About the Author  Bill Dean is both a church pastor and a university professor. His upcoming book, Walking Together: Relationships that Transform, focuses on the role of relationships in spiritual growth. This blog is a continuation of that conversation and a place to interact.
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By Bill, on September 11th, 2011
I think there is a continuum of understanding among believers about God’s grace. At one end are those who apparently belief in meager grace, and at the other end are those who experience abundant grace. I have been moving for years from the meager end where I was raised toward the abundant end that I long for.
My friends at the meager end live as though God has only enough grace to pull them through (barely), considering the overwhelming problems He faces. He really is stretched pretty thin, and if we don’t do some of his work for him and carry some of his burdens, He’s going to come up short. These folk tend worry about lots of things, like the security of their jobs, health, or pensions. They maintain long lists of duties in the back of their minds, believing that they must keep these check lists active in case God does run short on the grace. When they pray they ask only for small things, fearing to place too much on God’s plate. They seem to be under siege from constant difficulties at home, work, and church. They are anxious, confined, burdened, and often bewildered by the newest crop of problems that sprout around them. They’re hanging on, looking forward to joy and peace in heaven. But they are not very joyful or peaceful here.
At the other end of the continuum are those who revel in abundant grace. They are joyful and carefree, even though–if you corner them–they will share some of the problems and difficulties that surround them. It seems that God is always doing special, unexpected things for them and through them. They are quick to share answers to prayer, and sometimes I wonder if they are not stretching things a bit! Every day in an adventure, and seems predestined to include some God things. Even when they are ill or confronted with difficult circumstances, they are still radiant, if perhaps a bit subdued. Their lives are filled with people who like to work or just spend time with them. When I am with them, I have a sense that they are being carried along by a tide, almost as a leaf in a rapid stream, but they don’t fear the present or the future.
I know, at least intellectually, that these friends that understand God’s grace as abundance are right. After all, God is infinite! His Holy Spirit in moving through the world and working in ways that we cannot imagine. He is simultaneously engaged with 7 billion people, and doesn’t even break a sweat. He is never hurried or frustrated. He takes every opportunity to approach all who are open (and the amazing secret is that he arranged that openness as well!) Yes, God is infinitely larger than this universe–and certainly this planet. We are swimming in grace from the moment we are born until we die. He’s everywhere, saturating the fabric of our world and our lives.
Grace, of course, is nothing other that the presence of God himself. Grace is only a word that stands for what happens in the presence of God. God also faces opposition. I’m not talking about the meager grace people. They will survive–barely. But arrayed against God are a very large group of folk on earth who don’t know about Him, or will not surrender to the currents of grace around them, like the thirsty fish who will not open his mouth.
This is the key point: God’s grace most often comes to us through the people we meet every day and especially those we choose to build relationships with. Meager or abundant?
By Bill, on August 17th, 2011
I got a major surprise last month: on July 23 I experienced a series of mini-strokes (that is the doctor’s word for them!). At one point I could not put a sentence together, but I am well on the way to complete recovery. I will be teaching a reduced class load at school this fall, and by God’s grace hope to be fully recovered by Christmas.
Now I want to tell you what I learned.
First: God gives peace. From the moment I realized what was happening, I had no fear. I was at peace, telling God that if this is what he wanted for me, he and I could handle it.
Second: God has surrounded Joan and I with precious friends. We have not even cooked a meal until last night! I have students
to mow my yard, colleagues dividing up my office responsibilities and filling in for me in the one summer class I am supposed to be teaching, and apparently doing a better job than I can.
Third: God has a sense of humor. I have been aware for two years that I was burning the candle at both ends and in the middle. I had purposed to restrict my commitments to a minimum this summer (notice the lack of blog posts?) so that I could tackle of long list of overdue repairs around the house. The strokes happened on the day I finished the last of those major projects. I take this to mean that he let me do what I thought I needed to do, and then he gently said to me, “Now sit down and let me take over!”
Pray that I can adjust (with joy) to the changes that God wants to make in my life. I do plan to get back to regular blogging as soon as I can.
By Bill, on June 13th, 2011
For those of you who have an RSS feed from this blog, and those who check in from time to time, I’m back! The last year has been extremely stressful, largely due to the unexpected demands of a new graduate program in the philosophy of history (or in political theory), and a personal research project for a conference presentation. I did nothing last summer about caring for either my home or my garden and flower beds, and it really showed this spring! The list of small repair jobs around the house has items on it nearly two years old. So. . . this summer I have tried to resist all pressure to begin new academic projects and focus on catching up.
Today, however, I realized how essential relationships are. I had two providential appointments. First, a graduate student from Chicago contacted me about questions concerning our graduate program in philosophy of history. On a hunch I suggested that we meet and talk face to face. He agreed. I spend an hour on the train, then a 15-minute walk to our meeting place. I found my contact to be a deeply committed believer at the thesis stage of his MA, fearful about now launching into doctoral studies. For more than two hours we talked about school, worldviews, life experience, and God’s callings. It was a Spirit-filled encounter.
When I arrived back home, the phone rang. This was a recent graduate, frantic because of the dead ends he had encountered looking for work. Finances were critical. His was the classic cry of the heart: “Where is God in all of this? My faith has been pushed to the breaking point!” There was another 2 hours spent in the Bible and prayer–for him, for a job interview, for his children. I have all their names to add to my prayer list. He shook my hand three times before I could get to the car!
What did I accomplish today? Nothing from my list of things that must be done. Nothing from the list of administrative tasks that linger in the back of my mind (not unlike birds of prey waiting. . .) But I did make new friends, established two new relationships, encouraged two of my brothers in Christ to press on towards God’s calling. The “to-do list” seems very unimportant right now. Mary and Martha come to my mind. Jesus told the complaining Martha that Mary had chosen the better part. I understand. I think I sat as the feet of Jesus today as I listened to my new friends.
By Bill, on June 13th, 2011
I was a Godly mother of two, but by the of age 43, I had lost every close family member in my life, including my marriage. My mother died unexpectedly when I was 14. My father moved away and we were not close, so I was basically on my own until I married at age 26. At age 21 I committed my life to Christ, and followed Him into marriage at 26. Both of my older brothers had passed away from cancer by 2003. It has been 11 1/2 yrs, I have been single. God has been so good, so faithful and I am very grateful for every [ More ... ]
By Bill, on December 2nd, 2010
Photo by arebella
I recently read an article on pastoral failures by Dale Wolery and Dale Ryan. One line stuck with me: “Silence is not the solution to gossip.” The authors were talking about the tendency in pastoral and congregational crises to try to prevent the manufacture of rumors by attempting to impose a rule of silence concerning the problem. In my experience such silences grows gossip like dark, wet wood grows mushrooms!
I am convinced from personal experience, church history, and Scripture that close, deliberate relationships with formative friends are essential to spiritual growth and health–there is simply no other way to become like Jesus! I am also a realist [ More ... ]
By Bill, on November 15th, 2010
Okay, which would you buy: Ten Easy Steps to Spiritual and Emotional Maturity or Walking Together for the Rest of your [ More ... ]
By Bill, on October 26th, 2010
I was teaching an online course this summer, and one student responded to a question that I posed about the moral and spiritual values in the workplace. She was being honest, but I am sure that she did not see the inherent conflict in her answer, and I’m going to paraphrase it to avoid a long quote. She wrote that she was having a serious battle with values as a Christian in her workplace, and that she had been unable to find a church to attend that “met her needs.”
Look closely at the two parts of the answer. I don’t have any difficulty understanding conflicts of values in the workplace. [ More ... ]
By Bill, on October 17th, 2010
There is also good reason to believe that this explosion of electronic communication is fueled by a desperate need to be [ More ... ]
By Bill, on July 17th, 2010
I often think about the students in my classes and office. In what ways are they molded by their interaction with me? [ More ... ]
By Bill, on June 5th, 2010
 What is missing from Tickle’s book is an understanding that the Church by the grace of God stands opposed to dark forces that seek to dominate the culture-shaping institutions of our world. [ More ... ]
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