Michael Hindes

Living With Side Effects

I went on antibiotics this past weekend for an ear infection.  I seem to get the same infection every year at this time.  A friend, who’s a PA, visited and prescribed some antibiotics.  It appears to be helping, but yuck…

My stomach is really funky – nausea ;(

Of course that’s part of taking medications, right?  All medicines have side effects.  I once got a script for sinus headaches that listed “headaches” as a side effect, wth?

The pills they advertise on TV are loaded with side effects.  Rather than just ignoring or muting, actually listen to one of them next time– its unbelievable.

There’s a fat blocker pill that lowers cholesterol but causes “anal leaking” – I’m pretty sure I’d rather be fat, just saying.  That side effect isn’t worth the benefit.

One of my closest friends is battling cancer right now.  He’s on chemo twice a month - it’s decreasing the size of his tumor and lessening the cancer markers.  Which is great news!  But he’s nauseated all of the time and has lost most of his hair.  He told me the other day over the phone that he looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.  But if he’s winning, the side effects are definitely worth it.

Pretty much everything has side effects.  And a not just medication, anything beneficial usually has some sort of one off challenge or struggle.

Maturity requires us to stop being selfish and blaming others

Loving requires us to put others’ needs ahead of your own

Physical Health requires restraint and discipline

Building requires plans, preparation, implementation, and work

Budgeting requires impulse control

Living requires dying

Leading requires following

Service requires serving

You get the point, right?  Everything has a side effect - a price of admission so to speak.

The question is, “are we willing to live with the side effects required to improve our health”?

Just like Vodka

I woke up this morning with vodka on my mind – don’t ask!

I was thinking about how much our lives are like vodka, at least mine is…

Vodka Facts:

Vodka can be made out of pretty much anything, just like us. People come from all walks of life with differing kinds of heritage both natural and spiritual.

And just like vodka we are put through a rigorous process of filtration.  The only difference between cheap and expensive vodka is the number of times it’s been filtered, or purified. Really expensive stuff, Grey Goose – again, don’t ask – is purified at least five times.

I guess if I was vodka, I’d be pretty expensive because I’m in a constant process of filtration and purification. God, through circumstances and relationships, is always at work in my life filtering out impurities.

The really good stuff is supposed to just taste pure, refreshing, actually. I think our lives should be like that as well. People should be able to taste our lives and be refreshed by our un-polluted flavor.

More Vodka Facts:

Did you know that vodka could be made from cucumber, potato, tomato, corn, sorghum, rice, beets, grapes, again pretty much anything? And the goal of the distillation process is to filter out as much of its original taste as possible in order to reduce it down to its the purest state – alcohol.

But no matter how many times you filter it, you can never get what or where it comes from out of the flavor. There is a distinction of flavors based on the original crop and where the original crop was grown. For instance, there’s a difference in the flavor of vodka made from potatoes and that made from grapes, and there’s a difference in the flavor of sorghum vodka made in the United States and that, which is bottled in the Netherlands – one more time, just stop asking how I know this stuff…

Isn’t this kind of the way we are as well? We get purified again and again, but we are always flavored with where we come from. That’s what makes our lives distinct and our own brands unique. No matter how much we pride ourselves in our purity, we remain with just a little of our original residue. This reminds of the disciples who stood in the courtyard warming themselves at the fire as Jesus was being interrogated. The people around them knew they too were from Nazareth because “their speech betrayed them” (Matt 26:73).

One last interesting Vodka fact:

Many mixed drinks have vodka as their base because it blends so well with everything, though vodka can certainly be enjoyed on it’s own.  In our lives, God should be able to add us to any group of people in order enhance their flavor, but we should also be fully content to be on our own, enjoying the freshness of the purification that’s been done in our lives.

O.K. - if you don’t like my analogy, what do you think we taste like?  And don’t say Jesus, that’s too easy…

Being at Home

Everyone needs a place where they can just be themselves – preferably that place is home.  A place where you can talk, laugh, debate, unplug, unwind, even just sit back in quiet and read.  To me home isn’t so much about location, it’s about whom you do “home” with…

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines home as: one’s place of residence or the social unit formed by a family living (being) together.  It further defines the term at home as being: relaxed, comfortable, at ease, in harmony with surroundings, on familiar ground.

That defines exactly how I feel when all five of us, actually now six of us, are together.  I’m at ease; nothing deep or profound is expected of me.  I’m allowed to sit in comfortable clothes and surroundings, enjoy the conversation, and just be.

Christmas was wonderful yesterday, not because of any special traditions but because we were all together simply being ourselves.  There’s something powerful about being given the permission to be you – to know that you are fully accepted and loved without any pretense or pressure.

When I’m with my family in these moments, I can almost hear my soul exhale a sigh of relief, because my soul knows I’m at home regardless of the address.

As I sat on the couch last night I wondered how many people actually felt at home yesterday?  I wondered what the trick was, to get people to feel at ease?  I’m not sure Kathy and I have any magic formula or any incredible insight, but people do feel very comfortable in whatever home we reside…

Then this morning I woke up thinking abut the church, wondering if it could create an environment where people could be at home, be comfortable, be at ease?  Can we create a place where people don’t have to feel like guests, a place where they don’t have to pretend to be someone or something else?

Can you imagine a church where your soul exhales a sigh of relief because it knows it’s home?

Monday Musings…

“I begin to ask myself how we can learn all the things God wants to teach us if we limit our intake with fear.  I see fear everywhere: the common fear of having to think in a new way; fear of listening to other spiritual points of view; fear of revelations about God that don’t fit comfortably with existing ideas and opinions.  Could the God of all creation really only be capable of revealing Himself to all people in (just) one way.”  Paula D’Arcy: The Gift of the Red Bird

The previous paragraph struck my heart deeply and resonated strongly within my spirit.  But before you get too concerned, this isn’t my declaration that “all roads lead to heaven”.  For I know that all roads most certainly do not.  I remain in faith that “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).  I’m concerned however that though my faith is deeply planted in that truth, I’m much too defensive?  My natural tendencies are to speak dismissively of other religions and others’ struggle to find God?  For all the grace I’ve received and the little bit of grace I understand, I remain too harsh about others’ journeys.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Is my God big enough to “direct the paths” of all those who seek to trust Him, even if their ideology isn’t perfect?  That phrase “direct paths” actually means to make “paths straight”.  Even my journey to God started on some sort of crooked path of truth.  Some aspect of my belief, hope, and faith weren’t and still aren’t completely straight…

My dogma to defend my path, my need to be right, and my unwillingness to listen to other spiritual insights make my “way” much to narrow for others to follow.  To make matters worse, over the past twenty-five years, the Church has tethered her beliefs to her political platforms.  Thus nearly “dogmatizing” her out of influence.

I read an interesting piece in the New York Times Sunday (http://tinyurl.com/cukvtpt).  It stated that nearly 25% of young adults in America mark “none” on surveys when it comes to religious preferences.  Yet only a very small percentage of those considered themselves atheists.  That means there remains openness to spiritual truth, at precisely the same time there’s a growing disdain for organized religion.  This generation is concerned that religion is so entangled with politics that they’ve decided to opt out of both.

Still desiring truth, but disliking the delivery system brings us an awesome opportunity to change not the object of, but the vehicle of our revelation.

But are we ready to reach the generations around us?  Are we ready to embrace humility?  Are we ready to love others and respect their paths (even if their paths need some straightening)?  I’d like to say, “I am”, but it would be easier to do this as a “we are”…

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