Doug's Thoughts

Who Do They Say You Are?

2011-10-04T19:24:00.001-07:00

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him . . . and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13–17

What emotion does God feel when he thinks about you? What stirs in his heart when you come to his mind? Your identity, and all that’s connected with identity, flows from your answer to that question.

The reality is that the one who makes something always knows best the thing that has been made, whether it is a car or a poem, a painting, a building or even a person. Your identity only truly can come from the one who created you, your maker, and your sustainer, the only one who fully knows you and fully loves you. Our lives are full of voices that try and tell us who we are, what we should be, where our value comes from. These voices drown out the voice of God. Most of us are really never still, we don’t set aside time to listen God’s voice. So, we don’t hear it -- we can’t hear it -- we drift, untethered from whom we really are.

The reality is that God is madly in love with you. He calls you to himself; calls you to hear that love. God invites you, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) But, how often are you still? Stillness does not come naturally to most people. Stillness and silence take practice. It takes intentionally setting aside times to be still and silent. The practice of solitude and silence is one way to allow God’s Spirit to descend upon you and confirm this love.

- Think through the words that God the Father spoke to Jesus in the passage above. Dwell on the word “beloved.” Why did God choose to say that? What do you think Jesus felt when he heard these words? Can you imagine God saying this about you? What does it mean for you to be beloved by him? In what ways can this belovedness impact your own feeling of mission in the world? What else does this passage unearth for you? How can it point to a deeper sense of his love for you? How does his belovedness give you identity? What tempts you away from your identity in God’s love?

Only with the love of God can we face the temptation to leave who we are in order to settle for a lesser good and a false identity.

The Best Sermon I Ever Heard

2011-07-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

"The preacher" looked to be in his late 60's but he could have been much younger - age and hard living had clearly blurred the normal telltales of age. A work shirt of blue denim, blackened at the cuffs, his name stitched on the pocket -- not normal clerical attire. His weathered face, warn and creased with lines that hinted at a myriad of untold and difficult roads traveled.

"The preacher's" pulpit was no pulpit. Rather he sat hunched over a table, sitting on a folding chair no different than those that supported the frames of his congregants. His congregation uncommonly diverse - young and old, rich and poor, male and female, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian and Native American - sat at tables just like the one that served as "the preacher's" pulpit. Bathed in the antiseptic glow cast by a dozen rows of fluorescent lights, "the preacher" preached his message; 10 minutes and he was done. It was the best sermon I ever have ever heard.

Good speakers often use repetition as a stylistic medium, speaking the same phrase at various points during their talk. "The preacher" too used repetition, not for style or effect but because the repeated phrase was his learned truth, the truth that had literally set him free. The truth, repeated numerous times during his message was as simple as it was jarring, "I'm a 'rotten' liar." Only he didn't say "rotten" (Use your imagination here - if you like -- in order to get the full, jarring effect of the nature of his truth). "I'm a 'rotten' liar."

The best sermon I ever heard wasn't preached on a Sunday, it wasn't preached at a church, per se. The best sermon I ever heard was preached on a Monday afternoon at an Alcoholics Anonymous [AA] meeting in Bellevue, WA. "The preacher," just a guy who needed community to share his burden, a place where he could be known, a people to whom he could confess his addiction, and by whom he could be welcomed by name. I did not know what to expect. I had never been to an AA meeting. I was there for a class. My prepared response if asked why I was there, "I am here to learn about the process of addiction." I did not have to speak the line; nobody challenged my presence. 45 minutes after walking in, I walked out inspired by the simplicity, realness, honesty and truth of this one man's message.

There are 12 steps in AA. Members are said to "work the steps." "The preacher" spoke of that day's assigned step, 11: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."

Sobriety or death, "the preacher" had chosen the former nearly a decade ago, and began working the steps - all but step 11. "Step 11 - God, step 11 - a higher power, step 11 - God's power; foolishness." "I don't need God to make it, I got this."

"Maybe I can have just one drink." "Maybe it was not as bad as I thought it was." "I'm not like these drunks."

"No!" I'm worse; I'm a 'rotten' liar.

"If my voice is the only one to lead me, the only voice of truth, if my voice is my only mirror, then I am a dead man."

"I'm a 'crummy liar.'"

"Could there really be a voice greater than mine, a voice from all eternity, a voice of truth instead of lies?"

"I've been ten years alive," the preacher shared, "all because of the one step I said I didn't need; the one I needed most, the one I now listen to instead of me - because, I am a 'rotten liar.'"

Ten minutes. The best sermon I ever heard.

Planted, Nourished and Sustained

2011-05-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:9–12

Jesus described the relationship between him and those who choose to follow him as being like a vine and a branch – he the vine, the root, we the branches, we emerging from him, the source of our existence, growing and receiving our sustenance from him, our vine. Jesus’ words are beautiful and poetic, but they are so much more. They are, in fact, the key to everything; contentment and well-being in every areas of our lives; our marriages, our kids, our friendships, our ministry, our work, our faith, our life and our death – everything.

The reality of the human condition is that each of us looks to things other than Jesus for the source of our happiness, contentment, well-being and sustenance, we ask them to play a role they were never intended to play and in the process distort them even as we ourselves become distorted.

I love my wife; she is my best friend. But if I look to her to be the source of my well-being and contentment, I will either control her so that she will be the person I want her to be, or I will avoid conflict -- even necessary conflict – for fear that my well-being will be threatened. In either event, I will end up looking for her to provide something for me that she was never intended to provide and rather than who she really is, thus burying things that need the cleansing air and light of discussion. If, on the other hand, I look to Jesus for sustenance, to Jesus as the source of well-being, that well-being will not be jeopardized by conflict, and any conflict that there is, will be infused with the peace of God’s never-wavering acceptance and love.

Jesus says, “Remain in me.” Rest, come back when you get disconnected, return, seek, sit in my presence, rest in me, listen, abide. Only then will you will be free to love; free to be the husband, child, friend, minister, teammate, employer, boss . . . that I created and called you to be; freed from the things that claim to be sources of well-being but that in the end cause you to chase, worry and strive; free, because you are connected to me, the source of love and life itself.

It starts and ends with abiding in the vine, abiding in Christ. We move toward abiding by seeking ways that connect us to Jesus; reading the Bible, prayer, silence, giving, singing, fasting, and more (all with an idea of entering the presence of God). It is not a list of how to be a better Christian; rather, it is learning to abide in Jesus, our only hope for contentment, and a worry-free (not problem-free) life. This life is not just possible for every single person, but promised by Jesus himself as we abide in him.

- How’s that going for you today?
- Do you believe that is possible?
- Do you believe that promise?
- Are you connected to God, to the vine? - If not, why not?
- Be honest, do you believe Jesus’ promises in John 15 and elsewhere?
- What could you do to learn to abide in Jesus?
- How have you connected with God in the past?
- How can we, or others, help you do so now.

Let me know your thoughts, share your thoughts with others – we need to share our stories of success and failures so that we can grow together.

Peace, hope and love

Doug

A Living Legacy

2011-05-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. - 2 Timothy 1:3–6

The passage above talks about the legacy of faith passed to Timothy from his grandmother and his mother, a gift of God, handed down to a young man by two very important people in his life, and resulting in thankfulness for a man, Paul, awaiting execution in prison; a very powerful legacy.

When was the last time you thought about your legacy? Have you ever done so? When I say, “legacy,” I am referring to the impact you have on others, which goes beyond you; past your control, perhaps past your ability to observe or even know about, maybe even past your life. What is your legacy?

Legacy is not an optional thing, which only some people have. It is something that everybody has, something that is always being created and extended. Within each of us exist pieces of other’s legacy even as we creating pieces that reside in others. And yet, we rarely think about it. Let’s change that. Let’s think about our legacy and be intentional about living into our responsibility toward others and toward our world.

Legacy is a responsibility, both individually and collectively.

- What is your legacy?
- Who is your legacy?
- What is our legacy?
- Who is our legacy?

Holy Week?

2011-04-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

Today is the middle of what the Church calls Holy Week, an odd name if you give it much thought; so many of the events are so very unholy.

On Sunday Jesus entered Jerusalem to worshiping crowds shouting “our king has come at last,” “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” By Friday the same crowds that cheered him as a king will be jeering him as criminal flinging curses at him, spitting on him, and demanding that he be tortured and executed, and then he was.

Holy week.

“Good” Friday, we mark the death, the tearing, the darkness. How morbid. Really, it seems almost twisted, to intentionally sit in, to think about, to even try to relate to the evil that was poured out on someone – especially someone so undeserving of punishment as the one who came to bring life and light to a world that chose darkness instead. And it would be twisted; it would be morbid, except for one very important thing. The story did not end there, not by a long shot.

The story did not end on Friday, the story continued, began again, exploded in life and power on Sunday, Easter. As we come to the close of Lent, the completion of our journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, to the cross and then to the empty tomb, there is no more fitting way to do so than to enter into Good Friday, to sit and ponder the evil of a broken world, of broken systems of a broken you and a broken me; to try to comprehend the miracle and the mystery of the love that drove Jesus to take all of that brokenness and sin upon himself, to suffer, to be separated from God and then to die in disgrace. To enter into that reality and then to celebrate with even greater enthusiasm the even greater reality that Sunday is coming, that the story is not over, that it is not too late, because he has risen.

What God Hates -- April 15 Edition (Year Two)

2011-04-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Warning: This Post Is Not Intended To Be Political.

So, I was at the gym today and the TV was showing some tea party folks protesting at the Capital. One protester's sign caught my attention and prompted this post. It read: "God Hates Taxes."

Really?

I always get nervous when I see signs, blogs, articles and the like which start with the words "God hates." (do you see the irony of the title of today's post? Nice, huh?) Anyway, those words make me a bit uncomfortable; those words make me a lot uncomfortable. Blogs, and signs that tell us what God hates paint a picture of God that I do not find in scripture. If you want to get depressed, google "God hates," you will find that God hates an awful lot (which is ironic since God is love, and therefore gets me asking questions like; where does love store all that hate?) What's even more depressing if you google the phrase is that you will find that God hates you. Yes, God hates you (which he doesn't and so disproves the whole "God hates" categories, but let us not confuse truth making our point).

So, back to today's tax day edition of What God Hates -- God Hates Taxes. On one level, yes, God hates taxes, in that taxes are needed in large part because of the brokenness of the world. If we did not have crime, if we did not have poverty and injustice, if we did not have systemic evil, if we all were just, if we all truly sought first His Kingdom, we would need no taxes because the world would be as God intended it to be -- and the way it one day will be. But, it is not, and we do not (though wouldn't it be a beautiful thing if all of the tea party folks and all of the rest of us did; started giving stuff away and seeking justice, mercy and humility in such a way that we did not need as many taxes because we were acting like the Kingdom agents we were supposed to be?) But, I don't think that is what the guy with the sign meant.

God hates taxes? No, God hates that we do not seek to give more away and thus make taxes irrelevant. In the meantime, we have the words of Jesus (who by the way is God and who paid taxes and spoke specifically to this issue and thus laid all doubt to rest) Give to Caesar what is Caesar's (taxes and respect) and give to God what is Gods (everything).

Happy tax day.

Leaving Dispair for the Hope of a Seemingly Impossible Future

2011-04-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” Ezekiel 37:2–6

That, my friends, is one crazy, amazing story. The prophet Ezekiel paints a picture of a macabre, genocidally decorated desert restored to fields teaming with life; bones, dead dry bones encountering the word of the LORD, rattling and moving, each one finding its complimentary part – along with connective tissues, flesh, skin and finally the very breath of God, and with that life.

For you and for me, it might seem just a colorful scene or an odd Biblical passage that we do not know what to do with. But for oppressed people the world over Ezekiel’s picture is a very real reminder that no matter how bad things are, no matter how much death seems to reigns, hope does not die. When American slaves were brutalized, ripped from family, beaten, raped and killed, hope came to them like the flickering light of a candle as they sang:

Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around;
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around;
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around;
Now hear the word of the Lord.

The words of Ezekiel are the cry and the hope of oppressed people everywhere. The reality (though we might try to convince ourselves otherwise) is that there is nowhere you can flee where you will not be able to see the dry bones of oppression. The bones are everywhere; if you look you will see them; God calls you to look and to see and to heal. As followers of Jesus, we are called to simultaneously be broken by a world filled with despair, yet believe in and become agents of hope for a seemingly impossible future.

Where are the dry bones that God wants you to see?

Maybe they are in your neighborhood, maybe they are across town, maybe they are in your house, maybe they are your own bones.

Do you see the valley of dry bones? Do you believe these bones can live? How does God want you and those around you to be agents of hope to make a seemingly impossible future move from a possibility to a reality?

I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

We're All Day To Day

2011-03-21T16:03:00.000-07:00

Maybe you know this about me, maybe you don't. I have had three kidney transplants, the most recent coming three years ago.

Three times in my life I have gone from the peace of the reality of good health to the reality of declining health accompanied by the myriad of complex and hard to explain emotional, spiritual and physical complexities. As I have written elsewhere, I am a better person for this all, though I never would have chosen this path, God's has deeply shaped me through these trials, for which I am deeply thankful, yet the pain of the process still lingers, still scares me from time to time. Like I said, it is complicated.

Every three months I get my blood tested, then a couple of days later visit the nephrologist. As the days approach, my mind starts to question my body, inventorying anything that might signify that something might be going bad; "Am I more tired than usual?" "I felt a little sick the other day." "My feet seem to be swelling" "Is my skin itching?" As the days approach, I think of reasons to cancel the appointment -- maybe it would be better not to know if something is going wrong, after all, you don't know what you don't know; ignorance sometimes seems bliss.

I got my blood taken last Thursday and went to the doctor today (we had to take my daughter to the airport today and I thought that might be a good reason to cancel the appointment -- we'd either have to come home and then back to Seattle, or find a way to kill 4 hours). I didn't cancel, I made my appointment.

I seem really cheery at my appointments, making small talk with the assistant as she takes my blood pressure (blood pressure can spike if your kidney is failing). Today she finished and said, "your blood pressure is good, 120/70, I'll go get the doctor." I had half expected her to look at the readout, scream and run for emergency help. So far so good. The doctor comes in, asks how things are, small talk, NCAA hoops, and then . . . the papers are in front of him, the papers with the results from Thursday's blood tests. The numbers tell the story now, what will they say? The time between him starting to peruse them and his speaking to me seeming to take forever. "Your Creatinine is 1.3." A simple sentence, the meaning of which most people would not know or care. But for me? He might as well have waved a magic wand over me and said "carefree." 1.3 - normal, 1.3 - healthy, 1.3 - a very well functioning kidney. Immediately I feel great. No tiredness, no itching, no anything. I feel great. I've been healed -- for three months.

Sometimes when somebody finds out about my health history, they say something like, "I can't imagine what it would be like to know that your kidney could fail." I love the discussions that ensue when I tell them the reality; "we are all day to day, I am just more aware of it than most people."

Life is too short, or more accurately, we have no idea how short or how long it will be. Jesus says "I have come that they may have life and have it to the fullest." Is that your experience? I find that when it is not, it is often because of living in fear. God does not want you to waste your life, God does not want you to be afraid. He wants you to trust him -- with everything, and in the process experience a peace that is completely unexplainable. Every day God is calling you into an amazing Kingdom partnership with him - and he offers you fearlessness, a spell cast as we trust him, which says "carefree." What is God is calling you to, but that you are afraid to do? You may not have tomorrow, we are all day to day.

It Would Be A Lie To Run Away

2011-03-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday the door though which we enter Lent, enter the journey to Easter. It is a time to look at our finitude, our frailty, our pain and even our death.

I did not grow up in a tradition that observed Lent. While there may be many reasons for its absence from the church calendar, ultimately its absence had theological consequences, or perhaps its absence was a consequence flowing from a larger theological weakness, I don't know. In my tradition, it was all good, and then it was Easter -- kind of super good, and the next week back to good again (until Christmas when it was super good again for a day). It was a theology that said our journey was a two segment journey to the cross and then from the cross. (actually it became a one segment journey, but that is for topic for another post)

A journey to the cross and a journey from the cross. While that is right, I think it is not right enough.

I think that our journey, instead of a two segment journey, is rather a three segment -- not necessarily linear -- journey, to the cross, through the cross and from the cross. While the miracle of grace tells us that God does all of the work in each of those segments, each is nonetheless necessary. And yet, the middle segment, the "through the cross" segment is often ignored. And for good reason; nobody wants to go to through the cross. The cross is suffering, the cross is pain, the cross is hard. "Jesus did the cross thing, not me."

Yes, Jesus "did the cross thing." But, can we truly identify with him without taking some time to identify with his suffering? I'm not suggesting some weird earning through suffering thing, I'm suggesting an identification thing. How do we fully identify with Christ if we never identify with his suffering. But, we don't want to go there. We live in a culture of suffering avoidance -- we spend $40 billion annually on pain medicine! We are a people obsessed with finding a cure for every possible pain, and that obsession infiltrates our Church and tells us we should do the same. And in the process, we lose something important.

Lent provides us with a cure for our obsession to find a cure for every pain. "Oh my Lord, to suffer as you do, it would be a lie to run away."

Who Told You That You Were Naked?

2011-03-01T22:31:00.001-08:00

Who told you that you were naked? Genesis 3:11

Exposed, accused, guilty, shameful; whispered voices, “You are naked.” We are all works in progress, imperfect, often not the people we want to be. It is God’s plan for each of us to move towards our true self, what the Bible calls sanctified. While none of us will fully achieve that state this side of heaven, we are at the same time seen by God as having already attained it – through Jesus’ work on the cross. If you are a follower of Jesus, God sees you as complete, holy, without shame, and clothed.

- Are there voices that tell you otherwise?
- Whose voice might they be?
- Do they ever claim to be God’s voice?
- Whose voice is it that tells you that you are naked?

Take a moment and consider the tragic story of the fall of man and the restorative voice of God in the garden.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31

The LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16–17

The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Genesis 2:25

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. Genesis 3:4

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3:6-7

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Genesis 3:8–11

God’s plan is that each of us moves further and further into our true self, further and further into the person He already sees us as, further and further sanctified. He invites us to move forward, yet never condemns us; never tells us that we are naked.

- Who tells you that you are naked?
- What might the voice of God be saying to you instead?

What God Hates -- April 15 Edition

2010-04-15T14:24:00.001-07:00

How God Showed Up

2009-12-31T10:33:00.000-08:00

This Sunday we who make up the Creekside community are gathering to celebrate How God Showed Up in 2009.

I like that. I think God likes that.

The story of God's people is replete with admonitions to remember; monuments, rituals, celebrations, all given by God to help us remember. God wants us to remember how he showed up.

How did God show up in 2009?

In many ways the question is the exercise, in many ways the question is the answer. If it takes you a while to answer, then the question has served its purpose. How did God show up? How did he not. Do we celebrate only the big things that break "our way?" Or, does God "show up" when nobody notices, or maybe do we just not notice when God shows up.

What if this year we spent each day trying to capture notes for next years celebration of How God Showed Up? I think we would have a bit more -- more stories, more joy, more peace, more satisfaction, more God.

STOP. Look around you. The Kingdom of God is near.

The Hopes and Fears of all the Years

2009-12-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

I love everything about Christmas. Everything.

Every year I intentionally try to slow down time so the season does not get behind me. I’m not kidding. I look at the calendar in early November and think, “it’s almost ‘the Christmas Season!’” From the time Thanksgiving is over until the first Monday of January (I include New Year’s and the College Football bowl games in “The Christmas Season”), it is Christmas. And, I try to soak in every moment, I always have.

Until relatively recently, I took my love of Christmas for granted. I assumed it was the same for everybody. Oh, I knew that there were a few people for whom Christmas was a dark and difficult time, people for whom the best part of the Christmas season was that it would soon be over. But I never really thought much about the struggle that Christmas was for these people; after all, Christmas is a jolly time.

Recently, I have begun to think more about those for whom Christmas is hard. I still don’t understand it, I can’t relate to a feeling I have never had. Yet, I’ve become more and more convinced that it is to those for whom the season is hard that Jesus is most naturally drawn. Like Mary, His mother; confused yet hopeful, afraid and cold, in a stable, having just given birth and then having to lay her newborn baby -- the baby that she alone knew for sure was special -- in a makeshift bed, a dirty animal feeding trough. “This cannot be how God planned it; something must have gone wrong – did I somehow mess this up?”

Hopes and fears, disappointment and regret, they often share the stage together. They mingle in a demonic dance where hope is seemly killed, done in by fear and her supporting cast.

And then Jesus enters the scene.

Yet in Thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in Thee tonight.

The hope that is spoken of in the Christmas songs is the hope spoken of by Jesus when He told people why He had come; to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

I love Christmas, I always have. Yet, so many people do not. I have never really understood how that could be, but Jesus always has. Jesus mourns with those who mourn – especially at Christmas. The words that He spoke were the Christmas promise realized.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Him tonight.

Question for a Christian

2009-11-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

So, was thinking today. How often to people who are not Christians really get a chance to ask questions of a Christian? I mean if you search the web, there are a lot of places where Christians claim to know it all, but most of them come across as know it alls.

I think people would welcome the opportunity to engage in the conversation without an alternative motive of conversion. Others will answer questions, but they are not Christians, just people trying to refute Christians,. How can you answer questions about something that you are not a part of. Really only a Christian can answer questions for Christian.

So, I set up a website Ask A Christian. I come from a point of view, of course. But, I will not dismiss questions and will say when I don't know.

Pass on the link to people who have questions.

The True Meaning of Christmas

2009-11-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

It's not the point of the story, but it's the point of Christmas -- sacrifice for others because we know we have a hope outside of ourselves, so we can live (and die) for those other than ourselves. This man demonstrated Christmas with his death.

The prize for best trivializing of Jesus' gospel goes to . . .

2009-11-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

I was driving around today when I came upon a pick-up truck with a couple of bumper stickers on it. The first one, said Jerusalem, only the 4th, 5th and 6th letters were bigger and red white and blue -- clever. Don't know what it is supposed to mean, but clever (I never noticed that USA was in the word Jerusalem, but then I've always been really bad at word search puzzles).

After my "hey, USA is in the word Jerusalem" moment, I noticed the above sticker. It made me wonder about the guy driving the car. I wondered how he would describe his understanding of what Jesus bought with his death? I wonder what his family, friends and neighbors would say what Good News was for him. I don't mean to judge, I don't know this guy. But, at the same time, I don't think -- even in an era where a reductionist gospel is the norm -- that I have ever seen the salvation Jesus offers trivialized more grotesquely.

Death and Re-birth

2009-07-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

I am in morning. I am in the midst of loss.

I say these things with the awareness and apologies to those who are experiencing more immediate loss or morning -- of a loved one, of . . . whatever. My loss is more amorphous in many ways yet specific in others. People, Places, Sights, Sounds.

As I come upon T minus 1 week before my departure for Redmond, Washington, the emotions stirring in me are many. I am so excited to be moving -- not from something but to something. I am so grateful to have been asked to lead a wonderful group of people on mission with God and for his Kingdom. I cannot wait to see what God will do with Creekside in the City of Redmond and beyond. I believe He will do amazing things in us and through us!

Yet this week -- working with Rex on his role review knowing that as he reaches his goals I will not be there; speaking to teens and young adults this week who I will no longer see, final discipleship appointments, saying goodbye to so many places, and spaces and faces.

Sadness

Any and every change brings with it to greater or lesser degrees loss, death . . . and re-birth.

I'm excited, I'm bummed. I'm dying, I'm being born.

Confessions

2009-06-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

I re-read the words of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo today and again was amazed at the beauty and truth of the passage below.

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!

You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things that you created. You were with me, but I was not with you.

Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you, they would not have been at all.

You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness.
You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me;

I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burn for your peace.

a blast from the past

2009-05-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was walking down blog memory lane -- sad, but true -- and came across my first ever blog post. "I like that," I thought. So, here it is again:

Imagine.

Imagine what it would would happen if in your community there sprung up 2 or 3 or 6 or 10 or 15 groups of 8 to 15 people who are all committed to being apprentices together of Jesus; to learn what it means to be in accountable community, but saw thier roles as representatives of his Kingdom in whatever setting they spend most of their time.

Imagine if each of these missional communities in learning what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus, in community, adopted a neighbor -- a low income apartment building, or single mom, or family, and just blessed them with food, or time, or whatever.

Imagine if each one of these missional communities gave birth to another missional community that did the same.

Imagine if the people who were blessed by the mercy and grace poured out by these communities began to talk to each other about the strange thing they have experienced in having thier needs met by almost perfect strangers who want nothing in return, and find out that others in need have been blessed as well.

Imagine if the only common denominator between the blessors is not race, or color, or gender or age, but Jesus.

Imagine what it would look like if God's Kingdom were done here the way it were done in heaven.

Imagine what it would look like if people actually did go and make disciples of all the nations.

Imagine.

Transformed Lives For A Transformed World

2009-05-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Nowadays every church wants to be "missional." Some don't really know what that means, only that "missional church" is the way of the future and they need to "do that" to survive -- I do not judge. Others understand the precept that we as a Church have strayed and need to reconnect with our charge as a sent people, sent and sending. Yet they do not know how. How do we move from the idea of being a protective enclave, neither in the world or of the world to a gathered people being sent and finally to a sent people who gather to build up, share stories of the journey, encourage, rejoice and praise?

We have been in a period of prophecy and proclamation -- wise and Godly men and women shining a light on the church and challenging us to reclaim what has been lacking. In this time, there have been very few able to really say what that might look like, to discover the threads of commonality between truly missional expressions of the church and the processes to attain and sustain it. Maybe that is beginning to change. We have been experimenting with a processes of deep spiritual development and engagement with the poor -- taking people on the journey inward, the journey outward and the journey together are coming on the scene, and finding at the end, transformed lives for a transformed world.

We live on the precipice of unprecedented times for the Church. A good time. And exciting time. A time where we will see amazing things done for the Kingdom of God. I feel privileged that God chose me to be a part of all of this.

A Road To, Through and From

2009-04-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day about the cross. I was thinking about suffering. I was thinking about how much I and you want to avoid suffering. I was thinking about the cross. I was thinking about life.

And began to think about life and the cross. My life, your life, Christ's cross, our cross. I have come to realize three realities of the cross and my life:

All life must must go to the cross. Jesus is both the author and sustainer of all life. We live in a world marked by brokenness and suffering and Jesus on the cross bought for us the ability to partner with God in his redemptive plan to be agents of his Kingdom restoring the brokenness of a messed up world. Our life -- a surrendered life -- must go to the cross.

All life must go through the cross. We cannot avoid the the suffering of this world, we must not avoid the suffering that flows naturally from a lifestyle that rejects the cultural captivity and that suffers loss as it both seeks to bless the world and reject the power systems in it. We share in the sufferings of Jesus at the cross and become more of humanity as he intended and become transformed into a redemptive force for good in the world. Everything worth living comes from dying.

All life must go from the cross. We don't stay there in whole. We go to the cross repeatedly, we go through the cross repeatedly and we go from the cross repeatedly as sent agents of incarnation, carrying with us the hope of going to the cross, the pain of going through the cross and the hope of living out a life as new creation, and for new creation; to live lives as a sign, a signpost and instruments of God's kingdom done on earth as it is done in heaven.

All of us to varying degrees and in various ways steer off this road to, through and from the cross. All seek at times to avoid the surrender, the suffering or the sentness that is the reality of who we are. But, there really are no detours. All who travel this road must accept, and then cheer, that the continual journey to, through and from the cross.

The Poor You Will Always Have With You

2009-03-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me a while back what I thought about Jesus' statement when the people grumbled about the woman who "wasted" so much money on perfume for jesus head. Couldn't the money have a better use, couldn't it be used to care for the poor? We all remember Jesus' reply: "For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me." Amazingly Jesus words have even been used as an excuse to not care about the poor -- why bother, they will always be there. I have been asked about the verse before, and I'm sure I will be again. But, the other day I had a new thought about it's meaning.

What if Jesus was actually being consistent with himself when he said "whenever you care for the least and the hurting you have cared for me?" What if Jesus was saying, "you have me here now, perfume me up, bless me." "And when I am gone, continue to do so when you see me in my distressing disguise." What if it is all about worshiping God, then and now, that all we do and all we are is dependent upon seeking more of God? And, what if that is actually experienced with our hands and feet in service to the underdog.

Love God with all your heart and mind and soul.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

I think these commandments are in that order for a reason.

My little girl's art work

2009-02-15T16:49:00.000-08:00

A dad never gets tired of seeing his baby's art -- even when she is all grown up.

What, you chicken?

2009-01-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Saw this today, from Song of the Bird by Tony de Mello

A man found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would trash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind curents, with scarcely a beat of its' strong golden wings

The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked.

"That's the eagle, the king of birds," said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth -- we're chickens."

So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he though he was.

Is there a place in my life -- in your life -- where we are living as chickens when in reality God has made us eagles?

Don't Worry, Be . . . About The Kingdom

2009-01-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

I guess if someone had to label what I do, they might call me a missionary. A missionary to the mission field we call home. But, that is not quite right. Maybe I am a prophet, to speak into and demonstrate to the Church what it can be. That is not quite it either. Maybe church planter. But, where is my church, where is the building, where is the parking lot. I would say that I am trying to live out a Kingdom ethic and lifestyle that redeems the way of Jesus to those whose observation of "the way of Jesus" would have been pretty unsettling to, well Jesus for one.

That last sentence, when said in an answer to the question "what do you do?" is a real conversation starter -- I mean stopper. In any event, I do what I do through the partnership of others who come alongside me and my family and provide us with the money we live on. We trust God each month to provide. And it is a thrilling adventure (in the light) but a scary alley in times of doubt.

We are living in the midst of rare economic times; there is an atmosphere of great economic uncertainty -- flowing from both quantifiable and less quantifiable data points. The result, however is anxiety -- lots of anxiety. Anxiety that causes those who might give to missionaries, or churches or church planters or whatever, to not do so. There are also some who have lost jobs and who have no money and do not know when that will change. And, their is anxiety in this missionary/church planter/prophet/whatever.

And so for me, I turned today to the sweet and comforting words of Jesus; which I write here, for you if you are anxious too, but mostly for me.

Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his ispan of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

So, today I will not be anxious. Instead, I will be about the King, his Kingdom and his business -- and rely a bit on the fact that he might have a better handle on the future than me.

Everyday Resolutions

2009-01-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

I don't do New Years resolutions.

Maybe I just have so many things that need to change that if I waited until the first day of each year to write them down I would run out of paper and ink.

Maybe an everyday resolution, an everyday series of resolutions that I will succeed at and fail at and ultimately grow grow at. There are only four, but they should do Here goes:

1. To See God's Presence Throughout The Day

2. To Trust God Instead of Substitutes for Him

3. To Recognize God's Intimate, Unwavering Love For, And Belief In, Me

4. To See The Opportunity That God Brings Each Day To Incarnate Him

A Wonderful Christmas

2008-12-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

So, that is our kitchen floor about 20 minutes after we finished dinner on Christmas Eve.

A wonderful meal, wonderful conversation, a fire in the fireplace, and watching It's A Wonderful Life. Then "boom," followed by a sound like a fire hose. Like the guy in The Night Before Christmas who" rose from his bed to se what was the matter, " (when he like us heard such a clatter) we ran to the kitchen to see a massive incoming tide from underneath the sink as pipes which had chosen this night to pop were quickly evacuating large quantities of water under great pressure. Every towel in the house was brought into action before the water soaked into the edges of our floor and underneath. Water off, everything soaked, then washing machine broke.

And you know what? It was a wonderful Christmas. We bought less, we worshiped more, we made gifts we helped the poor.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Pete Has Got It Going On

2008-12-15T16:51:00.000-08:00

So, a month or so I wrote a bit about the election - promising that the political thing will not become a habit here. Likewise, today a story about Pete Carroll, head football coach at USC - not a change in direction, but a great video with some great insights. Enjoy
Watch CBS Videos Online

The Secret of Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

I love Thanksgiving. It has so many of the things that I enjoy: family, food and football (in no particular order). I love Thanksgiving. That is, I love the holiday we call Thanksgiving. But removed from the context as the gateway of the Christmas season what about the word Thanksgiving.

These past couple of weeks I have been thinking about that word, about what it means and about what it would look like to possess a heart of thanksgiving that is not dependent upon the things that are going well in your life -- or the things that are going bad. I love what the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Philippi. He wrote to them from prison and said:

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things dthrough him who strengthens me.

I want to be content in all circumstances -- don't you? Wouldn't that be the secret of thanksgiving -- in all circumstances. And Paul had what we'd call street cred. I mean what is the worst thing that has happened to you? Paul lived with a physical disability, was shipwrecked not once, but 3 times -- floating in the open ocean for who knows how long, beaten with whips embedded with bone, glass and rock on multiple occasions, and thrown into jail. And he was content. How? Because he did not depend on the many good things and good times in his life for his sense of contentment, and he didn't let the many bad things in his life rob his contentment.

Instead, Jesus was his contentment.

Jesus as your contentment. That is the secret of thanksgiving -- in all circumstances.

The Hope You Can Believe In

2008-11-01T15:58:00.001-07:00

Maybe I'm being too critical, maybe I'm just getting old.

Maybe I'm right.

I stopped listening to Christian Talk Radio on November 9, 2000. I remember the moment, driving home from work listening to caller after caller talking about George Bush's election the day before and how their hope for America -- and even a deeper hope -- had been restored. There was hope again in Christian America.

Fast forward almost 8 years. I have Christian friends who believe that if Obama wins, all hope for the Church, our faith, our nation -- and you'd think our very lives is at stake. I have other Christian friends who believe that if McCain wins, all hope for the Church, our faith, our nation -- and you'd think our very lives is at stake. Someone has to be right, someone has to be wrong. Or, just maybe, both are wrong.

I stopped listening to Christian Radio 8 years ago not because I was happy or sad that W had won, but because so many Christians seemed to be saying their hope was based -- at least to some degree on the outcome. Now, I see that again -- with both candidates.

I think it is important to vote. It is important to get involved in issues, to work for whichever candidate you favor. I think it is ok to believe that one candidate is a fool or a liar, dangerous or disconnected -- and that the guy you want win is none of those things. But, and here is my point: He is not your hope. If he is, take a hard, hard look in the mirror, because he shouldn't be.

Get involved, make a difference, vote. Regardless of the outcome, stay involved. But, remember that your hope -- and the hope for the world -- is found only real hope if it is placed in a guy who isn't even on the ballot, and would in fact, decline if asked, to run.

The Things We Can't Control

2008-10-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Let me start out by saying that this is not a post about global warming. Rather it is a point about our fear of being out of control. Ok, disclaimer made, post begins:

So, I was reading yesterday and came across a line about global warming taking place on Mars at the same rate as on Earth. The conclusion -- this is horrible, in fact the author used the word "extremely scary." Extremely scary he posits because if global warming is taking place on Mars at the same rate as Earth, than maybe people are not primarily responsible. And, he concludes, if we are not responsible, what hope can we have to fix it?

Scary? Maybe. Sure.

But, I think there is something deeper going on behind what the author wrote, deeper, and into the human soul; the fear that comes from the inability to control. If God is not in control, and we are not in control, then, well, we are on the preverbal roller coaster run out of control, and the chances of a good ending . . . not so much. But, what if God is in control? Well, then a whole new can of worms is opened up, a whole can of worms that call us to some sort of response -- acknowledgement, acceptance, denial rejection, something. And if acknowledgment and acceptance, what then?

Acknowledgment and acceptance of God's control -- or from the other side of things, our lack their of -- is not a call toward passivity or a deterministic fatalism, but a call to action. If God is in control, the opportunities are endless. If God is in control, the freedom is towering. Imagine, the creator of the universe, the holder of all power and authority, the sustainer of all life (that is the way the bible puts it and to me it sounds like a lot of control that is not in my hand) wanting to partner with you in his redemptive work here on Earth. Because he does.

God's plan throughout the bible is a plan of redemption -- taking the messy, broken, warming, death filled, poverty ridden, disease infested planet and being his agents of hope and redemption -- not alone, but partnering with God, partnering with the one who actually can control the outcome.

Maybe me not being in control is not so scary after all.

A Lost Generation

2008-09-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

One of my great sadnesses is the great many young people who grew up in good churches that no longer consider themselves Christians. Many of them didn't fit in the church that they were in for very valid reasons, yet no one was around to show them that many of their complaints were actually biblical and good. Yet they saw a problem with an institution and pegged it as a problem with Jesus.

As sad as that is, I follow a God of hope and believe that within this group of ex-Christians live many of the future leaders of an authentic and biblical church that faithfully follows Jesus. Take a minute to watch as I explain why it is that I do what I do in the ministry God has given me.

Harder for a Rich Man To Get Into Heaven?

2008-08-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Jesus knew that when we have riches, we inevitably tend to hope in our riches rather than him -- and then we become poor indeed.

So, I'm watching John McCain be interviewed by Rick Warren. In a room filled with christians, in a a church that is one of the biggest in the world, this was McCain phrase drew the loudest applause. "I don't want to take money away from the rich, I want everybody to be rich." This is not a political post, but a post on the state of the many many churches, many many Christians. I think the response would be the same the statement been made in a great many of our churches.

So what's the big deal? My answer, it just made me sad. Not the answer, but the level of applause in a church to that line. It is not an evil line, but the loud cheering response makes me sad.

"I want everybody to be rich." -- Thunderous applause, In a room filled with Christians, people whose Lord, Jesus, would might say if he were there what he said when he was with his disciples, "It is very unlikely that a rich man will follow me."
And you know what? I don't think that Jesus' line would get the kind of applause that John McCain's did. I just don't. Do the people who applaud know that they could just as easily be applauding the line "I want it harder for people to come to Christ."

I know that's not what he said, I know the crowd would not cheer if he said that. But, I also know that the Church in the west is often very very blind to how the idolatry of wealth has caused us not only to lose our ability to see the poor, but also has caused us to lose our ability to hear what Jesus has to say.

Blowing Somebody To Hell Without A Second Thought

2008-08-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

Just got back from spending time with Kelly's relatives up in Oregon. They are Mennonite, but grew up Amish -- talk about interesting stories, not to mention the good food; I'd need a barn raising to burn off all the calories I ate.

Anyway, I had an interesting conversation with 81 year old Aunt Ida. She was explaining how sad she was when her son joined the army years ago, how it was so heartbreaking. As our conversation continued she said something that stuck with me. She told me she asked her son how he could even consider "shooting somebody and sending them to hell."

Interesting. I had never thought of it that way.

Now, theological nuances and pondering aside (and this is not a post about Iraq or the army or war in general) but, it bothered me that I never even though of that before. And so I had to ask myself why? Why had I never thought about that? My conclusion: I am perhaps more inundated by individualism and pragmatism than Jesus -- and I don't think I'm alone. I mean, how many Christians in America or elsewhere would think about the actions they would take in war or self defense first in terms of the effect that they might have on the ability of the person at the other end of their actions being able to choose to follow Jesus.

Let me get real practical. If a person was about to kill one of my children and I had a gun, I would blow them straight to hell without a second thought. I wonder if Jesus were living my life, faced with the same situation, if he would do the same thing. I don't think he would. I know he would grieve for the person, but I also think he might not shoot. And then what?

This is a post with questions and without answers. I'd still blow the bastard away, so don't mess with my kids.

I'm troubled by these questions -- at least that's a start.

Trust not Certainty

2008-07-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

Was listening to a podcast at the gym today and heard this great story about this guy's quest for certainty in Gods call, and the intersection of his quest with Mother Teresa.

The guy was from the States, and he felt the call of God on his life -- was sure that God was calling him to do something great. Problem was, he had no clue what that great thing was. Well, he had the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa and he asks her to pray for him, and she says yes. Then she asks "what do you want me to pray for you?" He answers "I want clarity." "I want to know exactly what it is that God is calling me to do with my life." Mother Teresa looked back at him and said, "No, I won't pray for that for you." The guy was confused and embarrassed, and he blurts out, "but why, I only want what you've had for your life." "You seem to always know exactly what it is that Gods calling you to do." She looked back at him and said, "I sir, have never had certainty, what I have had is trust." "So, I'll pray that you learn how to trust."

For I Was Naked And You . . . Smiled?

2008-05-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

What a tragedy -- aftershocks continue to roll in China as just this weekend 70,000 more houses collapsed as the ground underneath them moved.

What a horror -- maybe as many as 100,000 people are dead.

What a nightmare -- parents waiting at schools to pick up their children, only instead they are handed a lifeless corpse to carry home, children waiting to be picked up and instead wondering the streets looking for the parents they will never find.

What a joy? What a joy? Are you kidding me? How about what a sickness. Kelly was telling me this morning as we were overcome with such sadness at seeing the above picture and thinking of all that is behind it, that several people smiled this week when she shared her sadness for the victims of the earthquake. Smiled! How, you ask? Why you ask? "Because this means the end times are closer." Translation, in my warped view of how God looks at the world, I should be happy that hundreds of thousands of people are mutilated and killed around the world, because it could meant that I get to go to heaven sooner.

Somehow I don't seem to see that kind of thought process anywhere in the bible; I don't see that anywhere in the heart of Jesus, in his compassion for even those who didn't want anything to do with him, in his tears, in his weeping.

What a sicknesss -- it is a sickness, a corrupted gospel that could result in people who claim to be Christians smiling at the death of children because in their reductionistic, individualistic perversion of the gospel, they might benefit. (Oh, and besides, there are lots of Chinese, and they all look the same anyway -- Kelly read this and asked me to point out that they didn't say this part; this is just my editorial assumption). These people are sick.

Kelly says I can't say what I want to, that they're all going to hell, so I won't. Instead, I'll say, "look close, maybe one of those people who all look the same to you is Jesus."

The Tragedy of the “what if” life

2008-05-22T09:18:00.001-07:00

How many Christians in the west live fear motivated lives? I call them “what if” lives. “God can’t be calling me to this, because “what if . . .” There are so many what ifs, hearing them, paying attention to them is good, but being controlled by them is tragic – and unbiblical. When Jesus asks us to partner with him in his Kingdom agenda he does not require recklessness, but it invites us into lives without fear. How tragic it is that so many who claim to follow Him seem value security and certainty and worship the “what if” more than they do him.

Thumb through the bible, thumb through human history, both are filled with people who did amazing things, things that if it turned out that there was no God, would have been crazy, but they stepped out into uncertainty with a certainty of who God is. And you know what? They never would have done it if they had been controlled by our obsession with security and certainty, if they lived lives of fear, lies of what if.

Nobody knows how life is going to play out. Life is filled with surprise and mystery and uncertainty. So, what do you do with that if you live a what if life? Do you huddle in fear and decide not to follow God unless you have all of the answers? God has always called people into moments, invited inviting them to join him by not to settle for the myth of security (which ironically ignores the fact that all plans can be shattered by a thousand unknowns even if we never step out to join God in what he is doing). God has always been in the business of calling people to step out into the reality that he promises us a life without fear – if we choose to take him up on it. God never promises that all the “what ifs” will be answered. In fact, I don’t think he wants them answered, I don’t think God wants us to have certainty as to how everything will work out when he calls us to step out in faith. Instead, he promises that if we shelve the myth of security and follow him when he calls that we will live amazing lives that will not be wasted, that is the certainty God gives us.

And so, my question: are you going to live your life trapped in fear and uncertainty or are you going to walk with confidence in the certainty that you have? And then laugh in the face of uncertainty. Because in the end we do not need to know the answers to all the “what if;” we don’t need to know, we just need to go, to follow, to trust, to surrender, and then to listen for his voice calling us to join him in what he is doing, and then do so. Faith means being willing to step out in the midst of uncertainty with the certainty that our lives will not be wasted when we step out to partner with God in what He is doing.

So many people spend their lives hoping that God will pick them for great things, "oh, pick me, pick me." And they wait and they wait for the time when there is no risk, they wonder why God never picked them, and die having lives wasted lives.

A fear based life of “what ifs” is sad in the present, but a tragedy in the end.

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

2008-05-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a hard week.

I originally posted this a couple of weeks ago, at that time I was reporting upon a shocking surprise from which I believed we would recover and move on to China in August. We just found out last Wednesday that though we are convinced that we are called to go at this time and for this purpose -- coaching and mentoring leaders working with the poorest of the poor in China -- we have officially been stopped. And yet, we also know that this does not surprise God who is the God of who seeks justice, who loves the widows and the orphans. Don't you love the paradoxes that exist all around us -- God's love for justice and people being treated unjustly, most of them much more unjustly than we ever have -- I'm glad that God is so much bigger than our understanding of him (props to C.S. Lewis) It is an amazing time to lean into God and say "teach me," or simply "what is up with this?" Anyway, here is the previous post, once a hurdle, now a barrier.

If you have been following here, or more likely if you are someone who knows me and my family, you know the journey that we have been on towards China. I have always had a heart for China and for Chinese people -- going all the way back to my college days in the early 80's when I took over a year of Chinese history, culture and politics.

Ok, the post is starting to get boring, let me jump to the point.

We have been stepping towards an amazing opportunity -- to move to China and train leaders so that the Church in China can meet the need -- and be the incarnation and signpost of the Kingdom -- through stepping into the breach of the flood of AID's orphans that will hit Southern China within the next 5 years. We have seen miraculous confirmation of this move. And then in a period of 4 days the door seems to have been slammed shut, by an unexpected source with very little recourse. Why? I don't know.

My life verse is my life verse because I will never get there in this life -- but I want to get closer and closer.

I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.

We are praying, we are listening and we are trying to break through what we think is not a blockage from God, but above all, it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is and whatever may be find contentment in the One who makes me who I am.

It's been a hard week.

P.S. After being unable to break through this and seeing things behind the scenes that are scary and break our hearts a bit, it has been another hard week.

An Important Issue Facing Christians Today?

2008-04-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

Now this is something that seems really important. Apparently a group in Florida is fighting for the ability to have personalized license plates that read "I believe," like the one in the picture. They are getting push back from the ACLU, because the ACLU claims it violates the separation of church and state -- which is really stupid, because if somebody wants to say "I believe" then who cares, and how is that a state religion -- but I digress. Apparently this fight has been going on for years -- I guess these people feel they need to license plates to tell others they believe because no one would know otherwise.

Is that harsh? Maybe. But, what if they put as much effort into demonstrating that they believed through their life and their interaction with others than through something that merely labels themselves as someone who believes (or maybe labels their car as a car that believes). I know that for me there are a lot of people (myself included) that sometimes it is better that people not know I believe. I think that people being labeled as believers and then acting like jerks has done more damage to the Gospel than almost anything else.

Food for thought is the end of the article about the guy who is pushing this effort. It reads, "Bullard, the plate's sponsor, isn't sure all groups should be able to express their preference. If atheists came up with an "I Don't Believe" plate, for example, he would probably oppose it."

Huh?

A Challenge To The Church In The West

2008-03-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

I've been reading The Resurrection of the Chinese Church. Although the book is a bit dated it is a fascinating snapshot at the Chinese church in the early 1990's -- and a look back towards how it emerged from the darkness of the 70' and the particularly fierce persecution that took place during the Cultural Revolution. When the fog of isolation began to fade, the church raised its head to show that it not only had survived, but had thrived dispute predictions from the west that it would be driven out of existence. Wang Mingdao one of the patriarchs of the Chinese church explained this surprise simply: "We have nothing -- no pastors, no churches, no bibles . . . nothing! We only have God. Therefore, we must always go to him with desperation."

The author, Tony Lambert concludes:

The reason for the growth of the church in china and for the outbreak of genuine spiritual revival in many areas is inextricably linked to the whole theology of the cross. For may Chinese Christians, the doctrine of the atonement of Christ is not a theory but a lived-out reality. The cross and the resurrection, death and life, suffering and glory are linked together in living experience.

The experience of the Chinese church has a deep message for the church oversees . . . . In terms of understanding of Scripture and Christina life and experience the Chinese church challenges western Christians to re-examine our motivation and our loyalty to Christ and Scripture. The stark message of the Chinese church is that God uses suffering and the preaching of a crucified Christ to pur out revival and build his church. Are we in the west still willing to hear?

Ouch -- it hurts because it's true.

Sub-merge by John Hayes of InnerCHANGE

2008-02-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

If you have not yet read Sub-merge, I'd advise a click and an order.

Here are my thoughts on the book that I wrote up as part of my work at Bakke Graduate University.

John Hayes describes his book as “a manifesto, a prophetic call to join what God is doing among poor and marginalized communities, those who are shut out from or cannot find footing in the market-driven economics of the world.” (Page 14) His prophetic call is to the church, and those of whom she is formed. His message, Wake up; the ground – the world – has shifted, and the church in the west which is becoming less and less relevant to this new world has been called by God and resourced with amazing capacity to join God in incarnating Jesus to the peoples of this new world.

What does this new world look like? It is increasingly urban, increasingly marginalized, increasingly separated from the church in the west that often has no idea the conditions in which most of the people whom God created in his image must exist. Dr. Hayes writes this book with four areas of urgency in mind:

1. Too few Christians are answering God’s call to live and work among the poor;
2. Those who go, do not stay long enough to make a lasting impact;
3. Mission agencies are organized in ways that make it difficult to sustain missionaries and empower the poor; and,
4. The Church needs to draw more people of varied backgrounds into work among the poor.

This prophetic call is essentially a call towards incarnation. Just as Jesus became flesh to humankind so that humanity could touch God, so we who have been touched by God must incarnate the gospel so that others might touch him as well. Sub-merge is a tapestry, consisting of interwoven threads of incarnational stories as well as the exegesis of those the biblical heartbeat that is behind those stories. One extremely powerful story, in fact, sums up the whole message of this book. It is the story that Dr. Hayes’ tells of his time in Calcutta, where he had gone with great plans and purposes only to be confronted with his own helplessness as he watched a legless man being severely beaten by the police and found himself unable to do anything to stop it. It was not until much later that Dr. Hayes was able to see that the only thing he could have done for the legless man would have been to get on the ground with him and cover him with his own body. That is the heartbeat of God that is the incarnation. It is only through entering into the suffering of others – especially the poorest of the poor – even at the risk of our own lives that we can incarnate the gospel, bring hope to the hopeless, and I believe be faithful to God’s heart for the marginalized.

God has used this book, among many, to stir in the hearts of my wife and me a hunger to incarnate Jesus to the poorest of the poor, and to go wherever God would have us go to do so. As I write this, we are preparing to leave Southern California to move to southwest China which is in the midst of an AID’s pandemic which is resulting in hundreds of thousands of orphaned children. We feel no sense of sacrifice, only that God has brought our hearts more in line with what we believe is his heart, the heart of Jesus – to proclaim (and be) good news to the poor. I believe this book is indeed a prophetic call, a call to which the church in the west must respond, and for which she will be judged.

OK, Plan B

2008-02-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

The great thing about good intentions is that they can be inspiring -- even vision producing. The bad thing is that they are intentions, which by definition are future, and there may not happen. Like my good intention to blog each day from my classes in Seattle -- the intention was indeed good, the follow through, not so much.

So, instead a summery. (I'll add here that class was mostly long days of fascinating interaction plus journaling each evening which left me too worn out to blog each night). Anyway, a big theme of the class was providing opportunities for the students to be challenged, to defend, the be pushed, to push back and to overall be exposed to what an urban theology in a post modern world might look like; what does it look like to contextualize the unchanging gospel into a rapidly changing world.

The really cool thing was that the answer to that question -- which would usually vary from person to person -- was as diverse as the makeup of the class (31 people including students from Africa, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Korea, Kazakhstan, India, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Canada and the United States (more than half of which were African American). The questions of what the church looks like in a post modern, post christian society and all that goes with that question are things I am very familiar with, or so I thought. I realize that I am very familiar with the white middle class American version of that. How many times did I hear "what you said has no application in my country," and to learn how the post christianization of the west is viewed and even effects people other places, and how our how our missionary efforts in some of these countries which I am so quick to point out were often prompted more by colonialism than gospelism are still seen by many in those countries as amazing blessings by God.

Anyway it was a cool time, I was stretched, I made great friends, and look forward to continued learning.

Up In Seattle

2008-01-12T17:22:00.001-08:00

I'm up here in Seattle for two weeks of study at Bakke Graduate University as part of my Ministry Doctorate -- Transformational Leadership For The Global City.

It should be a wonderful time -- learning with and from many other students from around the world. I will try to write a bit each day. If you are interested, you can check out the Bakke website to get an idea of the class.

What a Long Strange Trip it's Been

2007-12-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

A year ago, as I prepared to make my traditional Christmas dinner (see post tomorrow) and looking at the new year, I felt like crap and was making plans for dialysis in the new year.

What a long strange trip it's been.

One year later, I'm sitting here having started the day with a 3.6 mile run (I've run 5 times this week) and am making plans to go to China -- for a class in my Doctorate and a side trip with my wife Kelly to check out Kunming for possible (maybe probable) relocation and ministry -- Lord willing -- starting in August.

What a long strange trip it's been.

Hopelessness (though with a sense of hope but unclear what it would look like) one year ago.

Hopefulness (with a wonder at how blessed I am)

A friend said to me the other day "are you nuts, thinking about going to China?" "I mean, you've got a great house and a good life here." "But there, man, it's a pit -- why would you do that."

My response is thankfulness to God for my illnesses and uncertainty that they have exposed me to. Think of all the people God called to minister in "hard" conditions -- so very many of them were "blessed" with poor health and disease in their past. I'll let you in on a secret: Going to "suffer" in China sounds so wonderful, it feels like I've won the lottery to even be considered by God as a candidate to be used by him as a blessing to widows and orphans -- like the homeless little girl at the top of the page walking past policemen who seemingly don't care, and the baby in the grime -- in a place with such great need. I'm a naturally selfish guy (I don't have to try hard to want my own way). Yet God, God alone is able to mold missionaries -- so often through prying our fingers away from the things that we normally want to get our comfort in.

"You'd be making such a sacrifice." Really? Huh. It doesn't feel like it at all -- and I know that's not me,'cause I'm actually not a very good person.

What a long strange trip it's been.

Missional Church

2007-12-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

Over coffee at the Blue Mug the other day, my friend Geoff and I got talking about what it means to be a missional church. Must it mean -- as Geoff and I had tended to agree it did previously -- that the church as a body moved saw itself as part of the Missio Dei and thus acted outwardly (in mission) together. Or, might it mean also a church where the individual members lived lives of missionality?

Put another way, does the church have to act together or can it be comprised of people who incarnate Christ to the world individually. I'm tending to think both.

Audience or Church

2007-12-06T16:17:00.001-08:00

Just finishing up Exiles by Michael Frost -- good book, recommend it to everybody.

Anyway, in talking about the flow of how what we think of "church" happens -- referring the "church" event, Frost makes several very good points about the communal worship experience needing to flow out of a community of people who love God, are part of his mission -- feel a sent of joint sentness -- coming together to corporately to express their worship of God together. A couple of points that were particularly interesting, first, Frost's list of distinctive between an audience and a church (which sounds more like you when you enter your church?)

Audience:
1. Critical (you paid money and you want a decent show)
2. Unconnected to anybody else (highly individual)
3. Expectant (hoping the show will be good)
4. No relationship with the performers
5. Facing the same direction
6. Focused on receiving not giving
7 Generally passive
8. Easily Bored
9. Expected Norms (You'll be silent, you'll stay seated until the end)

Church
1. A family of deep trusting relationships
2. A body of interconnected, interrelated parts
3. Everyone is gifted and expected to contribute
4. Compassionate, caring
5. Generous, hospitable
6. Focused on giving
7. High priority on unity
8. A royal priesthood, everyone enjoying access to God.

Which one of these two, call them A or B as opposed to church or audience actually looks more like most of our churches? Which one of these looks more like what is described as church in the bible.

You say, "oh, that's our small group, not our church."

Exactly.

Belong, Believe and Behave -- or, um Behave

2007-12-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

This video from my friend Alan's blog is brilliant. Give it a look (for those of you who wouldn't normally click the link do so just because it is a skit that involves fruit, which is always cool).

Seriously, give it a look.

Blessed Are The Children

2007-11-23T15:54:00.001-08:00

God has a special place for the children -- so honest, not yet learning to put up the fronts that we all put up to make ourselves look better in others eyes.

I watched this little child as she walked down the street -- in this picture right past a group of police -- and at each trash can reached in to her elbows to pull out pieces of food. The bottom of her pants filthy, the front of her shirt soiled from the dirt of the waste baskets that she came in contact with each corner.

She swung her basket like any playful child would -- but where does she go at night, where does she lay her head. I so wanted to go up to her, but what could I do -- it is not her who cannot speak, but I. And, where, in this country where 1/3 of all orphans are uncared for, would I take her.

Jesus loves the little children -- and calls us to demonstrate that love to them (even if it means learning Mandarin and going to China to do so).

Hey, I'm in China

2007-11-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it safely to Kunming, Hanan, China. Left early early on Monday -- 12:45am and got to my hotel at a little after noon on Tuesday.

God gave me a glimpse of what it must be to live as a marginalized person, maybe the poor in the US. I was in Beijing and had to change planes, but my 1st plane was late, and I did not speak the language, and the sighs were unclear and as I was running through the airport to the wrong gate (I was told the wrong gate by the ticket lady) and then ran to the other gate, totally confused and feeling lost, I though how often must the marginalized or really poor fell like they have no way to be heard. Anyway, just a thought.

Tomorrow is all meetings -- from 8:30 until 4:30.. Today, after check-in went out to lunch, a really good rice and dried beef thing with veggies (2.50 American) and walked around the open market. Tonight we are going to walk around, see the lights.

Off The Map

2007-11-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Up here in Seattle for the Off The Map Conference which I am attending as part of my Dmin degree at Bakke Graduate University.

I heard something particularly interesting and new. In all the talk about the unprecedented age that the Church is in now -- in a culture that is post modern, post Christian, etc., etc., I had never heard the perspective presented by Dianne Butler Bass, author of Christianity for the Rest of Us.

Ms. Butler Bass states that the times that we are in and that the Church is facing is not unprecedented, but rather consistent with 2,000 years of Church history. Specifically she said that in western culture there has been a dramatic change every 500 years -- a significant shift in world views, most recently with the reformation in the 1500’s. She asserted that it is more than just change in technology or taste, but in the ways people think about the universe. She stated that this is where we are on the historical time line, that the Church in our time is like the Church in each one of these transformation periods. And, that some new form of Christianity emerges at each of these transition times.

I had never heard this before and found it fascinating.

Back Home

2007-10-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back home as of noon today (Friday). Our house is still here, our stuff still here, lots and lots of black soot covering everything, and the smell of smoke everywhere.

Many many people went back to their homes only to find them gone - piles of rubble and pieces of medal. I'm thankful that we didn't have to go through that. Primarily because of all the energy that it would take to go through all the bureaucratic red tape -- how do you continue your full time job while navigating the insurance and building process? I feel for those people.

I'm thankful that I am not in that position, and I'm thankful that God has shown into my heart that most of my stuff doesn't mean that much to me. Is God using this evacuation experience as a call to further simplicity? Could be.

Fire Part III

2007-10-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

So much devestation, so much saddness, so much loss.

Many many good friends, however are back in thier homes and safe blocks away from other homes that are now rubble.

We are still evacuated -- the fire near us 0% contained. We were told to call back Thursday to see about the evacuation status. Found out today that an arsonist was arrested in our neighborhood about 2 hours after we were evacuated yesterday -- just can't get my mind around that one.

The winds are beginning to turn around, which means more moisture, more humidity and the fire being forced to turn back on itself and die -- good things.

Blessings, blessings, and more blessings to all who are going through this.

FIRE Part II

2007-10-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up to a friend from Pasadena calling and asking if we were ok. Telling him that it was really smokey, but no word yet about how close the fire was, I saw a sheriff's car with lights flashing out my bedroom window "THERE IS AN IMMEDIATE MANDATORY EVACUATION IN PROGRESS, EVERYBODY MUST LEAVE THEIR HOMES IMMEDIATLY." We had loaded most of our important stuff (which surprisingly fits easily into one car)-- I really could do without all the rest of the stuff, but that is another post for another day.

Up 65 miles to Orange County and the folks' house, a nice restful day and now an evening watching fire come over the crest about a three miles away. 15 fire engines just passed by the house to the fire, so that is a good sight. As for now, we are refugees...kind of. Nothing like so many people the world over experience. But, a reminder of how little the stuff we have really matters.

Maybe God has us here to help my elderly parents evacuate -- hope not, but you never know.

FIRE!

2007-10-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Spent the day watching TV coverage as fires ravaged the county of San Diego, while walking around my house each half an hour or so to see if there was any smoke or flames closing in on us.

After a night filled with wind and more wind, woke up this morning to early calls from multiple friends told to evacuate, but no call for us, no flames visible, but enough smoke for watery eyes and parched throat. Now we are packing up the car -- still no fire real close -- but preparing ourselves what promises to be a long long night of watching and waiting, 90% sure that the fire won't come in the night to take our home. It's that 10% that's the kicker, right?

Prayers out to all of you who have had to evacuate -- so far more than a quarter of a million people, to all whose homes have been lost my prayers and my sadness.

Who could imagine that sitting around doing nothing all day would be so physically and emotionally exhausting.

Help Desk

2007-09-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Somethings apparently never change. Check out this quite funny video for about the universality of time, language and cultural use of the Help Desk.

I'm Back

2007-09-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I consider myself computer savvy -- to the point that I have to confess that I give my wife a hard time for the fact that she has trouble with what I consider somewhat basic things.

I must eat humble pie.

I wanted to blog with pictures from our trip to Colorado for the CRM US Ministries conference in Estes Park, but I could not sign in because I could not remember my password. I tried "forgot password?" and had a new one sent, but even that didn't work. Well, without giving anything away, I'm back on and not as computer savvy as I thought I was.

So, a bunch of us are up here in Anaheim for the first few days of the week to discuss the direction of our ministries, lessons and applicability to the broader mission of Church Resource Ministries. Normally it is team leaders and now that includes leaders of Communitas -- what we are involved in -- which is essentially starting and mentoring those who start missional communities (see post number one). So, I will make an effort to write on anything that I think you (the 3 readers) might think interesting (this one does not count).

Meetings start tomorrow and now I'm in a hotel alone (above is a picture of me in said hotel room) waiting for others to show up and perhaps go out for a bite and a brew.

Next post to come shortly.

I feel great!

2007-07-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago today, I was in the hospital, being prepped for a kidney transplant. My friend Michele volunteering to undergo surgery and give me one of her kidneys.

Now, this is my third transplant -- a testing or trial that as you can imagine I cannot fully (or really 1/2 fully for that matter) understand. It's an exercise in trust, really. And I know that God is always teaching me to trust Him more -- and how I desire that too.

The surgery went really good (I'm told, I slept through it you know). My kidney numbers are really good with a few exceptions that are still a bit out of wack. But, I feel great. I have not felt this good in so long. I wake up at 6:00 and can't wait to get out of bed while the house is quiet, to read God's word and meditate on his goodness. I was so tired before, I looked forward to having energy back. I know with every fiber of my being that I am blessed. There are people on dialysis for years and years, yet after 5 months a transplant for me.

Today is the 4th of July, and independence day means something special for me today. Independence from feeling like crap all the time, yet asking God to help me hold it loosely, to realize that every good day, and every good gift, and those things that I cannot explain are from Him, a loving God who is for me.

"Lord, I feel great!" "Please help my feelings for you to be independent on my feelings for me."

Are You Called To Start A Church?

2007-05-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's my theory. Well, maybe it is not a theory so much as something I've observed several times and extrapolate to broader application (Yeah, that's a theory, right?). Here goes:

If you sit down and talk to people in their mid 20's who grew up going to church, you will find that for many, they at some point stopped going to chruch. Mosst of these will tell you that one of the main reasons they stopped was that they just didn't seem to fit, or that their seemed a lack of something real going on there and so they stopped, no anouncement, no declaration, they just stopped going. And if you ask them, the problem wasn't God, it wasn't Jesus. The probem was church -- even if they couldn't really explain what exactly it was. And, they felt a little guilty about it. Some of the these people are back at church, some arn't.

But, for ever one of these church disatisfied but not God disatisfied people, there are 15 or so others in thier sphere of influance, people who they grew up in church with, who had a similar experience, but were not so thoughtful about where the problem lay, instead they chucked it all -- God, Jesus, church. The put them all in the no or I don't know catagory. And they are not back in church.

That's my theory, this 1-15 ratio. People who are disatisfied with church but not God and people who are less thoughtful who have chucked the whole thing.

The theory gives rise to a call: While none of these 15 would go with you to church, they'd all come to your house -- if your one of the 1's (even on a regular basis) to share a meal, share concerns, share prayer requests, and even share questions about the Word, written and incarnate.

Church

So We Tried To Stop Them

2007-05-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

This morning I was reading in Luke 9 the sad, sadly funny and completely contemporary exchange where John comes up to Jesus to excitedly tell him the great thing he had done for the cause: "I saw people doing kingdom work, but they weren't part of our team, so I stopped them." The bible merely says that Jesus told John not to stop them, because if they are not against us they are for us -- you've all heard the quote. But I wonder what his expression was, or what else was going through his head. I think that maybe he looked at John like I look at my dog when he gets all tangled up in his leash. He does it time and time again, and it is so stupid, but I love him and untangle him.

This week I heard about a controversy at a church we are close to. They are having a conference with the subtitle "Are Science and Faith Compatible?" I did not know that that question was still up in the air, but that is another post. The point of this is the controversy -- hostility and threats from the church, threats to resign membership and more. The young pastor who was put in charge of the conference at the last minute and has received dozens of hostile e-mails, said, "This was supposed to be an event to bring non-Christians to and now I'm afraid our members are going to picket."

So, you ask, what is this huge controversy? One of the speakers believes in an old earth (and our church's official position -- if we even have one -- is a new earth, literal 24 hour day creation and all). And so, we are allowing someone to speak on a Wednesday night who does not believe exactly as the church does (even though he is not speaking on anything related to old/new earth!) And so he must be stopped, the conference must be stopped.

One exchange took place at the end of one of the largest (hundreds of folks) Sunday school classes. One of the lay leaders loudly telling others that he had resigned his membership because "(the senior pastor) lied to me, he said we would never have anybody in the pulpit who did not believe that the bible is the infallible word of God." This over a guy who believes that God might have created the earth in days that were longer than 24 hours. Now, that issue for me, I don't really care. God created it and that is a wonderful thing. But the hostility that has in this case risen to the surface -- we will stop the work of the kingdom if it is not done by people who are with us -- it's really sad.

This story is merely the dirty laundry of one unnamed church (it could be many church's), but it is a symptom of the inward, inbred, nature of so many communities of faith. Jesus started his ministry proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was among the people of his day and that he must go and proclaim that good news. Well, the Kingdom of God is still among us, and now we are charged to proclaim that good news. When we stop those who are doing Kingdom work, or we fight against those doing Kingdom work, or gossip about or look down our noses at those doing Kingdom work, because they are not part of our particular tribe, stripe or group we are quite frankly working against God's kingdom, rather than for it.

I guess that's all I have to say about it. Let's all look for opportunities to partner with someone who is doing Kingdom work -- maybe they don't even know they are doing kingdom work.

What a head scratcher it will be for them when you tell them.

Where Has Civility Gone?

2007-05-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

So, I try not to post on dialysis days -- the mind just doesn't work well and the energy level too low and the quality suffers. But, this short post could not wait -- WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS DISTURBING CONTENT.

After dialysis today, my family made a stop at the always pleasant Costco. While there . . . to put it delicately . . nature called. I opened the door and . . . ok, I'll just say it, some animal of a human being had peed all over the seat. Apparently he could not use a urinal and upon his choice to use a stall could not be bothered to lift up the seat -- even with his foot. "What an animal," I said out loud.

Dumbfounded, I told my tale of broken humanity to Kelly upon my exit. Her response? "I don't want to hear about this, put it on your blog."

Done and done.

This means war! Are you a part of it or not?

2007-04-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

Last night we watched Jesus Camp.

It was really uncomforable -- on so many levels. It made me so sad. If you have seen it you will know what I mean. It made me sad to see Ted Haggard talking about purity (In no means do I mean to trash him, it was sadness I felt, not condemnation). A short post today, mostly just quotes from the film (they make me sad to type them)

- If you don't open your mouth, the Holy Spirit can't talk.
- I don't need to tell you that we are in a war against culture. . . and we will win.
- Galileo made the right choice by giving up science for Christ.
- Whenever I meet a non-Christian, my soul feels yucky.
- We can't have phony sinners in the army of God.
- This means war! Are you a part of it or not?

The saddest thing about the movie is that maybe once or twice the Christians mentioned Jesus, instead repeatedly it said that Satan is after you, fight Satan, fight against the Godless, fight against the culture.

Now, I know the movie has an agenda, but if you have not seen it, you should -- especially if you are a follower of Jesus.

Virginia Tech Wound

2007-04-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

I recieved this from my friend Lainie:

Our trip to Tech was very sobering... we felt such a
blanket as we turned off the highway and onto the
campus. Not of looming darkness, but of the severity
and sorrow of these senseless murders. My first
thought was, "This is the aftermath of a war zone." I
sensed it so strongly. I have never lived in a war zone,
but it must feel like this... beyond words...

The mood was as expected... still, like a blanket of
grief. It was moving to be on the very grounds of this
horror, see the memorial and walk right up to the
police barricade saying "Crime Scene... Do Not Pass."
There was overwhelming concern and intercession
that was so evident by the writings, flowers, candles,
etc...

And witnessing these expressions caused me to feel
so very proud of the immense care and solidarity we
as a "people" showed the Tech family. I sensed a true
oneness. We discretely poured a full bottle of olive oil
on the grounds there. We sat and cried and hung our
heads in disbelief. I believe we were truly "with" them,
and represented each of you and others who could not
be there in body.

Then we met up with four Tech students there and
had lunch in Owens dining hall. They seemed to want
to talk of light-hearted things. They talked of the
week a bit, but mostly wanted to keep the talk light.
We told them how much everyone loved them and how
helpless we all felt... wishing there was more we could
do.

Daniel asked them what message could we bring back
to others not in the Tech family. They said that
prayers were the only thing they could use. Many of
the other "well-meaning" things people did and said
were really not useful to them.

We told them we could understand that, and that we
would pass on this message that they continue to
need prayer, desperately! It will be much later, after
the shock has worn off a bit, that many questions,
nightmares and struggles will begin. So please don't
let the time-lapse stop our prayers for them.

Families are just beginning to experience their loss.
One friend wrote me of a detail that deeply affected
her police friend at the Crime Scene. Please allow me
to share this "scene" so we can get another picture of
the terrible horror these loved ones have experienced
starting early Monday when they heard of the
shootings...

"My hometown in VA is only 45 minutes from
Blacksburg. A high school friend of mine is on the VA
State Police. He was involved in photographing one of
the classroom crime scenes after the massacre. He
said it was horrible seeing those students, but the
worst part was that the entire time he was in that
room, all of their cell phones were ringing non-stop. It
broke his heart to know that they were calls from
loved ones desperate for them to answer. "

Those "unanswered calls" launched the horror that
began for these families. Please, let's keep these dear
people in our hearts and prayers this month and
weeks to come.

33 People Gunned Down

2007-04-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today, a psycho gunned down more than thirty people at Virginia Tech University.

What to say? Nothing. Why does this type of thing happen? I heard President Bush pray that the families of those effected receive comfort "from a loving God." And I pray the same thing, because there is no hope of any sort of real comfort outside of God, because comfort in this situation is not natural.

But when I heard the quote, I thought how many people's first reaction will be, "loving God?" "How could a loving God allow this to happen in the first place." An age old question, a good question. And I think one that we in the western world who follow Jesus are less equipped to answer than others -- because of our comfortable Christianity. We live in a society where often the answer to the question, what does a Christian look like, is a person who drives a nice navy blue SUV with a fish on the back for each kid in the family, and goes to church.

What did a Christian look like in the early church? The bible tells us it looks like people who followed Jesus despite the fact that it meant their houses might be destroyed, their possessions taken, their livelihood jeopardized, and their life threatened or snuffed out. And so when tragedy happened, whether natural of man-made, it was the attitude of the Christians that made no sense. They were the first to care for the sick and jailed, filled with joy even as their stuff was being pillaged.

If the Church looked more like that today, if the church loved that way today -- even when the sky is falling, what different question might the people who the sky fell on ask?

Downtown Missional Communities

2007-04-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

My buddy Rex and I drove down towards San Diego to meet a guy named Steve Denney. Steve is a church planter from Reno who moved to San Diego to gather communities of Jesus followers. His church is called CityWalk and it is currently three communities that meet in homes in Downtown San Diego.

As I listened to Steve's story, it had several points in common with others who I have seen God use to grow His church in areas where it does not really exist:

1. Humility
2. Holding form loosely
3. Developing relationship with no ulterior motives
4. A servant's attitude
5. A learner's attitude
6. Not outcome or time-frame driven

What has developed in these communities, like those of other friends who have done likewise, are gatherings of Jesus followers -- expressions of church -- comprised of people who to a large degree had previously never attended church.

In a day where most church growth is transfer growth resulting from people shopping for a "better fit," that is not only refreshing, but obedient to Jesus' charge to go and make disciples.

God of Disorder

2007-04-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

I got this great Jacques Ellul quote on the Church from Steve Addison's blog. He apparently got it from Alan Hirsch. Regardless it's origin, had to post it here, because its a great quote.

No doubt some will reply that God is not a God of disorder, incoherence, or arbitrariness, but a God of order. Of course he is.

Unfortunately the whole of the Old Testament shows us that God’s order is not that which we conceive and desire. God’s order is not organization and institution (cf. the difference between judges and kings). It is not the same in every time and place. It is not a matter of repetition and habit. On the contrary, it resides in the fact that it constantly posits something new, a new beginning. Our God is a God of beginnings. There is in him no redundancy or circularity.

Thus, if his church wants to be faithful to his revelation, it will be completely mobile, fluid, renascent, bubbling, creative, inventive, adventurous, and imaginative. It will never be perennial, and can never be organized or institutionalized. If the gates of death are not going to prevail against it, this is not because it is a good, solid, well organized fortress, but because it is alive; it is Life that is, as mobile, changing, and surprising as life. If it becomes a powerful fortified organization, it is because death has prevailed.

He Was Dead - - - And Then He Wasn't

2007-04-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

God came down to earth in the form of a man, and taught us with both his words and his deeds, taught us that he didn’t come to bring a religion, but a relationship. And the religious people didn’t want to hear that – they had their rules you know. The religious people had the power, they could control people’s actions and people’s money, but Jesus wasn’t so much interested in that, no he was not so much interested in their religious power structure and rules. Instead, he was interested in life, life to be filled to the fullest, overflowing, life that would be filled with joy even in hardship, life that was only found in following him, eternal life. And so they murdered him. They tortured him, they humiliated him and then they murdered him. And there he lay, dead; for 3 full days. A dead body, decaying;

Jesus was dead.

And then he wasn’t.

He was dead, and then he wasn’t.

Amazing Grace

2007-04-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

The kids are on Easter break this week, so we had a family movie day -- and a trip to In-N-Out Burgers -- mmmmmmmmm.

Kelly and I choose the movie -- Amazing Grace. While it didn't have the pace of 300 (or 12.5 for that matter) it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie that was visually pleasing and thought provoking. Some thoughts:

1. How often the right thing is considered out of the question because of the financial consequences.

2. How something as despicable as owning other human beings and the indiscriminate de-dehumanization and death inherit therein (and other heinous things) can become so ingrained in the culture that the opposition to the practice is the voice that is "unreasonable."

3. How the human heart is evil to the core, and each one of us has a blindness to the own evil within us.

The two best lines in the movie:

1. Equiano, the former slave shows the large brand on his chest and says, "They do this to let you know you no longer belong to God, but to a man."

2. The aged and now blind John Newton broken and repentant over the 20,0000 "ghosts" of slaves that haunt him says, "I know two things: one that I am a great sinner and two that Christ is a great Saviour."

Ain't that the truth!

An Interesting Switchfoot Night

2007-04-01T17:55:00.001-07:00

In December, never figuring that I'd be on dialysis, I ordered 6 tickets to one of my favorite bands, Switchfoot. The concert was last night at SOMA -- a club in San Diego. The date of the concert coincided or maybe I should say collided with my dialysis schedule. So, I arranged early dialysis so I could come home and take a two hour nap before we left.

Wow, did I underestimate the draining effect that this stuff has on me. Despite the two hour nap, the concert (standing room only and ending at 11:30pm) was one of the hardest things I ever did. It was a great concert, but the pain and fatigue was almost impossible to take. Yet as I listened and watched from a great position, my weakness led me to repeated thanksgivings to God for his goodness. I was weak, almost passed out twice, but was there with the love of my life and best friend Kelly who kept me going -- and making what would have been a miserable night watching my favorite band, a good night. Ok, if you are interested, here is is the Switchfoot SOMA playlist from last night:

1. Stars
2. Oh Gravity!
3. Gone
4. We Are One Tonight
5. Chem 6A
6. This is Your Life
7. lonely Nation
8. Daisy
9. Learning To Breath
10. Ammunition
11. American Dream
12. 4:12
13. Sorrow (Bad Religion Cover)
14. A Song Made Up For San Diego
15. On Fire
16. Faust, Midas, and Myself
17. Dirty Second Hands
18. The Shadow Proves The Sunshine
19. Awakening
20. Meant To Live

And Two Encores:

1. Only Hope
2. Dare You To Move

Surgery, traffic ticket and sermon

2007-03-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am trying to set up a time to get together with a guy, Steve, who plants churches in downtown San Diego. In trying to find a day to get together, I told him that I had surgery tomorrow and next week needed to work on my Easter sermon as well as defend a friend in a traffic trial. He replied, "In my world, surgery, speeding tickets and sermons make for a good blog." So, here goes.

The surgery was just canceled, which is a good thing. A wonderful and gracious woman has volunteered to donate one of her kidney's to me! I convinced my doctors to allow me to continue dialysis through my "tubes" and we would fast track the testing and reconsider the surgery if something doesn't work out. Today's dialysis was fairly non-eventful.

I have another friend, I will call him Bill to avoid any embarrassment. "Bill" has a mess of speeding tickets (and other varieties as well). He had let them all slide for a while and was going to show up at court and just say "what do I owe." I told him that this approach, while good with one ticket, can get you in jail when you have many and many of those are old. I also thought it would be a hoot to fight one of them -- which I thought winnable. The trial is next Friday. Should be fun, but have to study speed trap radar law. And, then on Sunday, I preach at the joint service of the San Diego Taiwanese Presbyterian church -- it will be a blast.

Hmmm. I guess it doesn't make such an interesting blog after all. Go figure.

Food to the Poor and Preaching to the Ears

2007-03-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

Just got back from our monthly food distribution at the Silverwood Apartments. Located in a multi-square block area that has the fastest growing poverty rate int the state of California. Last year, our missional community of teen-agers adopted this complex -- at least to the extent that once a month we buy a car load of food at the San Diego food bank and then provide a box full of food to our "neighbors." We don't actively evangelize, no tracks or requirement to listen to us to get food (evangelize is our ultimate purpose, not our ulterior motive). Today a man asked, "why are you doing this?" "We love Jesus," I said, "Jesus said to love our neighbors, and you are our neighbors." It's fun -- even causes some of the kids to dance. After we are done, we take the kids to Dairy Queen for a nice soft serve cone. It's all a good time.

On another front, we are finally up and running, on the internet thanks to my friend Tu Nguyen. I preach each Sunday at a congregation called The Underground. It's the English speaking congregation of a Taiwanese church. My goal, to help them (and me) to realize the Kingdom of God as a reality here and now; as an already and not yet reality. And then, to help them discover what the ramifications of that are in every area of their life. Right now we are in a series called Journeying With Jesus from the book of Luke. Give a listen if you like.

Bad Dialysis Day

2007-03-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so many people ask what dialysis is like (some ask what it is). So, I decided I would give a quick description. I have tubes that were surgically tunneled through my skin for about 8 inches and come out my chest (with an in and an out). The other end goes into my carotid artery. The nice folks at the dialysis unit hook a tube (in and out) to me and then start a pump which pumps out 500ml per minute of my blood. The tubing takes my blood to a filter which is about two or three inches wide and 15 inches long. And for 3 hours my blood is cleaned as it flows through the filter and mixes with a chemical water. And since my kidneys don't work, I can't expel liquids in the "natural" way, so any quantity of liquid I drank over the past several days is somehow leached from my cells in the process. Ok, that is the how.

Today was a really bad day on dialysis. I was going to write something else (I thought about it earlier in the day but cannot remember it now). My blood pressure crashed 86/59 and I passed out for a moment, covered in sweat. But the worst was the cramping -- always a possibility at dialysis. First my big toe turned awkwardly away from my foot -- all of it's own accord. Then the entire foot and calf on my left leg cramped up. Then the middle of my back. The nurse had to pump saline into my body, which meant that I did not get off enough water weight, and will have to take more off next time. It was no fun. All but the cramping and blood pressure crash are three time a week experiences.

Hope I don't sound grumpy -- you asked.

Now, as I sit here, two hours later, my ears are ringing, my thoughts not clear, I'm light headed and dizzy. I'm also very grumpy -- I seem to be that way after each treatment until I go to bed.

Put Away Anger

2007-03-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”(Col 3:8)

First off, by and large, I did not experience the feeling of indwelling anger today: Lord I'm not angry, help me to be not angry.

So, I'm at the gym (which I used to love, but on dialysis its not much fun) which I now force myself to do three times a week, and as usual listening to a sermon. Who to choose: Rob Bell, Francis Chan, Erwin McManus, and a bunch of others. I picked a favorite who had been out of the playlist for a while, the ever reliable John Piper. He talked on bitterness and putting aside anger.

I know God doesn't want me angry and I know I don't like being angry. I actually don't mind being angry when something makes me angry -- no, I don't like the state of being, where my being is angry. Piper challenged that it is a lack of faith, a lack of belief in God's promises. Yeah, that seems true. So, I determined to wake each day with the first words off my lips a request that God take away my anger and replace it with his peace.

And similar to the dad in John's gospel, I will each morning say I'm not angry -- help me to not be angry.

I'm Back

2007-03-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have not been posting -- last post New Years Eve. So, I am going to post once a day for a week and see if I develop better habits.

So, since the last post, I have gone on dialysis, which I must do every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Frankly, it sucks. But, there are people out there that have it far worse than me to be sure. I have found that during this season, I have been angry. I walk around at about a 7 on the scale of 1-10. I don't think about being angry - in fact most often I don't feel angry. But, if 10 is blow-up, then I know I'm at 7 or so because I can get really ticked off at really small things. I think the anger is caused by the lack of control that I feel having to be on dialysis. Today, during church, before I got up to preach, while I prayed for those there to participate I thought "I'm also mad that i don't think it's fair that I'm on dialysis again, that my kidneys failed for a third time. And I think that's right -- I don't think it's fair.

And that kind of freaks me out because I am the first guy to counsel people that fairness is not really up for argument. We all really deserve instant destruction, but by God's grace we have life and breath and everything else. Also, as I said above, lots of people are worse off. So, intellectually, it doesn't make sense with what I believe, or what I say I believe.

Yeah, I think I am angry because I don't think it's fair for me to be on dialysis again. Wow, who would have thought. Something to think, and pray, about.

New Year's Eve Reflections

2006-12-31T22:28:00.000-08:00

It's but an hour and a half before the start of the new year, so I thought I would write a few words.

It's actually a strange and somewhat confusing time as we transition from this current calendar year into the next.

You see, my kidneys began to fad in a rather dramatic fashion in the beginning of December. Lot's of uncertainty as you can imagine. God is doing amazing things in our ministry and opening a lot of doors. I'm scheduled to go to Seattle for my first class at Bakke in 6 days -- unless their is marked improvement in the next several days, it will have to be postponed.

I'm convinced that the best explaination for what even the experts say is mostly unprecedented is that spiritual forces are at work and attacking what God has brought about. I read an interesting post on Sam Metcalf's blog that very much resonated with me and my experience. Read it here.

Many many people around the world are praying for healing. Like many people, though a followr of Jesus, the whole healing thing was not in my experiential paradigm. God has begun to change that in the last 6 months and has understandably excellerated this even more so in the past 15 days.

So, praying that God will chose to heal me, for his name sake, for his glory. If not, I pray that he will be glorified in whatever the outcome.

Thanks for praying with me and for me.

Peace

Pick Up Your Mat

2006-08-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

I love to sit around and talk about what needs to be done in the Church—what followers of Jesus should be doing to bless their communities and incarnate Christ to those who do not know him. Yeah, one of my favorite things is to get together with a group of friends and talk about what it looks like to really follow Him. I know a lot of people like me too.

It is humbling to know that God has changed my heart over the years and allowed me to see His heart for the poor in a more real way. Several months ago, I wrote to our ministry team, “[we] stand at the precipice of unprecedented times. In the past, people with spiritual inklings would turn to a Christian church; now they are turning elsewhere. More and more it seems people need to be drawn to Jesus before they will ever set foot in a church – they must see Jesus lived out in our work and in our families.” I believe those words with every fiber of my being. But, for so long, they have been just that, words.

As I said, I know a lot of people like me too, people who find it real easy – even entertaining and enjoyable -- to sit and talk and complain or encourage, all while paralyzed by fear or the unknown from doing anything. So why do I just sit there? Why am I paralyzed? The answer, although not pretty, is pretty simple: lack of faith.

Jesus’ response, when he saw the guy paralyzed for decades but unable to get to the healing waters, was to ask him “do you want to be healed?” The guy told Jesus all the reasons why he had not been able to get to the water, why he had been sitting on his mat for so long. Jesus almost didn’t seem concerned about the legitimately valid excuses – I mean the guy was physically paralyzed. Instead, He said to him “pick up your matt and walk,” and immediately the man did just that, and was no longer paralyzed.

I think I hear Jesus saying that to me and people like me. “Quit sitting there paralyzed, pick up your mat and walk.” And, I’m pretty convinced that when we do that, it will be our faith that makes us well, and not just us, but the world around us, as the light that will begin to emanate from us is seen in the darkness and brokenness of paralyzed peoples lives.

It’s time to pick up our mats and stop being paralyzed.

Smitty, bang that gong!

2006-08-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so there is this kind of stupid little video out there called "Smitty -- Filled with the spirit. You can see it here.

Watch the video and then do a google search. I'm serious, do it. You would think this funny (even funnier when you consider that it is actually a saddleback thing) little video, was a direct attack on the divinity of Christ!

A lot of people have spent a lot of time denouncing this as something from the devil himself.

It makes me so sad that when the world hears from Christ’s bride these days, all they hear is what we are against — and usually with a bitter and angry tone. Maybe, kind of like a banging gong?

Church or Kingdom

2006-08-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

The Church gets into trouble whenever it thinks it’s in the church business rather than the Kingdom business.

Church people are concerned with church activities and religious behavior. Kingdom people are concerned with kingdom activities - all human behavior visible and invisible.

Kingdom people see human affairs as saturated with spiritual meaning and kingdom significance.

Kingdom people seek first the kingdom of God and its justice. Church people often put church work above concerns for justice, mercy and truth.

Church people think about how to get people into the church. Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world.

Church people worry that the world might change the church. Kingdom people work to see that the church changes the world.

When people put the church ahead of the kingdom, they settle for the status quo and their own kind of people. When they catch a vision of the kingdom of God, their sights shift outside the walls of the church to the lost and the needy; they see the life and work of the church from the perspective of the kingdom.

If the church has one great need it is this: To be set free for the kingdom of God.

A Monty Python Gospel?

2006-08-16T17:57:00.001-07:00

I just watched, again, Monty Python and Holy Grail -- one of the joys of having teenagers. I guess humor is timeless.
Anyway, towards the end of this film there’s this scene where Arthur and three knights – they are on this quest to try to find the Holy Grail, hense the name -- have to get into castle, but there is a chasm that they have to get over and a bridge that’s the only way across. And, of course there is a Crazy bridge keeper whose three questions they must successfully answer as payment for passage.

If they can answer the three questions correctly, they can cross, if they get them wrong, get cast into the gorge of eternal peril.

So, the first knight walks up and he is real scared. The bridge keeper asks, "what's your name?" "Lancelot," the knight answers; "What's your quest?' "To locate the holy grail." What's your favorite color," the keeper askes. "Blue," Lancelot answers. "OK, you can pass."

Second knight looking on says, “That’s easy.” He's asked the first two questions, what's your name, what's your quest, and expectantly awaits the last, "what's the capital of Assyria? "I don’t know that. (ahhhh), he's cast into eternal peril.

Third knight steps up, terrified. Again, he answers the first two. On the third he is asked "what's your favorite color?" Surprised, he says "Blue, No, I mean clear." (ahhhh), he's cast into eternal peril.

Finally, King Arthur's turn arrives. He answers the first two questions, and when asked the third, "what's the air speed velocity of a coconut laden swallow," he answers, "depends, an African or European swallow?" The bridge keeper says "Well, I don’t know that!" And, he is cast into eternal peril.

A funny scene. But, isn't that what a lot of people have reduced the gospel to? Reduced it to this:

That when you die there will be this bridge over to the other side, and the gospel is the SECRET answer to the question, that when you give it, they have to let you in, the minimal entrance requirements that so long as you meet them, they have to let you in. There is one problem with this.

Where in the bible does Jesus ever say I’m going to give you the minimal entrance requirements to get into heaven? Did Jesus suffer and die for minimal enterence requirements?

Or, did he die so that we may have eternal life, "and this is eternal life, that they may know me, and the father who sent me."

We're Not Bad People Anymore

2006-07-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Wow! That feels better. I guess we arn't bad people anymore. Or, maybe that remains to be seen. At least the pool looks good now and we are in and swimming. The test or our goodness will come with the passing of time and the monotony of the upkeep. Good thing we believe in pool grace -- but not pool license!

You Guys Are Bad People

2006-07-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ok. So our pool filter and moter got messed up, and our water got out of wack and then things got busy, excuses, excuses, excuses. Yeah, so we meet this guy, John -- the worlds best pool guy. He comes over to the house and drain the pool. He looks at the thick green mess and just stands there silent. Then, he says "you guys are bad people." Yup.

The pool looked great at one time, really. And then it slowly got out of hand until we lost control of it. There is a spiritual analogy there somewhere -- take your pick.

Pictures of the clean pool to come soon.

The New Pharisees -- Saved Unto Privilege?

2006-07-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

I was reading Romans 2 today, and was struck by how much Pauls description of the religious folks fits so many of us today. Just change a couple of words to change the context and you tell me if it rings true:

Romans 2:17-26 (The Message with liberties)

If you're brought up Christian, going to church, don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you're an insider to God's revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God's revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I'm quite serious. While preaching "Don't steal!" are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law. The line from Scripture, "It's because of you Christians that the outsiders are down on God," shows it's an old problem that isn't going to go away. Going to chuch, and having a fish on your car is great if you live in accord with God's law. But if you don't, it's worse than if no body knew about it.

It sounds so familiar, it rings so true, and I so want to yell, "hey, look!" "Look at what you are doing, stop it." And I do yell it, but I need to yell it at myself too.

But, the main point is that I think I know the reason. I think I know the reason why the Old Pharisees and the "New Pharisees" acted this way. They both think they were saved unto privelege and not responsibility. They both think that the reason they were picked, pulled out of death, brought into God's plan, was for them, was for their benefit, for their privilege.

"Let's all wait until Messiah comes to kill all our enemies and rule as king." "Until then, we will hate all outsiders, unless they become like us."

And God weeps as their light becomes dimmer.

"Let's all wait until Jesus comes back to kill all the evil people and take me out of this world." "Until then, we will hate all outsiders, unless they become like us."

And Jesus weeps as their light becomes dimmer, as his words become a distant ecco, fading into the mist "Go out and trian everybody you meet, far and near in this (kingdom) way of life that I have demonstrated to you, marking them by baptism . . . and instructing them in all of the practices I have commanded you."

And, maybe he might add, "I have saved you unto great responsibility, through and with the amazing privilege of partering with me in my rule and reign, forever."

Imagine Movements of Missional Communities

2006-07-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

Imagine.

Imagine what it would would happen if in your community there sprung up 2 or 3 or 6 or 10 or 15 groups of 8 to 15 people who are all committed to being apprentices together of Jesus; to learn what it means to be in accountable community, but saw thier roles as representatives of his Kingdom in whatever setting they spend most of their time.

Imagine if each of these missional communities in learning what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus, in community, adopted a neighbor -- a low income apartment building, or single mom, or family, and just blessed them with food, or time, or whatever.

Imagine if each one of these missional communities gave birth to another missional community that did the same.

Imagine if the people who were blessed by the mercy and grace poured out by these communities began to talk to each other about the strange thing they have experienced in having thier needs met by almost perfect strangers who want nothing in return, and find out that others in need have been blessed as well.

Imagine if the only common denominator between the blessors is not race, or color, or gender or age, but Jesus.

Imagine what it would look like if God's Kingdom were done here the way it were done in heaven.

Imagine what it would look like if people actually did go and make disciples of all the nations.

Imagine.