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.     

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.  

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

Religion

"It is a profound irony that the Son of God visited this planet and one of the chief complaints against him was that he was not religious enough."
-Rebecca Pippert in Out of the Salt Shaker & into the World

I love this quote, and the book is one of my favorites about sharing faith, but it scares me. It scares me that many institutions of faith, the Church, and "Godly" people are a lot of times too religious for God. What does that say?? Anyone who takes the time to really look into the life of Jesus will see that this was the reason people wrote him off. He wasn't good enough for their "religion". He ruffled their feathers just a little too much. Jesus wasn't religious. He had faith and conviction, but could never fit into the mold of the religious establishment of the day. Do we continually put ourselves at odds with what Jesus actually taught? If Jesus came today, would we be more interested in our own ideas of what he should say than what he would really say? A well known pastor of a church in California, Francis Chan, has said: "If Jesus came and started a church near mine, I would probably have more members." I love his honesty, because it speaks to a greater desire in all of us to pursue our own agenda and glory. I bet if we all looked deep into our views of faith, we would realize that we always feel the pressure to be more "religious" than God calls us to be. He calls us to be righteous and holy, but in that is the true calling to be REAL.

Skiing

So, I finally went skiing in November. By myself. I made it up to Copper Mountain yesterday, my day off, and it was sweet. There was barely any snow on the mountain, (besides the man made stuff I was skiing on) and there was basically only one run open. The whole "ski cycle", the lift ride and time skiing down, took about 5 minutes total. I did it 30+ times and still left by 1pm. The conditions were not that great at all, but it was still one of the greatest days I've had in a long time. I put in my ipod shuffle headphones and hung out in the mountains by myself for a day. It got me thinking that I don't do that enough...or barely ever. We're constantly surrounded by noise: TV, radio, the internet, school, and annoying people talking. We were MADE to need time alone. I think we all need to recognize that and take advantage of living in Colorado.

Passion

If I use the word passion, a million different people would have a million different perspectives on the meaning of the word in their own lives. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and I've learned there is one thing that most people will agree on: for better or worse, passionate people are much more engaging and easy to listen to than someone who speaks or teaches out of obligation. It seems we all go through some sort of subconscious train of thought when deciding whether or not a teacher, speaker, mentor, or friend is saying something that has to do with us. We are amazing at being able to tune people, and their ideas, out if we in some way desire to. I think that the intangible and holistic quality of passion can be a large deciding factor many times. We always have two thought processes going through our mind: 1. What is it that is being said... 2. Do they actually believe that what they're saying is true, and if so does their life reflect it? The first is something that we do consciously all the time. We get information, we process it and then we attempt to apply it...it's a very linear process. The second is always happening when being engaged by someone, but is rarely noticed. It's heaviest influence seems to always be in the "application" part of the process. Simply put: we won't fully accept an idea or change a way of life if we don't see that someone else has done it and it is safe. This "someone" is usually the person teaching or speaking to us. Do we believe the things we say and tell others to do? Do we live out the truth we claim to know? Do we live out of our passions? It seems like you can't hide it if you don't.

Seeds

These are Mustard seeds. They're about the size of the tip of a ball point pen. It says that if we have faith as big as one of these, we can move mountains. I think our first request sometimes is for more faith, as if when we got it then we would be living life truly as it is supposed to be. The answer to our request for more always seems to be: you have no idea how much you could do if you just realized what you already have. Fast forward a bunch of years, and that once tiny little seed becomes a tree. Not just any tree, but a huge tree that gives shade to everything around it. Makes you wonder doesn't it...

Hebrew

The hebrew word Shekinah (presence) was used by the ancient Hebrews to describe the glory of God living with the people. Whether it was in the old tabernacle (which moved around as the people moved) or the temple (which was a fixed building), it was understood by everyone at the time that God wanted to be close to his people. It was the one and only place where heaven and earth were connected.

Shadow Missions

Today, some of the church staff and I watched a video of part of Willow Creek's (a big church in the Chicago area) 2007 Leadership Summit. The video was of a talk by John Ortberg of Menlo Park Pres (picture), and his take on what a leader's greatest fear is. While failure, humiliation, and loss of interest are definitely up there for most leaders, John says that our real fear should be that we would pursue "Shadow Missions" our whole life rather than our true calling from God. A lot of time Shadow Missions can be disguised in the likeness of our God-given gifts and passions, but they ever so slightly head off in the wrong direction and become about ourselves and our dreams rather than God's call on our lives. He used the story of Esther in the Bible to bring to life what he was talking about. Go read it and it will blow your mind...I couldn't do it justice. Look for the ways in which Esther is put into a position of power to fulfill a mission that God gives her. Look for the ways that God puts people in her life to continually remind her of what her true calling is. It got me thinking about what my personal "shadow missions" were and I can sum up a big one in a sentence: "Do I have something to say, or do I simply want to be heard?" I think a lot of the time I just want to be heard, and so I spend most of my time thinking about my personal image as a communicator and not whether I really have something God-given to say. I think I've been bombarded constantly on how to reach people more effectively with a message and haven't spent much time thinking about the message that I have to say. The truth is that the message can only come from God, cause I don't have much to say that is really worthwile...I wouldn't listen to me if I was you.