The Big Diehl

I’ve pretty much decided that sometimes I need to “fake it ’til I feel it.”When I first started seriously learning classical piano in college, I had to practice several hours every day. Sometimes I was excited to work on the music - other times I looked for ways out of it. On those days where I didn’t feel like practicing I learned that I had to just fake it - I had to tell myself, “Adam, you want to practice.” Once I got practicing, I began to feel like it again. But I had to fake it before I felt it.

Can we translate that into our spiritual lives? Can we fake our Christianity? I say, “absolutely!” — I frequently fake my Christianity (Don’t freak out just yet - let me explain myself!)

You see, our faith doesn’t come from our feelings. Our faith comes from obedience. My obedience cannot be the result of my feelings. So, I’ll fake it.

Right now I really don’t want to go read my Bible. I have no desire to pray or seek God. I just don’t want to.

But I’m going to go fake it ’til I feel it. I’m sure that if I am just obedient and chase after God even when I don’t feel like it, the feelings will follow. I’ll feel like it after I get going. But to get going, I’ll fake it.

This post was inspired by a blog by Steven Furtick. 

My Uncle Mike is amazing. He’s probably the most brilliant mentor ever. He has forgotten more about Worship Arts Ministry than I know. Several times I have asked him for advice about a certain situation, wanting to tap into his seemingly infinite knowledge. Each time I fully expected him to say, “Adam, the solution is simple. You need to _____.”

But he never has done that. He’ll start by saying something like, “What do you think?” or “What do your instincts tell you to do?”  I hate it when he asked that! It would be so much easier if he just told me how to think. But he never did that. He continued to ask question after question until I solved my own problem.

As time went on, I found myself contacting my Uncle Mike for advice less and less. Every time I encountered a potential problem I started to intuitively ask MYSELF, “Adam, what do your instincts tell you to do in this situation?” If my Uncle Mike told me how to think, then I would be an Uncle Mike Junior (not that that would be all bad, I mean he’s pretty cool). But instead, my Uncle Mike helped develop me into my own person with my own leadership “guts.” Would it have been faster and easier for him to just tell me what to do? Sure, but not better.

I wrote this down on paper last February (I don’t remember why):

“A disciple-maker/mentor must regularly check his motives. The disciple-maker’s goal is to develop his proteges into devoted followers of Christ, in the context of their giftings, Calling (with a capital C), and personal vision.”

By the way, if you consider yourself a devoted follower of Christ and you’re not mentoring someone else, well, Jesus told us to go and make disciples… so get going. You don’t have to be a super-Christian. You just need to be honest. I wrote about that in 2006 right here.

Woot!!! My blog is exactly two years old today. I can’t think of anything creative to do in celebration except to link back to my blog post on June 3, 2006. I wrote it while on my internship in Tulsa, Oklahoma with Pastor Ed Gungor. Here it is.

Also, just for kicks, I must share with you. I saw in my Google Analytics report that someone got to my site by searching in Google, “what happened to ‘Turbo’ from American Gladiators?” lol. Cracks me up.

When I was little I wanted to be a superhero. I even filled a backpack with all the superhero essentials: rope (to swing from building to building), squirt guns, a mask, and a belt with cool crap on it. I wanted to be Batman, specifically. My best friend wanted to be Superman. Another one of my friends wanted to be Spiderman. Together - we would save the world. I doubt I’m the only one who wanted to be a superhero! Truth be told - most of us (especially the guys) wanted to be a superhero as well.

Recently it occurred to me that I am a superhero — I’m a Christian. Consider this:

Superheros help people — Christians are Christ’s ambassadors, and so therefore help people. Superheros save the day — Christians are working with the Guy who did. Superheros have superpowers to do amazing things — Christians have supernatural powers to heal (amongst other things), when they’re walking with Christ and lined up with the will of Christ. I mean to think about all the things that a Christian is supposed to do — all the responsibility God has placed in the hands of His Church — its incredible, and very similar to being a superhero! I AM IRONMAN!

Now don’t wet yourself - Jesus is the only one who really saves. I’m not trying to diminish His role - but I’m trying to help all of us remember how important OUR role is! God has given US the responsibility of being His ambassadors.

So many people (even most Christians) think that Christianity is boring. It’s about being a nice, clean, good (and boring) person. That’s ridiculous.

I remember just under 10 years ago I was at church camp. Pastor Matt Keller was giving an altar call for those that wanted to open their lives up completely to Christ and would say to God, “However You want to use me, I’m available.” I remember when Pastor Matt followed that up and said, “Be careful responding to this altar call - if you open your life up to be used by God, HE WILL USE IT!” I remember how seriously I devoted my entire being to Christ that night.

From that moment on weird crap started happening to me. I often feel like I’m living in a well scripted action movie. Its as if God is directing a movie called, “Adam Diehl — the Superhero.” I’m not swinging from building to building knocking out muggers, but the opportunities God has orchestrated into my life is absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have a more action packed life if I were Indiana Jones.

Many men spend their lives looking for action and adventure. You will never find more action and adventure than in the life that is completely devoted to Christ.