daniel troy carmichael

Three P's

My Productivity, My Passion, My Purpose. Ashley

Wednesday night, my seventh away in California, Ashley and I were chatting on the phone. It had been a hard seven days for me and I was looking forward to going home Thursday morning. With so many things going on in my life and in the life of others around me, I told her how I was struggling emotionally after going through all I had while here.

Ashley then shared how, while I was going through some of those tough moments in my journey here, God was reaching down to touch her at the church service she was in. In many little ways, God showed her how He was going to do in her life what she longed for and that it would be His arm that does it, not man's. At the same time, he reached down and touched her with great peace.

Then, in one of those moments that are becoming more and more frequent from my wife, she shared an observation of hers that was quite profound. She showed me how I was struggling in three areas, the Three P's (as an aside, making her point in "Three P's" means she is obvioulsy suffering from an alliteration affliction affecting arguably every pastor around and Ashley, but I digress <grin>). These Three P's are core to me and, perhaps, to most men.

Three P's At My Core

• My Productivity, being productive in work that is meaninful to me and is connected to
• My Passion, which drives me forward so that work feels like play since it is tied to
• My Purpose, given to me by God and giving eternal meaning to even the mundane tasks I do.

I pray that God, will bring Life and Direction to my productivity, my passion, and my purpose.

Catching Someone's Health

You can catch a cold from someone but they can't catch your health. Neil Anderson

When I am around people who are sick, I am very careful to minimize my chances of catching their illness. God calls us to heal the sick which means we must go to where they are; unfortunately, because of this fallen world, this means that in helping them we sometimes get sick ourselves.

I believe that not only can we catch someone's physical sickness, we can catch their spiritual and emotional sicknesses, too. As ministers of the Gospel, we need to be careful that, while ministering to those who are sick, we do not become similarly ill ourselves. If we are careless, we will catch their sick attitudes, sick perceptions, sick emotions, and sick heart.

I wish it worked the other way, that you could catch someon'e health instead of their sickness. Jesus, however, as the Author of Life and the Great Physician is the only one who can bring us to health. So, while it is true that you can't catch someone's health, by catching Jesus you can catch the One who will make you well.

An Unexpected Pleasure

This past December, after sixteen years in California, I moved to Alabama. This past weekend, I attended a men's retreat with my former church and spent time with some of my friends, several of whom I have known over fifteen years.

Friday, on the way there, my friend and I stopped at a trail and road our mountain bikes for a couple of hours. Coming in to camp, I saw my friends. As good as that was, an unexpectedly pleasurable experience happened Saturday morning. Three of us arose before six, just at first light of dawn, and took a morning run. We followed that with about fifteen of us men getting together under the trees, worshiping and praising God our Creator. Then we ate breakfast.

It was an unexpected pleasure, being with these men and doing the mundane. Yet, as mundane as it was, we were simply men, doing what we were created to do. We exercised, worshiped, and ate together.

Life is full of many unexpected pleasurable moments; Saturday morning was one of them.

Jesus didn't die for you because it was fun

Jesus didn't die for you because it was fun
He hung there for love because it had to be done
And in spite of the anguish His words were fulfilled
Because love is not a feeling it's an act of the will
       Don Francisco

I think a lot of people have this mixed up idea that love is supposed to be all happy and fun and that when loving gets tough, they should just get going. I have seen too many people, Christian's included, approach love like it was all about them. Love, however, is demonstrated not by me-ism or feelings but by a commitment and willingness to do the right thing, whatever the cost.

Jesus did not approach the cross as if it were some happy, delightful experience that He couldn't wait to do. Gethsemane was not about Jesus' conversation with the Father about how he was so looking forward to dying on the cross and how he felt great about it. Jesus Christ's journey to the cross wasn't like a trip to Disney World; it was, in literal fact, a trip to Hell and back. He chose, with an act of His will, to go to the cross and die for you and me because it was the only way. It had to be done if we were to be saved. He loved us, so he chose action.

The Bible declares the fact that the world will know we are Christians by our love for one another. Have you demonstrated love by your actions or have you instead lived life as if a warm fuzzy feeling is all that is required? I know a man who once declared that for a period of more than three years during his marriage, he had had no loving "feelings" for his wife; however, his wife never knew this until years later because he chose to demonstrate and act out his love in spite of his lack of "feelings". Can that be said of us? Will our love of our Christian brother be seen by our choices, by the acts of our will, regardless of how we feel?

Let us remember Jesus' ultimate example in that he died for us not because it made him feel all fuzzy-wuzzy inside, but because he loved us and that love is a choice we make, an act of our will to do the right thing no matter the cost.

All Leaders Limp

Never bring into your inner sanctum anyone who does not limp. Don Carmichael

When the man [the pre-incarnate Christ] saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man....
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Genesis 32:25, 31-32

Many years ago, my brother worked for a ministry that sought to bring together Christian CEO's and leaders. During one of its conferences, many of the leaders shared their personal experiences of life. It was there Don noticed something: each of the leaders had gone through a time of intense brokenness before God. Whether it was a sickness, divorce, bankruptcy, or one of many other events, each man was marred and scarred by that experience. As a result of their experiences, each one, in fact, walked with a lifelong spiritual and emotional limp.

The interesting thing about these leaders was that each one pointed to that broken time--the experiences that left them scarred for life--as being absolutely essential for their later successes in life. Each man was truly humble, though great.

Over the years, Don and I and others have gone through our own broken periods. It has all been part of the process of God working in our lives. Like Jacob wrestling the pre-incarnate Christ at Peniel, when our broken periods were over we were never the same again. On the inside and out, our life was forever marked with a limp.

These purifying events have also taught me a lesson, one articulated well by my brother: I choose to build my closest relationships with those men who have been through their own Peniel experiences and have emerged victoriously. Life is too short to invest deeply into men who have never been broken by God, humbled by Him, and then lifted up. It is a mistake and faulty stewardship for me to do otherwise at this stage of my life.

So, what about you? Have you been through a time of intense brokenness before God? Have you surrendered all that you are so that God can raise you up to be all that you can be? Like proving the purity of gold with a refiner's fire, has your life been proven by God, the dross removed, with only that of which is His essence remaining? Have you grappled with God at your own spiritual Peniel and won? If not, I pray that you do.

A Graveyard For My Friends

Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends. Henry Ward Beecher

Even the closest of friends will argue and disagree with one another; therefore, it makes sense that at some point, given enough time and proximity to each other, we will disagree with every friend we have. What makes it harder is that sometimes we argue over real issues and not simply misunderstandings in communication. The weakness and sinfulness of the human condition dictates that at some point even the strongest of friends and greatest of heroes will let us down, shattering our false idols of who we thought they were by demonstrating true and undeniable faults in their character.

When I find myself walking in relationship and friendship with another human being, I recognize that I have chosen a relationship that at its core is flawed. It is flawed because of my sinfulness and flawed because of theirs. It is only in walking in that relationship with the presence of God at its core that there is any hope for long lasting fellowship between two people

For over twenty years, when establishing my closest relationships, I have recited to myself Beecher's quote (above). I must have a graveyard for each of my friends in which to bury their faults if I want to continue walking relationally with them. This does not mean I sit idly by when their faults are exposed or wrongly directed at me or others, but it does mean that on occasion I have simply had to let their faults be buried in my graveyard in order to continue relationship with them.

Like myself, my closest friends have faults and these faults have hurt many people; much injustice has been done at my hands and the hands of my friends. God, please forgive us for this but also forgive us for allowing ourselves to be offended by others and their faults. You set the example when You, who are so offended by our sins, made a way for us to stand offence-less in your sight. You've buried them--cast them as far as the East is from the West--and remembered them no more. They've been put to death and buried in the graveyard....

Several of my friends have been upset and hurt by each other these past several years, culminating this year in many fractured relationships. It is my prayer that these God-loving men and women would commission a graveyard in their soul for each of their friends, burying their friends' faults within, and restoring their relationships in a manner that glorifies God. God Himself has provided the Land and commissioned the Graveyard for these faults: His name is Jesus.

So, what about you? What are you going to do about your brother's offense against you? His faults that so glaringly stare you in the eye and hurt you every day? Bury his faults in the graveyard, honor God. Use the strength of Christ in you to forgive and love your brother. Show the world that you are Christ's by the love you show your sinful, faulty friend. And God will be praised.

The Seven Deadly Sins: A Different Look

 Hieronymus Bosch's 1485AD Late Gothic Portrait, "The Seven Deadly Sins" (Prado Museum, Madrid)

In the Catholic tradition, the Seven Deadly sins are gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, vanity, lust, and envy. A couple of years ago, sitting in a restaurant in Mobile, Alabama, a sign caught my eye, declaring a different set of deadly sins. I pass them on for you to ponder:

The Seven Deadly Sins

1. Politics without principle.
2. Wealth without work.
3. Pleasure without conscience.
4. Knowledge without character
5. Business without morality.
6. Science without humanity.
7. Worship without sacrifice.

The Hero Series, Chapter I: Ashley

Ashley, May 26, 1990, Callaway Gardens. I have always taken the best pictures of Ashley. There is something that happens when I capture her on film that I love; no one has ever taken a picture of her better than I.

Ashley is my first chapter in my never-ending Hero Series. The picture of her was taken minutes after she agreed to marry me, on the first anniversary of our meeting. We were married five months, seven days, and a Sabbath later...I painfully counted down the days until we were one.

Like her ring, the heroism I see in Ashley's life is multifaceted and each facet shows all the others in a different light. Like a diamond, she is tough and beautiful and Light reflects softly from her, its Origins the Great Light of God.

The day we met seemed ordinary as neither of us suspected the other was our future spouse. Yet, on that day, it was also extraordinary as I remember such a holy hour that I could almost hear angels rejoicing and suspected the heavens of opening up at any minute. Our spirits knew what our minds were ignorant of.

It is heroic to say, "I do." It is a commitment of a lifetime that can only be guaranteed by a mutual covenant between God and a husband and wife. To say, "I do" to me and to follow me across the country takes heroic action. To live in a foreign land and birth four children and suffer the hardships of life and remain faithful to God, husband, family, and friends is heroic.

To bring beauty in the wake of all you do despite the sacrifice, to leave it all to return to your homeland, to start anew. These, too, are heroic. I have never known a woman as good and loving and beautiful as my wife. Her character is sound and her love for Jesus is inspiring. Her wisdom profound.

Of all the things she is called, be it wife, mother, sister, or friend, I am most proud to call her mine. I treasure and am thankful for each day we are given together on Earth. Anything that I may be or become is indelibly marked by her imprints in my life and any success I achieve is only achieved through her heroic character as my wife.

Don't Stop.

When you're going through Hell, don't stop. Britt Hancock

I've had some tough times in my life. Times when the only reason I remained alive was because my Lord commanded it. Because of Him, though, I know I will never have to face the literal Hell; however, at times, my God has allowed me to go through times of deep and intense emotional, physical, and psychological pain. It is definitely not Hell on Earth (because that can't happen), but it does seem hell-ish.

Britt Hancock, who is known for his many redneck colloquialisms, last year said it best to me: "When you're going through Hell, DON'T STOP!" Too many times, we succumb to the temptation, in the midst of our trials, to simply give up: to stop. The best advice is, don't stop. If you stop, not only will you miss all the great things God has in store for you once you come out but, much worse, you needlessly and stubbornly prolong your suffering.

Instead of stopping, get up! March through hell and don't stop! Oh, and while your passing through, pick up some folks and take them with you by leading them to Jesus. People will learn more about God and His power in your life by watching you as you live through your own journey through hell. It's easy to follow God when things feel good, but it takes the power of Christ and obedience to Him to walk through hell and be a wittness of His goodness.

DON'T STOP!

20th High School Reunion: Some Things Never Change, Some Things Do

Mountain Brook High School, Class of 1987. What can happen in 20 years?

Saturday, Ashley & I attended the 20th anniversary reunion of my high school graduation class. About 140 folks showed up out of 319. Over the years, a couple of folks have died, several have been widowed. We've all aged, some more than others. Mountain Brook is also known as The Tiny Kingdom because of its reputation for snobbery and inbred social structure. Many of the folks who decided not to come probably did so because of the painful memories of life in the Tiny Kingdom. I certainly have mine.

Among many things I found out was that it appears that having four children is a lot! Only one other classmate had been that prolific (Fred and her husband...and, yes, her name is Fred)! Also, save for only one or two other children, my oldest (at fourteen-and-a-half) is the oldest child of our graduating class. Ashley and I appear to have been married longer than anyone else there except Bill M, who I was glad to see is still happily married.

I found out that a few folks have appeared to find God during the past two decades, to the extent that their lives appear to have changed. That is good; when I graduated, I knew probably no more than three or four of us who were following God wholeheartedly Most seem to find God a nice hobby and something to do on Sunday...hmmmmm. I pray that each one would know God and have relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.

Some of the other things I noticed were that the folks who always drank and got drunk still do. The folks who smoked, still do. Many of the men and women seemed to have forgotten they were married or, at least, were more familiar with their former classmates than I could ever be with anyone other than my wife. How do folks like that get married? And stay married?! They probably don't.

Everyone appears to have gone to college; most graduated and many did postgraduate work. At least 70% of the folks I spoke to had chosen careers in medicine, law, or finance. Most folks had either lost hair or gained pounds--lots of pounds in quite a number of cases (I am 50 pounds heavier than my 125 the Summer before my Senior year). For some, it looked good; for others, well, I was shocked.

There were about ten folks I would never have recognized. Tricia, Anne M, Julia S, Paul W, and Murf made my top five of the night. I was also surprised at how time and life really seemed to have further revealed the character of the individuals I saw. With four elementary schools in Mountain Brook, about 25% of the classmates there I have known literally my whole life (for example, there is Valerie who I used to play with at three and Sarah C and others who were in my preschool). What is interesting is that, for those I have known my whole life, their character and personality as I knew by third grade is where I thought they would be today. It is amazing to see how, in an eight or nine year old, so much of their life had been set before them by their decisions and character at such an age!

There was also the interesting and unexpected enjoyable visit with Bill S and his wife. I've known him since first grade but we were never in the same circles in school; yet, I felt more connected to him and the kind of character he lives than perhaps anyone else in that room--and our wives also enjoyed each other.

All in all, I found the whole day healing. From the noon event with the children and families to the hors d'oeuvres party for the adults that night, I visited with classmates and their spouses nonstop. One thing I love about our class is that twenty years after all the cliques, and though people still congregated around those they were close with in High School, everyone (with almost no exception) seemed to be warm, welcoming, and receiving of everyone else.

I walked away from the evening loving my wife more for who she is, her great character and beauty, and the life within her soul that was so missing--and is still missing--from my classmates. I love God for who He is and what He has done in my life; my heart breaks for those lost souls there, from my graduating class, who I may never see again in this life or the next. I still ponder how I could reach them with the Gospel.