…confused, mostly.

i have never had the sense that God wanted me to strip naked and wander around in public [Isaiah 20] [although to be fair that didn’t stop me from getting accused of doing just that when i was doing my YWAM DTS in Holland in 2001]

i have also not felt like God was telling me to hide my underwear in a cleft of a rock for a long time before retrieving it [Jeremiah 13]

Thankfully i also did not receive the call to marry a prostitute as a prophetic act symbolising to the people the messed-up-ness of their relationship with God [Hosea 1]

And then there is Ezekiel, who i’m busy reading now. “Lie down on your side for 390 days, eating only this particular bread and drinking water. Bake the bread on human poo [Ezekiel complained and it got upgraded to cow poo]. Okay, done? Good job, now turn over and do it again on the other side.” [Ezekiel 4]

Man, you have to think those guys would have loved Facebook… “Today, i want you to write a provocative status to make rich people feel bad.” Or something.

HOW TO MAKE A PROPHET

The problem with being a prophetic voice [and who gets to decide if that’s what you are anyways and if you think you are then maybe you aren’t?] is that you generally don’t get to share feel-good messages. Typically in the Bible, the ones who shared the feel-good “Everything is going to be alright. Everything is going to be okay. A-la-la-la-la-long-long-le-long-long-long” messages were the false prophets and stuff didn’t typically turn out so well for them.

So you’re going to piss people off. But that’s not exactly the mandate or the means of recognising if you’re doing the right thing. Because sometimes you can piss people off just by being a douche. Other times simply by typing the word ‘douche’. Although i got someone really annoyed with me the other day for using the words “swear word” [because i made him think of the actual swear word i was refusing to write, when in actual fact i was just doing a choose-your-own-adventure moment of pick the one that feels most right for you in this moment]. And then had someone cheering yesterday when i used the word ‘adjective’ in place of what might have been a swear word [depending on your mood].

i’m sorry my words make you feel so bad when there are people literally living in devastating conditions and being treated like absolute adjective on a regular basis.

If i speak prophetically and point people towards living better lives [be it about God or race or money or family] people are going to get pissed [especially if they feel something is directed at them, which always happens, giving rise to what would be my number 1 rule for Facebook Club if such a thing existed:

First rule of Facebook club: Not every Facebook status is about you… (except this one… this one totally is!)

If i get it wrong and write something that just offends but that is based on me being judgemental or self-absorbed or just plain douchey [Wow, that person who gets annoyed when i use the word ‘douche’ is going to be overtime pissed at me today. As is the one who gets annoyed when i say ‘pissed.’] then people are going to get pissed [and maybe more rightly so].

The point being that you can’t looked at the pissed-offness-or-not of people to determine whether you are doing a good job or not.

Which is where my crew come in [you have to have a crew!] Starting with tbV who will not let me get away with it if she thinks i’ve got it wrong [which i so appreciative and which is obviously also really hard and challenging cos i don’t know anyone who ever likes hearing the possibility they got it wrong] and then some really close friends who have earned wound-making ability rights… and then, a little further down the line, everyone else.

If you’ve never taken the opportunity to encourage me when i get it really right [as i tend to do from time to time] then your challenge or rebuke when you think i’ve got it completely wrong carries a little less weight. No, a lot less. 

We earn the right to speak into people’s lives. In a way that they will listen to meaningfully. In fact, i think the reverse is also true to an extent – if you only ever like, retweet, share, cheer everything i say, then your applause carries a little less weight. Maybe a lot less as well.

i definitely need to know when i get it wrong. How else can i grow? But it also helps sometimes to get a little bit of an indication of when i get it right.

When Isaiah is called by God to be a prophet, the first part of his response is, “Woe to me! I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” 

That’s me. Especially now. i am not speaking from a place of having it all together or living it all out and there are certainly some areas where i am trying to improve on both of those. But every piece of truth i speak starts with me and takes place in front of the mirror, because i know i can and have to do better. i challenge the evil and greed and complacency and apathy in myself and when that spills out online, the hope is that others will overhear and go and stand in front of their own mirrors, not ever accepting it simply because i say it [this particular message might not be for you!] but if and because it is true and is something that needs to be addressed.

As my friend Dean said:

The reality is that there are many of the HAVES who do very little…but there are also an incredible number of the HAVES (some/most of those reading these posts) who are challenged and wanting to do stuff for change; AND even doing stuff currently. The daily attempt to make life better is just that: the constant working out of what that looks like.

Many people do not fully know how to love and live out this challenge. And are really seeking input and wisdom. NOT fear of attack.

There are a lot of people who are doing their best in a vastly complicated world and who are ongoingly wrestling with issues of wealth and race and politicial focus and education and so much more. Keep doing that. But there are many who are not and who are tending towards complacent, uninterested, unconcerned, apathetic, hypocritical and worse. And most of us might probably be both.

i am not going to stop roaring. The people who keep me in check had better not stop lovingly wounding me when necessary [Proverbs 27.6] and possibly dropping me a clue every now and then when i maybe get it right.

And until i hear otherwise i think we are going to continue cooking our food just on a regular stove, and leave the cow poo to the professionals.