{"id":403,"date":"2014-01-30T17:41:14","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T17:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=403"},"modified":"2014-08-12T23:07:34","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T23:07:34","slug":"living-life-on-ifr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/living-life-on-ifr\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Life on IFR"},"content":{"rendered":"
It was an uneventful flight over the Atlantic into Amsterdam\u2019s Schiphol airport, at least until the landing. \u00a0I fly a fair amount and have experienced both take offs and landings in inclement weather. \u00a0This particular early morning in the late fall was foggy, very foggy. \u00a0I usually choose a window seat so that I am not bothered by other passengers needing to pass by to get to the lavatory though I do not mind bothering them! \u00a0I was watching the display which showed the altitude and I was tracking it as we prepared for landing. \u00a0I heard and felt the landing gear deploy and looked out the window to see any lights from the city. \u00a0I could see nothing but fog. \u00a0The altitude kept dropping and at 1000 feet I could still see nothing but fog. \u00a0Seconds later the wheels touched down and the runway lights were barely visible. \u00a0There is no doubt the pilot was using IFR. \u00a0IFR is the abbreviation for \u201cinstrument flight rules\u201d and is distinct from \u201cvisual flight rules,\u201d or VFR. \u00a0IFR uses instruments to sense the orientation of the aircraft and to direct it\u2019s flight path. \u00a0VFR is when the pilot can visually see the path before him\/her and fly the aircraft based on physical sight. \u00a0This morning in Amsterdam was no time for VFR!<\/div>\n
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David Brook\u2019s book,\u00a0The Social Animal<\/span>, is about the relationship between our conscious and subconscious. \u00a0His argument is that we are much more directed by our subconscious than we think or realize, that, \u201cWe are primarily the products of thinking that happens below the level of awareness.\u201d \u00a0(Location 69). \u00a0Using the language of flight, he would say we live much more by IFR than VFR. \u00a0He makes his case by taking the reader on a journey that follows two fictitious people through their whole life journey and demonstrates how their subconsciousness is enriched and how it informs, even before decision making, the paths they take. \u00a0Thank God for the ways He builds a subconscious IFR into us.<\/div>\n
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As I reflect on the book, the message that reverberates in my thinking most is the importance of relationships throughout life. \u00a0Brooks writes, \u201cWe become who we are in conjunction with other people becoming who they are.\u201d (Location 165). \u00a0He then powerfully and repeatedly presses that our subconscious is significantly impacted by all our relationships beginning even as a fetus, queuing on one\u2019s relationship with parents (Location 885). \u00a0His writing has greatly encouraged me to take more seriously how my life has been shaped by others and how my life impacts others when I am aware and also unaware of that dynamic.<\/div>\n
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I thought about the ministry of discipleship as I read the book and there were many important insights that relate to that ministry. \u00a0Here are some of those insights.<\/div>\n
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  • Discipleship is a process, not an event nor even a schedule of events. \u00a0Christocentric discipleship is an experience of life on life, acting and reacting, forming and being reformed, and persons grow most as persons learn for themselves rather than being instructed. \u00a0In the book, Brooks wrote about the impact of Heuristics (Location 3040, ff.). \u00a0The heuristic aspects like priming, anchoring, framing, expectations, etc., can be found practiced by Christ in his process of discipleship. \u00a0I found the parallel fascinating! \u00a0The disciples may have thought that Christ was a great teacher, and he was! \u00a0But he really helped the disciples to learn on their own in ways that can be practiced by all teachers.<\/li>\n
  • Obedience based discipleship. \u00a0Those familiar with the verses Mat. 28:19-20 know that the command of Christ is to teach others\u00a0to obey<\/span>\u00a0the commands of Christ. \u00a0Obedience is the goal of making disciples. \u00a0Brooks cites another author who makes a powerful statement regarding the importance of behavior. \u00a0\u201cOne of the most enduring lessons of social psychology is that behavior change often precedes changes in attitude and feelings.\u201d \u00a0(Pg. 129).<\/li>\n
  • Church organization and discipleship. \u00a0The traditional organized church (particularly in the West), invests significant resources into the organizational aspects of its operation, often much larger than resources invested in the production of disciples. \u00a0This was bolstered by the comment, \u201cThe company spent more time managing its structure than improving its products.\u201d \u00a0(Pg. 221). \u00a0The church should take this que.<\/li>\n
  • Successful discipleship. \u00a0It is not easy to define metrics for disciple making success. \u00a0But it is important that every disciple maker and church have meaningful ways of evaluating success. \u00a0Those metrics\u00a0must<\/span>\u00a0include, as a priority, character development. \u00a0Brooks wrote, \u201ca thinker may be very smart but unless she possesses moral virtues such as honesty, rigor, and fair-mindedness, she probably won\u2019t succeed in real life.\u201d \u00a0(Location 166). \u00a0If disciples are to succeed in real life, if they are to be Christlike, then certainly their life will reflect the virtues mentioned along with other important virtues. \u00a0Disciple making must not only focus on content. \u00a0Raw knowledge does not equate to discipleship success. \u00a0Brooks writes, \u201cThe ultimate focus of political activity is the character of the society. Political, religious, and social institutions influence the unconscious choice architecture undergirding behavior. They can either create settings that nurture\u00a0virtuous choices or they can create settings that undermine them.\u201d \u00a0(Location 5281). \u00a0This is a powerful statement for building a disciple making culture\/community.<\/li>\n
  • Discipleship is not a solo endeavor! \u00a0Our culture values specialization and image and has facilitated a culture of individualization. \u00a0This has taken place in the church as it has in society. \u00a0In such a culture, real meaning in life is too often found in individual performance. \u00a0I so appreciated Brook\u2019s closing sentence in the book, \u201cHarold had achieved an important thing in his life. He had constructed a viewpoint. Other people see life primarily as a chess match played by reasoning machines. Harold saw life as a never ending interpenetration of souls.\u201d \u00a0(Location 6204). \u00a0Certainly, as we invest personally in life to life discipleship along with the person of Christ in our midst, we will experience that \u201cinterpenetration\u201d that he talks about throughout his book and our lives will have been very meaningful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    Question: When you consider the life on life discipleship that Jesus Christ conducted, focusing on a few but relating to them regularly and deeply, how is that model being reflected in your own life? \u00a0Is it your present reality? \u00a0If not, how can it begin, or be improved?<\/div>\n
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    Brooks, David (2011-03-08). The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement . Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It was an uneventful flight over the Atlantic into Amsterdam\u2019s Schiphol airport, at least until the landing. \u00a0I fly a fair amount and have experienced both take offs and landings in inclement weather. \u00a0This particular early morning in the late fall was foggy, very foggy. \u00a0I usually choose a window seat so that I am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[167,2],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brooks","tag-dminlgp","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1729,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/1729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}