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.