For I Was Naked And You . . . Smiled?

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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