Kroc Church

What is Faith?

Last week was filled with mountain top highs and deep valley lows - punctuated by tragedy at Virginia Tech, as well as the beauty of the University uniting in faith and determination that they will overcome evil with good.What is faith?

Faith is an anchor. Though you don’t see the links in the water, or the anchor head fastened into the rocks below, they are there. Faith - the anchor that holds in the midst of life storms.

Storms: Like weathering the thunder of another school shooting. Like weathering the flood of another family illness or death. Like weathering the latest drought of financial uncertainty. Storms of different magnitudes, types and intensities beating upon the breaker walls of our life and wearing us down.

Where do we turn when our resources are exhausted and our strength is gone? What reinforces the levy when it’s about to give into the force of the raging water?

Wait a minute - let’s stop right now and make sure we’re asking the right question. Where, what, when, why and how are all the wrong questions. When we’re dealing with a life storm, we don’t need anything, we need someone. Who do we turn to, and who reinforces us?

Noah, faced with building a great boat to weather the first rain storm and flood in human history turned to God. Rather than relying on the familiar, or caving into the peer pressure, he took God at His word and was saved.

David, a shepherd facing a giant of an enemy - whom the soldiers were afraid to fight - turned to God. Rather than relying on King Saul’s armor, he relied on God’s strength to win the battle.

Elisha, a prophet facing the wrath of the king and the might of an army turned to God. Rather than being overwhelmed by what he saw, he looked beyond the immediate foe to see God’s army protecting him.

When the storms of life rage around us, we can turn to the God of the ages, the great God of faithfulness, and He will be the anchor that holds in the face of life’s storms. You can trust Him!

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil - for Thou art with me!”
- Psalm 23

Kind personal regards.

John & Lisa Van Cleef, Captains
Administrators

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The Difference is Grace

During the course of last week I had the opportunity to have a deeply personal conversation about my faith with a new friend. Before we go any further, you must understand I don’t enter this type of conversation carelessly, randomly, or capriciously. I also don’t do it frequently because I don’t want it to be cheap. It’s a privilege to talk thoughtfully about another person’s soul, and it has to mean something.

Our conversation danced through a world of religious beliefs. Each demonstrating some form of beauty, some movement of elegance. But then the moment arrived, and I asked the question.

“Do you know what distinguishes Christian faith - real, biblical, non-dogmatic Christian faith - from any other world religion? Do you know what finally drew me to Christianity?”

The answer is grace.

Any religion I’m aware of calls us to become something we’re not, and requires us to earn what we never can. Real, biblical, non-dogmatic Christian faith offers us the baffling gift of grace.

“Grace baffles us, because it goes against the intuition everyone has
that, in the face of injustice, some price must be paid…. Grace
sounds a shrill note of unfairness. Ask people what they must do to
get to heaven and most reply, “Be good.” But Jesus’ stories
contradict that answer. We receive grace as a gift from God, not as
something we toil to earn. You see, God dispenses gifts not wages.”

- Philip Yancey

I’m keenly aware that open discussion about my faith is unsettling to some - especially in context with the Kroc Center’s mission. But the two - Christian faith and the Kroc Center - are connected; and I speak these things with gentleness and reverence.

Here’s the connection. People come to the Kroc Center from a world relentlessly demanding their perfection. People come to the Kroc Center from circumstances that have taken their all and left them empty. People come to the Kroc Center having gained all the world has to offer, yet hungering for more. People come to the Kroc Center from all walks of life - looking, seeking, hunting.

What do we have to offer? Swimming. Skating. Dancing. Learning. Reading. Music. Worship. Yes, all of these things; but all of these things are a delivery system for grace. To the person who’s tired of being “perfect,” grace offers acceptance. To the person who’s empty, grace offers supply. To the person who longs for more, grace offers satisfaction.

People who come to here - for whatever reason - don’t need to be reminded of anything they don’t have. People who come here need to be offered the same thing we’ve received.

Grace.

Kind personal regards.

John & Lisa Van Cleef, Captains
Administrators

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On Change and The Greatest Generation

Four weeks ago today, we had the pleasure of wandering the grounds of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Beautiful. Breath-taking. Amazing. It would be easy to write a short story about the impressions created by that single day - perhaps illustrated by the 200+ photos we took at those two places. During our tour, we were reminded the Qing Dynasty left the Forbidden City in 1912 - less than 100 years ago.

Since 1912, China has undergone two significant revolutions, opening its doors to western commerce following President Nixon’s visit in 1972, and making the transition to a free market economy within the last decade. While this rate of change may seem normal for a country established in 1776, the past century has been the most dramatic period of change for a civilization dating to 221 B.C.

The people most affected by all of the change are the older citizens, those whom we’d call the “Greatest” generation. By observation only, these kind people strike us a thoughtfully inclined to let things be what they’ll be, but privately irritated by all the changes they’ve had to endure throughout their lifetime. Perhaps their tolerance of what’s transformed over the past 95 years can be summed up by the cliché:

Everybody likes change - when it’s their idea.

Within the five short years of our existence as the Kroc Center, we’ve experienced a rapid period of growth and change - and we’re still undergoing change. Our programs are undergoing change, our facilities are undergoing change, our equipment is undergoing change, our finances are undergoing change, and - most importantly, our members and neighborhood are undergoing change.

As we constantly move through these changes, we need to remember it evokes feelings of uncertainty, apprehension, fear, resistance, and perhaps, resentment. We also need to remember these feelings reside in all of our stake-holders: staff, advisory council, volunteers, members, donors, and partners.

These feelings can be destructive or productive. They can cause us to retreat in fear, or press forward to adventure. They can cause us to stagnate or grow. They can lead us to distrust, or they can lead us to galvanize our mutual confidence in one another.

O Lord:
Help us be kind to one another as we undergo change;
Help us be open to the possibilities it brings; and
Help us each embrace its impact on “my” world -

For Your Name’s sake.
AMEN.

As always, please be assured of our constant interest in your lives and prayers on your behalf.

Kind personal regards.

Sincerely,

John & Lisa Van Cleef, Captains
Administrators

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I Me Mine

In our early exposure to the Kroc Center - before we ever arrived last June - we were impressed with a quote attributed to Ray Kroc:

No one of us is greater than the rest of us.

We all need each other. We can’t do without each other. Each of us fills an important role, whether it’s visible or invisible.

We’re unavoidably, inexorably, certainly, and necessarily connected. No one of us is greater than the rest of us.

The challenge for each of us, however, is to remember that statement in the midst of our daily lives. It’s very easy to become focused on my desk, my task, and my goal - much like it’s very easy for us to become focused on my car, my lane, my trip, and my destination.

The human struggle to cooperate is as old as history. Our tendency is to think and act in the realm of “my”, and lose focus on the “we” and the “us”. Saint Paul discussed this in a letter he wrote to Roman believers nearly 2,000 years ago:

Let us pursue the things that make for peace,
And the building up of each other. (Romans 14:19)

In our culture it would be easy to think this instruction gives way to becoming a door-mat, a push-over, and a wimp. On the contrary, this instruction is powerful because it directs us from reaction to pro-action; from chaos to cooperation.

You can probably imagine a scenario in which proactive cooperation could’ve helped in your most recent commute. But you can also imagine there are other, practical areas in life where this scripture bears consideration: cut-off by a snippy email, blindsided by a grumpy customer, side-swiped by a difficult co-worker.

Saint Paul’s instruction gives us a hint into the secret of proactive cooperation. It teaches us we don’t need to respond snippy for snippy, grumpy for grumpy, or difficult for difficult.

Cooperation and peacemaking are not passive. It is active. Cooperation is not just the absence of strife, but also the presence of everything necessary for life. Peacemaking teaches us we can thoughtfully, intentionally, and definitely deal with the “traffic” in our lives.

O Lord:
Help us to think about those circumstances that need peace;
Help us to consider our actions for creating peace; and
Help us cooperate in keeping peace -

All for the sake of building up each other.
AMEN.

As always, please be assured of our constant interest in your lives and prayers on your behalf.

Kind personal regards.

Sincerely,

John & Lisa Van Cleef, Captains
Administrators

Posted in Our Life Together | No Comments »