Posers and Competitors

"Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews
MT 2:3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed and when he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
Curious, isn’t it, that when the magi came looking for the one who was born king of the Jews, everyone knew the king wasn’t Herod, including Herod, the sitting king! It would have been just as easy for Herod to say, “Well, open your eyes. You’re looking at him!” (after all, he had been born, just not born a king. He was a made king). Herod knew he was a poser and not the real thing. It showed in his insecure, devious, destructive, jealous nature.

A “poser” driven insecurity feeds a desire to eliminate the competition. If the other person wins, they might take over, and you would lose your position, power, or possessions. If Herod were the genuine article, the true leader, he would have acted like it by opening the door to the next king, by pointing people toward God’s provision. True leadership develops and promotes others more than self. Herod wasn’t a true king. The true king was in the manger in Bethlehem, while the false king was in the palace, counting out his money. Herod’s posing was revealed by his jealous, competitive, insecure nature. Jealousy and posing go together with competition and insecurity.

The first step to making way for the true king in our lives is to recognize I’m not the king and to stop acting like I am, to stop pretending. True greatness is to recognize I am designed to develop others, and to lift them up to where they belong and grow smaller myself. A competitive, I-want-to-win spirit is indicative of insecurity, indicative of a self-centered focus. It betrays me as a poser, not a true leader. Developing and helping others to win, even take over, is the way to greatness, to true leadership.

When I was 14, my little brother J was making a valiant effort to capture my king in chess. This time it was more than a valiant effort, he had maneuvered into a winning position. But, before he could make the final move, the chess board got bumped and all the pieces fell over. I was off the hook. To this day I still don’t know whether that chess board got bumped by my brother’s excitement at an impending win, or by my Herod-like posing as the superior big brother (or was it big “bother”).

I’m still fiercely competitive in games. Maybe it’s time I grew up and became less competitive in games and more of a developer rather than just posing as a winner.

A Christmas Sign for 2009

12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:12

We make much of the miracles of Jesus…signs that point us to His Deity, to His power, to His capacity to manage to forgive us and change our lives. But, this was the first sign of Jesus. Luke uses the same word John uses in 2:11 for his first miracle. Yes, the first sign of Jesus was not an obvious miracle of power…but it was a miracle.

The first sign of Jesus was a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The Messiah, The Son of God…Weakness, poverty, and residing in a barn because no one had room for Him.

This didn’t seem like a miracle. This seemed like an everyday occurrence. Yet, it was a miracle that everyone missed except the shepherds. How can God be weak? How can the King of Kings be poor? And how can He be found in a barn? This is the first sign of Jesus, one which most people overlook as a sign: that God can appear in the most unlikely places in our lives; that God can show up in our weakest and smelliest problems; that God can show up when we aren’t wanted and no one moves over and makes a space for us. That’s a miracle.

And, once we recognize the miracle that God can show up in weakness, in poverty, and in the smelly, dirty places of our lives, we will never be the same. Luke 2:20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Yes, people return to their everyday tasks from Christmas, but a distinct note of praise and joy is mixed into the everyday after that experience with God. Like the shepherds, when we discover God in the weak, smelly, dirty places of our lives, we forever have a tinge of joy in our everyday lives.

My Prayer for you this Christmas Day: that you will mix joy and praise into your everyday because you’ve made room in your schedule for seeing Jesus.

Lights And Carols

It’s easy to see the connection between Christmas and light…if you live in the northern hemisphere! Christmas comes at the darkest time of the year. Daylight is shortened. It’s cold, bleak, dreary…in the northern hemisphere. We yearn for the light of spring and summer. Christmas is about light shining in dark places. When God looked down on earth 2000 years ago, He saw darkness, described by Paul in 2 Corinthians…

2 Cor. 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

God did something about our darkness…He shined Christ Jesus into our lives. In Philippians 2, Paul records one of the first Christmas carols about God shining light into our hearts. We don’t know the tune, but we do know the message…it goes like this…
Jesus… PHP 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, :7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! :9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul goes on to show us how this light doesn’t just shine into our hearts, but through our hearts to others…
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life…

Christmas is all about the light that shines in us and through us to light up the people-scape around us. Jesus is both God’s Christmas carol and also His Christmas light. When we let Jesus loose in our lives, we become His delivery system for that Christmas light.

First Flight

“The Hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” As I watched the 787 roll down the runway on the computer, and then jumped to the window to watch it and the chase planes head north, I was struck with how much of our hopes are focused on that delivery system like it was the provider rather than on the real Provider behind it all. Too easily we sink into dependence on our company, on the economy, on our offerings and fuzz up our focus on the Real. After all, we can see the company, we can see the airplane, we can see the people in the church. But, we can’t see the Provider.

We can count the money in our paycheck; we can see the ripple effect of a new plane in our stores and restaurants; we can count the money in the offering. But, we can’t count on any of them. Companies move. Customers cancel orders. People get disgusted, disappointed, and disillusioned. They leave churches. Offerings evaporate. Our real Provider is always there.

When we fix our hopes on an airplane, a pastor, or even a parent, we will ultimately be disappointed. That’s because God is the real Provider. He is behind every harvest, every paycheck, every provider with a little “p”. He is our source, our real Provider.

So, when we are fearing economic instability or corporate shakiness, when those on whom we’ve depended for years make disappearing noises, look above them all. They are not now and never have been our Provider. They may have been answers to prayer, but they were never the Answerer of prayer.

Speaking of the birds of the air, Jesus said,
your heavenly Father feeds

Speaking of the flowers of the field, Jesus said,
God clothes

Speaking of our needs, Jesus said,
your heavenly Father knows that you need

The hopes and fears of all the years are not met on a first flight of a new generation of airplanes. They are met in the Person of the Provider who was in that little town of Bethlehem 2000 years ago.

Ruts

Things always change this time of the year. Earlier this week I moved chairs, tables, plants, couches, and lamps in our house. Moving these things in one room changed the configuration in other rooms because all that stuff had to go somewhere. There is a domino effect that happens. It is all because we have brought a new piece of decoration into our home. Monday (yes, on one of the coldest days of the year) we cut down a Noble Fir and it now resides in our living room along with the two pianos and couch. The tree is decorated with…
• 39 years of decorations
• numerous musical ornaments (tiny pianos, bells, treble cleffs, and musical notes) Carol has received from her students
• Ornaments reminding us of various vacations and friends
• Multiple angels and stars
• Pictures of our 5 grandchildren and 3 children at various ages.
• An angel at the top that Amy made in kindergarten.

Yes, things change in the Grant household in December! And, it’s not all inside, either. The exterior has more lights (waiting for the cold to moderate to complete this project). December changes things. It blasts us out of our decorative ruts and routines. When the tree invades, things change!

Christmas also celebrates Christ’s invasion of earth. When Jesus began his ministry at the synagogue in Nazareth, recorded in Luke 4:14-30, He announced the changes that His invasion were going to make. He read these words from Isaiah 61:
LK 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Jesus came to do more than move our furniture. He came to blow us out of the ruts and routines of business-as-usual, make-a-buck-at-others’ expense, climb-on-others-to-get-to-the-top. His invasion was God stepping into our lives to change things. Jesus came to change the lives of the poor, and this would domino over into the changes in the lives of the rich—they would have to detach themselves from a bit of their wealth. Jesus came to release people from bondage and imprisonment whether physical, spiritual, or emotional. He came to open blind eyes to the light of God’s glory. He came to lift up those who are stepped on and to let them know that God’s grace will make things different in the new year.

More than at any other time of the year, Christmas is when people open their hearts to the poor. But, Jesus’ invasion promised more than a new path for the poor. When Jesus invades, things move and routines and ruts are changed. Instead of rushing through our lives, struggling to make ends meet, Jesus will open our hearts to those who are bound in prisons physical and emotional. Too often our ruts and routines blind our eyes to those on God’s heart. His invasion will open our blind eyes so that we see the weak and helpless, the children and the mentally ill.

The Christmas tree and decorations will all come down in three weeks, but the changes Jesus’ invasion will make in our lives won’t stop at December 25th. They will go on all year long.

Diesel in My Day

MT 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The diesel truck goes by and I quickly roll up the window, turn off the air conditioner, and wait out the stink in the atmosphere left from its exhaust. Worse than an Italian on garlic, the left-over smell from a diesel truck must not be good for me any more than second-hand smoke. But, when does my desire for pure air impact people’s freedom to drive diesel?

Does purity become legalism? Does my desire for purity of heart drive me to legislate my standards upon others’ lives? Let’s face it, in my desire for a pure heart, I avoid certain TV programs, movies, books, and music. I’m considered a prude, a goody-two-shoes.

Why is my desire for purity seen as legalism? Is it that I demand others to follow my standards…or does purity of heart convict the impure and they try to extinguish the light with ridicule?

If I hold my purity as a way to keep me from loving, from engaging, as a standard that I demand for others, it can become legalism. That is, it is legalism for them…something they are doing because I’ve laid down the law. For me, it is purity of heart, a desire to be uncluttered in my devotion to the Lord. Unfortunately, what is purity of heart for me can too easily be just legalism for the next person who isn’t concerned about an uncluttered heart and unfettered love for Jesus.

For, bottom line—purity of heart is all about a desire for Jesus and a distaste for anything that gets in the way of seeing Him.

And, my next question…are purity of heart and a cluttered desk inconsistent?

Pseudo Lover

“Good morning. How are you?” I asked Jane as I walked into the church foyer.

“Terrible!” she answered.

I was five steps further along when it registered that she hadn’t given me the expected answer. Now I had a choice to make. Would I turn around and care (and interrupt my busy morning for what could be a 15 minute recitation of the current problems)? Or would I go on with business as usual? Would I love or just pseudo love?

How often our cliché greetings are pseudo love. They are ways that we appear to express polite concern without inviting real heart interaction. The normal answer to “How are you?” is “fine!” We have recognized their existence, but not advanced very far into love. We’ve gone far enough to show we care without investing too much to alter our agenda.

Perhaps it helps us to be on the receiving end. “Hey, Buddy,” my fellow worker would say. There was affection in that “Buddy” until I realized that it was a substitute for my name, which he didn’t remember even though he had worked with me for months. It felt like pseudo love. His “how are you? How’s the family?” seemed like real love, until in my mid-update of a huge stress in my life, he turned and began talking to someone else. That’s when I recognized pseudo love in action…because I was looking in a mirror and seeing myself!

How easily I can act interested in a person to show them I care, and in mid-story get distracted by something or someone else. How easily I can ask questions, even make listening noises, while all the time wanting to get on with my agenda, anxious that my nonverbals belie my listening attitude and reveal that I’m really a pseudo-lover! I’d rarely be so crass or as obvious as my friend. I’d rarely “Hey Buddy” someone and then drop them for a more interesting person. But, too often my eyes flit to the football game on TV, to the headline on the newspaper, and tell my wife that I’m really just a pseudo-lover.

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.” I John 3:18.

So, I position myself to be a lover. I turn my back to the TV, put down the newspaper, turn away from the computer monitor, and give full attention to the speaker. I turn my back on the lobby and focus my attention on the speaker, recognizing that God brought them into my day so I could be Jesus to them and listen to Jesus in them. I open myself to His Spirit to transform me from a pseudo lover into a genuine lover. And, sometimes I make it. Other times I’m just a……pseudo lover!

Peace

Driving along the south shore of Lake Crescent in mid October is an awesome experience. The yellows scattered across the green hillsides reflect across the water. The water is still as glass. The hills, the greens, and the yellows in the bright sunlight like the original Impressionist canvas. Every turn brings on a new vista, but I whip past the turnouts and picture opportunities because I’m on a mission. I don’t have time to stop!

Climbing out of the Lake Crescent basin gouged by an ancient river of ice, we hit the reds dabbed across the hillsides. We oh and ah, but, I’m on a mission. No time for a picture! We gotta get there! Perhaps on the way home they sun will still be out and there’ll be time.

We conclude our visit and head home in the late afternoon, still in daylight. However, while were inside the Big House with our friend, the clouds had rolled in from the ocean. I stop at chosen spots for pictures of the firestorm on the hillsides and roadsides. By the time we get to Lake Crescent, however, the brilliant colors are faded in the fast growing twilight. A light breeze on the water has ruffled the surface. Although we stop at a few places, I’ve passed every opportunity for capturing that most glorious the original Impressionist’s artwork.

God used this picture to remind me of one of the themes He has been working into my life lately. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. Too often in life I’m in a hurry. I whip by opportunities to slow down and capture what He is doing. I delay doing until the clouds of struggle have obscured the opportunity or the stress has ruffled the waters of my day. When I’m stressed, when I’m struggling, when I’m hurrying, I can’t see the reflection and beauty as clearly. When I’m stressed, when I’m struggling, Jesus’ reflection gets obscured and I miss out on the beauty He is painting for me to enjoy. It is all still there. I just don’t see it as vividly. The clouds of circumstances obscure His light, so I see more darkly. I miss what He wants me to enjoy. His peace will slow me down, unruffled my waters, and reflect the reds, yellows, and greens as I pass through life. Not only will I enjoy it more, so will those who see God painting in me.

Nuts!

In one of the more memorable scenes from WWII, the American 101st Airborne found themselves surrounded by German troops at the small Belgian crossroads town of Bastogne. Confronted with a demand for surrender, General Anthony McAuliffe gave a famous one word answer, “Nuts!”

According to the Bible, we are in a spiritual battle and “Nuts” doesn’t sound like a very good answer. 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (2 Corinthians 10:3) 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. (Ephesians 6:11).

We often find ourselves surrounded by conflict and struggle. Images of war flood our TV screens, radio newscasts, and newspaper headlines. And, then, there are the “culture wars”, conflicts over what philosophy of life will govern our laws, morals, and media. Political conflicts rage over issues like abortion on demand, health care, immigration reform, taxes. Our neighborhoods and schools often seem like war zones, with bullies and shootings sowing fear. The battle even invades our homes: conflicts in our marriages dissolve the family structure. Parent-child conflicts erupt and tear at the fabric of our families.

The great danger for us, however, is to be mistaken in who we are fighting, how we are fighting, and what it will take to win in this spiritual conflict.
Paul is clear that it is not people we are fighting when he says, 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

People are the victims of the battle not the enemy. In all these arenas, spiritual forces are the enemy. It is not the drug dealer, the pro-death politician, the greedy salesman, the brain washing rapper, the selfish mate who is the enemy. They are the victims of the spiritual forces fighting against God. But, even bigger than the culture wars, there is the internal war for control of our own mind and heart that Paul labels as strongholds in 2 Corinthians 10. Negative thinking, fears, addictions, self-indulgence, greed all sink their hooks into us to pull us away from the life God intends us to enjoy.

And, because our enemies are spiritual, not human, our weapons can’t be what the world uses. The world uses physical weapons, political gambits, persuasive words imbedded in catchy tunes to fight their battles. The world uses the ballot box, the petition, letter writing campaigns, the editorial pages and the switchboards of our legislators to fight the battle.

God, however, calls us to use spiritual weapons to fight the battle: Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand (Eph. 6:13). Paul goes on to mention truth, righteousness, sharing the good news, faith, the Bible, and prayer as weapons we use. In addition, God uses our loving good works (Matthew 5:16) and our attitude under trial (2 Corinthians 4:7-12) to break through in the battle for our minds and hearts.

Winning is more than just saying “Nuts”! It is yielding to God’s Spirit and God’s Word and letting them loose in our lives to set us free… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed John 8:36.

Serving is the New Sexy

OK, now that I have your attention, I’m not talking about showing skin on the food line of the local homeless feeding ministry. One meaning for the word “sexy” is “generally attractive or interesting, appealing” according to www.Merriam-Webster.com.. So, I’m saying that serving rather than talking is what the world sees is attractive about Christianity. The world generally rejects the message of Christ because they feel that Christians are condemning and critical of others while ignoring their own lovelessness toward gays and people of other religions. However, when the world sees Christians acting loving, they give new credence to the gospel message.

And, right here is where we run into a problem: Too easily churches develop sitters, not servers. If all we do is come to the weekend service, week after week, soaking up what is in some cases gourmet preaching, we may be infected with a disease called “spectatorism.” One author says, Spectatorism generally creates flabby, weak, spoon-fed believers who have grown old, but not up, in the Lord.

Yes, sometimes the best way to serve people is to tell them the Good News that Jesus can make a difference in their lives. The good news that God accepts us and forgives us changes the lives of Khmer Rouge Murderers, of Indian low castes, of empty hearted communists in East Asian countries, and drunken fathers who are drinking up all their children’s food money in order to find peace. Sometimes the good news is the best way you can meet someone’s needs, because the Good News does change lives as well as eternity.

But, the Matthew version of the Great Commission tells us to teach people to Keep the commands. That feels more like action than talking. Keep has a custodial flavor—We are given "custody" of the message that Jesus is good news, and Jesus in us is how He intends to touch the world. Our Message that Jesus is in us presumes that we will Serve with it. The only way Jesus can touch the world, heal the world, feed the world, show compassion on the world is through His body. We are His body, His instrument to touch a hurting and hopeless world. We are the only good news that many will ever see.

Serving is being the good news, being Jesus to a pain filled and broken world. The Bible includes serving in how we SHARE the good news: Peter tells us in his first letter to use whatever gift we have received to serve others (I Peter 4:10). Twice in Titus 3 and in Eph. 2:10, Paul says that God brought us into His forever family so we would be devoted to doing good. In Galatians 2:10, Paul says that there was only one thing that the Apostles asked him to do when he went to the Gentiles: to continue to remember the poor. Peter tells us to 1 Pet. 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God

To often the pain of life shouts louder than our words and people can’t hear the good news until they see the good news. But, when they see the good news working in us, changing us, unleashing us from being anchored to our houses and toys, and connecting us to the hurting, hopeless, and disheartened in practical love in action, they find that Christians are attractive. Former atheist and now Christian author, Lee Strobel, says, “when we put our love into tangible action as Jesus modeled…this can open up the hardest of hearts otherwise impervious to the message of Christ.”

Share It!

The Great Commission is about making disciples. And making disciples involves teaching them to keep whatever I have commanded them. In other words, following Christ’s last words on earth gives us custody of a world changing message—Share it!

The Acts 1:8 version of the Great commission says God will make us His witnesses, to tell what we have experienced. Words are part of what we use to witness.
The Mark 16:15 version of the great commission says to share the Good News. The first church, in Acts 8:4, when chased out of Jerusalem by persecution, preached the word wherever they went. Sharing the good news generally goes verbal in some way.

Sharing the good news is part of what we do with the great commission. And, while words are usually part of sharing, there are multiple ways to sensitively share in a world that rejects verbal Christians as offensive. My friend Paul just returned from a trip to England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. On the train in Wales, he spied a sign that said, ‘NO SOLICITATIONS!” A man got off the train in front of him, opened his satchel, and pulled out a pile of calendars to hand out. He wasn’t soliciting. He was giving. The calendar was contextualized for Wales, about sheep, and animals, with Bible verses that shared the good news.

Perhaps handing out a calendar with pictures and verses on it isn’t your style. However, sharing that message of GOD LOVES; GOD GIVES; WE BELIEVE; WE RECEIVE (John 3:16) is vital…because we live in a world that is rapidly becoming Biblically illiterate. Many Christians suppose that just doing loving things is witness enough. However, Buddhists are good people. Muslims do good deeds. Our society values doing good deeds, even setting aside weeks and days to “make a difference.” In fact, doing good is how most people think they are going to get to heaven. All the religions in the world suppose that God grades on the curve. Their religious efforts to do good are attempts to make themselves acceptable for the next life. People don’t know the good news that God has already sent Jesus to make them acceptable for the next life…they just have to accept Him. People don’t know the good news, so we need to be prepared to tell it.

But, how do you share it without an argument? One way is to write out your story of how God has worked in your life (your witness). Print some copies to give to friends and family. Include how you responded to the good news. Generally, people will listen respectfully to someone’s story as long as it doesn’t turn into condemnation or a sermon. It might open the door of their heart to find Jesus, too.

Another way is to ask people to read the good news for themselves. Give them a modern version of the Gospel of John, and ask them for their honest opinion of what they read. Don’t argue. Just ask them if they have what John talks about in 20:31.

And, of course, when someone asks you why you are doing something kind for them, be ready to “give an answer for the hope that is within you.” Tell them it is because Jesus is living in you and loves you that you want to pass His love along, that you hope they can experience His love, too.

Dial In Your Mind

When I set my television set to channel 13, I have fixed my attention on the programming from that channel. When I set my radio to the 105.3 frequency, I have fixed my hearing to that station’s music and news. When I set my thermostat, I maintain the room temperature at 70 degrees. When I set my cruise control on 62, the car travels that speed, regardless of the terrain under me (and the vehicles in front of me!!!).

When I set my eyes and attention on obtaining a goal, completing a project, or attaining an accomplishment, my energy and efforts are devoted to that end. That purpose or goal controls my choices and decisions, because I have previously made the choice to focus my energies in that direction. My mind is devoted to channel 13 and misses what is on the other channels because I’ve chosen, I’ve predetermined, what I will watch. My mind determines how I react to my environment, and helps me maintain an even keel no matter what is going on outside.

So, when Paul commands us in Colossians to set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things…we understand that God is calling us to choose to dial into Jesus, to focus our attentions, motivations, energies, efforts, on Him. He becomes the programming of our mind. He becomes the music and news for our day. He determines the direction and speed of our lives, regardless of the terrain or obstacles. With Him as the focus of our attention, we become thankful, peaceful, pure, and humble, like Him. When we are set on Jesus, He gives us the ability to rejoice no matter the storms around us. With Jesus as the focus of our attention, we respond to His commands, example, and warnings. When we dial into Jesus, into heaven, we will be so focused on Him that we will miss some other programming in life, but will never feel deprived…because we have died, and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, appears, then we also will appear with Him in glory.

When it says ”You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God,” it means that we have previously chosen to dial into Jesus. Our choice has been made. Our problem is that we are too often like an FM station that tends to drift off the frequency. Someone bumps us and we find ourselves jiggled over to a focus on our problems and pain instead of the answer to our pain, Jesus. Someone grabs our remote, and begins channel-surfing, and we flit from pleasing others to pleasing self.

And so, we take the remote in hand, and choose to re-set our mind on Jesus, on heaven!

Adventure

A person’s last words reach out and grab us because they are often the most important thing a person wants to get across. Jesus’ last words on earth, His last command, are part of the Main Thing He wants us to make the Main Thing. We call it THE GREAT COMMISSION: 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

The great commission is not about making decisions, not about making attenders, not about making donors or even good church members. The great commission is not about filling seats and offering bags. It is about investing your life in a few people who will invest their lives in a third spiritual generation. When Jesus truly gets inside of us, we embark on the great adventure of making disciples.

The great adventure (wrapped up in the word Go in Matthew 28:19) is not so much about changing location as it is that wherever we are located, we are involved in the adventure of shaping lives for Jesus. God is in charge of our journey, our transfer, our layoff, even the recession that forces relocation or the orders from Uncle Sam. Like the disciples in Acts 8:1, 4, He scatters us so we intersect with new lives who have never heard it before, or never heard it as presented in our life and words. God has designed us so that our lives will be just what others need to understand the good news. God has designed us to that our lives will rub off on others’ lives…and that’s the Great Commission.

God places us where we aren’t comfortable, secure, or even have the American dream—because the main thing is not about getting, it’s about giving. Jesus died take us into dangerous places to fish for men. Adventure may take many forms, but, basically, it is getting us out of our comfort zone—going to the street to serve the hungry, teaching ESL in a community center, risking your health by going to the mission field to live for a few weeks or months. Getting out of our comfort zone may risk our sanity by hanging out in a children's classroom for 90 minutes during a weekend church service. Adventure is welcoming people to the church door, or to your castle gate…letting them in, getting to know them. Now, that’s adventure.

Ask God to help us stop living life defensively, trying to keep what we’ve got. Ask God to help us see life as Adventure! It’s part of this Great Commission thing—the Main Thing!

Our Kite Runner

I recently finished The Kite Runner, a gripping piece of fiction about two boys who grow up in Pre-Taliban Afghanistan. Besides grabbing and possessing your thoughts and emotions, Khaled Hosseini, the author, gives you a feel for the background for the present Afghani conflict and a window into various issues. For instance, he reveals the underside of racism and tribalism that underlies modern Afghanistan…one boy is from a privileged tribe, the other is from a hated, abused, slave class. The fact that they are best friends and playmates, unknowingly sharing more than just their country and family estate, evokes echoes of America’s racist past and present.

The core of the story, however, revolves around the relationship between the two boys: the kite flyer and the kite runner (who chases down the prized kites cut loose by his friend) and the guilt that the privileged boy carries into adulthood over standing silently by in the shadows while talibanistic thugs rape his loyal and faithful friend.

The guilt from his inaction grinds through his transition into adulthood and climaxes in an opportunity to “be good again.” The opportunity presents itself in the form of returning to Afghanistan to rescue the orphan son of his childhood friend, now in the clutches of a Taliban warlord. In the process he is beaten into a near lifeless pulp by the warlord and in the beating feels so healed from the guilt and shame of his childhood cowardice that he laughs in the midst of the beating.

This posed for me a question: Is physical suffering really a way to atone for our sins? Is taking a beating really a way to find redemption and freedom from guilt? It was for Ali, the character in the Kite Runner. And, certainly it feels that way for many who suffer in the physical wasteland of drug, alcohol, and other addictions. Sometimes the addiction is a way to drown the pain of guilt and shame. Sometimes it is a sick, sadistic, self-punishment by those who feel that they are worthless because of their guilt and shame. Sometimes people feel they deserve the self-abuse, and it is a way to “pay” for their guilt. Certainly, when our daughter went through her 10 year battle with an eating disorder, self-punishment was one peel of the onion in her addiction. Often children who feel guilt will push for a beating as a way to make themselves feel better…to pay for being bad!

But, do we need to punish ourselves or face punishment to find forgiveness, as the Kite Runner puts it, “to be good again.” Do we need to hurt to pay for our sins? For Ali, the payment for his sins nearly killed him. And, except for a dramatic rescue (which I will leave to your reading) it would have killed him. Do we need to die for our sins? How can we be good again if we die? Does self-punishment really remove guilt?

The Bible is clear that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Guilt, shame, internal pain…all are parts of this death…but God neither wants us to stay in that pain nor pay to escape it…because we can’t pay for it ourselves. Jesus is the one who took our punishment, so we could go free. The Bible is clear…1 John 1:7 the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. Heb. 9:14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

In fact, Jesus is our Kite Runner…the one who rescues us, saying, for you, a thousand times over.

Almighty For You

For 13 years Abram was convinced Ishmael was God’s way! Until God breaks in…. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. Genesis 17:1

God’s redirection for Abram’s life started by revealing a new aspect of His character. Knowing God as the Almighty is a great comfort when He calls us to new steps of obedience, particularly when they are difficult and painful steps.

This is the Bible’s first use of the name El Shaddai, the Almighty, The Most Powerful. El Shaddai combines words meaning who and enough to remind Abram, and us, that we are dealing with The God who is enough.

This Almighty, however, wasn’t distant, but up close and personal. It was a name that said, “I am the “Can Do God”, I am Almighty for you. I am Almighty to love you, care for you, choose you, protect you, prosper you, challenge you. I am Almighty to solve the difficulties that you seem to think you are having in your walk of faith. I am the Almighty who can enable you to obey when it is difficult. God says I’m sufficient, when you are weak, frail, and fearful.

Whenever God’s servants are hard-pressed and needing reassurance, God appears as the Almighty…The God of the impossible, the God beyond our wildest dreams, able to work in us way beyond what we would ask or expect, and even beyond nature.

And, when we get a new view of the God of the Impossible, when our life intersects with Him, He will radically change our lives.

Most mornings Carol will tell me about the name of God that she is focusing on for that day. El Elyon, El Shaddai, Jehovah Nissei, Each of God’s names focus on some aspect of His character. Each name calls us to trust Him in a new way in this daily, on-going walk of faith. It is a great practice…getting a new view of God for every day.

How are you experiencing God today? How is He appearing to you? Sometimes He appears to me as provider, sometimes as challenger, rebuker, or comforter. Sometimes He appears as angry father because I’ve messed up and hurt myself, but other times as a loving father, Almighty, all sufficient, all knowing, all forgiving.

The key is…the God who assigns us difficult tasks, Who calls us to walk the road of the cross, Who calls us to turn our backs on the deadends in which we have invested years of our lives, this God is sufficient to be what we need. We can trust the Almighty enough to follow Him.

And, that’s what turned Abram into an Abraham.

When God and You Intersect

Like Abraham in Genesis 17, we learn that our walk of faith is not just an event, not just something that happens when we are 9 or 29, but an ongoing experience of God’s presence and promises that radically alters our character and behaviors.

Genesis 17 begins with When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. Genesis 17:1

This was Abram’s fourth intersection with God. When he met with God, God got loose in his life. God changed his name from Abram to Abraham-- Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham. His life went from being about an Exalted Father to being about a Father of nations, from being about himself to being about those who followed him. When we experience God’s presence, He gets loose in our lives and begins to work in us what He wants. Like Abraham, we have choices to make to install the new changes or to keep working with an obsolete, outdated operating system that will no longer be supported. For Abraham, the choice was to take on the sign of the covenant, circumcision, cut into his body. For us, the choice is to take on the sign that marks us as belonging to Jesus…the sign of love that is cut into our heart and works itself out into behaviors with others.

Bottom line: When we grow in our relationship with God we will experience changes.
So, the obvious question is: What has changed in my life, in my marriage, in my parenting, in my job? Because, if nothing changes, maybe I'm not meeting with God. I'm just reading my Bible!

Ride Your Problems

Carol and I took in the Village Theater Musical Showboat. It was a delightful drift through the 1890’s when river boats provided entertainment on the Mississippi. You would probably recognize songs like “Old Man River” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ dat Man.”

Besides the beautiful songs, terrific staging, and talented actors, the story line floated you a couple messages.

The first is a story about love and marriage. There are 5 marriages depicted in the play: The owner of the showboat, the lead actor and actress, the comedy dance team, the African-American workers, and the owners’ daughter who marries the flashy and talented riverboat “gentleman.” Every marriage has its problems: The owner puts up with his domineering and demanding wife. The lead actor and actress have to run when the local police discover that she is mixed-race and come to arrest her…only to see their marriage dissolve in Chicago. The comedy dance team with running ad-hominem banter, cracking jokes at each other’s expense, surprisingly stick together and eventually make it big in Hollywood. The young lovers are married, much to the dismay of the riverboat owner’s wife and the delight of the riverboat owner. They wind up in Chicago where the gambler loses his shirt and deserts the love of his life and their child. The only marriage that seems to be solid and encouraging is that of the African American couple, because she “can’t help lovin dat man”. What do you learn? Every marriage has problems and challenges. Every marriage, even with the most auspicious beginning, faces extreme challenges and problems. Marriages stick together in spite of the problems and fall apart because of the problems. Marriages that last find ways to deal with the irritations and annoyances introduced by the partner, and their deep loyalty binds them together in spite of the pressures that threaten to pull them apart. The challenges serve to either melt them together or split them apart. Love is painful but powerful. It is even sometimes very sad. But, true love holds even the most painful marriage together. Marriage is an institution where two imperfect people struggle together through many difficulties to forge a union that withstands the tests of life.

The second lesson is about life. Life goes on and you can’t stop it any more than you can stop the Mississippi. The young couple marry, go to Chicago, have a child, and raise the child. The story ends with the child back at the showboat and falling in love, thus the cycle starts all over again. Life is like the Mississippi, Old Man River, who just keeps rolling along…through good and bad, through problems and pain and joy, celebration and challenge. You can’t stop it. You can only ride it out. Likewise, we can’t escape the problems, but we can ride on them. Apply what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 to your marriage, and ride on the problem to God’s grace.… 2CO 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
And, in 2 Corinthians 12….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. 10 That 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.

Lean Into the Mountain

A week ago, Carol and I drove to the top of Steptoe Butte outside Colfax. I could say it was the high point of our 1325 mile trip across Oregon and Washington. At least, it was the white knucklist point! Steptoe Butte is a 1000 foot mountain with a narrow, one lane road with two-way traffic winding to the top. I call it white knuckle driving because there is no guardrail. And, you would roll a long ways before you stopped. So, even though I enjoyed Carol in my lap (because the edge was on her side of the car), I tried to steer away from the edge and as close as possible to the mountain.

I first realized I was White Knuckle about edges and heights in 1967 when I made a mid August assault on Mt. Hood. At a certain place, I found myself trying to step back into the mountain. Years later, when our son was about 10, I found myself on the higher part of my rough one night trying to finish a Christmas light project. I was on my stomach, finger nails dug into the shakes, shaking. Matt called out, “Dad, what’s wrong?” I answered, “I’m freaked!” I was clinging to the roof for dear life.

You'd think I'd have sense enough to avoid high places with such physiologically white knuckle reactions! Noooo! Not me! Not many years later we took a family road trip to Edmonton. We drove through Glacier Park on the way up, with an emphasis on that last word, “up”. As we drove up the valley, admiring the mountains and trees, we saw the sheer rock face of the mountain in front of us. Suddenly I saw light reflecting off glass…there were cars on that rock face! That was the “Going to the Sun Highway”…that winds up across the face of the sheer cliff with only 1 foot rock guardrails between you and eternity! White Knuckle! I leaned into the mountain.

Steptoe Butte had no guardrails! Hence: White Knuckle! I leaned into the mountain, trying to stay as close to the mountain and as far from ledge as possible.

Likewise, I find that leaning into the mountain is a good picture when it comes to avoiding the ledges and edges of life, from falling into temptation and crashing my life and my family and my friends into oblivion by some mis-step. The Message version of I Corinthians 10:13 says, No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.
God’s way of escape isn’t just to avoid edges and ledges. It is to stick as close to the mountain as possible. That’s the idea God told Abraham in Genesis 17, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. (NIV)….It is only by sticking close to Almighty God that we can walk blamelessly before Him.

Lean into God, and you’ll stay away from the edges of life.

Near the Edge

He was 13. It was a fun day and the rocks were inviting. Perhaps he could get a better view if he got out on them and looked down. There was a slip. A fall. And he was looking up at heaven. He was 13. Mt. Erie hadn’t been friendly to him.

Carol and I took a trip last Monday to Mt. Erie on Fidalgo Island near Deception Pass. It is a steep drive to the top where there is a cell tower, several paved paths to viewpoints with guard rails, awesome views of Whidbey Island and the Anacortes refineries, as well as very accessible sheer cliffs. Even though it was cloudy, it was a beautiful scene.

However, I have to confess, I have a visceral reaction to heights. Even with a guardrail, I can’t get even close to the edge without trying to hang part of my body back near the mountain while my head peeks over. I’m freaked by heights.

The really spooky part of the adventure, however, was how accessible the cliffs were. In fact, Mt. Erie is famous for its great climbs on the rocky faces. The cliffs are also very accessible to novices, like the young man whose story about his death in 1992 appeared on a marker near the parking area.

I was thankful that Carol and I had come by ourselves on this trip. A week earlier we had hiked to the Ice Caves at Big Four near Verlot with our three oldest grandchildren. We had thought about the trip to Mt. Erie with them. I was so glad that we had not brought them. Not because they wouldn’t have enjoyed it, but because they would have wanted to explore nearer the edge than we were comfortable. In fact, the cliffs were so accessible, that, if we had had our grandchildren there, it would have been difficult to keep them away from the edges…even though they are great kids.

I was thankful we hadn’t exposed them to the temptation to get too close to the edge.

That reminded me of some verses from Romans 14 and 15…15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
RO 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
There are things I can do and places I can go without getting to the edge of the temptation. However, by taking others there, I expose them to the temptation. They may not be where I am, may get too close to the edge, and may fall. This is why I choose to abstain from certain beverages and entertainments. I may not fall, but if people go to the edge with me, they may fall, even though I don’t. It is out of love that I choose to not go near the edge of myself, lest others follow me and slip.

When the Culture Defines Hate

When the culture defines hate, expect the fat to hit the fan.

When it isn’t politically correct to be a Christian, when Christian values and morals become immoral to the culture around you, expect that being a Christ-follower will make you look hateful. When the culture defines hate, just not agreeing with their position is hate. You can do nice things, but impact the economy or say some behaviors are immoral, and people will come looking for you.

At some point, what you believe about God, about life, about yourself, and about others will change your life. And, you will call others to change their lives. Any time you ask people to change, or even when you start changing, you impact others. We are interconnected on this planet. If a butterfly in Brazil can cause a weather change in Massachusetts (as Chaos Theory teaches), then you changing how you live because Jesus has taken over your thinking and your choices will impact others around you.

Paul’s culture defined hate in Acts 19. For two years he had taught the good news that God wanted to invade our lives through Jesus and take over (the Kingdom of God): Paul… had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

Then people’s lives began to change because God was now calling the shots. Paul released a slave girl from demonic domination and her employers lost income. People burned their magic books and began realizing that the current religion was bogus…so they quit buying the silver dolls used in the sex-worship of the culture. This impacted the business sector, because the demand for silver and for silver dolls dried up. AC 19:23 About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. 25 He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. 27 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty."

Businessmen lost income, and when their pocketbook was touched, they got angry. As long as these followers of the Way just did their own thing, had their nice Bible studies, minded their own business, no one was going to get hurt. But, when they started changing what they bought and how they lived, the fat hit the fan. The culture thought it was hateful to teach people that dolls weren’t necessary to life and happiness. The culture thought it was hateful to impact people’s livelihood that supported what was obsolete. When the culture defines hate, expect to be ridiculed publically. Expect to get shouted down. AC 19:28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar…. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. 32 The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there... they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" AC 19:35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. 37 You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.

This story from Acts 19 teaches us some lessons about how to react when the culture defines hate.
• Don’t go to the arena (don’t get involved in arguments. Your reactions and arguments will only be seen as defensiveness. False thinking is self-evident.)
• Don’t speak evil about others’ beliefs or behaviors or fight over cultural issues.
• Declare clearly that God gets to call the shots in our lives (the Kingdom of God)

Who's Right?

“I think it is God’s will for us to break up,” she said.
“Well, I think it is God’s will for us to keep going together,” I answered.

Quite a conversation to have in the backseat of a VW bug with your roommate and his girl friend in the front seat! To make matters worse, the girl in the back seat wasn’t Carol, and the girl in the front seat was Carol’s cousin!

The issue, however, wasn’t who, but how did we know God’s will for our relationship! She thought one way, and I thought another. Who was right? Do you ever find yourself in a situation like that? You feel very strongly God is leading toward accomplishing some hopes and dreams. Leadership, friends, family all feel God is leading differently. Does God speak out of both sides of His mouth, or is one of you not listening?

This is especially dicey when it comes to things like jobs (your boss lays you off, you get fired), your favorite ministries (you think it is a wonderful way to serve God, but the leadership hears God’s voice to ax it), or your favorite way of doing church (things take a direction you don’t hear God’s voice saying, but others do).

So, what do you do when you are both listening to God and He is saying two different things? Certainly, this was the situation Paul faced in Acts 20 and 21.

AC 20:22 "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.
21:3 We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. 4 Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem…8 Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea… AC 21:10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, `In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.' "
AC 21:12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

Certainly Paul heard the Spirit warning him about trouble in Jerusalem. And, so did all his friends from multiple places. However, they reached opposite conclusions. Paul heard the Spirit compelling him to go to Jerusalem and all the warnings were to get him ready and prevent his discouragement: Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. His friends heard the warnings and thought the Spirit was saying “Don’t go” because it will be hard, dangerous, and perhaps even deadly. Who was right?

Paul seemed sure of the Spirit’s leading and took the recurring warnings as the Spirit’s reassurance that even though bad things would happen, God was still in control. He would need that reassurance when everything went south on him. Difficulties take us somewhere, which was exactly what God later told Paul… AC 23:11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

Too often we want those we love and care about to avoid pain and struggle. God, however, is often in the pain and struggle (Romans 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 12:8-10). Trying to get them to avoid it would be to distract them from God’s mission, much like Peter in Matthew 16:22. It would be like Mordecai telling Esther, “Don’t Go!”

Who is right? The one who is following God’s call! I’m glad to say that my former girlfriend was right. I’m also grateful that my wife’s cousin never told her about that conversation in the back seat of the VW!

When Disunity is the Road to Unity

William Barclay calls it tragic—Paul and Barnabas’ split in Acts 15:39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Paul wanted to revisit the churches in Asia Minor. Barnabas agreed, but right there things ended. They both wanted to do mission work. They just weren’t agreed on who should be on the team. Mark, the Mama’s boy, Paul didn’t want. Barnabas saw potential. Paul saw problems. Who was right? The Bible doesn’t say. However, I think they both were right. This was a case where disunity was the road to unity.

They were unified on the mission: strengthen the disciples they had led to Christ on their first missionary journey. Both accomplished the mission. They just did it separately rather than together. Did God say they had to work together? Or, did God just give the assignment? Did they go on badmouthing the other? No. Only positive things were said after this, even about Mark. Barnabas had been successful in reclaiming the lost disciple (who eventually gave us an entire gospel). Paul opened Europe to the good news. God was in it!

Their separation was really unity…because it wasn’t division, but multiplication. Now there were two mission teams where before there had been one. That’s the genius of discipleship. The one becomes two, and God moves them in separate paths, continuing to spin off new teams. When you agree on the “what” but not the “how” or the “who”, go ahead in unity to the “what”…separately. Disunity can be the road to unity…if you are agreed on the "what". Too often we try to keep it together in a church, in a group, in a business, and wind up tearing each other apart. God may be in the kerfuffle if it's about multiplication.

When I was an early teenager, our small country church eight miles from town lost our pastor. He had been a “drive out”, a student who drove out the 29 miles from Portland to our old school building in Chapman. Our small church (30 people, including kids) asked the denomination for a new pastor. They, however, felt that the 30 people couldn’t support a pastor. “We’re gonna close the church. Drive the 8 miles into town where there is a sister church.”

Our church leadership felt that God wanted a church in our little rural community. So they contacted the American Sunday School Union (now the American Missionary Fellowship) for a missionary pastor. The main missionary himself came out and began to hold services, prayer meetings (the only time I ever saw my Dad on his knees praying was at one of those prayer meetings at our house on the hill).

About six months passed and the denominational executives, looking for church growth in Scappoose, found none and asked, “What happened in Chapman?” When they discovered that we were all still meeting out there, they sent out another pastor to take over. Now our church leadership had a problem. We had two pastors and one congregation which couldn’t support even one pastor. Part of the group felt a loyalty to the ASSU missionary who had helped us when we needed it. Part of the group preferred the denomination.

The church split…tragically it seemed. For, how could 15 people support a pastor? However, six months later, there were 2 churches of 30 people in the little community. God’s goal was to reach people for Jesus, not keep people in the same box. Our disunity was unwitting unity…for we were accomplishing what God wanted. Division was really multiplication!

So, when you are facing problems of disunity, ask the question: Are we both trying to do the same thing, only in separate ways or with separate people. Focus on what we have in common…the mission. Allow for diversity in accomplishing it. That’s unity!

Strawberry Morning

I’m an early riser. Several times a week I exit the house at 6:30 AM on my way to the road for my morning jog/walk (I walk up and down the hills and jog on the flats pretty much…so, since I live on a hill, I guess it is a walk/jog, not a jog/walk). That early hour is so quiet…birds chirping, the sun still behind Whiskey Ridge. And, the hour, the chirps, something about the feel of the morning and the sun not quite but almost up, takes me back to 12 years old.

We were early risers. Often we’d be on the road at 6 AM in the old Nash Rambler heading over the hill as a family to the strawberry patch. Or, we’d be on a 30 minute drive up the Columbia to Sauvie’s Island to pick beans. Often the entire family picked in the fields. We'd start early to escape the heat.

This morning it’s a Strawberry morning.

It’s misting lightly. And I remember the berries through the bushes. Today my hands wouldn’t get stained as much as normally. We’d use lemon juice at home to get the stains off. Today, it was like God was giving the berries a light pre-packing rinse. The mist was coming down, and before we were 10 feet up the row, we would be wet up to the elbows from pawing through the plants looking for those juicy red strawberries.

It was in the berry patch that I learned how to work. My friends went there to play…but then their mom wasn’t in the next row. I learned to make a game out of things: like who can pick the most, and who can eat the least strawberries in a season (in the field of course, not at home where Mom would put that lip-smackin’ shortcake on the table). I remember that in a good season I could earn a hundred dollars…enough for school clothes and, one year, that coveted electric train set from the Sears Roebuck catalog (still have it after it circulated through my nephews and my son).

I remember the red berries rattling into the boxes in the carrier (a carrier held six boxes each about 5 inches square and 2 inches high, arranged 2 x 3, with a wooden bar handle you could lean on when you got up from the row, or with which you could carry the 6 boxes down the row to the check in stand.) You soon learned to carry 4 carriers each trip, filling them one at a time, but leaving them in the row behind you. However, you had to keep your eyes on them and not get too far or they would take “legs” and “walk” away. Six boxes made a carrier and 12 boxes a flat, in which they were stacked and trucked to the packing plant.

When it rained, the mud would cake up on the bottom of the carrier. And, if it rained too much, you’d be carrying as much mud as berries. And, of course, with too much rain, the berries would get mushy.

So, by now it is no longer misting. It is not just sprinkling. It is raining, and I’m in the old Nash, or maybe it’s the old 51 Studebaker (its front-end looked something like an old jet). We’re huddled in the back seat, waiting for the rain to let up so we can go back to the patch…at least some of us in the car are waiting. I know I’m not waiting. I’m praying! I’m praying for a rain-out, so we can all go home and go back to bed.

By now I’ve nearly finished my 33 minute route across into Tuscany and up the hill behind it near the new high school (where we used to get our Christmas tree every year). I’m nearly home and now it isn’t misting, it is drizzling, and maybe even close to raining.
Guess I won’t be mowing the lawn this Strawberry morning .

Lamentations 3:22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

It's A Team Sport

At first glance, distance running (the sport of my youth) is an individual sport. It’s just you against the clock and the other runners. It is up to you. If you let up, you’re the loser. If you slack off in practice, you alone lose conditioning which will impact your race.

However, for nearly every race I ever ran, I ran on a team: how I placed impacted my team’s score. This was especially true on distance relays…where I had to pass the baton on for the team to win. If I let down on my leg of the relay, I impacted the time of the entire team. If I dropped the baton, the team was disqualified, not just me. The only race I never finished was a gimme NCAA medal…there were 6 places and 5 runners, and I was unable to finish. How that must have hurt the team! All I was thinking about, however, was how bad I was hurting from taking 6x6 barriers across the shins before I went headfirst into the water (I was running the 3000 meter steeplechase) and how my pride was hurting from the crowd laughing at me as I sat on the next barrier and swung my legs over. I was only thinking about me when someone asked me, “Do you think you can make it?” I dropped out and my team lost the points.

In a society that values individualism and entitlement, we tend to think that life is about me and that I deserve a break. We think that as long as it impacts only me, it is my business. However if we look at the book of Romans, we discover that church is a team sport. It is not just about me. If I let up in living out my faith in Christ, I’m not the only loser. What I do impacts everyone else!
RO 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
RO 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God…
RO 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself…
That’s why Paul says…
1CO 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Yes, we will all stand before the judgment seat (I Corinthians 3) as individuals.
But, we will be evaluated on how we impacted our team.
Christ-following is a team sport!

It Doesn't Depend on You

The phone rings. “Can you?” They catch you in the hallway, “Can I meet?” You get the email, “Can I schedule?” Or, perhaps it is more about “Can you help here?” “Can you volunteer just this once?” “Can you provide?” We can screen telemarketers, but we can’t escape the “Can you’s?” of our days.

Let’s face it. We are flooded with requests…for appointments, for giving the time and money God has trusted to our care, for helping. And, I want to help everywhere. I want to be a foster parent. I want to be the counselor who dispenses amazing insights. I want to help in the kids program. I want to be at every family event and never miss one Facebook invitation. And, then there are old friends who come into town and the picnic reunion beckons. And, the truth is, too often I want to be the Messiah.

So, in the midst of these competing demands, I hear God’s voice from Acts 18, “David, you can’t do it all. Paul couldn’t do it all, and neither can you.”

Paul was on his way to Jerusalem. He had a layover in Ephesus, on the west coast of what we call Asia Minor, and dropped into the local synagogue for a friendly discussion about the Messiah with the Jewish population of that cosmopolitan city. Acts 18:20 When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21 But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will."

Paul had other commitments calling. The ship was sailing. He had to say “Not now.” There are times when we have to be willing to say, “Not yet.” But, who will do it if you don’t? What do you do when a “yes” here means that you break your commitment and say “No” to the other person on your agenda? Too many times I say “Yes” to someone, and at the same time say “No” to the person to whom I’ve already committed that same time. I’m hoping for forgiveness, maybe for a “no show”, or just that they will understand that I’m not the Messiah.

So, if God is calling me elsewhere, as He did Paul, what does He expect me to do with all those requests when I say “Not yet.” Do I just callously walk off and let them fend for themselves? What did Paul do when he had to say “Not yet?”

He recognized that God had provided someone else for this task. In fact, Paul had already arranged for a pair of his disciples, Aquila and Priscilla to stay on in Ephesus (verse 19). He could say, “No” with confidence because he knew God had others in place to do the work.

So, when you can’t be the Messiah, when you have to say, “No”, be aware that God has other disciples He can use. In fact, you might be thinking ahead, trying to pour into disciples' lives so that they will be ready to do what you can’t do. When you have to say, “No, I’m already committed,” think like Paul. Ask someone else to be there in your place.

When I used to greet at the door after a sermon, I’d be torn between the person speaking to me and the new person gliding past ungreeted. I couldn’t listen effectively while I was thinking about the new person. I couldn’t greet the new person while I was listening to the person in front of me. I had to do two things: 1) turn my back on the other people so I could listen (say “yes” to them); 2) trust that the others around me would catch God’s heart for the stranger and connect with them.

After all, it doesn’t depend on you. It depends on Him.

The High Cost of Leading

I met him in the lobby and asked him about his volunteer position. He shared with me that he seemed to have lost his passion…not for the work, but for leading his team. One of his friends had observed, “It sounds like you’ve been wounded.” Reflecting with me, he realized that he had been wounded. There had been communication, but when it came down to the actual event, there had been conflict. It had been painful.

I reflected to him, “That’s the cost of leadership. It hurts. Leaders have to face angry people and that’s how they serve.” Years ago when I wrote my doctoral dissertation, I had studied servant leadership in multiple staff churches down the west coast. My research proved a statistical relationship between the senior pastor being a servant leader and how well the staff performed. That, coupled with a Biblical study of servant leadership comprised what turned into a book. However, it wasn’t until several years after I’d written my study that I learned what it means for a servant leader to “wash feet.” I worked with a pastor who was decisive. The choices were sometimes difficult and painful. But, he made them. I learned: the dirty work that leaders do and that marks them as leaders is making decisions. Decisions change things. And changes make some people unhappy. Leadership faces opposition, holds the course, and sticks it out when people don’t like the choices. Leaders don’t take leadership positions to make people happy. They take them to lead people to a future better than today, most of the time kicking and screaming.

It is precisely because of this cost inherent in the leadership task that many people avoid leadership positions. They are willing to follow, but, somehow, they know that leaders are targets. People shoot at them. And, that’s a price too high for some to pay. Moses didn’t want to be a leader. He was content living in the desert, herding the sheep. At least, the sheep didn’t bite. God, however, called him to Egypt to lead his people out of slavery. Moses’ leadership involved conflict: conflict with Pharaoh and conflict with his own followers. The account of the wilderness wanderings is 40 years of conflict. The cost of leadership, as Moses showed us, is facing angry people, complaining people, rebellious people. The problems they bring to you can eat your lunch and leave your stomach in knots…far into the small hours of the morning. That’s the cost of leadership.

Some leaders take the position of leading, but try to keep the followers happy. They make their decision based on what will keep peace not what will make progress. These leaders have a leadership position, but because the cost of leadership (angry people who jump ship) is too high, they actually abdicate leadership and become followers. Followers of people, not followers of God; The ship floats, but goes nowhere.

A friend who used to referee high school basketball games once told me, “When the coach puts his foot on the floor, the referee’s job is to take a step toward the coach, not a step back. Always step into the conflict.” That’s the task of leadership…stepping into the conflict, taking charge, making decisions that conform to God, to right, to growth, to progress, and paying the price of people not liking it, not liking you, getting angry, and sometimes leaving you to carry on to God’s goal without them. Godly leaders fix their eye on the One who leads them…
PHP 2:8 taking the very nature of a servant…And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
Mark 10: 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

My friend seemed encouraged. I hope you are, too.

Wrong Direction

We were there to watch Randy. Well, maybe really to get a Felix bobblehead doll. Or, perhaps it was just to celebrate significant milestones in our 3 lives (My son, my grandson-his nephew-and I all share April birthdays). Whatever, we took in a Mariners game Friday night. It was a real nail biter…if you can call a 1-1 tie in the 9th a nail biter. I just wondered if the M’s would ever unload those loaded bases some way besides a third out.

I spent the 4th inning trying to find some food. First I took Alden down (row 25 in Section 321 is a loooonnnnngggg way up there…now I understand why they call them “view” seats!) to find some Dippin’ Dots. I also was looking for raspberry lemonade for Matt, and probably a 3 piece at the fish establishment for me. We walked halfway around the stadium concourse to find Alden’s Dippin’ Dots…then back to our section so he could watch the game. Then I retraced my steps looking for ice cream (Matt changed his order, and I never could find that raspberry lemonade)…no one sells ice cream, but I did find the 3 piece. I burned through the top of the 4th, then the bottom of the 4th, and still no ice cream…but I was enjoying that 3 piece (if you can call saltless fries enjoyable).

I was standing in front of my section in the concourse, getting ready to tell Matt I had struck out when I decided I’d look in the opposite direction than I had gone. There, one section away was a sign that said, “Ice Cream.” If I had only looked that direction to start, I would have saved myself a lot of steps, a lot of time, and been back to my seat to enjoy the game with the guys. But, I had walked halfway around the stadium twice (once for Alden, once for me), only to find the ice cream within 50 feet of my starting point!

Perhaps you’ve been there. You set out to find something sweet, some peace, some satisfaction, something to fill that empty spot in your heart. You went looking for it in all sorts of places, none of which answered your true need. You found plenty of things that would substitute, but not what you really needed. You looked in multiple places, but struck out. You tried friends…but came up empty. You tried popularity…but it didn’t deliver. You tried work…but it left you stranded. You tried substances…but they left you tied up like a Randy Johnson fastball. You tried spending, and got caught off base. So, you give up. You return to where you started.

Why not look in the other direction? How I wished I had just looked the other way when I came out of the section the other night. I could have saved myself a lot of time spent walking around. Maybe right now look in the other direction, before you set off on your effort to find what satisfies.

The Bible says, There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Prov. 14:12) Jesus said, “I am the way…” (John 14:6)

Jesus is there all the time. You just might find what you are looking for and save yourself a lot of trouble.

By the way…Matt got his ice cream! And, finally in the 12th the Mariners unloaded the bases enough to stagger to a 2-1 victory!

On a Rocky Place

Monday we took a boat trip with our friends from Bellingham on board the Carol Lee…named after their daughter who is named after the Carol Lee in my life. It is a 40 foot, canoe-stern, ocean-going sailing yacht. We left Squalicum Harbor about 11:30 and arrived at Eagle Harbor on Cypress Island about 1:30 for lunch (on board). We then went ashore in the dingy and hiked a mile up the island to Duck Lake on an old logging road/trail, taking pictures of moss, wild flowers, trees, and rocks on the way. The Lilly pads were blooming on the lake. We returned via another steeper, log skid path (these roads are all grown up now, having been logged probably in the early 1900’s. The land is now part of the State of Washington’s Department of Natural Resources. They are a treasure and the hike is beautiful.) to the interior part of Eagle Harbor…looking at giraffe heads in driftwood, finding domestic flowers gone wild from old homesteads, and snapping a few shots of the Carol Lee at anchor.

It was here that we found these plants blooming on a rock face. They were probably the most beautiful on the entire walk. I was struck by how a very hard surface can yield enough nutrients and base for something really beautiful. How like our lives…we may find ourselves in very hard places, mounted, so-to-speak, on a barren, rocky place, and yet God can make us bloom beautifully. Our circumstances can be a backdrop for greater beauty, and even if we are in a hard place, God can still use us to make life beautiful for those around us. Over time, our root system will even soften up the rocky place, and make it more useful for other things around us.
2 Cor. 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Courage

I was there, but I don’t remember any of the details. And, I wonder now about what it must have been like for her: Two children already, and not even a year since her husband who had separated from her had returned and moved her 1000 miles away from her family to an isolated town in Eastern Oregon. She had to find new friends and build a life in one rented house after another. How could she not have felt alone and overwhelmed? And then I came along. I don’t think I ever really appreciated all that she did…but I remember…living in houses without running water, holding my forehead when I was sick, early mornings getting us off to school, or out the door at 6 AM to work as a family in the strawberry and bean fields of Western Oregon, uprooted again from all friends to an isolated house built on a dirt foundation, with a kitchen sink that drained into a trough under the house. She was not perfect; she was demanding. She inherited her father’s capacity to see things one way…her way. She could sling the words right back at her husband as good as any lumberjack. But, she did teach me to pray, and to never use those words myself! And, eventually, slowly, Jesus seeped into her life and made changes. And she had to put up with 4 boys…boys who would pull practical jokes on her like squirting Ketchup on one another to simulate blood, boys that would sass back. Then I got involved in my own life…and she was gone way too early, 25 years ago next month. And although I took the opportunity to thank her, I’m not sure I really took the opportunity to truly appreciate her. I tended to focus too much on negatives. But she did contribute 50% of my genetic pool. And God used her to shape my life way more than that in many ways that I don’t even realize.

I think of great women of courage: Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony. But I also think of a woman who had daily courage…who lived strong in spite of poverty, who stuck with a husband who threw away his false teeth and lived without them, who cooled off their arguments with a pail of water. My mother forged a life during difficult days. She taught me about courage.

It takes courage to stand strong in the story life deals you and to stay at it even when it is difficult and nothing goes the way you planned. God has a story for all of us. It contains challenges and risks. We are faced with almost daily temptations to take the easy way out. We go through many days when it seems like we are walking alone. But, when you look back, you see God’s footprints beside yours. That’s the story of a Woman of courage named Hadassah. You know her by her Persian name, Esther. Her story and her most famous words call us to courage: "I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."4:16

We are tempted to take the easy road. God calls us to the hard road. We are tempted to take the safe road. God calls us to the risky road. God shows up in our lives only when we are on the risky, hard road called “perishing.” Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. John 12:24