What I'm Thankful For

I woke up this morning in an incredibly thankful mood. Since that doesn't happen very often (although I desperately wish it did) I decided to write a few things down. These are the things I'm thankful for:

-I am thankful for my God. I am thankful that he has a name, Yahweh. I am thankful that he is a man, Jesus. I am thankful that he has revealed himself in history, but I am most thankful that he reveals himself now. I am thankful that faith is kind of like cliff jumping: It looks silly, scary and stupid until you try it and realize that the reality of the act comes to you during the experience. Only those that have taken the plunge understand, appreciate, and live for it. I am thankful that ultimately we relate to God in relationship. Not a one-way relationship, but a living, breathing, intimate and life-giving relationship. I am thankful that the Lord has shown himself to me and that no matter what happens in my life I could never "un-believe" in him. It is just like having a conversation with someone, walking away and trying to convince yourself that they don't exist. It just can't happen.

-I am thankful for my wife Brittany. I am thankful for her heart, her courage, and her spirit. I am thankful that I am joined together with her in this journey of life. Wow. I am thankful and in awe of her faith. I am thankful for her joy and laughter. I am thankful for the way that she mirrors the love of God in being a mother. (Side note: I am thankful that she's the best cook in the whole wide world and it is awesome to watch her creativity and skill come out in the things she makes with such ease and delicacy)

-I am thankful for my son Cooper. I am thankful for the way in which his youthfulness and joy mirrors the spirit and nature of the Lord. I am thankful that he has shown me the true meaning of having faith like a child. I am thankful for his tender heart and his innocence. I am thankful that he is growing into a strong, smart, and caring little boy. I am thankful that he has such a wonderful support system of love around him. I am thankful that the Lord has chosen him for a wonderful purpose that I get to play a part in bringing about and watching unfold.

-I am thankful for the rest of my family. I am thankful for my mother, father, brother, sister, step-father, step-mother, father in-law, mother in-law, step-father in-law, grandparents in-laws (sp?), brothers in-laws and the rest of my amazing extended family. I am thankful for the way in which marriage brings about connections and unity not only with an added family, but with the family you've always had. I have come to have such an appreciation for the way I was raised and the way that the Lord redeemed hard situations to bring about his glory and to shower love on me.

-I am thankful for my job. I am thankful that the Lord has chosen me to bring his hope and love to middle schoolers in Boulder. I love that. I love the kids that I am currently walking with, and have gotten the privilege to walk with over the last 7 years. I am thankful for the place where I work. I am thankful that First Pres has such a commitment to the next generation, and shows their commitment where it counts the most and costs them the most. That is the measure of support. I am thankful for the people I work with. They are wonderful examples of God's love.

-I am thankful for this season.

In the Trenches

Caleb is in 7^th grade, and his family life is hard.  His mom died when he was 5, and his dad, stretched thin as a middle-aged single father of 3 working as a carpet salesman, barely has enough time to work and feed his children.  Relationships have come hard for his father in the past few years, and he’s lived with a two of his girlfriends without ever marrying.  Caleb’s family is good enough; they stress morals, virtue, and the benefits of being good people.  But without much of a reason for the question of “why”, deep down Caleb is confused.  He sees the way in which his dad tries to love him and his siblings, but he also sees the incredible pain and lack of commitment in his father’s life.  Rarely is someone home when he walks in the front door from school.  He has trouble doing his homework and excelling in school.  He sees his older sister not coming home on the weekends and dating losers.  Last week he found her stash of bud (translation: marijuana), showed all his friends and stole some.  Caleb wonders why his father won’t seriously approach her about the stuff she’s doing, but all his friends think it’s cool so he doesn’t say anything.  There is no spoken belief in God and Caleb has never attended a church service in his life… Fast forward to the day that his buddy Kevin invites him to come to his youth group with him.  Caleb shows up nervous, but is soon glad to see other kids he knows from school along with a few cute girls that catch his eye.  He meets a volunteer leader and fills out a guest card with all his info (including writing his name as Chuck Norris) on it before leaving for the night and going home.  Stop here. 

 

Two worlds have collided and the situation is messy.  From the outside it could look a lot worse, and many times it is, but on the inside lies confusion, apathy and insecurity.  This situation is too systemic and removed for a church program plagued by religious stigma, and too complex for a well-structured weeknight youth service.

 

Isn’t this the average American family that we come in contact with all the time?  Can’t we name dozens of people that fit into a profile like this?  The fact is that many of us can easily identify the families like this in our community.  Sometimes it’s hard to see the suffering in people when it’s not overt and explicit, and many times Christians don’t know how to interact and speak into people who haven’t hit rock bottom.  It is intimidating.  Words don’t penetrate as deeply.  Simply put: it requires more of our time and relational energy.    

 

All the awesome worship guitar rifts in the world won’t reach Caleb when he goes back to his day-to-day life and home.  No awesome talk and funny video will do much by itself to bring Caleb to a place of true healing in his life.  No flat screen TV with inspirational teaching loops on it will instantly provide him the love he needs to navigate the tough world around him.  No awe-inspiring multi-million dollar church building will make his dad a better father to his children, or clean up his sister’s life.  God definitely uses all the previously mentioned avenues of ministry in certain ways, but when left alone they fall well short of the way the Lord uses people in the lives of each other.  Caleb knows this and deep down he’ll continue his journey, wandering like an isolated nomad through the deserts of adolescence. 

 

It doesn’t matter that most experienced youth workers can immediately identify what’s wrong with this scenario, because in reality few people will do anything about it.  Life changing relationships just don’t happen all that often for kids like Caleb.  They’re not in the “inner circle” of the social youth group club.  They’re flaky and skeptical.  The only group they really fit in is the broken, hurting, and lost majority of society. They have emotional walls up that will test the patience of all but the most dedicated, called and incarnationally minded people. 

 

What’s that?  Incarnationally minded?  Is that just some “Christianese” seminary word?  Sadly, for most people yes.  The truth is though, if you want to understand what real ministry in the trenches looks like, you have to understand the power of incarnational relationships.  At the core of following and believing in Jesus Christ is the idea that God incarnated himself, or became flesh, and dwelt among us. (John 1:14)  He went from heaven to earth.  He went from the comfortable to the painful.  He went somewhere that he was out of place.   He laid down his life.  How we attempt to do the same in the lives of those around us will determine the effectiveness of our ministry and our faith. 

 

Our goal and call is simple:  present the life changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which we have seen FIRST HAND, to a world that desperately needs it.

 

The way in which we go about it requires something of us: our lives.     

Quote

The following is an excerpt from an Irving Kristol essay titled "Income Inequality Without Class Conflict", Dec, 18, 1997.  Reprinted in the Wall Street Journal on 9/19/09.

"It is often said that capitalism - that is, a market economy - is morally obnoxious because its 'trickle-down economics' inevitably creates inequality of income and wealth.  Now it is certainly true that 'trickle-down economics' has that effect.  It is also true, however, that if you want economic growth and greater affluence for all, there is simply no alternative to 'trickle-down economics,' which is just another name for growth economics. 

The world has yet to see a successful version of 'trickle-UP economics,' an egalitarian society in which the sate ensures that the fruits of economic growth are universally and equally shared.  The trouble with this idea - it is, of course, the socialist ideal - is that it does not produce those fruits in the first place.  Economic growth is promoted by entrepreneurs and innovators, whose ambitions, when realized, create inequality.  No one with any knowledge of human nature can expect such people not to want to be relatively rich, and if they are too long frustrated they will cease to be productive.  Nor can the state substitute for them, because the state simply cannot engage in the 'creative destruction' that is an essential aspect of innovation.  The state cannot and should not be a risk-taking institution, since it is politically impossible for any state to cope with the inevitable bankruptcies associated with economic risk taking."

Curing the Cancer: Mistrust

Lately a spirit of unity has been sweeping over the youth ministry community where I live.  It seems that we’ve all come to the conclusion that if we don’t work together we’re like people swimming alone up a swift river…working really hard and not going anywhere.  More than that, I think we’ve come to realize that in a city like Boulder, unity in the faith community speaks volumes to people seeking truth in their lives.  Boulder is a place of deeply fractured belief systems.  There is no one dominate world-view, and people are precisely attracted to living here for that reason.  Being united in belief and practice stands out in sharp contrast to the world around us, and the power of cooperative truth can be a strong magnet to people looking for the Lord.

The last thing we need to have is a fractured Church.  I think we’d all agree with this statement, at least in spirit, and I know that there are many people who have heartbeats driving them to promote unity in the Christian community.  That is wonderful…and needed.  I’ve been wrestling with this idea though, and I’m constantly confronted with the question of why.  Why is unity so hard in practice?  More importantly, what does Christ mean when he calls us to be one as he and his Father are one?

            As I’m being led to work in unity with the people around me, I’m realizing just how hard it can be.  I’m beginning to understand how little differences can actually become huge barriers in the process of gaining momentum.  To begin the process of understanding each other and moving to a place of true undivided ministry, we can’t just expose the areas that we disagree on and attempt to reconcile them.  This approach is many times impossible and even dangerous.  We will always disagree.  In fact, we should disagree…it’s healthy.  Homogenous ministry approaches and worldviews can lead to blind-sided organizational structures and will miss out on reaching/communicating to whole groups of people.  Without disagreement, it is impossible for us to improve, restore and grow each other as iron sharpens iron.  An iron sword standing alone becomes dull and useless…as do we when we aren’t opening ourselves up to the criticisms (and even the slightly off-base ideas) of others.  This leads us to the conclusion that it is not disagreement on it’s own that is causing so much strife within the Christian community …it is something much deeper. 

Something is present in conflict that tries to take our differences (that which are inherently beautiful and part of our creation) and turn them into ugly irreconcilable monsters that threaten the very fabric of our being.  I want to dive deep into mistrust and the ways in which it divides and conquers the body of Christ.  Mistrust acts like a cancer cell in our spirit.  It breeds on itself and multiplies until it takes over whole regions in our lives.  It takes away the freedom and beauty that comes when the Christian community acts in a healthy way. 

Mistrust is developed in two major ways as it relates to the ministry community: It comes from our own insecurities around who we are in Christ, and it comes out of a misunderstanding of the kingdom of God.  When we forget the darkness that Christ called us and redeemed us out of, we can quickly forget that the Lord takes us first as we are and then begins the process of transformation within us.  He takes all of our shortsighted ideas, our less-than-holy lives, and our brokenness, and in turn he gives us life.  He lets us on to his team…he asks us to join his ‘club’.  We forget that we are imperfect sinners called to live deeply in grace, and then we project impossible standards of perfection on to those around us that are still actively falling short.  When they don’t stand up to those standards, we call them heretics and accuse them of watering down the gospel.  Couldn’t this be what Jesus was partly rebuking the Pharisees for in Matthew 23:4 and Luke 11:46 when he mentions the burdens that they place on people without lifting their own fingers to help them as they stumble?  It seems that one of the problems of the Pharisees was that they pictured a kingdom of heaven without the broken, messy, and redeemed people of the world.  They were the epitome of mistrust.  They didn’t trust each other, let alone other Jews and Gentiles.  When Christ called lowly fishermen to be his disciples, heal, teach, and start his church, it raised more than a few angry fists. 

All this to say, as we live in a kingdom of crazy, broken, and sinful people, we can’t let disagreements (however right and just we may be in the situation) become a foothold for disunity.  Instead, we should act like Paul encourages us to in Galatians 6:1…restore each other gently.  We need to pick our battles and any time we begin to worship the clarity of our theological pool, we have to remember that Jesus just might come walk through it with muddy boots on.  

A Bible Divided?

"Arise, my soul, arise;

Shake off thy guilty fears;

The bleeding Sacrifice

In my behalf appears:

Before the throne my Surety stands,

My name is written on His hands.

My God is reconciled;

His pardoning voice I hear:

He owns me for His child;

I can no longer fear:

With confidence I now draw nigh,

And 'Father, Abba, Father,' cry".

-Charles Wesley-

This is beautiful.  And at first glance it would appear to be only talking about a reality that comes to us in the New Testament with the sacrifice of Jesus.  While never saying the word 'mercy', the hymn is all about the deep, incredible and abounding mercies of God.  That we, an imperfect and rebellious people, should ever share the table with the Most High and be called his sons and daughters is truly an amazing and undeserved thing.  These truths are not something that most Christ followers would protest against, but there is something that we mustn't ever mistake.  The mercy of God is not just something that happens to 'appear' in the New Testament as if it had been hibernating throughout the Old Testament.  In fact, mercy and judgement, being one in the nature of God, appear in equal parts throughout the whole Bible.  Even though the Lord doesn't need defending or explaining, it is helpful to see the ways in which this oneness of character is shown throughout the scriptures.  

It is a great, awful, and mysterious thing that God continually tries to reconcile himself to rebellious sons and daughters of his creation.  The fact that the prophets of the Old Testament were sent to us at all shows the mercy of the Lord abounding in it's infinitude.  How many times does he plead with his people to repent and turn back to him in the Old Testament?  To count would miss the point because that is what the whole Bible is about.  The coming of Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the merciful nature of God, but with it also comes ultimate justice.  

John 12:47,48 says this:  "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him.  For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.  There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day".

Jesus is saying here that he doesn't need to point an accusing finger at anybody, as if he were some judge sitting on a bench deciding peoples fates on a whim.  He's saying that his job was to come and speak truth to all that would hear and all who wouldn't.  That's it.  God's mercy is out there for all that decide to take it and live into it.  Jesus didn't come to judge anybody, but that doesn't change the fact that his words are truth and they never change.   

I also think it is important that we realize that God didn't just decide to one day change his nature and send Jesus into the world.  He is perfect in both his justice and his mercy.  They never contradict themselves in his nature; His words are the same yesterday, today, and forever.  

Immutability

"Chance and change are busy in our little world of nature and men, but in Thee we find no variableness nor shadow of turning.  We rest in Thee without fear or doubt and face our tomorrows without anxiety."

Even if you know what the word immutability means, how many people have ever really used it in a sentence?  I have a horrible vocabulary and I never was good at pulling words out on the fly to impress.  In fact, I still have a few words that I am constantly using in the wrong context...and I don't care.  The truth is though, that I've come to love this little (or not so little) word immutability lately.  

It means being incapable of change.  

Most importantly, it is a quality that is central to understanding God.  God is immutable.  He is incapable of changing.  His very nature prohibits itself from changing.  To change would imply that what the former state of God wasn't perfected in it's entirety and a need to change would be present.  He would either have to go from bad to better, from better to worse, mature to immature, or vice versa.  God is perfect.  He is what he has always been, what he wants to be, and what he can't help but being.  Of course we are talking about the core here...the very nature of God.  Even when Christ was born into the world, God didn't change his nature...Jesus was there from the beginning.

In a world and life that is wrought with change, some good and some bad, most people would say that it is hard.  Even if it is a change that needs to happen, it pulls us away from our comfort zone and isolates us with doubt.  We need to realize that change is not an inherently holy thing.  It is a result of fallen people needing to re-align themselves with their creator.  A man who walked closely with the Lord once said:

"In God no change is possible; in men change is impossible to escape.  Neither the man is fixed nor his world, but he and it are in constant flux.  Each man appears for a little while to laugh and weep, to work and play, and then to go to make room for those who shall follow him in the never-ending cycle."

Don't we all search for an everlasting permanence in our lives?  Don't we forever seek the solid rock to make our home upon?  Don't we desire to settle the Promised Land and live amongst family that know us?  I'm convinced that even the hard core wanderers among us (and I've done some wandering of my own) deeply desire to put their roots down in the soil of permanence.  That is what the Lord offers us.  That is what he wants to redeem us to.  Each of us know inherently that life changes ultimately bring us to the final change...death.  The cyclical nature of change ends up bringing us to a point of finality and fear.  It's depressing if you think about it.  

Can we seek the immutability of God while still realizing that the Lord works his plan of redemption through the very process that he stands against?  He desires complete permanence for us in him, but to bring us there he needs us to change.  I hope we realize that God will never change to suit our needs or fill our brokenness...instead he invites us into his immutable umbrella like a hen gathering her chicks.  That is beautiful...and immutable.

where words fail...

"Lord, how great is our dilemma!  In thy presence silence best becomes us, but love inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak.  Were we to hold our peace the stones would cry out; yet if we speak, what shall we say?  Teach us to know that we cannot know, for the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.  Let faith support us where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order that we may believe."

-A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

This is not just a reflective prayer written down by a man who intimately knew God, but truth of a real dilemma that we are faced with as people.  The more we get to know the Lord and see his ways, the more we get faced with this situation.  The Bible is full of scripture that speaks to this very truth.  David in The Psalms, Jesus speaking of the hearts of his followers, and Paul talking about the supremacy of Christ in the book of Colossians as well as the work of the Holy Spirit in the children of God, all describe this.  Our prayer should be simply that God shows us himself in this way...and then we wait for him to reveal himself.

Healing

"As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David!'  When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' 'Yes, Lord,' they replied.  Then he touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith will it be done to you'; and their sight was restored." -Matthew 9:27-30

I just returned from a trip to Mamelodi, South Africa.  I went down there with a group from Cincinnati, Ohio, and I was assigned to be a part of a medical team for the duration of the trip.  Mamelodi is a township outside of the city of Pretoria, created during Apartheid, and almost 100% black.  The makeshift city (full of squatters and people of abject poverty living alongside middle class families) has a staggering HIV/AIDS positive population.  We set up medical tents out in the lower class neighborhoods and invited all who needed it to come and receive the medical treatment that we could provide.  There was about 15-20 people on the medical team, including a handful of nurses and three doctors.  I have no prior medical experience.  My job was to work in the Triage tent, effectively being the first person to come in contact with those seeking care.  I had to figure out whether or not they needed to see a doctor, and if not then I had to let our "pharmacy" know what they needed to help alleviate some of the illnesses they came in with.  Every day 300+ people would show up to receive care, and the doctors/nurses could only personally see so many of them.  I got rather good at diagnosing the common cold, heat rash, women's health issues (don't ask), and arthritis in the elderly.  I prayed that the Lord would give me eyes to see into what was ailing them and to speak directly into whatever it was.  Many of the people simply needed someone to talk to.  Many of them were also beyond help, dying of AIDS, and in the advanced stages of cancer.  I personally witnessed dozens upon dozens of people get tested positive for HIV and have to be confronted of the new reality of their life.  I saw dozens of babies, many less than a year old, come in with lesions all over their bodies, already living near death with AIDS. 

All this to say, it hit me that we were "doing" relatively little:  Maybe a diagnosis here, some ibuprofen there, and a lesson on menopause to some wholly uneducated women all around.  For the most part, we had none of their prior medical histories, incomplete testing, and referrals that would probably never end up in a real doctor's office.  People were dying.  They needed a miracle.  The Lord showed up.  I saw it with my own eyes and was a witness to His healing.  These people had more faith that God would heal them more completely than a doctor could any day.  Many would come up to us, not believing in Jesus, and ask us to pray for them anyways.  I felt like I was living in the Book of Acts in the Bible.  I saw people walk that couldn't before.  I saw people see who couldn't before.  I saw people hear the name of Jesus for the first time in their lives.  

We live in a country that has been blessed (and it is a blessing) with wonderful health care, and the most gifted doctors in the world.  We can easily forget that many in the world don't have that.  We can easily forget that in those situations, prayer is powerful.  Prayer is essential.  Who is praying?  We know that in the Bible, Jesus would simply heal people on account of their faith.  i.e. they just believed that he could do it.    

pass the halves...

If you read the beginning of Genesis 15 in the Bible, there's this peculiar story of God making a covenant promise to Abraham (Abram at the time). It was a promise that he and his descendants would take possession of what would become known as Israel (i.e. the Promised Land). Abram asks God how he can know for certain that he will gain possession of the land and God does something crazy. He asks for a bunch of young animals to be brought before him, cut in half and lined up down a sort of aisle with each half on the opposite side of the other. Then God, in the form of a blazing torch, passes through the aforementioned aisle. This in turn seals the covenant, or promise, that God just made with Abram. I did a little reading and found out something interesting. It was a widely held practice in the ancient near east (Middle East) to seal covenants in this way. Ancient Hittite (the kingdom that found it's roots in modern day Turkey) and Amorite (semi-nomadic peoples of Mesopotamia) texts indicate of similar practices being held to seal covenants made between different parties or people groups. The thing about it was that by performing this ritual and personally passing through the animal halves, you were calling down a curse on yourself if you were to break the covenant. In a sense, you were witnessing your own fate (through the fate of the dissected animals) if the entirety of the covenant were not kept. This sounds like some other crazy and distanced ritual of the ancient world until we realize that God himself passes through the halves on his own accord. He is calling down a sort of curse on himself if His end of the promise is not kept to Abram and his descendents. Then I thought...God didn't need to do that. He's GOD. His word should be enough for us. Later in the Bible, there's an account through the prophet Jeremiah of Israel not holding their end of the covenant to be faithful to God. He draws on this ritual narrative again of passing through the halves. Essentially he's saying that it is now the people of ancient Israel's fate to end up like those animals. Then I think to Jesus. The lamb (frequently the animals used in the ritual sacrifice were lambs) that was sacrificed for us. The New Testament talks about Christ's body being broken for us. All the images I have in my head of this ancient ritual of passing through broken animal halves come rushing back into my head. They go immediately to the fact that instead of holding us to our end of the bargain and covenant, God took the curse on Himself. I bet an ancient king wouldn't have done that to someone who broke his treaty...

obedience...what??

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
-1 John 2:3-6

Does anyone else feel as uncomfortable as I do? Why of all passages do I feel most weird about putting this one up for everyone to see? How many "Christians" does this contradict? Who feels just a little hypocritical? It's not just about what we can claim to believe...it's about our actions. It's about our walk. A verbal commitment or proclamation doesn't count for much if there's no reality to back it up. In fact, a declaration of the mouth should be the last thing on our mind when it comes to looking at ourselves and seeing where we "match up." I feel a little exposed right now....also, Jesus was a carpenter. Just a note.

The gift of the prophetic...

"Scholars can interpret the past; It takes prophets to interpret the present."

-A.W. Tozer

There are many things that the human intellect can never achieve, but one of the most important is the gift of prophetic insight. We can study all we want, read all we can, and grow wise beyond our years, but unless we get on our knees and pray for the Lord to interpret the present for us, we will lack Godly understanding. The gift of prophecy, contrary to popular belief, is not the ability to tell the future. It may encompass that, but primarily it is the ability to see from God's point of view. Given that definition, how important is it for modern prophets to be raised up during these difficult times in our world?? We don't need one more talking head or pundit to "interpret" anything for us, nor do we need our supposed leaders to come up with their version of solutions for our problems. The people of God need to be praying earnestly for the voice of the Lord to be raised up, and the eyes of His faithful to be opened. The truth won't come through the likely channels of communication, and it won't come from the people we expect it to come from. The prophets of the Lord have rarely been attractive to anyone, and usually they are rugged. They don't care for man's wisdom, and earn the scorn of people...including large parts of Christendom. We need to pray for these people to come along, and for the eyes to see them when they do.

listening

This morning I was meeting with my staff and we were talking about a book we're going through called "Listening to God." At first it seems like it would be just another self-help thing with 7 easy steps to hearing the Lord. I've seen so many books, articles, and sermons that take that approach, and truthfully I didn't want anymore. I opened it up, read the first chapter and it blew me away. He starts by talking about his wife's slow death of cancer and how it acted as a catalyst to bring him to his knees and cry out for the Lord. He showed how suffering plays a crucial role for many people in showing them their need for God. Some people would say that this is proof that we have "made God up" to suit our needs or provide outside help for ourselves when we're hurting, but I think that it's just the opposite. God moves during this time. It's not just a conjuring up of feelings that goes on when we hurt and look for an explanation, it's an active moment of intervention in our lives on the part of God. Similar to the way that the wind blows without our doing or consent and physically affects us. Need brings about provision. Talk to the countless number of people that have spent time serving in abject poverty and ask them about the crazy ways people get their needs met. It's more tangible. We don't need the provision of God in our every day lives. We've already "provided" it all for ourselves. If we do ask God for something it's usually emotional or theoretical. How often is it a basic human need? How often do we hear his clear answer? How often do we wait until he speaks? There seems to be a connection with suffering/need and hearing the voice of the Lord. Read the Bible and see when He shows up most.

football

Right now I'm sitting on my couch and watching the undefeated Broncos lose to the winless (in their last 12 games) Chiefs. I've had to re-realize that "it's just a football game" over and over again in my life. When I sit down and watch my team play I don't want to see them lose, and as much as I would like to I don't want to see just a "good game." I want them to win and win big. It's nice to pull for a team that dominates...but seriously, how often does that happen? It sure doesn't happen with the teams that I cheer for. (check out Texas A&M for example...) I've started thinking to all the times that a team I love loses and it puts me in a bad mood. All the times that I'll yell my face off at a game, only to be dissappointed when my team get's their butt kicked. Don't get me wrong, I love sports and there is an element of it that's fun regardless of the outcome, but most of the time my heart and emotions get away from me. Maybe it's just that I'm an overly passionate person, or maybe it's normal...either way I don't like it. I feel like we can easily put the passions, interests, and hobbies ahead of the more important things in our lives. I think I can border on "worship" of these things sometimes. When all put in perspective, I realize that dudes I don't know playing catch and tackle in front of thousands of people shouldn't determine my mood. For better or for worse. I think to all the people who put their identity in things like this (sports, politics, work, cars, relationships, etc...) and I don't want to be one of them anymore. I have one God.

Know your world...

I recently found this on another friend's site and thought it was amazing. If there was ever a time to know about the Middle East it's definitely now. This is a test to see whether you know the geography of the area or not. It includes North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. I've been there twice and I still had some trouble figuring it all out...see how you do. Here's the link: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/just_fun/games/mapgame.html

Slacklining

If you could map out all the people who slackline in the world and put me and my friends somewhere on the spectrum of talent we'd fall near the back. There's so many ridiculously amazing slackliners out there (backflips) but the mere fact that there's few people who do it makes us look good. Clark and I went out on Sunday to the park on Canyon St. and set up a long one. Pretty soon we had a nice little crowd around us. Whatever works. These two high schoolers came up, broke out their bong and soon we had a nice little convention around us fascinated with our every move. They asked us what we did for a living and I told them I worked with kids at the church down the street. One of them told me he was a quaker, but didn't know what communion stood for and wanted to. We shared some Jesus with them and they listened for awhile. I ended up giving them my number and telling them (plus all the others around) to stop on by and I'd buy them lunch. Hopefully they'll come. That's how it works sometimes.

Today...

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the word "today". It should be my life theme....who knows. As people, and especially as Americans the idea of the future is drilled into us constantly. Plan ahead, be smart, go to school, get a job, set goals, etc... While all this is good to a certain degree, we get obsessed by it. When we look at our character, we can easily apply this same principle to the formation of ourselves. The thought process goes something like this: "someday I'll be a person of character...I'm going to map out how to do that right now and act as if I already am because that's what any respectable person should do." The problem with this thinking is similar to saying that I want to build a skyscraper but I can't get past thinking how awesome it's going to be someday. That's all good and fine, but the reality is there is a lot of work to do between then and now. Each individual brick, support beam, window, bathroom, air duct, and light is going to need to be constructed before it looks remotely like a finished product. This process takes a long time. It takes having to wake up every morning and get up the motivation to work hard for that day. Take this back to ourselves and the formation of our character. The same thing applies. Every morning you wake up you can make the choice on how you want to live your life and who you're going to live it for. God and other people, or ourselves? Can we patiently let the Lord work out his plan through us?

With a million stones, hard labor, and time you can build the Great Pyramids.

Tozer

"The red bloodcells are like faith: they carry the life-giving oxygen to every part of the body. The white cells are like disbelief: it pounces on the dead and toxic matter and carries it out to the drain."
-A.W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous

Misunderstood

I was sitting in Starbucks the other day reading and a group of 10 or so high school students walked in the door and sat down at a table near me. They were talking about whatever it is that high schoolers talk about and I couldn't help but sit there and listen. Earlier, I had been thinking about the fact that whether you believed in Jesus or not, he still remains one of the most misunderstood figures in all of historical account. No other name evokes the imagery or response that JESUS does. In America, you can't walk down the street and meet someone who hasn't every heard of Jesus in some form or fashion before.

I was going to give a talk later that night to hundreds of middle school students about Jesus, and I got to thinking that it would be a good idea to ask the high school students sitting near me some questions as I was formulating what I was going to say. I got up out of my chair, went over to where they were sitting, and said: "hey guys, can I ask you some questions? I'm giving a talk to a bunch of kids tonight about Jesus, and I want to know if you were one of them, what questions would you have for me about Jesus?" At first they thought I was selling them something, but when they realized that I just wanted to know their thoughts they started opening up like crazy. I got everything from: "how much does Jesus bench press?" to "was Jesus black?" to "what WOULD Jesus do?". They asked a lot of questions about what he said, will he come back, and was he God. It's funny because all of their questions are answered in the Bible (besides the bench press question). I feel like there are more opinions floating around out there about Jesus than any other person who ever lived, but at the same time there are 4 accounts that go deep into exactly what he did. I know that people contest the authority of the Bible, but I don't think that's the real problem as to why people don't know what Jesus was all about. I think it's because we don't bother to take the time to read about him. I hear people say all the time that they don't mind Jesus, they just don't like Christians. That's unfortunate and sadly true a lot of times, but that is weak excuse to not believe what Jesus said. If it was just you and the Gospels on a desert island, I think you'd think a little differently about what Jesus is actually about.

the reason...

for the season. How many times have you ever heard that phrase about Christmas? It's true that we totally forget (or are completely sick of hearing about) what Christmas is about. It's not that we don't care, believe it, or want to think about it, it's just that a lot of people get sick of Christmas 2 weeks into December. We've also heard about it so many times in our lives, its really hard to sit and be moved while remembering an event that took place over 2000 years ago. When we try and remember it, our thoughts are dominated by little Nativity scenes, Christmas carols, snow, Santa, and Christmas Trees...it all can be distracting. The month leading up to Christmas is called Advent, and I really doubt 98% of people really knows what that means. I didn't, so I did a little research. The word Advent comes from the latin word adventus which comes from the greek word parousia which refers to the Second Coming of Christ. That's confusing. Simply put, Advent is a time that not only is supposed to remind us of the historical event of Jesus' birth, but is also to remind us that he is living and will come back again. That was the original intent of the Christmas season. We don't just remember something that has come and gone in the distant past, get some sentimental feelings and open presents to feel happy...we remember that Jesus didn't leave us alone. He came to this earth, and he's coming back again. That changes the meaning a little bit...