Part One

Just when I thought I had this awesome idea for a subject, I found out it was high jacked years ago. I thought I was being revolutionary, but hey like Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.”  In church one night my worship leader started telling me about a song idea, “eighteen inches” which is evidently the distance between your head and your heart. I thought, “What a beautiful concept” and it has not left me since that night. But I found people have been talking about this for years. Oh well. Here comes another one talking about it. Oh and Noah, there is already a country song called “Eighteen Inches” so don’t blame me for stealing your idea!

            What intrigues me most about this thought is the truth that’s behind it. Eighteen inches may as well be 1000 miles in my life many days. Let me explain what I mean. It is eighteen inches from the average person’s head to their heart. Eighteen inches is not all that far. Look down at your heart, there it is right there. That is the distance information has to travel in order to become a part of who you are. Head knowledge and heart knowledge are two different things. Head knowledge is not necessarily life changing. It can be, but many times we say we believe things, and in our head we do, but what we actually do shows something entirely different. Let me illustrate.

            I know that texting and driving is wrong. I know that it can cost people their lives. I know that it is irresponsible, and dangerous. I know that. But I don’t believe it, at least not for me. I teach my kids not to text and drive, I tell my wife she should not be texting and driving, but when it comes to me I do it without thinking. Therefore, I know I shouldn’t be doing it, but I don’t believe I shouldn’t be doing it. If I did I wouldn’t be doing it. See, there is a disconnection between my heart and my head.

            But let’s take it a little farther. The other day I was riding down the road, texting, and looked up and the car in front of me was stopped, I have no idea why they were stopped, but they were. I had to slam on the brakes. I threw my phone in the back seat, said a few words a pastor should not say, and then drove on. Realizing once again that I should not be texting and driving. I drove about two miles, pulled over and got my phone. Thirty minutes later I was texting and driving. What will it take? How will I ever make that connection?

            I have a friend from seminary, let’s call him Joe. Joe is a great guy. One day we were going to lunch and he threw his phone in the back seat. I did not think anything. When we got to the eating place, he got it out. We went in, ate, came back out, and into the back seat the phone went. This time I had to ask. The story he told shocked me. Joe’s sister was paralyzed from the waist down because she was texting while driving and hit someone head on. Not only was she paralyzed, the person she hit did not live through the accident. All because she was texting and driving she was paralyzed, someone else was dead. This made it real to Joe, he didn't only know, he believed. And he believed because he had been touched by the effects of texting and driving.

            I hope this is making sense. Let me keep going for a second.                      

            Racism is growing less and less popular. Racism is ignorant. And most of us know it is wrong, but let us ask the question, do we believe it is wrong? Ask this question, when someone from a different race pulls out in front of you do you blame it on their race? When a race of people gets special treatment because of whom they are and nothing else, do you immediately get bitter in your heart against the whole race? There is nothing wrong with getting angry at injustice, or when you are wronged, but there is something wrong with blaming it on a race of people. That reveals what you truly believe.

            Take it one further, if you say you are not racist, that you know it is wrong, what do you do if your white daughter brings home a black boyfriend? Or if your white son brings home a Hispanic girlfriend? Or what do you do when you black daughter brings home a white boyfriend? Or your Hispanic son brings home an Asian girlfriend? Experience reveals what you truly believe. It reveals your heart. You cannot get away from it. And experience will not only reveal what you believe, it can change what you believe as well. The racist can be changed by an interracial grand baby. The texting driver can be changed by a paralyzed sister. Experience changes belief. And, experience makes knowledge become reality which makes it belief. You have to experience something to believe it. And sometimes experience can be costly.

            My dad used to tell me things all the time. And I wouldn’t listen (I think I just heard an “amen” from my dad’s house two miles away). But the older I get I not only realize those things were true, but now I am saying the same things to my kids, who don’t listen. Why? One big fat word, EXPERIENCE! Once I experienced those things my dad said would be, they became my belief.

            Since I am a pastor I guess we should stick some Jesus stuff in here huh?

            Jesus said in Luke 6:43-45, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

            The problem with us Christians, and the reason we live a defeated life, is a disconnection between the head and the heart. We fail to connect what we know to what we believe. This will be our journey. Jesus said that what comes out of our heart reveals what we believe. So at the most basic level, if you want to know what you believe, look at where you are headed.

            More on where your headed next time, for now let this soak into your soul. :)