because I said so...

The above four words have to be the most hated of any other by children. It's irritating when parents, who can't come up with any better reason for what they're asking use the reply "because I said so..." Fortunately, my parents were usually pretty good about giving us reasons for doing or asking the things they did... not always... but mostly. When they gave that response though... OH MY GOSH, did I want to hit the fan. I mean if they didn't have a good reason for telling me to close the door, pick up my room, vacuum the floors, not eat that second cookie, or whatever... then why tell me in the first place? Because they said so!

But what was the problem exactly? I mean, why was it such a problem for me that my parent's used the "because I said so" reasoning. Ultimately, I think it has to do with control and being in charge. No matter if I was 5 or 15, I wanted to be able to decide for myself that a given request was reasonable, and then maybe I would comply. My parents on the other hand wanted to establish that they were in charge and whether I liked it, understood it, or wanted it, they were the bosses. Like I said before, with my parents this was the exception and not the rule.

The Christian walk is not too dissimilar. The Bible is full of commands, and promises. Responsibilities and blessings. More often than not when we come upon a command or rule in Scripture there is some sort of reasoning behind it. But there are times when we have to accept things simply because God said so. For a lot of people that simply will not cut it. People want to do things on their own, make decisions for themselves, they don't want to be ruled but to rule... and so they need reasons. The result is that people try to discredit the Bible, they try to cast doubt on the authenticity, they deny there is a God altogether, and finally place the crown of deity on their own heads.

We end up looking like spoiled children, not ready to accept the truth but exchange it for a lie (Romans 1:25). And what is the truth. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness..." (2 Timothy 3:16). Because God is God it should be enough that "He said so". If we fail to see that then we fail to live as God created us to live and will be end up spending more time trying to justify our lives then actually living them.

ok last Christmas one...

Alright, alright... I know I have done a few Christmas-themed blogs and you are all probably really tired of them, but bear with me for a moment.

Christmas music is really weird... I mean, I love it... but it is weird. Think about the lyrics of some of your favorites, and they are just plain strange. "So bring us some figgy pudding, bring us some figgy pudding, bring us some figgy pudding, bring some right now!" ... crickets... A little demanding are we... Don't get me started on "Frosty the Snowman"... I mean it's a snowMAN that runs around with little kids before he melts in the heat of the sun...ok, so I got started... The point is that with a lot of Christmas music there really is no point but the fun. And the fun is great, but we are not talking about real high poetry or anything.

The exceptions, of course, tend to be in the Christmas hymns. They are beautifully written, poetic, moving, and typically paint wonderful pictures of what that first Christmas must have been like. "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head. The stars in the sky look down where he lay. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay." I could rattle off lists of Christmas hymns that have moving metaphors and deep powerful music. They lift the spirits and elevate the mind, and if you let them... they take you to a very foreign place in a very foreign time.

Now, I love both types of Christmas music. There are only maybe one or two Christmas songs that I don't like... but I think the majority of people get sick of Christmas music at this time of year because they spend more time listening to the sugary, sweet Frosty the Red-Nosed Santa Claus type of stuff and not enough with the truly moving and glorious.

So hit up a Christmas Eve service tomorrow at your local church... if you are in the area come by mine (FPC Haines City, 5:30, 7:30, 11:00)... and take in the heart and soul of Christmas music.

Christmastime is here... lot's of joy and cheer...

What is it that makes this time of year inherently stressful? Is it the parties... the lights... the egg nog? Maybe it's because we are in the fourth quarter of the year and every company in the world is trying to hit the year-end numbers. Maybe it's the insane lines at every major department store, mall, or gas station in America. Maybe it's the bargain-induced craze of search for that perfect "hard-to-find" present for that "hard-to-shop-for" relative. I'm not quite sure, but I do know that for nearly everyone I know, in nearly every line of work, in nearly every type of family, this is a stressful time of year.

Now, in my last post I kind of gave some advice on how to beat the stress, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder... why is it so stressful?

Last, year I was doing some studying on a sermon I was getting ready to give at our church's Christmas Eve service and something struck me... this time has always been stressful. It is in inherent to the very nature of Christmas. Far from being a time of joy and thanksgiving to all the involved players, Christmas was... at least for the original players... a time of mixed emotions, hard travel, and smelly farm animals. I mean let's take a little journey to that little town of Bethlehem some 2,007 years ago.

Basically, you have a pregnant, out-of-wedlock teenaged girl... on a donkey... with her 30-something fiance who is not quite sure about the situation in which he finds himself... desperately trying to find a warm bed and a roof. Neither of which they find. Now, stop for a moment. Put yourself in Mary's place. Imagine going to old Mom and Dad and saying, "Mom, Dad... I'm pregnant. I know I'm not married yet, but before you take me out back to stone me, I have to tell you, the baby's daddy is God." [crickets...] Now, Joseph. It's pretty obvious from the Bible what Joseph was thinking. It even says in Matthew that he wanted to divorce her. He wanted out. Looking at these two, I can imagine what the ride to Bethlehem must have been like, and what the reaction to the news that "there was no room for them in the inn" must have been... well... I know what it would have been like for me and my wife... not good...

Anyway, we could back up further and even look at the shepherds "keeping watch of their flocks by night." These guys were not high men on the corporate ladder by any stretch of the imagination. They were poor. Dirty. Socially nothing. And here they are minding their own business when BAM! Fireworks... choirs of angels... and in the words of Luke "they were terrified."

All in all a pretty stressful night by any definition of the word. So, why should it surprise us that it is stressful for us?

The thing is stress can lead to something good. On the other side of stress is relief and joy, and that is also the picture we get from the Christmas story. The shepherds ended up running to town shouting and singing about all they had seen. Mary "treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart." Even with cows, donkeys, and other assorted farm animals... even in the midst of hay and in the cold... Mary took the stress of the evening into account and saw the beauty of the end result.

I know our lives don't always echo with songs of "Glory to God in the Highest" but we should look for those moments that we can ponder in our hearts. Times where we can sit back and just breathe. Stress will come, but so will your next breath. Take a deep one.

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

Is the schmaltz just a little too much?

You know, I am a born cynic, somewhat sarcastic, and a bit of a grouch at times, so you would think I would not get into Christmas. You would think that I would be totally against the glitz, the holly, the "sleigh rides"... oh wait I live in Florida... no sleigh rides... but you would think the sight of fat guys in red suits with white beards and patent-leather boots would cause me to hurl. And because I'm a Christian I would have the excuse that the holiday is way too commercial, and we have forgotten the "Reason for the Season".

But the fact is, I'm not like that at all. I love Christmas, I love the cheesy music, the schmaltzy TV movies, the huge huge Christmas sales, the lights, the decorations, you name it... I'm all over it. Ask my wife it is quite true.

I'll admit it can be a bit overwhelming, and the season is undoubtedly stressful, but maybe the corny, over-the-top stuff is just what we need. Here's what I mean. We... and by that I mean adults... give this holiday to the kids. We think that all the parades, flash and pizzazz of Christmas is just a winter diversion for them, but what if we embraced it too? What if we let ourselves be children about the holiday? I'm not alone in my cynical, sarcastic attitude toward life... that's our culture. To be honest, it's negative, and that's not really godly. So, what would it be if we put aside our attitudes, our anticipation of the stress, and just enjoyed this time for what it is?

Jesus said, if you don't enter the kingdom of God like a little child you can't enter it. I think we can see that children don't have a problem enjoying the "commercial" aspects of Christmas and the understanding that Christmas is about Christ. They get excited about the Charlie Brown Christmas Special (as do I) and the Nativity reenactment because they get that it is all a giant celebration.

Do some people miss place their joy onto the gifts and the stuff more than they should? Sure. But that doesn't mean we have to.

So, here's my advice... be a kid for a change. As the song says, "to kids from 1 to 92" Embrace the schmaltz, take sometime to listen to cheesy Christmas music, drink pepperminty drinks with lots of chocolate... see what happens.

becoming what you are committed to...

When I was 5 or 6 years old I really wanted to be an astronaut. I mean really really wanted to become an astronaut. I had the space sheets, watched all the shuttle launches on television, and even had an astronaut Cabbage Patch doll (yes, I had a doll!). Anyway, I really wanted it, and when my family moved to the Space Coast of Florida, literally 10 minutes from the shuttle launch pad, I thought it would be perfect. Unfortunately, there are a lot of requirements to being an astronaut. You have to be good at science, and math, or a military pilot, and the training is pretty intense. I just wanted to float around in space... I didn't want to have to do all that work just to float around. Astronauts have a commitment to something more than just the "coolness" of being in space. They have a commitment to research and development, to discovery, to adventure, and to a lot more. Well, my outlook changed quickly, and I wantd to be something else. Wanting to be something and actually being something are two very different things.

Christians are like that quite often... or I should say people that want to be Christians are like that. They want the assurance of heaven, and the feeling of not being guilty, but not the commitment to the tough things. Jesus said, "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:37-39. And again, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24. Those are some tough phrases. Is Jesus really saying to love him more than our families? Is Jesus saying the Christian life is not one where we will simply live easy and wait for heaven?

The fact is people want to be Christians without actually being like Christ. Christ denied himself, he denied those that were closest to him for the sake of God, he prioritized his life to glorify the Father. But we think we are making some huge sacrifice if we go to church one or two Sundays a month. We think it is some huge cross to bear to give of our income back to God for use in his church. We think it is being Christlike to bless our food at dinner but curse the guy driving next to us.

I'm not leaving myself out of this little diatribe... there are too many things that I don't prioritize around glorifying God, but it is a call to all of us to look to him first and foremost. It is a call to get out bed a little earlier on Sunday morning to worship him, and make that your top priority. It is a call for us to schedule our lives, and the lives of our children, in such a way that we develop our relationship with him above all else. It is a call for us to rearrange our attitudes and, yes, our personalities to be a light for people to see him. This may mean saying absolutely no to somethings. This may mean saying absolutely yes to other things. This may mean sacrificing times of sleep and relaxation. This may mean sacrificing times of busyness and hurry. This may mean smiling and engaging in conversation with people when you would rather keep your head down. This may mean spending time really listening to people when they seem to be hurting. This may mean challenging the Christians around you to deepen their commitment to the Lord.

This definitely means challenging yourself...

clean, clean, clean...

I think most married couples have this, but my wife and I have two different perspectives when it comes to judging whether our house is clean. Before I go too much further I should say, that our house remains clean by most people's standards, but everyone has times where they "get things clean." For me, our house is clean when all the clutter is picked up... when the clothes are put away, the dishes are in their spots, and generally the eye line of a room is clear. My wife on the other hand is the "deep cleaner" (that sounds like a line from a commercial)... To her, things are clean when they are scrubbed, mopped, disinfected, anti-bacterialized, etc., etc. My wife and I make a good team when it comes to the household chores, because both are important... I mean you can't disinfect a floor you can't get to...but you certainly do want those things disinfected.

In the Christian life, we know that we are forgiven of our sins by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and so we are free from death and damnation and all that... but a lot believers make one of two mistakes 1) they believe they are incapable of sinning or 2) they believe it doesn't matter if they go on sinning. Both are false. 1 John 1:8-9 assures us that even Christians do sin, and Romans 6:1-2 says that we should not live by that sinful nature because we are part of Christ's body.

So, what does that mean for our lives? It means that by faith in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit we can begin to clean our lives. First, the clutter... the junk... the things that keep us from seeing God clearly (though all sin distorts our view) and being a good representation for Him. For that began with my language. I mean I used to curse and swear like you would not believe, but after coming to Christ I prayed that God would empower me with His Spirit to clean that up. I'm am by no means a perfect person in that way, but that was a piece of clutter that was obstructing my witness and view of Christ. For some Christians, this is where their Christian progression ends... with the obvious stuff, the public stuff... but they never get down to the nitty-gritty of asking God to disinfect the real tough stuff in the corners of our lives that no one sees. The heart that lives and dies by their respect level in in the office. The person that just can't totally commit to church because they want to keep his/her Sunday mornings free. Someone who holds onto money in such a way that it controls his/her thoughts and actions where they can't be generous. It's the mouth that won't curse in public, but still does in traffic.

Proverbs says, "as a man (or woman) thinks in his heart, so is he..." The clutter is important to clean up, but only if it makes room for God to work on the deep cleaning. If we resist, then we are not living in the freedom of the Spirit and the hope of Christ. For more read Galatians 5:16-26.

when cool isn't cool...or the day I learned what 'cool' was...

I remember (maybe you do too) when I finally learned what it meant to be 'cool'. Of course a kid's life is totally consummed with the pursuit of 'cool,' and let's be honest it doesn't change all that much when you become an adult. We all still want to be respected, esteemed, thought well-of, live like someone to be emulated... right? That's basically what kids are after, at least in my estimation. But the question is, how does one become 'cool'? As it turns out being 'cool' is somewhat paradoxical... The harder you TRY to be cool the less you often are, and the less you TRY to be cool the more you tend to be cool. So it seems like being cool has more to do with NOT doing than doing. I remember when I finally figured that out I was like, "What an absolute kick in the pants! Is that really it?" Now, some maybe sitting at their computers thinking, "What about having good style, a sense of humor, the right car/friends/stuff... doesn't that play a part?" Well, no... not really.

A quick example might be helpful... when I was in high school, we had the typical group of 'cool' kids... you know the jocks, cheerleaders, those sorts. There middle of the roaders, and then there were... well, geeks, nerds, what have you... (I don't make the designations, I just report them)... In my senior year something happened. A friend of mine, who was not a jock or considered terribly popular, decided to go out for all the "cool/popular kid" things like student government, homecoming court, prom king, etc. I should explain he was a skinny white kid with big, bushy hair, shopped at the thrift store (this was before it was popular to do so), and drove a soccer-mom van. There was nothing explicitly cool about him, except his attitude. He just was who he was and didn't change. He met people as himself and put himself out there... By the end of the year he was elected to the student government, was the MC for homecoming, was the prom king, and was voted Best All Around. He broke a mold, and taught me exactly what it meant to be cool. (For those in the class of '98 at Citrus High you know I am not making this up).

So, what? What does this have to do with anything? This reminded me of Christ in a lot of ways. He was who he was, unapologetically and without putting himself into any mold. His disciples wanted him to be a great military leader who would kick out the Romans and bring the nation of Israel to prominence. The religious leaders wanted him to be a meek rabbi who would bolster the system of traditions upon which their power was based. Jesus wanted to do what he was sent to do. He was and is the Son of God who came to earth as a servant and laid down his life as payment for our shortcomings, our sins. Like the idea of 'cool' Jesus' life is paradoxical. In him is all the power of the divine, yet he came as a servant. In him was all the authority the religious leaders wanted to exercise, but he did not use it as they would have. Even Jesus' teaching is paradoxical. "If anyone wants to be first in the kingdom of heaven, he must make himself a last." And "Love your enemies, and pray for those that persecute you." And there are others.

The point is, that we should always be careful what kind of box we put our Christianity into. To understand how we should live and how to honor God with our lives, we need to put in careful study, and a lot of prayer, and not TRY to be holy as though we could earn our salvation. But instead we should live like Christ as a way to show our devotion to him.

what we take for granted...

Today, something very tragic happened in the world of sports... a runner died. Being a runner who has thoughts and dreams of running half-marathons, and marathons those three words are particularly tragic. What is most amazing is that this runner was no ordinary runner... he was an American marathoning champion, an Olympic hopeful, an elite athlete, and a newlywed. Ryan Shay died today just 30 minutes into the Olympic marathon trials in New York City. He was 28. Of all the people going to bed tonight the ones having the most difficult time with this are his family and new wife Alicia, but be sure those of us that run have been shaken too. Shaken because we have lost a great athlete, and because it shatters an unspoken assumption in many runners: these things don't happen to us. We don't have heart attacks, strokes, cholesterol problems, or hypertension we are in great shape... The thing is false assumptions are dangerous if you live by them. I don't know what Ryan Shay's situation was. In the days to come more details will come out, but I know this... when he lined up this morning he had no idea it would be for the last time.

As a runner I have to ask myself, "Will this change me?" I'm training right now for a half-marathon in December, my first one. I have been training, and demanding more from my body than I have in a while. I'm not elite, but I have goals in mind. They are not earth-shattering, they are personal goals, but important to me. I want to run a marathon in 2008, and try to qualify for Boston in 2009. But after hearing the news of Shay, I had a brief moment of pause... is this really something I want to do? It was a brief pause. I love to run, and this is want I feel God wanting me to do right now. In about 6 hours I'll get up and run my longest workout since I started back last year. God willing it will be cool and calm, but in the back of my mind I'll think about Ryan Shay and his family. They had assumptions to.

Just as in running assumptions can be dangerous, they are equally dangerous in the Christian life. Too many people believe the idea that life in relationship to the Father will be easy and struggle-free. Some assume temptations won't be temptations at all for the Christian. Still others believe that Christians will always relate to each other in the most loving and self-sacrificing way possible. There are literally thousands of assumptions just like that upon which people live their lives. When one of them is shattered, a person may be tempted to question their faith, or the Christian faith as a whole. Sure in the Bible Jesus says, "I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly" and He commands us to "love our neighbor as ourselves" and elsewhere it is written "resis the devil and he will flee from you". All those things are true, but none of them claims an easy life, or a life that is pain-free. In fact, Christianity may even be hazardous to your health. Literally millions of Christians have died over the past 2000 years, and thousands die each year even now as martyrs, or as though standing up for the cause of Jesus Christ.

What assumptions did those people live under? Just one... that they were meant to glorify God. That is a vague statement, but it is true. Martyrs know that their only goal is to glorify God whether in life or in death. They lived by that principle and they died by it. Jesus said "if anyone wants to follow me he must take up his cross..."

Now, if you are not a Christian or are pretty new to this whole thing, this may sound like the worse advertisement in the world of the faith, but there is more. Christianity is not about suffering, it is about living for something that has value beyond this life. It is about living for something for greater value. That is where the abundance comes in... it is not in material prosperity (though there is nothing inherently wrong about that)... it is in a life that echos throughout all of human history. Each life lived to the glory of God does just that. It has eternal effect.

So, the question is: what false assumptions are you living under? Do you believe life is about the here and now only? Do you believe there is more? Do you live as though God owes you something? Or do you live as though you owe Him?

a week that lasts a lifetime...

There are certainly experiences in each person's life that has significant and long standing impact. Some of those we see coming like a wedding or the birth of a child... others we don't like a car accident or a significant windfall of money or a week in intense circumstances. Going into last week, I knew God was about to do something special, but I wasn't entirely prepared for the significance of what He wanted to do.

I just got back from Jamaica, and no not from a vacation, though no vacation has done more to reinvigorate my soul... I got back with a group of 11 people from my church that did missionary work there. We held babies that never get held. We took children outside that rarely see the beauty of their Jamaican surroundings or feel the tender roughness of grass. We were spit-up on, peed on, climbed on, and tackled. We mixed concrete in the middle of a library. We hauled rocks, sad, block, and just about anything else that was lying around up two flights of stares to build a church in which we will never worship. We ran a Vacation Bible School, made princes and princesses out of little children, sang "Jesus Loves Me" an uncountable number of times, and played "Ring Around the Rosie" until we couldn't fall down anymore. We laughed together. We sang together. We prayed together. We ate together. We juggled together... yes juggled. And we cried together.

The work was hard but good. We came back each night tired, but in the way that you know tomorrow you want to do it all again.

I say "we" in all those statements, but truly the significance of this past week, is that "we" didn't do any of those things... but it was God that used our hands, feet, mouths, hearts, minds, and voices as His instruments. If we had done any of it I wouldn't have the sense of the divine that I do right now. If the Holy Spirit had not made Himself known through the lives of 11 people I would not be so discontented with the world that I occupy each and every other day and long for more of that divine touch.

There is something funny about that number 11. Just as I am writing this I am reminded that only 11 of the original 12 disciples carried on. It was from those 11 that the church was planted in the book of Acts, and the Holy Spirit used them to turn the world upside down. I have been on other mission trips before, but never before I have felt that God using 11 people could turn me upside down.

I have heard it said that the family that prays together stays together, and that is true... but I believe God builds spiritual families on sweating brows and the aching backs. I say this because those 11 people became family, and I saw God work in them all.

the ripple effect...

In the early part of this century Marion Jones burst onto the track and field scene shooting for five Olympic gold medals in Australia. She was charismatic, charming, and immensely talented... and now as we all know using performance-enhancing drugs. Most Americans are not like I am. I love to watch runnning events, I DVR events that are on television, I watch streaming video from the IAAF, but most Americans could not care less about track and field. During the Olympics it is different. Suddenly, runners who have had huge careers overseas, but have been virtually unknown in the US, suddenly become household names. It was no different in 2000 in Sydney. Jones became a media sensation, and the hopes of a nation were on her sholders. While she didn't win five gold medals, she did win three golds, and two bronze medals, and walked a way from Sydney as somewhat of a hero.

That's all changed now. She cheated, used drugs, and never won any of those medals legitimately. In fact, in the eyes of the record books she wasn't even there. But mistakes go much deeper than that, because Jones is not the only person that will be punished. There will be innocent people punished as well. The women who competed in the relay races with her are now being asked to return their medals. Those who competed alongside her but fell short of the medal podium were robbed of their moment of victory, and even if they receive the medals they deserve... where is their podium stand? When do they get to hear their national anthems played? Of all these people the people I feel most sorry for are the clean athletes of today getting ready to compete in Beijing in 2008. The Allison Felixes, the Asafa Powells, the Tyson Gays... people you have probably not heard of yet, but will, now they have to contend with the speculation of their legitimacy as athletes... because of something that happened more than seven years ago.

Lest you feel like this has suddenly become a blog that was ripped off the Sports Illustrated editorial pages instead of one discussing spiritual realities, there is definitely a spiritual focus in view. One of my biggest struggles in understanding the Bible has been passages that talk about punishment for the sins of the father being visited upon the children and further generations. Cf. Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:6-7, Deuteronomy 5:9, and others. I was always conflicted about those passages. They're unfair, unjust, and they don't seem like they keep with the nature of God. But what I have found is that it is reality.

Let me explain. Sins are not independent. They don't just effect the person commiting them, but have reprocussions that ripple out. For instance, a person whose father or mother was an angery alcoholic has to deal with the emotional, and sometimes physical scars of that sin. Even if that child determines not to drink as he/she will have to deal with the issues wrought by the sins of the parent, and if that child isn't careful it will pass on certain sinful quailities to their children and so on. The Marion Jones situation illustrates that same principle. Jones wasn't thinking about all the people that were being effected when she used the performance-enhancing drugs, she was only thinking of herself. But the ripple effect of that sin goes far beyond the individual.

The good news is that while sin's effects can have rippling consequences here on earth, God promises to deliver those who run to him from eternal consequence and even to use the worst parts of people's past...our own sin, the sins of our parents, and the hurts that have been done to us... to his glory-Romans 8:28-39. The key is we have to turn away from dealing with life our way, let him be the Lord of all of us.

ode to the self-aware...

One of my all-time biggest pet peeves has to be people blocking the aisle in the grocery store for no other reason than that they are totally unaware that they are blocking anything. I say that partially because grocery stores might be one of my least favorite places to spend any amount of serious time, so that when I am there I am almost always in a hurry. So blocking an aisle is a cardinal sin to me.

Of course the other day I found myself in my local Wal-mart Supercenter tryin to decide which type of oatmeal is the best oatmeal when I noticed that I was on one side of the aisle and my cart was on the other... thus blocking the entire aisle! Oh the shame of it all when I heard those words I have said myself a thousand times: "Excuse me. Can I get by? Thanks." The person was perfectly nice but I know what they were thinking, "Why does that guy have to block the whole aisle?" The fact is I didn't have to block it-I did because I wasn't aware of what was going on around me and I wasn't aware of where I was in relation to everything else.

Alot of philosophies promote the idea of self-knowledge. In fact in some that is all that matters. But in Christianity we often overlook the importance of knowing who we are as individuals. We talk about knowing Christ, knowing our neighbors, knowing the Bible, and on and on. But we talk very little about knowing ourselves. The problem is that Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself." But we tend to forget that while we should do those things they don't happen easily if we don't know ourselves. I mean, how can you love your neighbor as yourself if you don't know who you are.

But that begs the question, "What does it mean to 'know' yourself?" Well, there is a sense in which it is different for everyone, but that is only part of it. God created each of us uniquely and differently, but we are all still created by God and so to know ourselves means we need to look at who we are in relationship to him. For some there is no relationship and so there is a feeling of incompleteness. For others the relationship has begun and is progressing. And others have been in a relationship for years along with all the ups and downs that entails. The fact is that every person in the world can define themselves in this relationship with the Creator.

Whether you have never understood a relationship with our Father through Christ or you cannot remember a time where Christ has not been your Lord, this type of self-awareness is the most important type there is.

So where are you? Is somthing blocking the aisle?

good to be home...

Well, I just got back from a very productive and illuminating trip in Chicago. And you know it really was a good trip, but I cannot tell you how happy I am to be home! It's funny though how things change. When I was a kid I travelled all over the place... We lived in DC, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Italy, & visited a ton of other places, so growing up I thought I would be an antsy person who would always want to travel and move.

Now that I have a house and a family though I don't feel like that at all. Don't get me wrong I need a little vacation now and then, but I cannot be gone for more than four days because I just miss being home. It's comfortable and warm. My friends and family are close by. I have a great church home, which I love. And most importantly everything reminds me of the life my wife and I have built together. While that is a good thing, I have to be careful.

God calls to love Him above all else and to deny our own lives and interests for him. I'll admit that is a hard command and teaching to live by. Comfort can be a very good thing but discomfort leads to growth. I have to ask myself, "Am I too comfortable to follow God anywhere?"

What about you? Where are you most comfortable and does it help draw you toward God or has it become a replacement for God?

from the pulpit...

Another couple of sermons from this past year... thanks to Tom Beck for hosting this...

The Road to Hope Through Genuine Belief from April 15, 2007


Avoiding the Fall of You from May 20, 2007


more to come soon.

some motivation, please...

What is it that really gets you going? Your kids? Your job? A past time you enjoy? Paying the bills? Stress? The odd thing about motivation is that it is so often task-oriented... I mean you are motivated to do certain things but not other things. Motivated to participate in certain activities but not others. For example, I am not really a "staying up late" kind of a person. I used to be, but now I have to get up early and go to work and study, so I am tired. But the other day when the Alabama Crimson Tide were in a real nail-biter of a game against Arkansas I was up and wired! Roll Tide! I was more motivated and thus stayed awake.

The great thing about a relationship with Jesus Christ is that when you are really taped into the Holy Spirit, all your efforts are motivated by Him. Romans 14:8 says, "If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." The motivation for ALL of life is honor the Lord. So whether at work, playing with children, at church, or in the supermarket we live for Him alone. So motivation for the Christian is not task-oriented it is oriented in a person, Jesus Christ.

The question is, how are we at demonstrating that motivation? Would those around us say we are glorifying God in our offices? Would our neighbors believe we were glorifying God by the way we care for our houses? Does our church attendence and willingness to serve represent Christ well? Or are we motivated by something else?

advancing and growing...

For those of you that missed it, here is my most recent message from the pulpit... it's called "Advancing a Spiritual Grade Level"

Enjoy!

all you need is love... love is all you need...

A lot is made about the Scripture that says, "God is love"... in fact it happens twice in the 1 John, once at 4:8 and again at 4:16. But it got me thinking about what that really means. I mean, Christians should be aware that there is more to God than love, right? There's holiness, rightousness, justice, omnipotence, mercy, grace, majesty, and a host of other things that would take paragraphs to write and still wouldn't scratch the surface of completion.

So why this special designation about love? Well, if you ask the Beatles, "Love is all ya need..." and in some respects I think that is kinda sorta what God is saying here... before people accuse me of something let me explain.

Many of God's traits can be tied directly to his love... i.e. mercy, grace, etc. But even when God demonstrates his justice or holiness, he does so out of love. Now here's the trick: sometimes God acts out of love for his own glory and own name... in fact, if you read John Piper and the majority of stuff he has written, he points out that is the sole reason God does anything: to demonstrate his glory. While that is a huge topic unto itself, the fact that God always acts in love is really something to consider. That may mean that we have to shift around our definition of love, but not all that much. Think about this: when a parent disciplines their children they do it out of love (Proverbs 13:24). Does the child understand that kind of love? Of course not, but that doesn't make it any less love. When a family member lays down an ultimatum to an alcoholic relative they do so out of love... sometimes out of love for that person and sometimes out of a self-protecting love... but still love. The fact is God IS perfect and infinite and we are sinful and finite, so we may not understand the ways by which God demonstrates love, but John says it... God is love.

looking to the future

You always hear the saying, "The future is bright!" In fact, what was that song in the 80's "Future's so bright I gotta wear shades..." (thanks to Timbuk Three) Okay... really cheesy, but the fact is that when you hear people talk about the future with one another it is almost always in a positive light. Maybe that is a good thing, but is it really true? More often than not, in my experience, the future can best be described as... well... scary. Even with the best prospects before us, the future is uncertain, and so scary. But there is a hope, and that is our Father God, and our relationship to him through Jesus Christ.

I remember when I was a kid I would have terrible anxiety attacks... I mean really bad ones. There would be times where I would not sleep for literally days... as a THIRD GRADER! But then one day, I began to realize something; no amount of worrying, or stressing, or not sleeping was going to change things, and really what is the worse thing that can happen! Back then the worse thing that could happen was I would get in trouble with my parents or at school, or something like that, but was that something I couldn't survive?

These days worries can be bigger, consequences more severe, but that is why a relationship to something immovable is so vital. Jesus said, "Cast all your cares upon me and I will give you rest." He also challenges us to look at the fields and see how the Father cares for the birds and the flowers, and to ask will God not care for his children all the more. That doesn't mean there will not be difficulty, but it does mean that, quite literally, our future is bright, and we have nothing to fear in our Father's arms.

I may not always feel like that is the case. But sometimes I need my head to inform my heart that feelings can be deceiving, but the promises of God are not.

oh those crazy fads.

I am the type of person that can get fixated on something pretty easily. I mean really fixated. For example, a couple of weeks ago at my small group one of the members brought all the "fixins" to make smoothies... you know bananas, strawberries, yogurt, crushed ice, fruit juice... to be honest I had never really like smoothies before, but they looked really refreshing so I jumped in and had one. Ever since then I have been a bit obsessed with them. I pulled out my old blender, got the same "fixins" and began "smoothing"... I began stopping at places like Tropical Smoothie, Planet Smoothie, and any other establishment that advertised the cool, summer drink. They're delicious! And right now, I can't get enough of them.

Is this just a phase with me? A periodic fad in my life? Only time will tell... I mean I started drinking cappaccinos over a year ago, and that hasn't slowed down.

Working at church I see people using faith in that same way. They start coming to church and get really excited. They buy all the books, join all the classes, volunteer for everything. But then after a while something changes. For some people, the excitement wanes, but they keep at their faith with some level of commitment. They settle in and exercises in faith becomes a regular part of life. For others, things drop-off a little bit at a time. First, they stop volunteering for things, their Bible reading and prayer time are things of the past, they stop attending Bible studies, and their church attendance goes for consistent to non-existent.

When you first become a Christian it is natural to become extremely excited and then over time see that excitement wane a bit. The test is what happens next... Does your faith in Christ change from an anamoly to the regular focus of your life, or does it get filed into the fad category with hoolahoops and rollerblades?

In Luke 8, Jesus told one of my favorite parables about a farmer who goes out to sow seeds. In this parable there are four different types of seeds: One that fell along a path and was trampled or eaten by birds, a second that fell in rocky soil and began to grow at first but was unable to take strong root, still others fell among thorns and weeds and though the grew for a time eventually they were chocked, and a final type of seed that fell on good soil that was able to take root and grow. Alot of people that treat faith as a fad are like the seeds that either fall on the rock or among the thorns. Those on the rock hear the Word of God and get pumped and excited and volunteer and do all the things that "good" Christians do, but they don't take to the time to let God take real and lasting root. So, they burn out and fall away. Or they may be like those among the thorns that start strong, but financial worries, or family obligations, or work pressures, or hobbies cloud their view and they fall away.

Think about your life and those around you... where does your faith rank? Do you know people who have put their faith to the side and treat it more as a phase than a lifestyle? What is the remedy?

when the end doesn't feel like the end

Have you ever been in a place where you thought, "If I just reach this goal, or this milestone, or get past this date-in-time things will get back to normal. Then I'll get to relax"? What happens when you get there? Sometimes it happens. Sometimes the finishline is really a finishline. But what happens when those times are not what you had hope for?

Recently, I have had that experience... I came off a period of exams, and papers, and personal projects, and thought, "when all this is over, everything will be easier, I'll be able to relax and focus and regain my strength..." The problem is that it didn't happen as I thought it would. I had to get right back in the game and get ready for another intensive class and start working on other projects. It was kind of overwhelming and daunting. And really disappointing.

There have been times where I have had "push" periods (as I call them) and then rest periods. That is the regular cycle of work, and rest, and during moments of intense stress you have something to which you can look forward. But about when there isn't something like that.

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul reminds me that even if we find rest here on earth it is temporary, and we should not expect anything to last, he says instead, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." The crazy thing here is that the "light and momentary troubles" that Paul was talking about was much more intense persecution, and stress, and suffering than probably any of us will face. So, what are my stresses to God?

This is not to diminsh our problems, because God knows even the number of the hairs on my head, so he cares about flat tires, tests, and work projects... But that is the point. If we look to Christ, look to God and the blessings that He has already given to us, then we might find we have more energy, and refreshing than we think.

In my own case, I am so blessed to have the opportunity to go to school. I am so blessed that I have a wonderful job and family that I care about and that cares about me... so much so that I stress about them. Even as I write this I realize that I should be and really am energized by the power that God has already demonstrated in my life such that my present "trouble" or stress does seem temporary.

why, oh why, oh why

I ran my third road race yesterday since tying on the old running shoes again and heading to the roads, and for the most part it was a great race. Good atmosphere, tons of people, tough course. But I made the same tragic mistake I have made the last two races I have been in... I started too far back in the pack. The faster runners usually head to the front, and the middle runners are in the middle, and the slower runners/walkers are in the back.

When I was younger, in high school and college... I never hesitated to start up front. I knew I was fast, and I had proof. I was on the top cross country team in the state heading to college to run there. Now, it's different. Each race I set a goal and I tell myself to start toward the front, but each time I get in the pack and start to question my abilities. As a result I spend the first 1/4-1/2 mile struggling to get around much slower people... sprinting, stopping, starting, dodging, weaving... and overall my time is slower than it should I am capable of.

There are two problems here: One with the people around me, the other with me. I start the race and people block the way. They may be starting too far up in the pack, thinking they are better runners than they are. On the other hand I do not have the confidence to start with people that may be better than I am. Even though I know I will run faster, better, and stronger, if I am not held back.

Spiritually, we tend to do the same sorts of things. We allow people who are not even running the race to stand in front of us and block us from where God wants to go. We allow work, our children, unbelieving friends and family to dictate how we will grow spiritually instead of running the race God has given us.

Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangels, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us."

This verse is packed with stuff but two things are important. Who do we run with? Hebrews says we are surrounded by witnesses to Jesus Christ. To run strong this faith race, we must run with strong runners and not get behind people that will hold us back.

The second thing is that we must throw off everything that hinders. What does that include? Well... everything. If something is holding you back from growing in Christ, or running the race God has for you, you must throw it off. Here the writer says specifically sin, but that is an example of something that can hold you back. He says "and the sin" that means there must be things that aren't sin that can hold us back too. This is harsh but true. Our spouses can do a alot to help us run the race of faith, and they can do alot to hinder us in the race. My wife has always been such a great helper in my spiritual run. She challenges me to fight the good fight and keeps me commited to God's Word and work. As much as my spouse has been a help to me, I know others are not so blessed. That doesn't mean you cast them aside, but we have to make it clear to those we love the most that our relationships with Jesus Christ trumps even our relationships with our husbands and wives. This same principle extends to our children, our past times, our jobs, everything.

So, are you starting too far back in the pack of your faith race? Move forward.

just childishness

I love to run. In my humble opinion, it is the purest of all sports because it is just an individual against him or herself and the elements. No matter the terrain or the weather, the basic activity of running is the same.

I can remember the first time I ever went out on a run strictly for the sake of running. I mean to say that I went out not to run as a part of another activity but just to run. I was 11 years-old, and I lived on a military base in Italy. Growing up I always remember my dad coming in from eight, nine, or ten mile runs, and I thought that was the greatest thing, but I didn't think I would ever be able to do that. So, I even surprised myself when I asked my dad, if I could run with him. He picked a day when he wasn't going to go very far... only three miles, a managable distance he thought. So we went out, and I can remember trying to emulate his motions and movements so I would be able to go the distance.

Up to that point I ran like all kids run... you know flailing arms and legs, just flying. If you have ever seen the "Friends" episode where Phoebe runs you know what I am talking about... Most of the time I would run playing tag, or soccer, or something else so it was a means to an end, and I didn't care about form or perserving energy or anything. But now with my dad running was different. Running became the end unto itself.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:14, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." That got me to thinking about the difference between the way kids run and the way adults run. They're free, fast, flying, flailing. They have terrible form. If they ran like that long enough they would get hurt. But there is enthusiasm. Jesus said this Matthew to demonstrate how we are to think and feel and approach God... with enthusiasm, with all of who we are.

But does that mean, we stay like children in our faith, only going after the "fun" of it? Only satisfied with the high energy, undignified, exciting expressions of our adoration of him? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."

So which is it? Well, it's both. As I read these two Scriptures I can see that there is a difference between childlikeness and childishness. When we approach God after first becoming a Christian it is new and different, and there are new emotions and thoughts and it is exciting, but after a while that fades. Sometimes it fades when we read tough passages of the Bible to understand... like the book of Job or Leviticus. For some people it just happens because of time. Some Christians always seek that excitement and don't want to hear anything about the justice of God, or the punishment of the lost, or talk about the necessity of sacrifice. They believe Christianity is all the time happiness and as a result they seek the childishness of faith. But God calls us to be childlike, but not childish.

I look at how I run now... to train for races, or to stay in shape... and compare it to how I did when I was a child, and I realize it is really two sides of the same coin. When I get up in the morning and run, I feel just as free, just as enthusiastic as I did when I was a kid running around my neighborhood. The difference is I have added to it. Discipline, form, thought, nutrition. Some days it hurts, some days it is tough, but I keep running.

That is what God calls us to in our faith. Tap into that childlike enthusiasm, but do not be afraid of discipline and growth. To put the flailing behind you, but to not stop running.

Out with my dad on that first REAL run, I ran the entire three miles in a bit over 30 minutes, and my even though my dad was much faster than me then, he stayed with me, checking on me, keeping me going...

don't mean to boast... but I lost!

Weakness is not something I like to admit… not to strangers, not to friends or family, not even to myself. Admitting weakness is like admitting failure, admitting that I am not as good as I could or should be. I am not sure that I would consider myself overly macho or tough, but admitting failure, weakness… come on, I mean it’s almost un-American, right?

The thing is that in a world that is consistently trying to find the commonality of all people one that we never want to focus on is our innate weakness and frailty. What really does bind all of us together are the statments, "Nobody's perfect" and "Everybody has it rough". Every human being on the face of the planet since the dawn of time has problems, flaws, tragedies. While Jesus never sinned and was morally perfect, even he faced hardships and moments of emotional and physical weakness. While it may seem antithetical to everything that we have been taught, it is in our weakness that we can approach each other and understand everyone.

One of my biggest weaknesses is that I don’t tend to make very deep friendships (probably because I have a hard time admitting my weaknesses…) and really it comes from a kind of intimidation that I feel around other people. This might surprise a few of you, but I get really self-conscious and have trouble approaching people on anything more than a superficial level. My wife pointed out to me that the people I was intimidated to approach were probably just as intimidated to approach me. It hit me that my weakness, my shortcoming might be the same as those around me, and if it wasn’t at the very least the people around me had some weaknesses. We were really not all that different.

What does that mean? Well, Paul writes about an experience he had in struggling with his weaknesses and his desire to overcome them. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13, “7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

This is one of my favorite sections of Scripture because if you look before and after this passage, all Paul talks about his is weaknesses and how the power of God is revealed most fully in our weakness. The reason this is so important for us is that God wants to reveal himself to everyone and through everyone… that is why we ALL have huge weaknesses. Our frailties are designed to point us to a loving and abiding God whose glory and strength are complete enough for everyone. Trying to hide our weaknesses or compensate for them by throwing our accomplishments in people’s faces only distracts from seeing the power of God.

If we are truly looking and truly open… then we will find that God’s power comes not in spite of our weaknesses, not to destroy our frailties, not to alleviate hardships or difficulties. God’s power is revealed right in the middle of our weakness, it is revealed because of our weakness. We need only not to hide.

The reason and the sounds...

I am sure you all know what internal dialogue is (some may call this an internal monologue, but for me it can often be a two sided affair). It is the running conversation that you have with yourself throughout the day. It is the way you interact with situations and information in your head. Often times, the internal dialogue has little visible bearing to other people, but it is always there. For those of you thinking that is just crazy, the thought that you had as you read the previous statements was your internal dialogue. Essentially, internal dialogue is the way we see the world. Throughout my day my internal dialogue can shift radically from inner grumblings over traffic, to my "to do" list at work, to thoughts about life and the world in general.

Proverbs 21:2 says, "All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart" and that got me thinking about my internal dialogue. I have always kind of been under the assumption that my internal dialogue was just my own, it had little bearing on my life and work and how I was perceived... but then I thought about how Proverbs describes actions and the heart. In a lot of ways, I see the use of the word "heart" as a person's internal dialogue. Many times, I feel as though my actions, or what everyone sees is pretty okay even if I am burning angry or really want to curse somebody out in traffic, but the fact is God is really interested in that internal dialogue.

A professor of mine at RTS once posed the question to student if he was a murderer? Of course this seemed like a very shocking and abrupt question for 8 AM on a Wednesday and if the desired effect was to get everyone to wake up... it worked. Now, if you know the story of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 then maybe you are a step ahead of where I was in the class. In it Jesus says, 21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' (an Aramaic term of contempt) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell."

So what? Is Jesus actually calling us all murderers? Maybe. But I think more important than that is the fact that our actions outside should reflect our thoughts and feelings inside. That is not to say we should act on every impulse... there are whole psychological and sociological movements based on that premise... but more to the point, our thoughts and feelings should be made held to our beliefs. If that is the case, then genuine Christian action will follow. The point Jesus and the writer of Proverbs is that God cares about our internal dialogue.

As a Christian my internal dialogue should be constantly running through a filter: the filter of Jesus Christ and His Word, and I would say that for the most part it does, but before I come off as being far holier than I am, I have to say that I do not always act in accord with my Christian filter, and sometimes I downright ignore it altogether. But the fact remains that the filter is there. The filter is the Holy Spirit, sometimes gently other times forcibly, pulling at me to think and act on the same principles I claim with my mouth.

My prayer for myself is that if someone looks into my heart at a given moment they will see my longing for Christ and his righteousness. Again, I am not perfect, but Jesus Christ is, and it is his love and mercy that I cling to.