Biking

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Today, I didn't bike to Unionville as I would normally do. The espresso machine is disconnected at the coffeehouse until the health dept. finally comes through. In addition, Mary has requested that our drink cooler be turned off as well. So, what is there for me there now anyway? Mindless work, only.

No, instead, I took a ride to Kilmanagh, a little town to the east of Sebewaing. Not that there is anything there, but I didn't expect there to be. (Unlike Unionville and it's broken promises of espresso...)

On the ride I listened to a couple podcasts from "Interfaith Voices." One tidbit I gleaned from the April 15th show was from John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, authors of God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World. They said China created a perfect environment for the spread of Christianity with their policy that a group of more than 25 worshipers is illegal. As a result house churches must split and multiply at 25!

Spiritual Lessons from Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda offers some lessons for spiritual formation for those with eyes to see. Here are some things to look for:

• Indirection

In Kung Fu Panda, Shifu cannot train Po directly. Po is out of shape and has never studied kung fu. He is not quick to learn. Shifu however discovers that to reach food Po can do amaizing things. So instead of getting Po to concentrate on kung fu, he gets him to concentrate on getting the food.

As Dallas Willard says, the spiritual life burns grace like a jet burns fuel. Without grace we cannot address the things that need transformation in our lives. We cannot address these needs head on. Instead through Spiritual Disciplines we place ourselves in a position where God can pour grace through us transforming us into something new.

• Freedom through discipline

After training, Shifu tells Po that he is free to eat the dumpling. It can't be that easy can it? Po has to use all of his skills to get the dumpling from Shifu.

Richard Foster writes in Life With God,

Again, Spiritual Disciplines involve doing what we can do to receive from God the power to do what we cannot do. And God graciously uses this process to produce in us the kind of person who automatically will do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

This ability to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done is the true freedom in life. Freedom comes not from the absence of restraint but from the presence of discipline. Only the disciplined gymnast is free to score a perfect ten on the parallel bars. Only the disciplined violinist is free to play Pagannini's "Caprices." This, of course, is true in all of life, but it is never more true than in the spiritual life (18).