Today I went to a funeral. Not an uncommon event for me since I’ve officiated somewhere close to 75 over the past decade and a half. But today was different because I went to the funeral of a… Of a what? Teacher, Mentor, Guide… Friend? None of these words seem to be the right words when I think of this man, which is ironic because one of the things he imparted to me was a love of words. And now I find myself at a loss for words. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Smile
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Failure
I’ve been thinking about failure a lot lately. I’m not thinking about trying to fail, instead I’m trying to decide if I have already failed. To be honest it isn’t something I like thinking about, probably most people don’t. But I may be more predisposed to dislike failure than some of you.
• First, I am a guy.
• Second, I am a first-born guy in my family - if you put any stock in the birth order thing.
• Finally, I’ve been professionally trained in the “find success in any failure” technique and have many years of practice.
So to begin with I ask myself if I feel like a failure? The answer to that is yes. There are plenty of moments in the day when I feel like a failure. I fail to be the husband I want to be all the time. As a father I have countless moments each day where I flash to the future and see one of my daughters on a therapist's couch saying things like, “Well, when I would spill my juice at the dinner table my dad’s head would explode…” I very deliberately do not have a “Jesus” fish or cross on my car since at least once a day I comment on the relative driving skills of a fellow driver. Usually a comment on their mental capacity (“moron”) or an anatomical comment ("drive like you’ve got a pair") is the mode of my failure.
I fail to take care of myself as I should. I fail to take care of my family; I forgot my sister’s birthday this year, again. I fail to follow and sometimes I fail to lead. I almost always fail to see the point. I fail to communicate….”which is the way he wants it, well he gets it.”
But I also realize failure is a perspective from a specific point in time. Abraham Lincoln failed 47 times (or whatever it was) until he “succeeded”. So yes I know that what seems like failure at the time can just mean you’re not finished yet. But I also know that plenty of people, probably most people, actually fail. We run into them everyday, people who have clearly failed but they don’t even know it. So what is the difference between “not finished yet” and “failed but don’t know it”?
Lot’s of times my daughters will bring me something they are coloring or drawing. “Daddy look at my picture, what do you think?” “It’s very nice, I like it. That giraffe sure has short legs though” I’ll respond. “Daddy, that’s not a giraffe. It’s ants carrying a picnic basket with a giant corn dog in it.” “Sorry, I thought those spots on the corn dog made it look like a giraffe.” “Well I’m not finished with it yet!”
If I made a list of where I should be, of what I should be, nothing is where I’d like it. In every area I am either “not finished yet” or I “failed and don’t know it.” Realistically there is very little difference. And in many instances it doesn’t really matter.
In the Bible there is the well-known “Love” chapter, Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians, where he says a lot of very cool things about love. One of the best is “love never fails.” (I. Cor. 13:8a) For years I’ve thought about that statement and been faced with the harsh truth that my love does fail, a lot. Too often if I’m honest.
Even though I know that chapter is about God’s love it is hard for me not think about how my love fails. Skipping over the usual platitudes I’m learning what it is like to fail - professionally, personally, emotionally and even physically. I’m not who I was and I am not who I’m supposed to be. I’ve failed at every single thing I’ve tried. And if some of those failures are “not yet finished” that’s fine. If some of those are “failed but doesn’t know it” then I’m probably better of not knowing it.
If I think about it in terms of God’s love it is very awesome, even comforting. His never fails. It doesn’t say “His love isn’t finished yet” but His “love never fails”. His love never fails even though I do, even though my love fails. I don’t know what it is like to love with an unfailing love but I do know what it is like to be loved with an unfailing love.
The love that never fails is the love that I receive and not the love that I give, I’m convinced of that. The love that never fails is in my wife’s smile, my girl’s kisses and the dog’s wet nose when I come home. That unfailing love is in all the little things around me because they are all part of that never failing love my Father has for me. They are all small ways in which God reminds me “you are not finished yet.”
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12)
Want to go deeper? Check out Philippians Chapter 3.
• First, I am a guy.
• Second, I am a first-born guy in my family - if you put any stock in the birth order thing.
• Finally, I’ve been professionally trained in the “find success in any failure” technique and have many years of practice.
So to begin with I ask myself if I feel like a failure? The answer to that is yes. There are plenty of moments in the day when I feel like a failure. I fail to be the husband I want to be all the time. As a father I have countless moments each day where I flash to the future and see one of my daughters on a therapist's couch saying things like, “Well, when I would spill my juice at the dinner table my dad’s head would explode…” I very deliberately do not have a “Jesus” fish or cross on my car since at least once a day I comment on the relative driving skills of a fellow driver. Usually a comment on their mental capacity (“moron”) or an anatomical comment ("drive like you’ve got a pair") is the mode of my failure.
I fail to take care of myself as I should. I fail to take care of my family; I forgot my sister’s birthday this year, again. I fail to follow and sometimes I fail to lead. I almost always fail to see the point. I fail to communicate….”which is the way he wants it, well he gets it.”
But I also realize failure is a perspective from a specific point in time. Abraham Lincoln failed 47 times (or whatever it was) until he “succeeded”. So yes I know that what seems like failure at the time can just mean you’re not finished yet. But I also know that plenty of people, probably most people, actually fail. We run into them everyday, people who have clearly failed but they don’t even know it. So what is the difference between “not finished yet” and “failed but don’t know it”?
Lot’s of times my daughters will bring me something they are coloring or drawing. “Daddy look at my picture, what do you think?” “It’s very nice, I like it. That giraffe sure has short legs though” I’ll respond. “Daddy, that’s not a giraffe. It’s ants carrying a picnic basket with a giant corn dog in it.” “Sorry, I thought those spots on the corn dog made it look like a giraffe.” “Well I’m not finished with it yet!”
If I made a list of where I should be, of what I should be, nothing is where I’d like it. In every area I am either “not finished yet” or I “failed and don’t know it.” Realistically there is very little difference. And in many instances it doesn’t really matter.
In the Bible there is the well-known “Love” chapter, Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians, where he says a lot of very cool things about love. One of the best is “love never fails.” (I. Cor. 13:8a) For years I’ve thought about that statement and been faced with the harsh truth that my love does fail, a lot. Too often if I’m honest.
Even though I know that chapter is about God’s love it is hard for me not think about how my love fails. Skipping over the usual platitudes I’m learning what it is like to fail - professionally, personally, emotionally and even physically. I’m not who I was and I am not who I’m supposed to be. I’ve failed at every single thing I’ve tried. And if some of those failures are “not yet finished” that’s fine. If some of those are “failed but doesn’t know it” then I’m probably better of not knowing it.
If I think about it in terms of God’s love it is very awesome, even comforting. His never fails. It doesn’t say “His love isn’t finished yet” but His “love never fails”. His love never fails even though I do, even though my love fails. I don’t know what it is like to love with an unfailing love but I do know what it is like to be loved with an unfailing love.
The love that never fails is the love that I receive and not the love that I give, I’m convinced of that. The love that never fails is in my wife’s smile, my girl’s kisses and the dog’s wet nose when I come home. That unfailing love is in all the little things around me because they are all part of that never failing love my Father has for me. They are all small ways in which God reminds me “you are not finished yet.”
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12)
Want to go deeper? Check out Philippians Chapter 3.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Free
A few weeks ago the whole family went out to dinner. We went through the usual routine of placing our order including beverages of choice. Milk and/or water for the girls, Dr. Pepper for me and Julie drinks Diet Coke. In the appropriate amount of time the waitress brings our drinks. Julie and I both notice that the waitress has taken the time to put two straws in mine and one straw in hers. This is good because there are few things on this earth as horrifying as lifting a carbonated beverage to your lips expecting it to be Dr. Pepper and then tasting Diet Coke!
One problem though, she still mixed up the drinks which Julie and I discovered as we took simultaneous sips and then simultaneously handed our drinks to the other followed by simultaneously making what I call “the Face.” There are few things on this earth as powerful as “the Face.” This non-verbal form of communication carries with it such loathing, such judgment, such derision that could be classified as a form of torture or even mental abuse. If you think I’m exaggerating then you’ve never been on the receiving end of “the Face.”
Julie and I both made “the Face”, not at each other or the waitress but more at the repulsive drinks held by the other. Then we each took a sip of our preferred beverage (addiction?) which was followed by a sigh of deep contentment and a smile, in that order. And as soon as this little ritual was done I was struck with the thought, “what must the people watching us be thinking?” That thought was followed almost immediately by the answer, “probably nothing, it’s probably happened to them lots of times before.”
Ok, so what if someone from another place was watching, like another country? Better yet what if it was someone from a different planet or time who didn’t know about dark colored carbonated beverages, what if they were watching? Because to the outsider those two drinks look exactly the same. Even in clear glass it is hard to tell the two apart. I spent the better part of a morning trying to track down the chemical difference between the two, to no avail. But a quick look at the ingredients lists many of the same. And I bet that if you never had tasted a carbonated beverage before, both of them would cause you to make “the Face.” But over the years I’ve become accustomed to and comfortable with Dr. Pepper.
But it made wonder if perhaps there are other areas of my life in which I behave the same way. Do I have strong convictions about something or have I simply grown accustomed to them? Lots of those things I would classify as important and insist that one is fundamentally better than the other... But lately I ask myself how do I know that for sure, perhaps it is just what is comfortable.
For many years I’ve been a regular voter in a particular political party and to varying degrees felt strongly about that. But to be honest I’m beginning to think they are about as different as Dr. Pepper is different from Diet Coke. There are some VERY big difference between the GOP and DNC but in the end they both seem to succeed in “leading” our country to the same degree. Their effectiveness seems to be the same as Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke’s effectiveness in hydration – the taste of one is familiar and the other deserves “the Face” but they both are worthless as a replacement for water.
And if I can somehow be tricked into equating the “familiar” with correct in soft drinks and political parties where else might I go astray? For years I’ve been making “the Face” at all the things that have been changing but shouldn’t have been changing, or so I thought. But lately I’ve begun to wonder if I even know how to use “the Face.”
There is one verse in the Bible that I haven’t been able to get out of my head lately. It is from Galatians 5:1 and in it St. Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” And in that particular letter St. Paul is writing to correct a bunch people who believed that Christians had to “follow” the Old Testament in order to be a Christian, in particular they taught that a Christian man must be circumcised.
Read Galatians 5
Now of course there is a lot background to that story but it in the end it comes down to a group of people believing that they could not have a relationship with God in any way except as how they always had. In fact, they didn’t believe anyone could have a relationship with God expect by how THEY had a relationship with Him.
Now St. Paul would be the first one to deny any sort of “relative” approach to God, like the modern day “all paths lead to the same place” kind of thing. But what is interesting is that he is warning this group of Christians of the opposite extreme, don’t think God is defined by your rules and regulations.
I’ve spent a lot of my life making “the Face” at changes in this world. I’ve hollered about the good old days, I’ve pounded my fist about tradition and the value of what has been handed down in the past. And I still believe that is true. But now I’m trying to be on the lookout from the other side. I’m keeping an eye open for the part of me that makes the traditional, or what is comfortable and familiar, a rule - that turns it into law. And I don’t like being a slave to the law. I like being free. I like knowing that Christ came to set me free.
I love knowing that God wants me to be free, that he has set me free! Free from fear and pain and failure. Free from having to get God to love me by what I do or don’t do. Free from wondering when I’ve done enough or what happens when I fail. I love being free. But what I’m still learning is how to live free. And not free as in “I do whatever I want” but free as in “I love being free so much that I want others to be free.”
And if I’m going to do that then I’m going to have to figure out the difference between what is better and what is familiar, what is right and what is comfortable. I might even have to retire “the Face”… Someday.
One problem though, she still mixed up the drinks which Julie and I discovered as we took simultaneous sips and then simultaneously handed our drinks to the other followed by simultaneously making what I call “the Face.” There are few things on this earth as powerful as “the Face.” This non-verbal form of communication carries with it such loathing, such judgment, such derision that could be classified as a form of torture or even mental abuse. If you think I’m exaggerating then you’ve never been on the receiving end of “the Face.”
Julie and I both made “the Face”, not at each other or the waitress but more at the repulsive drinks held by the other. Then we each took a sip of our preferred beverage (addiction?) which was followed by a sigh of deep contentment and a smile, in that order. And as soon as this little ritual was done I was struck with the thought, “what must the people watching us be thinking?” That thought was followed almost immediately by the answer, “probably nothing, it’s probably happened to them lots of times before.”
Ok, so what if someone from another place was watching, like another country? Better yet what if it was someone from a different planet or time who didn’t know about dark colored carbonated beverages, what if they were watching? Because to the outsider those two drinks look exactly the same. Even in clear glass it is hard to tell the two apart. I spent the better part of a morning trying to track down the chemical difference between the two, to no avail. But a quick look at the ingredients lists many of the same. And I bet that if you never had tasted a carbonated beverage before, both of them would cause you to make “the Face.” But over the years I’ve become accustomed to and comfortable with Dr. Pepper.
But it made wonder if perhaps there are other areas of my life in which I behave the same way. Do I have strong convictions about something or have I simply grown accustomed to them? Lots of those things I would classify as important and insist that one is fundamentally better than the other... But lately I ask myself how do I know that for sure, perhaps it is just what is comfortable.
For many years I’ve been a regular voter in a particular political party and to varying degrees felt strongly about that. But to be honest I’m beginning to think they are about as different as Dr. Pepper is different from Diet Coke. There are some VERY big difference between the GOP and DNC but in the end they both seem to succeed in “leading” our country to the same degree. Their effectiveness seems to be the same as Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke’s effectiveness in hydration – the taste of one is familiar and the other deserves “the Face” but they both are worthless as a replacement for water.
And if I can somehow be tricked into equating the “familiar” with correct in soft drinks and political parties where else might I go astray? For years I’ve been making “the Face” at all the things that have been changing but shouldn’t have been changing, or so I thought. But lately I’ve begun to wonder if I even know how to use “the Face.”
There is one verse in the Bible that I haven’t been able to get out of my head lately. It is from Galatians 5:1 and in it St. Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” And in that particular letter St. Paul is writing to correct a bunch people who believed that Christians had to “follow” the Old Testament in order to be a Christian, in particular they taught that a Christian man must be circumcised.
Read Galatians 5
Now of course there is a lot background to that story but it in the end it comes down to a group of people believing that they could not have a relationship with God in any way except as how they always had. In fact, they didn’t believe anyone could have a relationship with God expect by how THEY had a relationship with Him.
Now St. Paul would be the first one to deny any sort of “relative” approach to God, like the modern day “all paths lead to the same place” kind of thing. But what is interesting is that he is warning this group of Christians of the opposite extreme, don’t think God is defined by your rules and regulations.
I’ve spent a lot of my life making “the Face” at changes in this world. I’ve hollered about the good old days, I’ve pounded my fist about tradition and the value of what has been handed down in the past. And I still believe that is true. But now I’m trying to be on the lookout from the other side. I’m keeping an eye open for the part of me that makes the traditional, or what is comfortable and familiar, a rule - that turns it into law. And I don’t like being a slave to the law. I like being free. I like knowing that Christ came to set me free.
I love knowing that God wants me to be free, that he has set me free! Free from fear and pain and failure. Free from having to get God to love me by what I do or don’t do. Free from wondering when I’ve done enough or what happens when I fail. I love being free. But what I’m still learning is how to live free. And not free as in “I do whatever I want” but free as in “I love being free so much that I want others to be free.”
And if I’m going to do that then I’m going to have to figure out the difference between what is better and what is familiar, what is right and what is comfortable. I might even have to retire “the Face”… Someday.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Why
The question I was asked most often at this time last year was a simple one, “Why?” Why would I donate my kidney to someone I had known for only a year? My favorite was from the Denver Post reporter who, when I mentioned that we were having a special day at church to thank God, put it this way – “Why Thank God?” That one still makes me laugh.
But my purpose is not really to tell you that story, but more to tell you what I have learned a year later. In some ways this story is really a snapshot of my purpose for the blog, to tell people what I have learned as a Christian. I by no means am an expert; for the most part this blog is a “don’t do the dumb things I have” list. But I also have some very strong beliefs about God and how he works and they are vital to me. And since none of us make this journey we call “life” in isolation, perhaps some of what I’ve learned or am learning can be valuable.
Because there is one thing I know absolutely - I have no idea what I am doing. But I am learning, I’m learning each and every day who I am. I’m learning who God created and recreated me to be. I’m learning what it means to follow Jesus.
Jesus said it clearly enough, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.’” Lots of people have had their idea of what Jesus meant when he said that. One of my favorites comes from a German Pastor named Dietrich Bonheoffer who wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." (The Cost of Discipleship)
And in my opinion this is where God made a BIG mistake. Actually I guess you could say he made a mistake from the very Beginning. For In the Beginning God created his people to be part of how he works. In the simplest of terms God, who can do anything, wanted us to join him in what he is doing. He wants to use us.
Which is how I ended up in a hospital bed with one kidney. Because as I prayed with Jon the first day he was in the hospital with kidney failure and as I continued to pray for Jon over the next year God was slowly but surely answering that prayer. I just didn’t know how intimately I’d be involved in that answer.
Of course, God could have zapped Jon with a bolt of lightning or even healed him with a TV evangelist. But he didn’t. Because in “healing” Jon he also wanted to heal me. He wanted to shape and mold me, to change my heart. God wanted me to learn what it means to follow Him.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
So over the days and months of praying with Jon, through all the screening process at the hospital, God was slowly but surely teaching me what it means to follow Jesus. It means that I no longer live for myself, it means that I am part (however small and insignificant it may seem) of what He is doing. And not out of any compulsion, or guilt or even because I “owe” it to God. But simply because this is who God made and has remade me to be. This is what it means to be in Christ, a new creation. It’s not complete yet, not even close. But I am learning, I am learning who I am.
So this is what I have learned a year later. Pray, pray and tell God what your need, what you are afraid of, what you are facing - because God does indeed hear and answer. In fact he loves doing it. But I’d also encourage you to pray and ask God to show you how to be His answer to someone else’s prayer. Why? Because that’s who you are.
P.S. Even as I write this God has brought another person to our church who needs a kidney transplant. Her name is Shelly and she with her husband and son need your prayers. And if you’d like to learn more about organ donation check out http://www.donatelife.net/
But my purpose is not really to tell you that story, but more to tell you what I have learned a year later. In some ways this story is really a snapshot of my purpose for the blog, to tell people what I have learned as a Christian. I by no means am an expert; for the most part this blog is a “don’t do the dumb things I have” list. But I also have some very strong beliefs about God and how he works and they are vital to me. And since none of us make this journey we call “life” in isolation, perhaps some of what I’ve learned or am learning can be valuable.
Because there is one thing I know absolutely - I have no idea what I am doing. But I am learning, I’m learning each and every day who I am. I’m learning who God created and recreated me to be. I’m learning what it means to follow Jesus.
Jesus said it clearly enough, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.’” Lots of people have had their idea of what Jesus meant when he said that. One of my favorites comes from a German Pastor named Dietrich Bonheoffer who wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." (The Cost of Discipleship)
And in my opinion this is where God made a BIG mistake. Actually I guess you could say he made a mistake from the very Beginning. For In the Beginning God created his people to be part of how he works. In the simplest of terms God, who can do anything, wanted us to join him in what he is doing. He wants to use us.
Which is how I ended up in a hospital bed with one kidney. Because as I prayed with Jon the first day he was in the hospital with kidney failure and as I continued to pray for Jon over the next year God was slowly but surely answering that prayer. I just didn’t know how intimately I’d be involved in that answer.
Of course, God could have zapped Jon with a bolt of lightning or even healed him with a TV evangelist. But he didn’t. Because in “healing” Jon he also wanted to heal me. He wanted to shape and mold me, to change my heart. God wanted me to learn what it means to follow Him.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
So over the days and months of praying with Jon, through all the screening process at the hospital, God was slowly but surely teaching me what it means to follow Jesus. It means that I no longer live for myself, it means that I am part (however small and insignificant it may seem) of what He is doing. And not out of any compulsion, or guilt or even because I “owe” it to God. But simply because this is who God made and has remade me to be. This is what it means to be in Christ, a new creation. It’s not complete yet, not even close. But I am learning, I am learning who I am.
So this is what I have learned a year later. Pray, pray and tell God what your need, what you are afraid of, what you are facing - because God does indeed hear and answer. In fact he loves doing it. But I’d also encourage you to pray and ask God to show you how to be His answer to someone else’s prayer. Why? Because that’s who you are.
P.S. Even as I write this God has brought another person to our church who needs a kidney transplant. Her name is Shelly and she with her husband and son need your prayers. And if you’d like to learn more about organ donation check out http://www.donatelife.net/
Friday, April 24, 2009
Home
It is good to be home. I was traveling this past week, something that I don’t do all that often anymore. But it did get me to thinking about all of the places that I’ve called “home” over the years. The first one to jump on the list would be my house growing up; 5280 Tabor St., Arvada Colorado, 80002. So beginning with that one and Google maps, I just took a quick trip down Memory Lane. House in Arvada, dorm rooms in Irvine, parent’s house in Maryland, dorm rooms in St. Louis, apartment in Florida, house in Nebraska and 2 houses back in Colorado.
All of the sudden it stuck me that not every house was a home to me. And this made me think of, not the song or the book, but way back to my confirmation days. When I was in 8th grade we were required to memorize a lot of stuff and one of the things we memorized was Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. I can still hear it echoing in my head, the explanation to the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that God… also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home…” And most of those pairs seemed to make sense, clothing is great and even better with shoes, food is necessary but so is drink. Yet for the life of me I could never figure out the difference between house and home.
It is not just how long you lived someplace, I lived on a couple of campuses for years but they were not home. It is not just who else is there. My college roommates where some of the greatest friends with which God ever blessed me. In Nebraska I lived alone (except for the dog) and that somehow was home. House and home now is simple. It hasn’t been this simple since I lived in my childhood home. Now days I come home from a trip and the dog is excited to see me (still), my wife is excited (still?) and my daughters knock me over with hugs and questions. The house is never the same as I left it (as it was in the bachelor days) and there is always something new to fix. But there is no question, this is home.
There are also times when I come back to an empty house, everyone at school, work, gymnastics – whatever. So I’m at my house but it doesn’t seem like home. To be honest all the peace and quiet makes it seem better than home! But that only lasts a moment and I wish “home” would come back home.
So it is not just the building and it is not just the people. It is some rare, some unique combination of things that put my soul at ease. I’m home… Is there any other way to say it? I know I’m home.
It has made me wonder if perhaps that is why God seems to have such a hard time describing what “home” is like. It would be like me describing to you what my home is like. It is a place, a location which is extremely important. But no amount of pictures or architectural plans or fabric swatches or paint palates will really convey to you what makes my house home. And so too with the home of which God speaks. It is, I believe, a place. But to focus on the what of that place largely misses the point.
I think that is why Jesus uses the picture of returning home so often. One of my favorite chapters of the Bible is Luke 15. In it we get three quick stories, lost sheep, coin and son who all end up “home” at the end. Especially vivid to me is when the son “comes to his senses” and realizes “hey, this place sucks I should go home.” And he does. He goes back to his Father’s house and more importantly he goes to his Father’s home. And in my mind I can see it. I can see the peace that comes over the son as he realizes it, “I’m home. I’m the place where I’m always welcomed, always loved, always forgiven. I am home.”
So while I didn’t click my heals together yesterday and say, “there’s no place like home” I did lay down in my bed on my pillow and say a little prayer of thanks for being home. Because the only thing that is better than being home, is being Home. It is great to be home.
All of the sudden it stuck me that not every house was a home to me. And this made me think of, not the song or the book, but way back to my confirmation days. When I was in 8th grade we were required to memorize a lot of stuff and one of the things we memorized was Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. I can still hear it echoing in my head, the explanation to the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that God… also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home…” And most of those pairs seemed to make sense, clothing is great and even better with shoes, food is necessary but so is drink. Yet for the life of me I could never figure out the difference between house and home.
It is not just how long you lived someplace, I lived on a couple of campuses for years but they were not home. It is not just who else is there. My college roommates where some of the greatest friends with which God ever blessed me. In Nebraska I lived alone (except for the dog) and that somehow was home. House and home now is simple. It hasn’t been this simple since I lived in my childhood home. Now days I come home from a trip and the dog is excited to see me (still), my wife is excited (still?) and my daughters knock me over with hugs and questions. The house is never the same as I left it (as it was in the bachelor days) and there is always something new to fix. But there is no question, this is home.
There are also times when I come back to an empty house, everyone at school, work, gymnastics – whatever. So I’m at my house but it doesn’t seem like home. To be honest all the peace and quiet makes it seem better than home! But that only lasts a moment and I wish “home” would come back home.
So it is not just the building and it is not just the people. It is some rare, some unique combination of things that put my soul at ease. I’m home… Is there any other way to say it? I know I’m home.
It has made me wonder if perhaps that is why God seems to have such a hard time describing what “home” is like. It would be like me describing to you what my home is like. It is a place, a location which is extremely important. But no amount of pictures or architectural plans or fabric swatches or paint palates will really convey to you what makes my house home. And so too with the home of which God speaks. It is, I believe, a place. But to focus on the what of that place largely misses the point.
I think that is why Jesus uses the picture of returning home so often. One of my favorite chapters of the Bible is Luke 15. In it we get three quick stories, lost sheep, coin and son who all end up “home” at the end. Especially vivid to me is when the son “comes to his senses” and realizes “hey, this place sucks I should go home.” And he does. He goes back to his Father’s house and more importantly he goes to his Father’s home. And in my mind I can see it. I can see the peace that comes over the son as he realizes it, “I’m home. I’m the place where I’m always welcomed, always loved, always forgiven. I am home.”
So while I didn’t click my heals together yesterday and say, “there’s no place like home” I did lay down in my bed on my pillow and say a little prayer of thanks for being home. Because the only thing that is better than being home, is being Home. It is great to be home.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Mad
A friend of mine asked me last week how things were going with Holy Week. He is another pastor and this is how pastors talk to one another during Holy Week. It is kind of like our April 15th if we were accountants. By tradition Pastors are supposed to complain about how busy they are and try to one-up each other. Kind of like old soldiers comparing war wounds. I think I may have surprised him when I responded, “God and I are in a fight. We’re not talking right now.” I say I think I surprised him because his response was “I think you can take Him.”
Which is of course ridiculous because I can’t take God. Jacob may have wrestled with God but I’m not Jacob and I haven’t wrestled since High School. So instead, God and I seem to be in a very common place for people in a relationship, we aren’t talking. We are giving each other the silent treatment.
Which of course leads you to ask why and to be honest I guess I’m not sure. I think maybe I’m having a “Bruce Almighty” kind of moment when I look around and think that God could be doing better. And it isn’t even the usual “big” questions like the existence of evil or anything I see on the evening news. For me it has been more about the people around me. People who are facing tough things; unemployment, cancer (again), other health problems for them or their loved ones, divorce… I guess the usual list of things. But lately I just feel like no one can get a break. And if they could, wow, what a difference it could make. But I know that I don’t know everything and God knows what he is doing. He has showed me that personally time and time again. But still I’m kind of mad… and God and I aren’t talking.
Or maybe I’m not talking but He is… and I’m not listening.
Last week I picked up my oldest daughter Jessica from school and the first thing she did when she saw me was whip out the Easter egg she had colored at school. Not a real egg but a big paper cutout with lines all over. It was pretty, she did a good job. But I had number of things to do that afternoon including a hospital visit, so I hustled her to the car. “I’ve got to visit someone in the hospital today. Do you want to go with me or should I take you home?’” I asked. She said she’d go with me but wanted to know who was sick. I told her it was Mel, who is 98, he was in the hospital, again. So we made the drive to the hospital and the whole way Jessica told me about her egg and how much she liked it and could we frame it and hang it, not on the refrigerator like most of the time, but in her room. It was too beautiful and too important for even the refrigerator. I said something like, “Sure whatever…” We reached the hospital and I parked and walked around to help her out of the van. She jumped down and turned to look at her egg lying on her backpack. I didn’t say anything but I could see the wheels turning as she grabbed the egg and followed me into the hospital.
In the elevator people commented on how pretty it was and Jessica thanked them politely. We got off on our floor and made our way to Mel’s room. He was sitting up finishing his lunch but when he recognized us he sat up even straighter and greeted us with a big “hello!” And as you can guess by now Jessica walked up to Mel and gave him her egg and said, “I hope you feel better.” And as you can also guess Mel was excited, thanked her and placed it on his lap.
The visit went on and Mel told how great he was doing and what a great job the nurses were doing and how he even prayed with a few of them. He also said, as he often does, that he was ready to go when either Jesus or the doctors said it was time. Jessica chimed in a few times, especially to remind Mel not to chew with his mouth open…
And as we left the hospital Jessica got a little sad and said “Daddy, I really wanted to hang that Egg in my room.” I replied, “I know, so why did you give it to Mel?” She gave me a look as if I had asked her why she liked Barbie and said “Because he’s sick dad, he needs it.”
When your job is to help people understand and connect with God you can’t help but recognize the irony and the appropriateness of God using a 5 year old girl and 98-year-old man to remind a 37 year-old pastor of what He is doing.
Because the paradox is that God could just give the word and put an end to the problems of all those around me, put an end to the problems of the world. But for some reason he wants us to join him.
Read John 21:15-19 (http://www.biblegateway.com)
Actually God did give the Word and put and end to all of it, so the paradox is that even after Jesus has shown that he holds all things in his hands, even life and death, he still asks people to help. For the disciples he ends the same way he began, “Follow Me.” And it took a 98 year-old man in the hospital praying for his caretakers and a 5 year-old girl giving away her Easter egg to remind me, “Take care of my sheep.”
So I know God is still talking to me even though we’re fighting, or I guess I’m fighting. And I’m trying the silent treatment even though he keeps leaving me messages. And to be honest I’m still kind of mad. But I know what he is telling me. I know he is saying, “Follow me.” He is saying, “I’m going to visit the sick, the lonely, the hurting, the despairing. Do you want to go with me?”
P.S. I went and saw Mel at home yesterday. He had that Easter egg hanging in his room on his dresser mirror. Maybe it was too pretty for the refrigerator…
Which is of course ridiculous because I can’t take God. Jacob may have wrestled with God but I’m not Jacob and I haven’t wrestled since High School. So instead, God and I seem to be in a very common place for people in a relationship, we aren’t talking. We are giving each other the silent treatment.
Which of course leads you to ask why and to be honest I guess I’m not sure. I think maybe I’m having a “Bruce Almighty” kind of moment when I look around and think that God could be doing better. And it isn’t even the usual “big” questions like the existence of evil or anything I see on the evening news. For me it has been more about the people around me. People who are facing tough things; unemployment, cancer (again), other health problems for them or their loved ones, divorce… I guess the usual list of things. But lately I just feel like no one can get a break. And if they could, wow, what a difference it could make. But I know that I don’t know everything and God knows what he is doing. He has showed me that personally time and time again. But still I’m kind of mad… and God and I aren’t talking.
Or maybe I’m not talking but He is… and I’m not listening.
Last week I picked up my oldest daughter Jessica from school and the first thing she did when she saw me was whip out the Easter egg she had colored at school. Not a real egg but a big paper cutout with lines all over. It was pretty, she did a good job. But I had number of things to do that afternoon including a hospital visit, so I hustled her to the car. “I’ve got to visit someone in the hospital today. Do you want to go with me or should I take you home?’” I asked. She said she’d go with me but wanted to know who was sick. I told her it was Mel, who is 98, he was in the hospital, again. So we made the drive to the hospital and the whole way Jessica told me about her egg and how much she liked it and could we frame it and hang it, not on the refrigerator like most of the time, but in her room. It was too beautiful and too important for even the refrigerator. I said something like, “Sure whatever…” We reached the hospital and I parked and walked around to help her out of the van. She jumped down and turned to look at her egg lying on her backpack. I didn’t say anything but I could see the wheels turning as she grabbed the egg and followed me into the hospital.
In the elevator people commented on how pretty it was and Jessica thanked them politely. We got off on our floor and made our way to Mel’s room. He was sitting up finishing his lunch but when he recognized us he sat up even straighter and greeted us with a big “hello!” And as you can guess by now Jessica walked up to Mel and gave him her egg and said, “I hope you feel better.” And as you can also guess Mel was excited, thanked her and placed it on his lap.
The visit went on and Mel told how great he was doing and what a great job the nurses were doing and how he even prayed with a few of them. He also said, as he often does, that he was ready to go when either Jesus or the doctors said it was time. Jessica chimed in a few times, especially to remind Mel not to chew with his mouth open…
And as we left the hospital Jessica got a little sad and said “Daddy, I really wanted to hang that Egg in my room.” I replied, “I know, so why did you give it to Mel?” She gave me a look as if I had asked her why she liked Barbie and said “Because he’s sick dad, he needs it.”
When your job is to help people understand and connect with God you can’t help but recognize the irony and the appropriateness of God using a 5 year old girl and 98-year-old man to remind a 37 year-old pastor of what He is doing.
Because the paradox is that God could just give the word and put an end to the problems of all those around me, put an end to the problems of the world. But for some reason he wants us to join him.
Read John 21:15-19 (http://www.biblegateway.com)
Actually God did give the Word and put and end to all of it, so the paradox is that even after Jesus has shown that he holds all things in his hands, even life and death, he still asks people to help. For the disciples he ends the same way he began, “Follow Me.” And it took a 98 year-old man in the hospital praying for his caretakers and a 5 year-old girl giving away her Easter egg to remind me, “Take care of my sheep.”
So I know God is still talking to me even though we’re fighting, or I guess I’m fighting. And I’m trying the silent treatment even though he keeps leaving me messages. And to be honest I’m still kind of mad. But I know what he is telling me. I know he is saying, “Follow me.” He is saying, “I’m going to visit the sick, the lonely, the hurting, the despairing. Do you want to go with me?”
P.S. I went and saw Mel at home yesterday. He had that Easter egg hanging in his room on his dresser mirror. Maybe it was too pretty for the refrigerator…
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
New
Sometimes I worry that I have a serious addiction…I think I’m addicted to NEW. I love new things. I especially have a problem with the latest technology; cell phones, computers, iPods, you get the idea. In fact, this addiction has gotten so bad that last week I dropped my cell phone in the toilet, and deep inside my brain - as the phone was falling – I think I might have thought, “Good, now I can get a new phone.” It is so bad that I think Julie thinks I meant to drop it. I have a new cell phone and it is awesome but I just saw a commercial for the iPhone and I’m thinking of trying to text on my phone while I do the dishes with the garbage disposal running… New things just don’t stay new long enough.
For most of those who call themselves Christians this week is known as Holy Week. It is the week in which Christians remember and reflect upon the events which took place the week before the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Big Day of course is Good Friday (Easter Sunday is technically a new week) and the events upon which most reflect is Jesus’ suffering and death. So begins the familiar Christian practice of thinking of our sins and how Jesus died to pay the debt of those sins. I think this is a very helpful practice. But as with most things that are familiar I wonder if we are forgetting part of the story.
I have a favorite part in the movie “The Passion of the Christ” and I consider it nothing short of brilliant. It takes place as Jesus is carrying his cross, he stumbles carrying the cross and his mother runs to him and Jesus says, “See mother, I make all things new.” There is no record of Jesus saying this in any of the Christian Gospels but Jesus does say it in the book of Revelation. (Rev. 21:5) I think that scene with its contrast will stay with me forever. Jesus is beaten and bloody, stumbling from the weight he carries. But still he can see beyond what ours eyes can see. He sees the result. He sees the end. He sees and says, “I make all things new.”
And I wonder if that is what we’ve forgotten in our Holy Week habits. That while it is absolutely true and absolutely awesome that Jesus dies in our place, to focus on only that fact is to limit, and perhaps diminish all of what God has done. That death on that cross in that place so long ago does mean the forgiveness of all our sins, our failures, our selfishness. It means the end to all that keeps us from knowing God and knowing his love for us. It is the end of all my fears and failures and faults. It is the end of the old me.
Read Romans 6:1-10 (http://www.biblegateway.com/)
But it also means the beginning of something new. It means the beginning of a new me. And not just a new me once, it means a new me everyday. It means a new me every moment. In fact, I think this new is a totally “one of kind” kind of new. This is the kind of new where it actually gets newer! Each day that I leave the old me dead at the cross and look instead to new life Christ gives me I might even be “newer” than the day before. One step closer, one moment nearer to the new person God is recreating me to be.
That never happens with a new car or cell phone or computer or set of clothes. Those things are all getting closer and closer to old, closer to broken. But God has just begun with my newness, and despite what my eyes see or how I feel or what is going on with my body and mind, God is making me new. I am not who I was.
I’m not sure what your Holy Week practice might be but I hope it will include thinking about and thanking God for sending his Son in order to save us. But I also hope that you might think about and thank God for “making all things new.” I pray that we all might have the eyes to see things, not as they are, but as God is re-making them…New.
For most of those who call themselves Christians this week is known as Holy Week. It is the week in which Christians remember and reflect upon the events which took place the week before the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Big Day of course is Good Friday (Easter Sunday is technically a new week) and the events upon which most reflect is Jesus’ suffering and death. So begins the familiar Christian practice of thinking of our sins and how Jesus died to pay the debt of those sins. I think this is a very helpful practice. But as with most things that are familiar I wonder if we are forgetting part of the story.
I have a favorite part in the movie “The Passion of the Christ” and I consider it nothing short of brilliant. It takes place as Jesus is carrying his cross, he stumbles carrying the cross and his mother runs to him and Jesus says, “See mother, I make all things new.” There is no record of Jesus saying this in any of the Christian Gospels but Jesus does say it in the book of Revelation. (Rev. 21:5) I think that scene with its contrast will stay with me forever. Jesus is beaten and bloody, stumbling from the weight he carries. But still he can see beyond what ours eyes can see. He sees the result. He sees the end. He sees and says, “I make all things new.”
And I wonder if that is what we’ve forgotten in our Holy Week habits. That while it is absolutely true and absolutely awesome that Jesus dies in our place, to focus on only that fact is to limit, and perhaps diminish all of what God has done. That death on that cross in that place so long ago does mean the forgiveness of all our sins, our failures, our selfishness. It means the end to all that keeps us from knowing God and knowing his love for us. It is the end of all my fears and failures and faults. It is the end of the old me.
Read Romans 6:1-10 (http://www.biblegateway.com/)
But it also means the beginning of something new. It means the beginning of a new me. And not just a new me once, it means a new me everyday. It means a new me every moment. In fact, I think this new is a totally “one of kind” kind of new. This is the kind of new where it actually gets newer! Each day that I leave the old me dead at the cross and look instead to new life Christ gives me I might even be “newer” than the day before. One step closer, one moment nearer to the new person God is recreating me to be.
That never happens with a new car or cell phone or computer or set of clothes. Those things are all getting closer and closer to old, closer to broken. But God has just begun with my newness, and despite what my eyes see or how I feel or what is going on with my body and mind, God is making me new. I am not who I was.
I’m not sure what your Holy Week practice might be but I hope it will include thinking about and thanking God for sending his Son in order to save us. But I also hope that you might think about and thank God for “making all things new.” I pray that we all might have the eyes to see things, not as they are, but as God is re-making them…New.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Fool
April rushed in today with its usual merriment, that wonderful day of pranks and gags. I was curious and did a little research about the origins of April Fools’ Day but didn’t find anything all that interesting. I’ve always wondered if it had anything to do with the Eastern Orthodox practice of telling jokes on Easter to remember the “joke” God played on the devil with Jesus’ resurrection. But alas no insight there either…
Yet the day has reminded me how much I like pulling April Fools’ jokes and even better, thwarting other people’s jokes! Maybe that’s because I, like most people, never like being the fool. From the playground in pre-school, to the locker room in high school, to the boardroom of corporate America, to the bedroom of husband and wife; no one wants to be the fool.
Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-30 (check out http://www.biblegateway.com for a easy way to find it)
So, to be honest, I’ve never really understood what Paul was talking about when he wrote, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27) I mean I’ve understood in my head but never really been able to put into words what it looks like. How do you tell someone to be a fool for Jesus, don’t we have enough TV evangelists?
But then I had children and learned what it really means to play the fool. From the moment I uttered my first “cootchie coo” and on until now when the girls “do my hair” in bows, I’ve been the fool. In fact, as time goes on, it seems that I accept this more and more as a way of life. If I’m not careful I might even end up in a princess dress next Halloween! There seems no end my foolishness when it comes to my children. It is almost as if the outside world doesn’t even exist, as if I don’t care how I look in the eyes of the world. All that matters is how I look in their eyes.
And maybe that is the kind of foolishness that Paul is talking about. Not the bumbling Jerry Lewis kind of fool, but the kind of fool that doesn’t care or even know how he is seen. The kind of fool who only focuses on those whom he loves. Because that’s the kind of foolishness that God seems to have. That’s the kind of fool God seems to be. No matter how foolish we are he never stops loving us. No matter how senseless the choices me make, no matter how insane the paths we choose he always loves us. How it must look to the rest of the world that he could be so foolish, to let his children walk all over him. How foolhardy to allow them another chance… again. What a fool to give them everything and spare nothing … not even his own Son.
In fact there may only be one thing more foolish than a parent’s unconditional love - Our Father’s unconditional love for us.
Happy April Fools’ Day…. Go ahead and play the fool!
Yet the day has reminded me how much I like pulling April Fools’ jokes and even better, thwarting other people’s jokes! Maybe that’s because I, like most people, never like being the fool. From the playground in pre-school, to the locker room in high school, to the boardroom of corporate America, to the bedroom of husband and wife; no one wants to be the fool.
Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-30 (check out http://www.biblegateway.com for a easy way to find it)
So, to be honest, I’ve never really understood what Paul was talking about when he wrote, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27) I mean I’ve understood in my head but never really been able to put into words what it looks like. How do you tell someone to be a fool for Jesus, don’t we have enough TV evangelists?
But then I had children and learned what it really means to play the fool. From the moment I uttered my first “cootchie coo” and on until now when the girls “do my hair” in bows, I’ve been the fool. In fact, as time goes on, it seems that I accept this more and more as a way of life. If I’m not careful I might even end up in a princess dress next Halloween! There seems no end my foolishness when it comes to my children. It is almost as if the outside world doesn’t even exist, as if I don’t care how I look in the eyes of the world. All that matters is how I look in their eyes.
And maybe that is the kind of foolishness that Paul is talking about. Not the bumbling Jerry Lewis kind of fool, but the kind of fool that doesn’t care or even know how he is seen. The kind of fool who only focuses on those whom he loves. Because that’s the kind of foolishness that God seems to have. That’s the kind of fool God seems to be. No matter how foolish we are he never stops loving us. No matter how senseless the choices me make, no matter how insane the paths we choose he always loves us. How it must look to the rest of the world that he could be so foolish, to let his children walk all over him. How foolhardy to allow them another chance… again. What a fool to give them everything and spare nothing … not even his own Son.
In fact there may only be one thing more foolish than a parent’s unconditional love - Our Father’s unconditional love for us.
Happy April Fools’ Day…. Go ahead and play the fool!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Focus
Focus
Growing up I was a Boy Scout and spent a lot of time camping, which includes camping in the dark. Invariably there would come a time where I’d have to go some lengthy distance in the dark but being a good scout (one who is always prepared) I had my flashlight. But it didn’t take me long to learn that even with a flashlight walking in the dark was no easy task. In fact, in order to get where I was going I needed to make a choice. I could shine the light up ahead of me to make sure nothing was coming at me; say like Big Foot for instance. The problem with this method is that I’d often trip because I couldn’t see all the rocks and branches on my path. The other option was of course to shine the light right at my feet so that I didn’t trip.
I find that experience repeated time and time again in my life. I seem to cycle between moments of focusing on my life in the future (what will it be like when my daughters are teenagers?) and moments in which all I can think about is how to accomplish the next task before me (fixing the closet door for the 397th time!). When I try looking into the future I often get tripped up by the day-to-day stuff of my life. When I only focus on the day to day I get surprised by the future; tax day, my anniversary, little things like that. But try as I might I can not seem to focus on both at the same time.
That’s why I’ve always been fascinated by one small verse of the Bible, Psalms 119:105. We’re told that God’s Word is a lamp for our feet AND a light for our path. And that is kind of amazing to me. That God would be concerned not just about our future but also about our everyday stuff. Yet as amazing as it is I still wonder how? How do I focus on two things at once?
Perhaps the answer is in the third and most common method I found my way in the dark as a scout; I never walked the path alone. In Scouts you are to always use the buddy system and it worked really well trying to walk a path in the dark because one would shine the light at the feet and the other would shine the light down the path.
It makes me wonder if my inability to focus on both the immediate and the future is because I’ve ditched my buddy. God has sent me someone to shine his light on my next step but I’ve ignored them because I like to be in control. God has sent me someone to flash their beam down my path but I don’t trust them because they’ve hurt me before. Maybe I can’t focus because I think of my relationship with God as just that, MY relationship with God apart from everyone else.
The disciple John tells us that Jesus once said, “"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) But later in life that same disciple would write the early church and say, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (I John 1:7) Jesus is the light; yet we walk in that light with each other and not alone. Maybe the problem with my focus is that it is always on me…
Read 1 John 1
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A Little Lost
A Little Lost
I’ve been feeling a little lost lately. Not physically lost as in I don’t know how to get to my destination (and I won’t stop to ask for directions). And it’s not really the Big kind of lost, not “lost in the middle of the ocean”. It is more of a little lost - like when you come out of a parking garage downtown and you’ve done so many circles that when you emerge you’re not sure where to go. So I don’t feel lost as if my life has no meaning or purpose, not lost like a midlife crisis. It is more like I’ve been going in circles - from one thing to another - for so long that I’m temporarily disoriented. So sure, it is certainly not the worst kind of lost to be. But it is a little disconcerting nonetheless. I don’t like to be lost – even a little.
And of course the Bible has a lot to say to those who are lost but I’ve always read the Bible as if God is always talking about Big lost. Lost sheep, lost coins, lost sons. One of my favorite Old Testament promises is found in Ezekiel 34:16 ”I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak…” So when I think of God finding and guiding the lost I always think Big lost.
But today I suddenly stopped and asked myself, “why?” Why do I assume that God is only interested in helping me when I’m Big lost and that little lost is not so important? After all, speaking about his sheep Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” And I’d think full life means that God cares about both the Big lost and the little lost.
Indeed, when I’ve been Big lost nothing has meant more to me than the knowledge that God seeks and saves the lost. That no matter how far I’ve gone from home, no matter how much I’ve wandered and wondered, God is seeking me, following me, chasing me down in order to bring me home again. That I can never forget.
But I do wonder if I have made some artificial distinction in my own mind, drawn a line and said, “Things on this side God is worried about and he does the extraordinary in order to fix them. But the things on this side are not that big a deal to God, not worth the worry or his time.” Then I read the stories about Jesus that begin this way, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Or “Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.’” I read stories like that and realize Jesus seems to care about everything.
Read Luke 19:1-10
So perhaps there is no Big lost or little lost. There is just lost… lost, looking around for a purpose, a sign, some direction. Something to guide us, someone to take us by the hand and say, “this way.”
“… the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Broken
Few things are as frustrating to me as when something I need is broken. For some reason things break a lot around me. Perhaps what is an even larger blow to my ego, my wife and kids seem to think I should be able to fix things. They bring me stuff all the time and say, “this is broken.” What goes unspoken is, “so fix it.”
But to be honest now days it is usually easier for me to just throw it away. If it can’t be repaired with Gorilla glue or Duct Tape then I might as well just toss it in the garbage. Even recycling things has become a huge chore. I have to pay someone to recycle my electronics! No, much easier to just toss it to the curb.
That is one of the things I find so fascinating about God; with him nothing seems to be too broken. In fact, sometimes it seems like the more broken someone is the more God is with them. King David once even wrote, “The LORD is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) That to me is an amazing statement. It is like those people you see who go through other peoples’ trash and find something worthwhile. Something to take home and to use.
So I know it is a good thing that God is not like me. He doesn’t look around at all the broken people and decide to just throw them out. He goes through the streets of this world picking broken people out of trash cans, out of dumpsters and out of landfills. He looks into the garbage of this world and he doesn’t see just the broken, angry, hurting confused, addicted, deceitful, selfish hearts. He sees more, something worthwhile.
But that is still not the most amazing part. God takes these broken people, but he doesn’t only wash them clean and nourish them and then put them on the shelf. No, he uses them again. Even though they’ve made mistakes. Even though they’ve failed. Even though they’ve been broken.
Actually I’ve found out that God uses me more when I’ve been broken. Because often times that is what it takes to get through to me. It takes a broken heart for me to feel the way God does. It takes a broken heart to feel for all the other broken hearts around me. It takes God picking me out of the dumpster, not because I am so shiny and perfect but because he is a God who “heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” When God finds someone who is broken it is not the end but just the beginning.
II Corinthians 4:7-12
But to be honest now days it is usually easier for me to just throw it away. If it can’t be repaired with Gorilla glue or Duct Tape then I might as well just toss it in the garbage. Even recycling things has become a huge chore. I have to pay someone to recycle my electronics! No, much easier to just toss it to the curb.
That is one of the things I find so fascinating about God; with him nothing seems to be too broken. In fact, sometimes it seems like the more broken someone is the more God is with them. King David once even wrote, “The LORD is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) That to me is an amazing statement. It is like those people you see who go through other peoples’ trash and find something worthwhile. Something to take home and to use.
So I know it is a good thing that God is not like me. He doesn’t look around at all the broken people and decide to just throw them out. He goes through the streets of this world picking broken people out of trash cans, out of dumpsters and out of landfills. He looks into the garbage of this world and he doesn’t see just the broken, angry, hurting confused, addicted, deceitful, selfish hearts. He sees more, something worthwhile.
But that is still not the most amazing part. God takes these broken people, but he doesn’t only wash them clean and nourish them and then put them on the shelf. No, he uses them again. Even though they’ve made mistakes. Even though they’ve failed. Even though they’ve been broken.
Actually I’ve found out that God uses me more when I’ve been broken. Because often times that is what it takes to get through to me. It takes a broken heart for me to feel the way God does. It takes a broken heart to feel for all the other broken hearts around me. It takes God picking me out of the dumpster, not because I am so shiny and perfect but because he is a God who “heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” When God finds someone who is broken it is not the end but just the beginning.
II Corinthians 4:7-12
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Cry
Looking Behind
In Hebrew the word is “sa’aq.” Literally it is “the loud crying of someone in acute distress, calling for help and seeking deliverance.” It is the cry. It was a cry of someone in pain but also a cry of someone who knows things aren’t right. In the Old Testament the cry was heard by God and it caused him to act. That’s why I find Exodus 3 so amazing. Not because there is a bush on fire that doesn’t burn or because Moses backtalks God. All of those things are amazing. But the thing that astounds me is that God says, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them…” God hears the cry… and he comes down…
(For more check out the Podcast at www.familyofchristlc.com/media.htm)
Today
Exodus 19:1-6
I’ve been thinking about crying a lot lately. That will happen when you have 2 daughters who are 5 and 4. At least a few times a day one will make the other cry, more often they make each other cry. This usually leads to my wife crying in frustration. Lots of tissue in my house. What is kind of surprising is how much my daughters worry about the other when one is crying. They’ll do all they can to comfort the other, hunt down mom or dad to give a full report and even offer advice on how to fix the problem. It is enough to make a parent smile.
And it makes me think about God and how he hears the cry. As a dad I’ve gotten pretty good about hearing my girls cry, I can pick their cries out of a crowded room of crying children. And I can usually tell when it is a “real” cry and when it is an attempt for attention. But God hears all the cries of his children. He not only hears each and every cry, he also does something about them. God “comes down” to rescue his people.
Later, after God had rescued his children from Egypt he gathered them back at the mountain and he said they were to be a “nation of priests.” I think this is his way of saying that his children were to be about what God is about. The rescued were now the rescuers.
And that makes me wonder about all the times I see people crying out, people in need, people oppressed. I see them and I wonder, “when is God going to hear and come down?” Then it hits me… He has come down.
It is the night of his betrayal and in less than 24 hours Jesus will be dead on a cross. He celebrates the Passover with his disciples, he washes their feet, tells them of the new command to love and says that he is the way, the truth and the life. But then he says something that perhaps we skip over, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these…” And what if the “things” and “greater things” that Jesus has been doing is not the miracles but the service? What if those things are the healing and the compassion and the forgiveness?
Maybe we’re God’s ears to hear the cry, his hands to help, his feet to go and rescue? Is there any “greater thing” than that?
In Hebrew the word is “sa’aq.” Literally it is “the loud crying of someone in acute distress, calling for help and seeking deliverance.” It is the cry. It was a cry of someone in pain but also a cry of someone who knows things aren’t right. In the Old Testament the cry was heard by God and it caused him to act. That’s why I find Exodus 3 so amazing. Not because there is a bush on fire that doesn’t burn or because Moses backtalks God. All of those things are amazing. But the thing that astounds me is that God says, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them…” God hears the cry… and he comes down…
(For more check out the Podcast at www.familyofchristlc.com/media.htm)
Today
Exodus 19:1-6
I’ve been thinking about crying a lot lately. That will happen when you have 2 daughters who are 5 and 4. At least a few times a day one will make the other cry, more often they make each other cry. This usually leads to my wife crying in frustration. Lots of tissue in my house. What is kind of surprising is how much my daughters worry about the other when one is crying. They’ll do all they can to comfort the other, hunt down mom or dad to give a full report and even offer advice on how to fix the problem. It is enough to make a parent smile.
And it makes me think about God and how he hears the cry. As a dad I’ve gotten pretty good about hearing my girls cry, I can pick their cries out of a crowded room of crying children. And I can usually tell when it is a “real” cry and when it is an attempt for attention. But God hears all the cries of his children. He not only hears each and every cry, he also does something about them. God “comes down” to rescue his people.
Later, after God had rescued his children from Egypt he gathered them back at the mountain and he said they were to be a “nation of priests.” I think this is his way of saying that his children were to be about what God is about. The rescued were now the rescuers.
And that makes me wonder about all the times I see people crying out, people in need, people oppressed. I see them and I wonder, “when is God going to hear and come down?” Then it hits me… He has come down.
It is the night of his betrayal and in less than 24 hours Jesus will be dead on a cross. He celebrates the Passover with his disciples, he washes their feet, tells them of the new command to love and says that he is the way, the truth and the life. But then he says something that perhaps we skip over, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these…” And what if the “things” and “greater things” that Jesus has been doing is not the miracles but the service? What if those things are the healing and the compassion and the forgiveness?
Maybe we’re God’s ears to hear the cry, his hands to help, his feet to go and rescue? Is there any “greater thing” than that?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
