Action Figures<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stick Figure Spirituality Volume One, Number Two ACTION FIGURES God loves you better than you love yourself. But the action figures are interchangeable. I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/12\/action-figures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Action Figures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stick Figure Spirituality Volume One, Number Two ACTION FIGURES God loves you better than you love yourself. But the action figures are interchangeable. I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/12\/action-figures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-28T05:23:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/files\/2012\/12\/Stick-Figure-Action.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/12\/action-figures\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/12\/action-figures\/\",\"name\":\"Action Figures\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-28T05:23:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-28T05:23:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"Stick Figure Spirituality Volume One, Number Two ACTION FIGURES God loves you better than you love yourself. 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Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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{"id":972,"date":"2012-12-27T22:23:15","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T05:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?p=972"},"modified":"2012-12-27T22:23:15","modified_gmt":"2012-12-28T05:23:15","slug":"action-figures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2012\/12\/action-figures\/","title":{"rendered":"Action Figures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I am blessed with a wise friend or two and some weeks ago, one of them observed, \u201cYou know, God loves us, but the action figures are interchangeable.\u201d \u00a0I\u2019ve been thinking about that observation a lot of late and I think he\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The question is, how can God love us and seemingly care so little about the particular circumstances of our life and work?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An explanation is beginning to emerge that addresses that question \u2014 and the particulars are on their way in book-form.\u00a0 But in outline, I\u2019d explain it this way:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One, God\u2019s work is bigger than our piece of it.\u00a0 Any undertaking that is bigger than our assignment is going to bump up against our desire for our piece of it to matter more than it probably does.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The work of God, stretched out across millions of lives and millenia of history cannot help but leave us feeling smaller than we\u2019d like to think we are\u2026..because, in fact, we are smaller than we think we are.\u00a0 The value of what we do, have done, or will do lies entirely in living at God\u2019s disposal.<\/p>\n

Two, there are bound to be events along the way that seem to unsaddle our efforts, because things intervene\u2026.illness, random events, the choices made by others.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

There is nothing to suggest that a genuinely christian spirituality is lived out in a well-ordered vacuum.\u00a0 In fact, from start to finish the biblical narrative is about chaos in motion\u2026.re-read Genesis, the Book of Judges, the Psalms, or the Gospels.<\/p>\n

Three, important moments and choices loom larger than they probably are in the grand scheme of things.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s our mortal task to treat individual choices with seriousness \u2014 making faithful, careful, informed decisions.\u00a0 But those events and choices matter more as laboratories for learning how to live faithfully than they do in and of themselves.<\/p>\n

Exploring that dimension of our lives leads us ever more deeply into the one thing that matters: Our relationship with God.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"