I believe that the YouTube video I posted of Rick Barry shooting free throws has a marvelous message that transcends basketball and in my mind is most definitely sacred. At least to me. :-)

The idea of secular vs. sacred is one that I have come to my own conclusion. All of life belongs to God and He speaks to us in EVERYTHING. God is the God of life! God speaks to me through His Word, He speaks to me through a dog… He speaks to me even when I look at trees or the ocean. I also communicate to him in all that I do. Whether it is obeying my boss (it says, I do this for you Father), or preparing breakfast for my children or even taking a nap or even watching an amusing movie and laugh out loud. I have truly thought at times like this, God you really are funny. I absolutely love the movie Fiddler on the Roof and my favorite scene is where Tevye speaks right before singing “If I were a Rich Man.”

“Oh dear Lord. You made many, many poor people. I realize of course, it’s no shame to be poor. But it’s no great honor either. So what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune.”

That to me sums up what a real relationship with God should look like and what I try and practice. I tell my sons again and again, “Seek realness. Be real with God and be real with yourself.”

I could even comment on the fact that some do extra reading of Biblical resources that are non-UBF materials. This is always met with some difficulty, as though to say that anything not UBF is unspiritual. (But keep in mind when a senior leader recommends something from the top down it is spiritual and beneficial.)

Being a steward over your family and maybe even your job. This is not acceptable practice. Do you think you can kid yourself that by expanding and growing in those areas of life that it means you are growing spiritually? Think again. Where is your reporting on fishing? Just how many table 1:1’s did you have? Who are you raising up as a disciple? How about your basic spiritual life – You know, Daily Bread, testimony writing, morning prayer? How often do you pray at the church (because prayer at home is not spiritual)?

Sadly, we are trained to disregard the mundane aspects of our daily life but in my experience talking with others and personally there is much more there than in UBF activities – especially when most of the time we are not even coming close to fulfilling the expected goals on the list of to do’s.

“When I am at home in my kitchen I feel guilty and bad, but when I am at the Chicago center, I feel spiritual, holy and faithful to God.”

These words describe the “E” in the B.I.T.E. model perfectly.

“We need mentors who can show us by example how to do it. But where to find these mentors?” – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2013/09/27/is-psalm-119-a-love-poem-about-the-bible-part-2/#comment-11106

Perhaps those mentors are in the “secular” world :) For me, the secular is sacred. Katy Perry, for example, has much to say. More thoughts here: When the secular is sacred.

Or perhaps those mentors are dead. I relish the mentoring I’m learning from Spurgeon! Charles still has much to say :)

“To a man who lives unto God nothing is secular, everything is sacred.

He puts on his workday garment and it is a vestment to him.

He sits down to his meal and it is a sacrament.

He goes forth to his labor, and therein exercises the office of the priesthood. His breath is incense and his life a sacrifice.

He sleeps on the bosom of God, and lives and moves in the divine presence.

To draw a hard and fast line and say, “This is sacred and this is secular,” is, to my mind, diametrically opposed to the teaching of Christ and the spirit of the gospel…

Peter saw a sheet let down from heaven in which were all manner of beasts and four-footed creatures, which he was bidden to kill and eat, and when he refused because they were unclean, he was rebuked by a voice from heaven, saying, “What God hath cleansed that call not thou common” [Acts 10:15; 11:9].

The Lord hath cleansed your houses, he has cleansed your bed chambers, your tables… He has made the common pots and pans of your kitchens to be as the bowls before the altar –

if you know what you are and live according to your high calling.

You housemaids, you cooks, you nurses, you ploughmen, you housewives, you traders, you sailors, your labor is holy if you serve the Lord Christ in it, by living unto Him as you ought to live.

The sacred has absorbed the secular.”

-Charles H. Spurgeon (source)

This brings to mind what I once heard an older senior Christian say (paraphrase): “When I am at home in my kitchen I feel guilty and bad, but when I am at the Chicago center, I feel spiritual, holy and faithful to God.”

For decades, I also felt likewise. I felt that I was more spiritual if I am on the UIC campus then if I am visiting my aged mother in Malaysia. So I refused to visit my own mother for over two decades (she is 95 years old), which hurt her badly, and which greatly offended my only sibling, an older brother. Only by God’s mercy and grace, I no longer feel so and I have decided to visit her every year over the past decade.

“My attendance of activities immediately meant that I was “okay” – which couldn’t be further from reality.”

This is an important point to consider further. Why is “showing up” the test of “ok or not okay”?

One of the first things I learned from our new Christian pastor is the difference between priority and centrality. Exhaustion comes form trying to make Jesus #1 in our priority list.

Our pastor made this point strikingly well in a sermon last year. He asked the congregation to shout out priorities. Then he asked where is Jesus in your priority list. Where should Jesus be in our ranking of daily activities? People shouted out #1 of course. Then he said (paraphrase)… First of all you’re all lying. Jesus is not #1 all the time. And furthermore Jesus does not intend to be #1 on your priority list. Often your family comes first. Often your health must come first on a daily basis.

He taught us that Jesus and the gospel is about making Jesus centrally important not to merely create a priority list where every day and every action has some church activity as #1. I learned a valuable lesson from that sermon, a lesson I’ve since confirmed with various sources. Guilt, shame and fear come from a ranking system of priorities and has nothing to do with the gospel. Love, grace and joy come from Christ-centric thinking and living.

Be centered on Jesus, not prioritized around Jesus.

This is where you discern who your friends are and who your fellow congregants are. A friend will sit by you and listen and also pray with you. They will generally show an interest in what is going on with you. They do so with sincere and real interest that you are okay. However, there are also those who do so only so that you might resume testimony, fishing, attending meetings etc……There are also those who just don’t show direct interest at all.

I thought of the Mary and Martha story because I have faced serious difficulties in my life not once but many times. In the end I found many years ago that the church community and demands left me feeling more isolated from God and exhausted. I also wondered why my secular or non-UBF friends were the most supportive of ‘me’ getting back on my feet – for the sake of my well being in comparison with UBFers who showed more interest that I could attend something. My attendance of activities immediately meant that I was “okay” – which couldn’t be further from reality. The end result was a natural line in the sand that has truly aligned me with the “outside” world.

I do agree that prayer is the best, but if I am to shut up and pray than I really do not need others at all. I only need God. If I am to pray and form my own personal relationship with God instead of depending on people for imperfect human support than okay again. The psalms encourage direct dialogue to and with God – therefore works are insufficient and so are the rituals placed upon us by others.

I’ve been thinking that perhaps the ubf lectures and bible study became more of a Martha-like busy task to present ourselves to Jesus than an act of worship or a chance to interact with Jesus Himself and be with Jesus. I recall so much preparation to “present myself”, but now I feel so calm to simply be in His presence.

It is easy to imagine things as Joe portrays it– so many “bible studies” where we look so intently into the bible, but didn’t realize Jesus was standing right there!

I wonder if any of the ubf teachings have ever considered these things. For many years now, I really wished I could understand what these ubf staff videos are teaching. …or not. Maybe those videos are better left in a language I’ll never comprehend.

Your story is fantastic! I love the imagination expressed here. I’ve not yet processed the content, but so far this stands out to me:

“However, if we stand Psalm 119 against the wider backdrop of biblical history, we cannot ignore all that has happened since then.”

That is exactly what I did for so long- ignored what has happened. I did this not only with regard to the bible, but to my own life and the lives of those around me. Context means a lot to any given situation, and the more people’s viewpoints we have, the more we begin to discern facts and events.

By the way, is that a picture of you or your son? It looks like a real picture to me, as opposed to something random. Any meaning there?

Your writing brings to mind what Jesus himself said about Scripture in Jn 5:39, Lk 24:27, 44, and what Peter said in Ac 10:43. Scripture was never meant to become bibliolatry, bible-only-ism or biblicism, as you mentioned. Perhaps this is rather simplistically stated, but I think that Scripture was and is the way that enables any person to personally and intimately experience the very presence of God himself in the Person of His Son by the work of the Holy Spirit.