job in that short of a time?
How am I going to take care of my family?
Is there something wrong with me?
Was I doing something wrong?
Maybe I'm not as competent as I thought I was?
Yes - it got that bad - I spiraled - down the rabbit hole of assumptions, inferences and reading into things I could never prove to be true.
So there was all that - in 2018. Obviously something that rocked our world - and changed it forever.
And just as we were coming out of that dark tunnel - 2020 hit. I mean, I don't even know if the paint was dry on our new reality - and we drove right into the Pandemic.
This is why I said, I can't be 100% sure the tension was building in 2018 for the world around us.
But it was for us.
When I look back - Tammy and I have been in transition for almost 5 years now. Living in chaos. Navigating mine fields. Reacting to the ever-changing world around us. Never knowing what's coming next. Bracing for impact every time we turn on the Nightly News.
At this point we've become numb. So many "over-the-top" things have happened that you almost lose your reflexes.
As if nothing can shock us any more. We laugh at times - because that's all we have left. We've been through the fear, the anxiety and the stress - and now we're just depleted - as if incapable of being shocked by anything.
Even now - as the Pandemic slowly fades in the rear view mirror - getting smaller and smaller. We're left in the aftermath.
The world isn't recovering - going back to the way it was in 2015. It's on a whole new trajectory. Moving faster and faster - but slightly off kilter. Wobbling awkwardly toward unknown coordinates.
Since 2020 we've seen:
Racism increase
Political polarization like never before
Irrational behavior without consequence
The riot at the capitol
Marches, looting and police violence
We have the preponderance of new conspiracy theories
Natural disasters and increasingly severe weather patterns
Fires, flooding, blizzards and extreme cold
Increases in mass shootings
Out of control gas and food prices
Homes getting more and more expensive
The government shooting down UFOs over our country
Trains derailing with toxic chemicals being spilled in residential areas
And that's just in our country!
Around the world:
Russia invading Ukraine
China up in arms over our involvement with Taiwan
New countries wanting to join NATO - at the expense of peace in those areas
They fired up the CERN Hadron Collider again in Switzerland
Many island nations and coastal areas suffered from extreme weather and flooding
The recent earthquake in Turkey - with the death count getting close to 45,000
Spy balloons over our country - and Unidentified Flying Objects that need to be blown out of the sky
AI is quickly becoming mainstream
ChatGPT and AI engines that appear to be intelligent - capable of doing what a human can do in a fraction of the time
And that's just a taste of the things the world is experiencing right now
Is it just me? Or are you feeling the same tension?
I referred to this tension as feeling "lost" and "tossed."
Because at times that's the feeling - like I'm in a little wooden boat - lost at sea - being tossed around by the massive waves.
You keep waiting for the big one that will sink your little ship - but it just hasn't hit you yet. You're still floating - still hanging on.
// CHAPTER 2: THIS ISN'T NEW
As I was writing the first chapter I could hear myself saying, "Dude! What's wrong with you? I think you have 'poor me syndrome.' As if we've never had problems in the world before... Get a grip, and stop being so negative!"
And that's true. On some level.
Life hasn't been easy. Throughout time people have suffered. Previous generations have been forced to endure big things. Difficult things. Even traumatic things.
Things that make the difficulties we face right now pale in comparison.
Here are some obvious ones:
The Spanish Flu
The Great Depression
The World Wars
The Holocaust
And if you believe in Bible Stories - things like:
The Israelite people being slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years
And a global flood that wiped out most of the Earth's population
Again - bad things...
Can you imagine being a young child living in London during World War II?
In 1940 and 1941 German planes carried out bombing campaigns for nearly two straight months.
56 days of bombing - or what we now call The Blitz.
In conditions like this - life would all but stop. No reason to go to work, or school. Every day would be spent hiding, and trying to stay alive.
When I think about scenarios like that I cringe. Because it shines a very bright light on the fact that my life is nothing like that.
No matter how bad things seem to be in life right now - at least I'm not hiding underground wondering if the next bombing raid will be the one that finds my family.
But I've also come to another realization. Or maybe it's just a hypothesis...
When I look back at those horrible moments in time - I wonder this:
In and of themselves - these incidents feel much more extreme - more intense than what we're facing right now.
But while we may not be in the middle of a World War - there is something equally disturbing going on.
It just feels different today. It's less about some large thing happening in the world - like the pandemic - and more about the 1000 smaller things going off the rails.
And maybe that's it. At least for me. COVID was one big massive event that the entire world experienced - similar to the Spanish Flu.
But very quickly - the pandemic set off a tsunami of smaller things. And I feel like it's this tsunami that has me feeling lost and tossed. Yes the pandemic - but even more so, the fallout - or the new normal as we call it.
All of the chaotic things that have happened since 2020.
Okay - let's shift gears just a bit...this will be a little tangential - but it is a rant - so I guess it's allowed...
I want to talk about something called The Seven Mountain Mandate.
For those of you who have never heard of it - here is a quick summary...
The Seven Mountain Mandate is said to be a message from God - delivered to the evangelical world around 1975.
Loren Cunningham, Bill Bright, and Francis Schaeffer are the three people credited for receiving the message.
And in essence - the message was a call to action. Spurring evangelicals on - calling them to "invade" the seven spheres of society. Which I'll list in a minute...
Now - this calling isn't a fringe, underground thing. In fact - I can still remember weekend messages at the church I attended in Granger, IN where the preacher talked about the seven spheres - or seven domains of society.
I even remember a small group they started in order to continue this work. One of the domains is "business." And this small group was made up of guys (yes - largely men) who met as Christian businessmen. They discussed their businesses, how they were going, the difficulties they experienced and ways to inject faith into their companies. And the group was pen - so they were always looking for new businessmen from the community to join.
Looking back I didn't bat an eye. In fact - I was probably a little jealous. All these wealthy businessmen getting to huddle up and talk about their shared experiences in the fast paced world of business and commerce.
Fast forward to today - and we see that the seven domains of society idea hasn't become more generalized - or more mainstream. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
Instead of churches discussing them the way I remember them being discussed: As domains where we can live out our faith, be mentors and model what it means to be Christ followers. The energy right now is to go back to 1975 - to The Seven Mountain Mandate along with the original language - language like "invading" the seven domains. Taking them by force. Overthrowing whatever is currently there and injecting right wing evangelical leadership.
And this more extreme version of the idea has been coopted by people like Donald Trump, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and is helping fuel a movement of people pushing Christian Nationalism.
It's just one of the many ideas they have latched onto in order to foster growth in our country.
Now, before I get too far - let me list the seven domains of society.
It's not rocket science - so here we go:
Family
Religion
Education
Media
Entertainment
Business
Government
Now again, these seven were supposedly handed down by God to the three people we discussed above. Which is probably why they've stood the test of time.
But are they really that solid?
I mean if I had say in the list mine would look like this:
Family
Religion
Education
Media-tainment (see what I did there? Combined media and entertainment...)
The Environment
Business
Government
And that was just me throwing out an idea off the top of my head!
Now I know - people will say, "The list is a bunch of apples - and you just added an orange. Can't you see that? The domains of society are things we as humans created and have dominion over. Like our families, and the media we create. But the environment was here before we were - so it shouldn't be on the list..."
And I get that... But as a Christian - technically religion existed before we did as well... If we truly believe God created the Earth, created us and create the user manual for humans. Then in essence - it existed before we did. God created it - and we're just following what He said...
Similarly - He created the environment - and then asked us to take care of it.
So let me ask you this - when you look at the global crises we've been facing - things like natural disasters and extreme weather - things the scientists refer to as "global warming." How do you look at them?
Do you look at it as being part of the environment? Just something that was here before us? Something we have no control over?
Or are you willing to entertain the possibility that the things we have done to the Earth may be causing some of these problems?
If you're open to the latter - you're probably open to adding the environment as one of the seven domains of society...
Okay - I've probably spent way too much time on that subject.
But wanted to highlight one of the 1000 small things that has raised the temperature since 2020.
At least for me...
Okay - back on track...
// CHAPTER 3: FINDING A LIFE RAFT
My wife is amazing. For so many reasons - but this is one of them...
Every now and then - she asks me what I'm working on that week. What I'm writing about - and what the podcast episode will be on.
Then - when I tell her - she offers advice. And today she was in rare form.
I told her it was another Transcendent Rant. And that I was talking about the chaos in the world - and the uneasiness it creates for people.
I gave her the 50c tour. And when I was done she said, "Is that it? Are you just going to be Debbie Downer and make everyone feel bad and then end the episode? Aren't you going to flip the script? Aren't you going to get transcendent on your listeners? Aren't you going to tell them how they can rise above it?"
Bless her heart. She's 100% what I need in my life...
As it turned out - I hadn't written that part yet. I was just getting warmed up with my rant...
I hadn't even started to conceptualize the transcendent part...
How we cope, how we survive in the midst of the chaos.
So I told her it was in the works. And she said, "Well good - because a rant without some sort of positive message is just negativity..."
From there - she threw out a few ideas and suggestions - and then went back to doing whatever she was doing before she asked the question...
So that's what I'm going to start with - her suggestions.
When the chaos of this world has you feeling lost and tossed - here are some ways to cope. Ways to keep the chaos from becoming overwhelming and paralyzing.
Change your focus:
My rant was me focusing on all of the 1000 small things that seem to be going wrong with the world
And if I get tunnel vision on those things - the world is going to feel small, dangerous and exhausting
So we need to be aware of our focus - and be willing to change it from time to time
Ideas:
Family - spend time doing things with your people - the people you love
Friends - go on a double date. Or catch a movie with a friend
Serve - find a group of people that need support and offer to help
Create - If you're like me - you have thousands of ideas going through your head every day. Pick one and see it through
Determine your level of control:
The second thing Tammy offered was this
"Why spend time focused on those things - you have no control over them anyway."
"Like the economy, or gas prices. You thinking about how bad they are every day isn't going to change them."
"So look around you and determine what you have control over."
"And do more of that. Do things that will make a positive change in the world around you."
And that's where I'm going to leave it. I think...
Because she hit the nail on the head. When I find myself lost and tossed at sea in a small wooden boat - dangerously close to breaking apart - her ideas are the life raft that is floating nearby. The vessel made to weather the storm. Even in high surf and stormy conditions.
Let's Land the Plane:
I didn't spend a lot of time discussing personality types, and how they impact us in these situations.
Obviously, as an Enneagram 1 - I spend a lot of time in my head - processing, analyzing and predicting the future on some level. My wife, an Enneagram 7 - is much more interested in adventure and being in the moment.
Which is why we fit together so well. I need her to remind me that I've been inside my head too long. And every now and then I let her look inside my head - which rarely ends well...
But you know what I mean. Yin and Yang. Opposites attract.
This week - ask yourself the following questions:
Are you feeling lost and tossed this week?
If so - what is causing it?
What are you focused on?
And are they things you're able to control?
This week - take some time alone. Ask yourself some hard questions - and come up with a plan. Ways you can change focus and spend more time on things within your control.
I know it isn't easy for some of us. We get bogged down in the news and social media and before you know it we're lost and tossed again.
The good news is that we're all in this together.
Thank you for joining me on the journey. I love that you're here.
Have a great week and keep Transcending Human!