Hiding in Plain Sight

The Lord says, "When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 29:13 (NRSV)

When we were kids there was a gaggle of us who liked to play games in our backyards. We especially enjoyed games like hide-n-go-seek and kick the can, games where you get to hide. One of the neighbor girls learned early on (the rest of us took quite a bit longer) that hiding in close and obvious spots were often the best places. In fact, some of the best places she found were, by and large, in places that might be considered plain sight.

Sometimes it feels like God is so very hard to find, as if God is almost a non-presence in our life. I wonder if we're not making it too complicated, because God is "hiding" in what might be considered plain sight. The verse above from Jeremiah tells us that when we look for God we will find God, so God must not be "hiding" that hard. The psalmist encourages us to, "be still, and know that I am God." Maybe, when we are looking for God we just need to slow down and look right in front of us.

Everything

Here is a popular video these days. Take a look below... what do you think?

Jesus as Friend

One of my favorite movie "images is that of Buddy Jesus in the movie "Dogma" (seen on the right). It does make a bit of a mockery of our temptation to over promote Jesus as our friend. Obviously (at least I think it's obvious) the friendship suggested and offered in John 15 is something more, something much deeper. It is something precious. It is with that "caution" that I commend to you the devotion from "Our Daily Bread" today. Give it a read, it kind of gave me a nice warm feeling. Sometimes, I think you need those warm fuzzy moments.

Letting Go

One of the best things I get to do each month is to attend a pastor support group. It's a group of other pastors where we get a chance to share our challenges (personal and professional) with one another. More often than not we find that we're not the only one struggling with certain issues and we discover that we are in this together. It's amazing how helpful this process can be.

Anyway, at our group today a couple of people were talking about, "letting go." Probably a helpful thing for all of us to. We should probably all let go of those earthly things that tend to consume us and allow God to take over. It's a great concept, but sometimes it's quite difficult to practice.

As we talked about this I was reminded that I had learned this lesson a couple of weeks ago playing golf. I'll admit it, I'm a pretty lousy golfer. Although I like to think I have a lot of potential for the game (seriously). The one time I played this summer, a few weeks ago now, it was a gathering of pastors and church workers from around the synod. I started feeling the pressure (I have a tendency to do that to myself) to play as well as I possibly could. I swung as hard as I could in an attempt to keep up with the other players in my foursome. I'm actually impressed that nobody on the golf course actually got hurt I sprayed the ball around so much.

After about fifteen holes of miserable golf aside from about two or three decent shots I basically gave up. I stopped caring. An odd thing happened over the last three holes. I had my three longest and straightest drives. Isn't it amazing how, when you relax and let go things really kind of come together? It is true in sports. It is even more true in life.

If you are feeling stressed, struggling with something or other give this a try: stop trying to control the situation and let go of it. Give it over to God, listen for God's voice, and see what happens. I bet you just might be surprised by how things get better.

Lesson from the Exercise Bike

I don't normally listen to country music. It's not so much that I don't like it, I just don't think of tuning in to those stations when I'm in a car that has a radio (my radio stopped working about 4 years ago now on my way home from internship and now this past summer even the CD player has stopped working from my battery going low... long story). For some reason when I was at the health club this past weekend I decided to tune in to the country music channel. I was struck by a song that blatantly said, "I want everything." (Although, now that I'm a couple of days removed I probably have the exact line incorrect.)

"That's bold," I thought. Then, again isn't that pretty close to what most of us are thinking? I didn't catch all of the words of the song, but the singer wanted not just stuff but to try and "do" everything as well. Most certainly, I think, the song was a snapshot of our society today.

No more than two songs later came a gentleman singing about having faith is just enough. He pointed to things like Noah and his faith allowing him to survive the flood. Isn't this quite true as well?

I found the contrast and the timing of these songs very striking. I'm guessing the person who programmed in the sequence of the songs did so unwittingly. However, I think it was beautiful. Here, in song, was named our problem and our solution. Our selfishness and greed lead us to want everything, to believe that we might even deserve it all. Yet ALL that we need is God, is faith.... Maybe I should work out a little more often.

The Bible is "Alive"

Bishop Skrenes from the Northern Great Lakes Synod writes in a recent book review of "God's Continent":

Martin Luther wrote centuries ago, “The Bible is alive—it has hands and grabs hold of me, it has feet and runs after me.” The scandal of the Church that bears Luther’s name in 21st century America is that its members do not take seriously the Scriptures. The average Lutheran spends more time in our “checkbooks” than we do with the Word of God. Bible study in our churches reaches 1-2% of our members. Daily Bible reading is not common in our American congregations. Pastors report to me only minimal interest in adult studies of God’s Word. Perhaps, the people of God’s Church in the Global South are challenging us to find our roots again in the Word of God. We need to be challenged!

When is the last time you allowed the Bible to grab hold of you? Do you spend more time worrying about your checkbook or the word of God?

How about as a congregation? What a challenge that is to us. I bet if we did an analysis of recent council meetings we would see that we spent more time wrestling with the budget than the Bible.

I think we have officially been challenged!

Cost of Convenience

Something has been nagging at me for a while now. How has Christianity become a faith of convenience? Read the assigned Gospel reading from Luke 14 and then come back and I'll share a little more...

What did you read there? Did you see anything that would suggest follow Jesus would be easy? Give away everything... take up your cross... It's a call to discipleship that appears to call for sacrifice and probably comes with a side dish of passion (at least I would think to be able to show such compassion so as to sacrifice on that level).

Now take a look at your average mainline (i.e Lutheran, Methodist, etc.) congregation and what do you see? Take a look at your congregation and what do you see? Sacrifice? Passion? I see a lot of people showing up when it's convenient or what it serves their needs or desires. How did things get so turned around?

As followers of Christ we are asked to take up our cross. Yes, there is suffering in the world, but that isn't necessarily your cross. Recent floods have decimated portions of Southern Minnesota. The floods discriminated equally amongst Christians and non-Christians. The floods are not necessarily their cross, nor were they God's judgment (at least I can't imagine so). To take up your cross means sacrificing and entering into the suffering with someone or on behalf (for the sake of) someone else. That, if you ask me, is a HUGE cost.

To be propelled by faith to enter into such suffering is not, in my mind, convenient in any way whatsoever. How did things get so turned around? How do we turn the ship back around again? How do we recover that radical sense of mission to the world? How do we instill that kind of passion to bring the Good News of Jesus to all the world, no matter what the cost?

What is faith of convenience actually costing us? Is it our lives?

Listening

Some might say that listening is easy. I think good listening is hard work. Listening can also be rewarding. To listen, really listen, one needs to listen beyond the words. So, in some ways, it is a little easier to do when someone is sharing about the death of a loved one. We recognize the pain, grief, and other emotions that come along side such sharing. We can listen deeply, we can empathize and we can know the rewards of allowing that person to share.

What about listening when what is being shared appears to be critical of you or something you are a part of? I believe a good leader is one who allows space for people to voice their criticism so that learning and growth can happen. As a leader you are often stuck looking to the future and can easily lose sight of the present.

My confession? I want to listen like this, but I don't think I do all so well. I need to hear the critique so I can grow, but when it comes it is easy to become defensive. I know that if I listen beyond the words I will hear a heartfelt desire to help bring improvement, a desire to help the greater good, but I hear attacks and fight back. How do you calmly listen as someone tells you that something you have poured your heart into has not gone as well as you had thought?

Listening is hard. Listening is necessary. Listening is rewarding. Listening is something I'm going to work on.

New Routines

Here are some potential new steps for the Lawn Chair Brigade... We may need to start practices soon, though.

Biblical Enthusiasm

Below is an excerpt from a soon to be published book, "Reclaiming the 'E' Word". I commend to you the exercise of taking the Bible seriously and asking the questions at the end of this section. It is true that as we engage with the Bible we are encountering God, that Christ has a way of showing up.

Likewise, I believe a lack of enthusiasm for the Biblical story is one of the reasons so many mainline congregations today are floundering. It isn’t just that so often Bible studies are poorly attended or that our meeting “opening devotions” are so anemic. It’s that too few people think in terms of the Biblical stories. They haven’t developed a habit of using the Biblical stories as a lens for understanding their own lives and contexts. And what’s frustrating is that, really, it just wouldn’t take that much effort. I’ve seen congregations come alive because the church council agreed to begin spending half of their time together listening for God’s voice through the Biblical story. I can’t say enough about the power of three simple questions: 1) What do you see God doing in this story?, 2) What do you hear God saying to you, personally, in this story?, 3) What do you hear God saying to us, as a congregation, in this story? I have seen people come alive because they have been courageous enough to dive into the Bible, asking questions like this.

(c) Kelly Fryer, 2007. All rights reserved.

Close to Home

This morning as I was reading a devotional the topic was about loving your wife. Funny how the timing of these things work. Just this morning before coming into the office Dawn and I had a little misunderstanding, a miscommunication, where the end result was that I wasn't very loving. This morning's reminder cut awful close to the heart.

Here is my challenge, though. I grew up in Minnesota, Lutheran, and with Scandinavian heritage. In many ways I embody the stereo-types that come with this sort of background. Oh, I can empathize with the best of them, but showing my very own feelings doesn't come easily. I can relate to the story of Lena on her 50th wedding anniversary saying to her husband Ole, "I wish you would say 'I love you' more often." To which Ole replied, "I said, 'I love you' on our wedding day. I'll let you know when that changes."

So how do you show love without being gushy, lovey-dovey? How do you show you love your spouse? Your family?

Motivation? Part 2

Here is another way of looking at our motivation for doing things as a "church". They are tough questions, ones that need a little wrestling.

Why DO you feel compelled to share the good news about what God is up to? What DO you think will happen in the world and in the lives of people if you share it? What is God's DREAM for us and for creation? What DOES it mean for us to participate in God's mission to make that dream come true? And how are your answers to these questions consistent with what you believe to be true about God, Jesus, the world, heaven, hell, your neighbor, yourself?

If we're not willing to do this basic, hard, theological work...then we might as well roll down our sleeves and go home.

These questions come from Kelly Fryer. If you want to read the rest of her post, you can do so here. Just as Kelly offers, I would like to invite you to wrestle with these questions as well... even here in the comment section if you'd like.

Motivation?

Recently at our executive committee and church council meetings we have talked about how we might get more people involved in our congregation, in our various programs. I kind of like that, but I wonder if we have gone far enough in examining our true motivation. What I see is an effort to bring more people in to fill up the offering plates to bring us out of debt and therefore we can continue to sustain the institution. Shouldn't there be something more? It is true that if we remove the cloud of debt from over us we will be more free to do ministry, but will that cloud ever be totally gone?

I believe our focus should be on ministry. I believe our motivation for something like getting more people involved should be for the sake of more people getting learn of God's saving grace and incredible love and forgiveness... for the sake of introducing people to Jesus, for nurturing a lasting relationship with our Lord. How different might our efforts look if that was our motivation? How different might our results turn out?

What is the purpose of our congregation (and the larger church really)? Is it to perpetuate ourselves our is it to be a conduit through which God works to touch and change peoples lives?

Hospitality

On our youth mission trips I asked the question at the end of each day, "Where did you see Jesus today?" I learned today that this question has a longer standing history than I realized. I thought I was being clever. Today I learned that the Benedictines (an order of Monks known for hospitality) suggest that at the end of each day we are faced with two questions, "Did we see Christ in other people? Did they see Christ in us?" The second question ramps things up a notch.

While our gospel reading for Sunday appears to be about our role as guests the second reading from Hebrews challenges our sense of hospitality. Be a good host, we just may be entertaining angels... and probably are. When we have guests over do we great them at the door? Do we welcome them into our homes? Perhaps we'll serve them a drink or an appetizer, but then do we give them our undivided attention? In a world of cell phones, e-mail, texting and the glorification of multi-tasking what a precious gift of hospitality and undivided attention can be. I might even suggest a gift from God.

WWJD

Do you remember those bracelets from about 10 years ago now? You know the ones that read W.W.J.D.? It stood for "What Would Jesus Do?" They grew out of a youth group in Michigan reading the book, "In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon. As it grew in popularity people began to mock it by changing it to things like, "Why Waste Jelly Donuts?" or "Why Waste Jack Daniels?" For a brief time there grew to be F.R.O.G. (Fully Rely On God) bracelets, but those were short lived.

In my more cynical times those kinds of things drive me crazy. These "trinkets" over simplify and even cheapen our faith. Yet, I'll admit I wore a WWJD bracelet. I had similar thoughts as the "LiveSTRONG" yellow bracelets first became popular. Yet, then I bought one to serve as a reminder to pray for my friends who were battling cancer at that time. I still wear it to remind me to pray for those people, as well as the new people on my list who struggle with cancer.

Maybe these "trinkets" aren't all so bad. I suppose we all need those reminders that encourage us to continue to live our our faith. What do you have around that helps you? Is it a calendar? A plaque with a Bible verse? Something else? If you don't have something around that helps you on a daily basis I would encourage you to find one. If you do have something, why don't you share it with the rest of us... it just might be the kind of thing we need ourselves as well.

Potter Thoughts

I just finished reading the newest Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." There were a couple of things that struck me towards the end of the book. So if you haven't read it and plan to wait to read this post later in case I accidentally give something away.

The first is a quote from Dumbledore, best known as the headmaster of Hogwarts (the magical school that Harry & friends attend). In the course of some dialog he says, "It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well." I think that this is a curious and perhaps very true thing. Is power and leadership best suited for those who seek it? There is a fine line, I suppose, between willing leadership and aggressively seeking it. However, I see the danger that is pointed out in the quote, that someone who aggressively seeks power is one much more likely to abuse it. Which kind of makes me wonder about this whole process of electing a president. Look how aggressively they are forced to seek it. What is the likelihood of someone to be attempted to then try and abuse that power?

Second, I wonder if we can draw an analogy between Harry Potter and the story of Jesus Oh, I know, it's not exactly the same, but might there be a glimpse of something that can help us understand? Towards in the end of the book we discover that a part of the soul of Lord Voldemort (the very dark, evil wizard through all of the stories) has become attached to Harry. Consequently for Voldemort to be killed Harry must be killed as well. It is for the love of his friends that Harry must sacrifice himself to save them. It is back to where the story begins, in many ways, where Harry's mother dies protecting her son so that he might live. In the end it is love which is the greatest force, stronger than any magic. In the end it is this live that leads Harry to be killed, for the sake of others. I think there just might be a hint of gospel understanding.

Risk Taking

Talk about taking a risk for Jesus. Here is a man that really went out on a limb and has taken the challenge to bring Jesus to ALL the world. How many people do you suppose would be willing to take on the pornography industry in such an open minded way? How many pastors would be willing to venture on a "tour" with Ron Jeremy? Below is a clip of the debates on CNN, but please do read the Blog entry linked above:

What Happened?

Yesterday at Bible study with a bunch of other pastors in the area we were talking about our Gospel reading this week from Luke 13, when somebody reminded us of a rather significant point. We were reminded that, "Jesus didn't die because he was a complacent, nice guy." Jesus did stuff. Jesus stirred things up. Jesus lived out His faith in a very radical way. Now, I don't want to suggest that any of us are Jesus, but we follow Him... and Jesus lives through us. So what happened? How is it that church has become so filled with complacent, nice people who don't really want to stir anything up and are afraid to offend people by sharing what they believe? I think Jesus has called us (the church, Christians, etc.) to something more than what we've become. What happened?

Passion

I've recently found myself fully immersed in the newest Harry Potter book. I like the action. I like the mystery. I also really like the passion in which Harry approaches his missions. He knows that his very life depends on him completing his mission. Consequently there is nothing that can stop him from completing the mission at hand.

What are you passionate about? Is it a sport? Your garden? Scrapbooking? Something else? Is there something you just can't imagine your life without?

What if your answer was your faith? What if you just couldn't imagine your life without God's grace? What if you took the attitude that there was nothing that was going to hold you back from sharing that with others who don't have a relationship with Jesus? What if we took this faith thing that seriously... as if our lives depend on it? (because it probably does).

Sex Wars

My friend (I hope she doesn't mind me describing her that way) Kelly Fryer is the one that came up with the term for the subject of this post. She has written a few responses to what has happened at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Much of what I've seen written (I'm speaking in general) seem to be about votes taken on the debates about sexuality, or as she described it the "sex wars." I just love that turn of phrase.

Anyway, I appreciated her approach to how we might work through all of this stuff within the ELCA. If I'm understanding Kelly correctly, the bottom line is we need to take an outward, missional approach to these matters. We need to worry more about what those people who don't have a relationship with Jesus than about those people who already have a relationship. I say, "Right on!"

In fact, her list reminded me of a Bible study I attended in Alaska once. Okay, it was actually more of a lecture, but he did talk about the Bible a lot. The speaker was a professor from the Lutheran Seminary in Berkeley, CA. He was talking about Paul's instruction that women not teach in the church. If you look at the context in which Paul was writing, it would have been offensive to people to have women in the pulpit and they would not have heard the gospel. Just as it would be offensive to so many people now to keep women out of the pulpit so we encourage them to step up and proclaim God's word lest people would stop hearing the Gospel.

Would it not be logical to look at GBLT in the pulpit in a similar way? Might there be places where it would be offensive to be in the pulpit? Then don't have them preach. Might there also be places where it would be offensive to keep them out of the pulpit? Then by all means preach away. What if we worked for the rights (something all of us should be able to understand) of those in the GBLT communities? What if we fought on on their behalf to the point where they were accepted as equals every where in this country?

I know this might be kind of a radical point of view for some... but wasn't Jesus kind of a radical person? Do we believe that Jesus died for everyone or just a select few (that just so happens to include ourselves)?

What Do You Believe?

One of my favorite shows is Boston Legal. It's often quite ridiculous, but that's part of the fun and charm. Here are a couple of clips that beg the question, "What do you believe?" and "Who are you?"

It's All About Me

I came across this video the other day. It is pretty darn funny. It is also a little sad. It's funny because it's true. It's a little sad because it's not all so far from the truth. What motivates you to attend worship? Are you in it for what you get out of it? Or is it about giving something to God in thanks for God's amazing, incredible goodness... for what God has done in your life?

Step Out

One great movie scene comes from Indiana Jones as he is following his quest to find the Holy Grail. He has made it across various traps, and has he comes to the opening of the tunnel it drops off seemingly for thousands of feet. His notes suggest there should be a bridge there, he just has to step out in faith. He does and the bridge is there, it was just extremely well camouflaged.

This past Sunday our readings led us to Abraham. Hebrews 11 said he stepped out in faith. God told Abraham and his wife Sarah to take a leap of faith and to head out to this new land that God had promised. They did that and they found themselves quite blessed in the end. Can you imagine, though, how scary that must have been?

Where is God asking you to take a leap of faith? Are you being challenged to work with someone who is difficult for you to work with? Are you being asked to help with a ministry you had not considered before? Do you need to cut down on work and spend more time with your family or at worship? It is scary, but know that God does take the journey with you.

Mine

This past Sunday we read from the beginning of Hebrews 11. Read on in the chapter a little more. I was rather struck by verse 36.

Imagine receiving a note from the bank that reads something like: "Mr. Smith thank you for your business. We will make every effort to treat your money as if it is our own. Thank you for entrusting us to this task." That sounds pretty good, right? Yet that's not quite good enough. Wouldn't you rather they treat it as if it is your money, that they remember that fact? I don't know about you, but I have tendency to treat other people's stuff a little nicer than my own.

In part, I think that is the reminder we are being given in Hebrews 11:36. All that we have is actually God's. We should remember that and treat it as such.

No Fear

One of the real treats of being married to someone about to be a pastor is that you get to listen to them preach every now and again. When you are married to the preacher, let me tell you, you begin to hear things differently. I was blessed with that just last night.

The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday is from Luke 12, and in there Jesus says, "Have no fear little flock." He then goes on to tell us to give everything away. Seemingly these things just did not fit together in my head... until last night. I began to see that because we have so much "stuff" our lives are filled with fear. We selfishly believe that this "stuff" is ours and we deserve to have it. First of all it all came from God in the first place so we are just borrowing it for a while. Second of all, I don't have a second point because I think that just about covers it. You see this sense of possessing includes friends and family, who also were given to us by God.

So it seems that Jesus telling us not to fear and to give our "stuff" away is a twofold deal. First it is a reminder that these "things" are not really ours and they really are just temporary. Second, by giving away our "stuff" we no longer have much left to fret over. So giving our "stuff" away is really a step towards not fearing.

What are you being called to give away today?

A Lesson from My Lawn

You wouldn't willingly expose yourself to lots of radiation, would you? Then why do we so willingly expose ourselves to sin?

Those people who know me personally know that I have a fondness to being irreverent. Oh, I'm not always brave enough to be that way as often as I would desire, but it brews underneath the surface most of the time. It's actually been kind of trendy to be irreverent in recent years (note the success of shows like, "The Simpson's"). Last night I got to wondering, at what point does irreverence lead to irrelevant?

It was my lawn that got me to see this. I was noticing that parts of my lawn are lush and green, while others are brown and dying. Where the grass is thriving is where there is a nice balance of trees and grass. I got to thinking it was a bit of an irreverent acts years ago that someone decided to grow grass where nature might not normally grow it, and they called it a lawn. My lawn might suggest that if we had left the trees around growing as they were intended instead of yanking them out for our yard we might have lots of lush grass. Instead in a irreverent act those trees were removed and now (in a sense) the grass has become irrelevant as it lies there brown and suffering.

I suppose that's true in our lives. How much can we rail against the established norms before we become an irrelevant voices droning on in the background? How long can we walk that path which exposes us to sin before we give in and begin to live embracing the sin ourselves?

Stretching

Reading my devotions today the author talked about the physical therapy that she went through following knee surgery. It was often painful. If you any of you have gone through something similar you know exactly what she's talking about. Sometimes in life God stretches us. It's not always "fun" and even hurts a little. However, in the end we are made stronger. Perhaps God is stretching you by encouraging you to get involved in a ministry you had never imagined being a apart of. Perhaps God is stretching you by encouraging you to give an offering that you believe to be an outrageous amount of money. Perhaps God is stretching you by encouraging you to give up some the "things" of this world and to focus more on Godly things. Where is God stretching you today? Go ahead and embrace the stretch. It's probably going to hurt in the short term, but it will be good in the long run.

Perspective

Whatever happened to perspective? Especially from the television media? I know that this I-35W bridge collapse was a scary and tragic event. However, how might it look if we put it in perspective with the larger world and in the context of history?

Last Thursday Dawn's congregation got a phone call from one of the local television stations asking if they were going to have a prayer service for the bridge collapse. When they said that they were not having a special service, but they would certainly be holding them in prayer, they were asked why not? It was almost implied that they were heartless and unconcerned. Why would they have a special service? We live over an hours drive away from the tragedy and nobody that I know of died in the collapse, therefore nobody from their congregation. If God hears our prayers, isn't their response enough?

Last night we started watching the news broadcast from the Twin Cities. It was now four days after the tragic collapse of the bridge. We had to turn it off because every single story was still only about the bridge, four days later. It was a horrible event. Has nothing else happened in the world since last Wednesday? You wouldn't know it by watching the Twin Cities news broadcasts. The last I heard there were 5 people who had died and 8 are missing, most likely dead. That is a very sad thing. However, how many other things have happened over the past year where that many people, or more, have died? Have we given them the same sort of coverage?

Whatever happened to reality? What happened to putting these kinds of things into perspective?

The Bridge

Last night as we wrapped up worship at Our Savior's Lutheran somebody announced that they had gotten a call from his brother and told him that a bridge on 35W collapsed over the river in Minneapolis. Naturally, after we prayed, we all began to speculate where that might be and if it might be one of the other bridges in that area.

We went home and it was confirmed. Then it started to sink in. These were real people, real lives rocked to the core by this tragic accident. How many times have I driven over that bridge? (Hundreds, I'm sure) How easily could that have been me? It is different when these things hit so close to home... when they hit "my" people.

What can you do? What can you say? Honestly... I don't know. I know we can pray. Sometimes that doesn't feel like enough, yet no matter the situation that is the most powerful tool in our arsenal. It is in prayer that God will begin to repair the bridge. Perhaps we will not see God physically raise that bridge from its rubble (although I have no doubts that God could if God wanted to), but God will repair those bridges between heart and God that were cracked when that bridge fell. Then maybe... maybe we begin to find comfort in remembering that God walks along side of us in these times of tragedy... He walks with ALL of us.

Boundaries

I came across a new devotional today by a man named Jim Seybert. It's a daily devotional built around principals of leadership. It's not been published yet, but I came across an offer where you could download the book for free. Now there's a great deal. Skimming over it a bit, I think I'm going to like it.

Today, Jim talked about boundaries. He challenged the reader to imagine tennis without the lines. The players would be running around like a bunch of clowns at a circus, or like characters in a Monty Python sketch. There wouldn't be great shots that graze the line nor anything for John McEnroe to ramble on about. It's the lines, the boundaries, that make the game work. It's true in life as well, isn't it? Often times as parents or adults these days we're hesitant to give kids/youth boundaries, but they are craving them. We are slow to put up certain boundaries like with our time, or perhaps our neighbors or co-workers. Yet God set up boundaries from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, "Go ahead and enjoy the Garden," God said, "just don't eat of this here particular tree." God gave clear boundaries. Yet notice that God also gave them freedom within those boundaries. Have you clearly defined and communicated the boundaries in your life? Have you then given people the freedom to act within those boundaries? Now there is some leadership... and lesson perhaps I still need to learn.

Who's Pulling?

It's summer and that often brings me to longing again for the summer I spent in Minocqua, WI. That was an awesome summer. I preached at three different campgrounds on Sunday morning and most of the rest of the week was spent reading by the lakeside or water skiing. What more could a person ask for, really? That summer I skied a lot, and helped a number of people learn how to ski. One of the key pieces of advice was always, let the boat do the work and pull you up.

Isn't that good advice for life as well?

God is my helper. —Psalm 54:4

Do you ever hit those rough patches of life and find yourself just fighting to pull yourself up? What if, instead of trying to pull yourself up, you let God do the work and pull you up? What might that look like? What kind of difference might that make?

Night

Last night I attended dinner and worship at Our Savior's Lutheran in Rochester. While sitting around dinner we talked to three different families that were touched by death this past week. It was a tough week around there this past week. There was a glimpse of darkness as we spoke of these deaths. At the same time these were some people of great faith, so there was also a feeling and a sense of hope. Isn't it amazing how faith can sustain us in our moments of darkness?

I might be a little strange, but I love the lament psalms. I just like what I would call their gritty grasp of reality. They voice their complaints and hurts to God, but it seems they always come around to praising God. When it gets down to it what else do we need besides God? They have incredible points of complex reality like in Psalm 42 when it's believed David was writing in the darkness of his life, "The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me—a prayer to the God of my life"

When darkness strikes your life and it feels like night, know that God's song is with you... a prayer when you have no words.

Have to?

Yesterday, I wrote about "doing" faith and I think it is important to live out our faith. However, I feel compelled to clarify something. After attending Camp Victory this past summer I've heard a few different students share things like, "I have to ask God to be a part of my life." Really? Did God leave you some time after your baptism and now God needs an invitation to return? That's not how I understand God to operate.

I think places like Camp Victory are doing some great ministry. I just have some concerns with their theology and how it differs from our Lutheran understanding. When you get into what we call "decision theology" I think we begin a step toward a dangerous theology. When we say things like, "You have to ask God into your life" that is putting the power of salvation into the hands of humans. That is to say that salvation is dependent on the act of humans. Our Lutheran theology teaches us that it is God alone that does the saving, primarily through that one gracious act some 2,000 years ago.

My concern then is that when I write things about "doing" faith it gets similarly misconstrued. It becomes easy to start thinking I have to do these things, with an unspoken reason for salvation. We don't live out our faith and serve others as part of a requirement to gain salvation because that puts us right back in the trap of being in control of our salvation. Instead we live out our faith and serve others as a response to our salvation, because God has given us this gracious gift despite ourselves.

These are, in many ways, subtle differences in understanding faith and theology. However, I also believe they are important differences. They are why I am proud to claim a Lutheran heritage and understanding of theology (even if I don't totally understand all of theology... it's complicated).

doing

The devotional I read today was based on James 1, where the author encourages us to "do" the faith. You've heard people talking about and asking things like, "You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?" I think that's one of the great beauties of going on these mission trips with youth, you get to see the youth living out their faith. They are "doing" their faith, and it is amazing to watch. It's even more fun because often they struggle to try and articulate their faith, they just don't feel even slightly comfortable with the words. Sometimes they don't even recognize the faith that lies within them. Then we send them out to serve and you can't help but see their faith hanging out on their sleeve as they simply live it.

So how are you "doing" faith today? How are you living out your faith? Or is it just something that sounds good in theory and is left for discussions on Sunday morning in the sanctuary?

On Our Way Again

Sadly, Dawn is still not back from New York yet, but I'm sure she'll be happy to be in her own bed tomorrow night. It just won't be soon enough to cross paths. We leave early tomorrow morning with seven amazing Jr. High students for Rapid City, SD. Please do keep all of us in your prayers this week... and I'll be back here sometime after we return.

Affluenza

The devotion I read today was about our human tendency to focus on the material things of this world. In fact, our obsession with wealth in this society could easily be a sickness we called "affluenza", and in fact, I do believe some have started calling our condition just that. As I prepare to leave on Sunday for Rapid City with our Jr. High youth for another mission trip, and with our last one still fresh in my mind, I realize one of the real gifts of these trips is that they remind us of this condition, of how we focus on the material things of the world. It's funny how we do that, even though we really do know that they just don't matter in the long term... At least in terms of spiritual matters and salvation, which seem a bit more important... I think.

Seeing is Believing

We've all heard the phrase, "Seeing is believing." Perhaps we've uttered before, "I'll believe that when I see it." We like to have visual proof in our lives, don't we? I think it's true when it comes to our faith as well. In those times of questioning or wonder we think things like, "If only I could get a 'clear' sign from God." I know I've prayed for a direct phone call or e-mail from God so that I would know what God desired of me.

I wonder, though, if God did give us a "clear" sign, would we recognize it? How many people witnessed Jesus feed 5,000 people or heal a leper and still didn't believe? Would you believe it? I would like to think I would, but I wonder if that is reality or just wishful thinking.

Yesterday, we buried one of the saints of our congregation. Harold was a witness to God's love, peace, patience, and grace. In many ways how God worked through his life was a "clear" sign of God's presence in our lives. Did it help to build up our faith? It did mine. Maybe seeing is believing...

Different Somehow

Dawn left for New York City yesterday morning. She is going there with her church on a high school mission trip, like we went on to West Virginia. It's only been a day, but things are different somehow around the house without her.

At the end of last week a beloved member of our congregation, Harold, died. It's only been a couple of days, but things are different somehow around church without him and his smile that could warm even the coldest of rooms.

I know both of them are currently in God's hands, but it sure doesn't change the fact that things just don't feel "right" and that I miss them dearly. I trust the reunions will be wonderful.

Back

Well, I'm back from our Sr. High Mission Trip to Logan, WV. It was a busy week of serving that left me exhausted and with a lovely case of poison ivy (or something similar). So it hit me when the devotion from Our Daily Bead was the story about Mary and Martha.

Here we had spent an entire week working and serving. Then I read the devotion that starts with the story of the mayor of a small town who decided not to mow his lawn any longer because there were more important things. I think that can be the danger when we enter into service ministry, we get caught up in doing and lose site of the reason for serving. I think we did a job of keeping a balance of things last week. We served, but we also sat at the feet of Jesus.

I think that mayor had a point that there are more important things in life than mowing the lawn. I don't think I'm ready to go that far, I'll still tend to our lawn, but first I'll try and remember to sit at the feet of Jesus.

Off

Isn't it funny how life can appear to be going so well, but then there is just one little trigger that opens up a Pandora's Box of things that were bothering you that you didn't even realize. For example, life has been going swimmingly. Then, this morning, I hopped in the car to head in to church and all I heard was click-click-click-click-click. Great! The car won't start! Somehow that opened up the floodgates to feeling every last ounce of stress that is currently somewhere in my life all at the same time. Now there is this foreboding feeling that today just might not be the best of days. We'll have to see how that goes and judge later. It just just seem like a great way to start off the day, it kind of makes everything feel a little "off."

Speaking of cars & off, remember, we're leaving on our mission trip on Saturday morning. Your prayers are greatly appreciated. This is also a reminder that I probably won't be posting much until sometime in July.

Identity

Why do we wrap up our identity so much in what we do? I think when we do that we devalue who we are, who God has created us to be. I ask the question because I know that I am terribly guilty of this.

For example, last Saturday was Grandma's Marathon and I found a part of me feeling kind of weird because I wasn't running. I think in part because I've defined myself as a runner, as a marathoner even, and yet I haven't hardly run a step in almost nine months. If I don't run who am I?

I do it in other places as well. I do it in ministry as well. Because I define myself as a pastor I find myself measuring myself against other pastors and ministers. How well I do ministry in comparison has a way of defining how "good" I am as a person.

Now, I don't share these examples as a plea for others to tell me what a great person I am. Instead I share them because I have a hunch others act in a similar way and have seen the destructive nature of it, or maybe need to see the destructive nature of that thinking. I share them to ask the question of, "How do you break free from that kind of thinking?"

Pray

We leave soon on our mission trip to Logan, WV, Saturday morning actually. It should be a great adventure, but we need your help still. Please start to pray for the trip now, and keep praying throughout our trip until we return late in the afternoon on July 1. You can pray for safety, for lives to be changed, or just plain pray!

The students attending are: Megan, Natalie, Dani, Laura, Abby, Jenny, Katie, and Emily
The adults attending are: Jane, Ken, and myself.

ALL of your prayers for this trip are VERY MUCH appreciated. If you are a member of Christ Lutheran who is reading this please know that we will be sharing about BOTH of our mission trips this summer on Sunday, July 29, so please come and join us that morning.

Forgive

Yesterday we were driving into Rochester for a hospital visit after text study. The theme of the passages we looked at for this coming Sunday were about our forgiveness. As we were driving in there was some graffiti that rather struck me...

Writing

"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you." -Jeremiah 30:2 (NIV)

Have you ever had one of those days where you've got so much whizzing through your brain, because of a problem at work, a family argument or something else, that you can't stay focused enough to pray... because your brain is bouncing back and forth between things? What do you do in those situations?

Sometimes, if I can slow down enough, I like to write. I'll write a prayer to God, or a poem or something of that nature. It's funny, how that can sooth the soul and draw out things I didn't even realize where in me. Prayer can take on all different forms, even writing. It's a gift of sanity... I think.

Beauty

So my earlier post got me to thinking... Do we need any further proof that God has a desire to see beauty? Probably not, we don't have to look too far outside our window, but just in case. Here are a couple of pictures from our recent trip to Salt Lake City. The pictures actually come from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks...

Tired

Tired. I'm just really tired today. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but something about it struck me during devotions today. I was reading again from ODB and the author was talking about function verses beauty. She talked about how engineer types are great at making things work, and work efficiently, but how it looks is not all so important. She went from there to talk about the need for "arts" in worship and how that adds a certain beauty.

We do certainly need both in this world. We need both in worship. Personally, I think I need a balance (although perhaps weighted a little more towards the creative, artsy side of things). I'm wondering if part of my tiredness isn't from spending so much time recently on the details of making things function that I've not gotten to tap the inner creative side of things. Maybe. It's a theory at least.

So I wonder, has God called you to, gifted you for, function or form? How are you using your gifts today to that end?

Imitation

This last weekend as we were at the wedding reception of a friend I found myself "playing" with a friends soon to be kindergartner. We began imitating each others every move. It was fun game filled with lots of giggles.

I remember as a kid wanting to be just like various other older kids. I would wear my wrist bands in certain way when I played basketball so I could be like the players I looked up to. I tried to walk like the cool kids walked. I have to admit I still find myself doing the same from time to time as I try and imitate others I admire in hopes of becoming more like them.

My parents are ones that I wouldn't mind imitating a little more. They are celebrating their 42nd anniversary today. That wouldn't be bad to imitate.

Today at "Our Daily Bread" the author spoke about imitating Christ, drawing upon 1 Corinthians. Not a bad idea. Perhaps we could all afford to try and imitate Christ a little more. Why not start with a mentor type person? I think we all know people in our lives who live Christ like examples. Perhaps we can start by imitating them. It's the kind of thing Paul encouraged, that others would imitate him who was attempting to imitate Christ. Go ahead, give it a shot. What do you think?

Do as I say...

Have you ever heard someone say, "Do as I say, not as I do"? I've heard it before and I hate it. Isn't the old adage "Actions speak louder than words" much more true? I love sports, but it drives me nuts to hear these young players talk about how great they are. I want to tell them to stop talking about what they think they can do and start talking about what they have done. Have you ever noticed how really great people never seem to boast about their accomplishments?

One of the most phenomenal, talented, marathon runners I have ever known personally is actually a member of this congregation. If you were to talk to the person you would never know. You might be able to get out of them that they enjoy running, but you wouldn't know that they have been one of the best runners in the state for a number of years.

When I was in Jr. High I was watching my dad run a race. The guest starter that day had, at the time, the second fastest marathon time in the world. He ended up standing next to me. He was more interested in how fast I had run the mile as a 7th grader than he was about how fast he had run.

1 John 3 says, "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

Who have you loved today? I'm hoping you've told at least a family member or two that you love them... but have you shown anyone that you love them today?

We Are In The Middle of It

Years ago a man was traveling by ship with his young daughter across the ocean. Earlier that particular Sunday he had preached a sermon about God’s love. It had been a very difficult service to preach, because he was newly widowed.

He was standing against the rail of the ship, looking out at the vast and magnificent ocean, when his daughter asked him if God loved them as much as they had loved her late mother.

“Of course He does,” answered her father. “There is absolutely nothing bigger or more powerful and all-consuming than God’s love for us. It’s the biggest thing there is!” The little girl pressed on for more information, wanting to know exactly how big God’s love was. Finally her father with great tenderness said, “Well, look across the sea as far as you can. Look up and down and all around. God’s love stretches around to cover all of that; above the blue sky and deeper than the deepest part of the ocean underneath us.”

The little girl pondered for a minute and replied, “And to think Daddy, we’
re right in the middle of it.” And we are. We’re right in the middle of God’
s love. We don’t need a miracle to tell us that. Most of us have known God’s love all our lives. Of course, that is not to say that miracles do not occur. They do--to the eyes of faith.

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

Gardening

At home we try really hard to have green thumbs. Sometimes we do pretty well. Much of the time, though, we struggle. We're trying a vegetable garden this, I'll be interesting to see how that all turns out. What we're finding difficult is that it seems that every plant needs a slightly different combination of light and water. If you get that mixture right, they take off like no other. If they aren't nurtured with the right combination of light and water? It can get ugly quick.

Isn't that the case with people though, as well? Each person needs just a slightly different combination of being nurtured with the light of love & compassion and watered with our prayers. I think it's the case whether we're talking about kids or adults who appear almost hopeless. With the right nurturing we can all grow in faith and love. Thankfully, in this case, God is the head gardener... and I'm confident his thumb is a bit greener than mine.

Applause for Heaven

Last week when we were gone on vacation we stopped at Bear Butte Lake State Park, just outside of Sturgis, SD. When I woke up in the morning I went for a short little walk. Not far from the campground was the lake, or at least what once was the lake (it was nearly dried up when we were there).

On the shore end of the fishing dock was a cottonwood tree. Since we were in South Dakota there was a bit of a breeze blowing. As I paused to look out over the lake area underneath the tree I couldn't help but hear the rattle of the leaves. I closed my eyes.

At first it almost sounded like rain. In fact, it sounded very much like when we would "make it rain" around the campfire at camp. Then I listened a little closer and I heard something different. It started to sound like applause. It sounded to me like the tree was clapping. The tree, in my imagination, was cheering and saying, "Yeah God!" Like a little kid so proud of their accomplishment.

It made me wonder, when was the last time I applauded God for the amazing beauty that is around me. I have a tendency to do so when I am in the midst of majestic mountains or the tranquil beauty of a calm lake surrounded by trees. However, I often miss it standing in my back yard, even though it is there to. Perhaps today would be a good day to thank God for the beauty that surrounds us each and every day.

Comfort Food

The devotion from ODB today made reference to "Chicken Soup for Your Soul." The books have been runaway hits with their touching stories. Of course didn't the title just draw us to it as it brought us back to when we were a kid and the only thing that could cure our cold was a warm blanket and a bowl of Mom's chicken soup? We call that kind of food comfort food, because when our body doesn't feel well it makes us feel better.

I think it's great that beyond these books we have comfort food for our souls, for real. When we are aching spiritually we can find comfort in God's word. Perhaps it Psalm 23 or Romans 8, whatever the passage is that you have tucked away it can bring comfort in those times of need. This coming Sunday we will read from Psalm 30 with one of my favorite verses, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy is going to come in the morning." Now that's comfort food.

Isn't it great how God feeds us?

Strange Marriage

We've all come across them haven't we? You know, those marriages where you wonder how the two ever really came together. Maybe it is a couple of friends, a relative, or perhaps you wonder about yourself. Anyway, I came across one of those strange marriages this past week.

No, it wasn't the wedding of my dear friend that I attended in Salt Lake City. Rather it was while we stayed the night in Vail, CO the other night. This wasn't the first time I had come across it, but I had forgotten and it struck me this time through. On Wednesday as we were leaving they were just beginning the Teva Mountain Games. Personally, I think it's kind of a strange marriage.

Let me try and explain... Teva Mountain Games is something very much like the X-games. It's competitions that involve things like white water kayaking, mountain biking, and rock climbing. Many of these competitions began as kind of a sub-culture, as something rather anti-mainstream. On the other hand Vail is the picture of wealth. No not wealth, but extreme wealth. When I lived in the area for the summer three years ago (I got to preach at a Lutheran Church out there) the first day I opened the paper I found an add for a home that read, "Reasonably priced at $3.5 million"... reasonable? Really? In whose world?

Anyway, I just found the marriage to be kind of strange. Oh, I think I can understand why it happens. It's a great location, good for the sponsors, etc. Still, I find it kind of strange.

...God Created

Dawn and I have spent the last few days driving through some amazing country. We went through the Badlands & Black Hills on our way to Yellowstone National Park. We dropped down through Grand Tetons National Park on our way to Salt Lake City. After attending the mountains in a beautiful canyon outside of Salt Lake City we ventured over to Moab. After floating down the Colorado river we have made our way to Vail, Co. On this last leg we drove a stretch of highway out of Moab rated one of the top ten best drives by National Geographic. We also drove through Glenwood Canyon, which is possibly the most amazing stretch of interstate highway in this country. It's been spectacular. (Perhaps when we get home I can add some pictures)

It's incredible to see some of these mountains and canyons. I often hear talk in these kinds of places of how glaciers carved them out, etc. I'm starting to become a bit of a sceptic on this theory. Oh, I believe that glaciers may have played a part in the how they look today, but I don't believe they're solely responsible. It's far too beautiful. It's far too intricate. I think this drive has proven to me that God is clearly the one who created. Who knows, God may have even used glaciers to fine tune some of the beauty. And I thought an artist using oils on a canvas was impressive.

Time Away

I would like to thank those who have been reading my Blog from time to time. I especially would like to thank those who have commented. My hope is we will eventually starting getting some more comments and we can begin to dialogue about some of these rambling thoughts.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, Dawn and I will be hitting the road to drive to Salt Lake City to attend a friend's wedding. It should be a great trip, filled with camping, friends, and beautiful sites along the way. However, it also means that I likely won't be posting for a while. However, feel free to check back in as I might get a chance to post and I'll pass along any insights from the road, or beautiful sites captured along the way.

Don't Worry... Jack

Matthew 6 falls in the middle of Jesus' famous sermon on the mount. It come shortly after the Beatitudes (Blessed are the...). It contains a section that encourages us not to worry. Easier said than done, right?

ODB has a devotion today that talks about Jack, an orange and white cat, who chased a bear up a tree guarding his owner's house. Just think, if a little cat can scare off a big bear, how much more can God protect us? Knowing that God is in control, what is left to worry about?

I've been preparing for a number of things lately that have caused people around me to worry, growing close to panic. "You need to call so-and-so" I hear, "If you wait too long it won't work out." Funny, it all seems to be working out in the end. It's not because I'm overly faithful or anything, it's just that things have a way of working out whether we worry or not. So why worry?

Purpose

We are in the midst of graduation season. It's the time of year we ask students questions like, "What do you want to do when you grow up? What do you plan to major in?" When we ask these kinds of questions, aren't we in essence asking, "What's your purpose in life?" Whether you are a student or not I would like to ask you, "What is your purpose in life?"

Rick Warren has had a runaway hit with "A Purpose Driven Life." I also read a couple of different suggestions for what our purpose is:

The Westminster Catechism sums it up well when it says the “chief end of man” is to “glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

and

The purpose of our lives is to let others see what God is like as they watch and experience His love through us.

I really like that second one, to reflect God's love to all the world. We are called to be mirrors. What a remarkable notion. So what would YOU say is your purpose in life?

Baby Got Book

Here's a video that might take you back a few years... sort of!

Time to Celebrate

As you hopefully know today is Syttende Mai, Norwegian Constitution Day! So get out there and celebrate. Okay, so it's doesn't always get the hype of Cinco De Mayo, but we Norwegians know how to party as well.

Oh yeah, and did you notice today in the church we celebrate the Ascension? 40 days after Easter we mark the day the risen Jesus ascended to the Father in glory. Now, there's a something to celebrate. To me, it marks that final victory over death. Yes, Jesus died for you, but He also rose again defeating sin, death and the devil. So I say, head to the streets and let's celebrate. Perhaps you might even want to break out your "wiggle dance".

Wiggle Dance

I was reading today about how bees do a wiggle dance to let other bees know where the sweet stuff is, where they can find food. It's kind of cool how they do that. I guess maybe we do that in ways as well. Think back to the last time you or a friend tried a new restaurant and found the food was good. What did you do? My guess is the response was to, nearly, immediately begin telling people about how great the food was and how you discovered a new place to eat. Maybe it's not the wiggle dance, perhaps we could call it the phone dance. I don't know.

In John 4 a Samaritan woman finds Jesus sitting at the well. Through their exchange she realizes who she is talking to... "The Bread of Life" who provides the "Water of Life" as well. What is her response? She runs into town to tell everyone where they can find this great "food" that will give them life. Have you tasted of the "Bread of Life"? Whom have you told? Perhaps we could all use some dance lessons. I think this food is worthy of a good wiggle dance.

Wind

As I look out my window this morning I can't help but notice the wind. I suppose I should say the effects of the wind (trees bobbing and weaving, the flag sticking almost straight out, etc.). I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, it seems it's windy a lot around here. Yet it strikes me this morning. Yesterday in worship we read the words of Jesus saying that he was going to have to leave, but he was going to send an advocate, the Holy Spirit. Wind is an image, you see, of the Holy Spirit. So I was thinking about this as I watched the wind begin to appear to be on the brink of violence. Isn't that fitting? How often do we desire a God who is warm, gentle and basically a cuddly teddy bear, but get something very different? Have you ever noticed how when you open up your life to be used by God you end up feeling like you've been whipped and battered by the wind? Sometimes God's "nudges" aren't all so gentle. Sometimes we need them to be a little less subtle. So this morning I ponder the wind.

Adventure

I liked the devotion today from ODB as it reminded us that adventure can be really exciting, but it can also be scary. As followers of Christ, I believe, we are called to a great adventure, which sometimes can be scary but it can also be amazing. May you find yourself in the midst of a "Godventure" today!

Looking Ahead

This last weekend we had a friend visiting us. What was really fun was that she brought her two year old daughter. While Mom, Beth, was helping Dawn with some sort of organic make-up/cleansing party (you know, those things where they charge lots of money for girly things that we guys just don't understand), I got the privilege of hanging out with Nadia. Even though it appeared a little gloomy we just had to go outside. Nadia wanted to go to the park and was thrilled to find that we had three right there. I suppose it should be noted that in her mind any sort of play set was a park. Anyway, the big draw was the swings. We played on the swings for a good long time. We did have a couple of set backs when we switched swings, though. It turned out that when I changed up the direction she was facing when we changed swings, that was not a good thing. I guess direction matters.

Paul talks about direction in life in Philippians 3 as he talks about the importance of looking forward. We have a way of looking to the past. However, when we repent we turn away from that past and we look ahead to the future. How are we ever going to get anywhere if we are looking back? We can't move ahead. I believe we are called to live our lives looking to the future, to the hope and the promise that God has given us.

Mission Accomplished

Yesterday marked the anniversary of Bush's now infamous speech underneath the "Mission Accomplished" banner. How many thousands of soldiers and Iraqi's have died since that day? It is an anniversary ripe for the picking for comedians and critics of the president alike.

Then, how many people years ago said, "Mission Accomplished" as well. They surveyed the scene saw that Jesus had died and was buried. "Mission Accomplished" Maybe not in the way they expected. Then there were the disciples that pointed to the fact that Jesus had then risen from the grave, defeating death all together, so they probably wanted to say, "Mission Accomplished." I guess they were correct... to a certain extent. Still how many have died since that day without knowing or believing the Good News of Jesus Christ? Perhaps like our military in Iraq we as Christian's still have some work to do.

Confidence

How often we too face situations that seem overwhelming and impossible. It’s in those times that we need to find our confidence in Jesus. Our first instinct may be to back away in fear. But that’s exactly when we need to look to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2), who will raise His nail-scarred hand and say, “Stay with it. Run the race. I’ve run it before you, and in My power you can win. You can do it!” —Joe Stowell

Wisdom & Knowledge

They say we live in an information age. Thanks to the Internet and other such tools we can get our fingers on all kinds of information in mere seconds. The amount of knowledge we can accumulate is phenomenal. Still, it seems, that despite all of this knowledge we lack wisdom. I see wisdom being how you use your knowledge. Solomon was REALLY smart, but he married hundreds of wives and ended up building temples to those wives gods, which led to his downfall. Terrorists like in the 9/11 attack had to acquire a lot of knowledge to be able to pull such a thing off, but it was a lack of wisdom that led them to do what they did. You need to gain a certain amount of knowledge to be able to drive, but you need wisdom to do so safely. Knowledge is available to be gained just about everywhere you turn, but true wisdom begins with one source. Which one will you use today?

Interesting...

On Monday they mentioned on the news that Minnesota had the lowest gas prices in the country. On Tuesday prices went up 17 cents. Coincidence? Maybe... But I do find it interesting.

Maybe that's why I find gas prices to be a lot like my weight. They both jump up quite easily, but both are also slow to come back down.

Cover Up

A read a helpful devotion today from "The Upper Room" about sin and cover up. The author makes the comparison to buying a new place and wanting to paint over the dirt and problems, however past experience has taught that it needs to be cleaned first. How often do we do that in our spiritual life? How often do we try and just cover up our sin, our problems, with a smile or new clothes or something to make it appear like everything is just fine? Easy targets with this kind of thing are the lottery winners or sports stars who have gone broke. They tried to cover up the dirt of their life with money, but eventually those problems reared their ugly heads again. Until we clean things up there is no amount of paint that can make the dirt go away. Maybe it's time to for us to return to the confessional.

What Are We Going to Do?

Last night we watched "An Inconvenient Truth" and it got me to thinking...
...What are we going to do to make changes at home?
...What can we do as a congregation?
...Is it really that bad?
...Can we change these trends?
...Why haven't we started doing some things sooner?

It was good. It got me to thinking. Oh, sure, there were some arguments that I questioned. I thought some of it was just scare tactics and a bit over the top. However, I got me to thinking and I believe that's a good thing. I think I need to do more. I think we all need to do more. I think we all need to think more.

Spiritual Growth

One of our 9th graders was writing about Mike Yaconelli's book, "Messy Spirituality" when she gave a beautiful definition of spiritual growth that I would like to share with you.

"Spiritual growth is an untamed search for God in the scrambled jungle of our souls."

Awesome!
Beautiful!
Thank You!

Another Perspective

I realize this is perhaps a bit dated, but it came through my e-mail today and I appreciated some of the views shared. What do you think?

==============

Time for Jackson, Sharpton to Step Down

Pair See Potential for Profit, Attention in Imus Incident

By JASON WHITLOCK

AOL Sports Commentary

I’m calling for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the president and vice president of Black America, to step down.

Their leadership is stale. Their ideas are outdated. And they don’t give a damn about us.

We need to take a cue from White America and re-elect our leadership every four years. White folks realize that power corrupts. That’s why they placed term limits on the presidency. They know if you leave a man in power too long he quits looking out for the interest of his constituency and starts looking out for his own best interest.

We’ve turned Jesse and Al into Supreme Court justices. They get to speak for us for a lifetime.

Why?

If judged by the results they’ve produced the last 20 years, you’d have to regard their administration as a total failure. Seriously, compared to Martin and Malcolm and the freedoms and progress their leadership produced, Jesse and Al are an embarrassment.

Their job the last two decades was to show black people how to take advantage of the opportunities Martin and Malcolm won.

Have we at the level we should have? No.

Rather than inspire us to seize hard-earned opportunities, Jesse and Al have specialized in blackmailing white folks for profit and attention. They were at it again last week, helping to turn radio shock jock Don Imus’ stupidity into a world-wide crisis that reached its crescendo Tuesday afternoon when Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer led a massive pity party/recruiting rally.

Hey, what Imus said, calling the Rutgers players "nappy-headed hos," was ignorant, insensitive and offensive. But so are many of the words that come out of the mouths of radio shock jocks/comedians.

Imus’ words did no real damage. Let me tell you what damaged us this week: the sports cover of Tuesday’s USA Today. This country’s newspaper of record published a story about the NFL and crime and ran a picture of 41 NFL players who were arrested in 2006. By my count, 39 of those players were black.

You want to talk about a damaging, powerful image, an image that went out across the globe?

We’re holding news conferences about Imus when the behavior of NFL players is painting us as lawless and immoral. Come on. We can do better than that. Jesse and Al are smarter than that.

The Rutgers players are nothing more than pawns in a game being played by Jackson, Sharpton and Stringer.

Jesse and Al are flexing their muscle and setting up their next sting. Bringing down Imus, despite his sincere attempts at apologizing, would serve notice to their next potential victim that it is far better to pay up than stand up to Jesse and Al James.

Stringer just wanted her 15 minutes to make the case that she’s every bit as important as Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma. By the time Stringer’s rambling, rapping and rhyming 30-minute speech was over, you’d forgotten that Tennessee won the national championship and just assumed a racist plot had been hatched to deny the Scarlet Knights credit for winning it all.

Maybe that’s the real crime. Imus’ ignorance has taken attention away from Candace Parker’s and Summitt’s incredible accomplishment. Or maybe it was Sharpton’s, Stringer’s and Jackson’s grandstanding that moved the spotlight from Tennessee to New Jersey?

None of this over-the-top grandstanding does Black America any good.

We can’t win the war over verbal disrespect and racism when we have so obviously and blatantly surrendered the moral high ground on the issue. Jesse and Al might win the battle with Imus and get him fired or severely neutered. But the war? We don’t stand a chance in the war. Not when everybody knows “nappy-headed ho’s” is a compliment compared to what we allow black rap artists to say about black women on a daily basis.

We look foolish and cruel for kicking a man who went on Sharpton’s radio show and apologized. Imus didn’t pull a Michael Richards and schedule an interview on Letterman. Imus went to the Black vice president’s house, acknowledged his mistake and asked for forgiveness.

Had Imus’ predictably poor attempt at humor not been turned into an international incident by the deluge of media coverage, 97 percent of America would’ve never known what Imus said. His platform isn’t that large and it has zero penetration into the sports world.

Imus certainly doesn’t resonate in the world frequented by college women. The insistence by these young women that they have been emotionally scarred by an old white man with no currency in their world is laughably dishonest.

Let it go and let God.

We have more important issues to deal with than Imus. If we are unwilling to clean up the filth and disrespect we heap on each other, nothing will change with our condition. You can fire every Don Imus in the country, and our incarceration rate, fatherless-child rate, illiteracy rate and murder rate will still continue to skyrocket.

A man who doesn’t respect himself wastes his breath demanding that others respect him.

We don’t respect ourselves right now. If we did, we wouldn’t call each other the N-word. If we did, we wouldn’t let people with prison values define who we are in music and videos. If we did, we wouldn’t call black women bitches and hos and abandon them when they have our babies.

If we had the proper level of self-respect, we wouldn’t act like it’s only a crime when a white man disrespects us. We hold Imus to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. That’s a (freaking) shame.

We need leadership that is interested in fixing the culture we’ve adopted. We need leadership that makes all of us take tremendous pride in educating ourselves. We need leadership that can reach professional athletes and entertainers and get them to understand that they’re ambassadors and play an important role in defining who we are and what values our culture will embrace.

It’s time for Jesse and Al to step down. They’ve had 25 years to lead us. Other than their accountants, I’d be hard pressed to find someone who has benefited from their administration.

Worry

We worry a lot in life, don't we? We worry about whether things will look good enough, taste good enough, be good enough. Watching them continue to report on Virginia Tech I heard a lot of worry behind the reports. I know I'm guilty. I worry about doing enough. I worry about my sermons being good enough or about misspeaking while leading worship. I worry that I may have done something wrong while coaching track. I worry that people won't like me. I worry all the time. Now, I'll admit, I've gotten pretty good at covering it and giving the impression that I have few worries in this world. The truth of the matter is I worry all the time, like most people I think.

The devotion today in Our Daily Bread was about worry. The author spoke of a person who initiated a game with some teenagers where whenever they worried they would use the 23rd Psalm and say, "The Lord is my Shepherd and I'm worried to death." The point being that when you have perspective you see how silly your worries are, they seem almost silly. If the Lord is my Shepherd, why do I have to worry? Jesus talked about it a different way in Matthew when he talked about if the lilies of the field and the sparrows are taken care of by God, how much more will God look after you? Maybe all of us could use a brief timeout to get a little perspective on the big picture.

God is in control. What a relief it is.

Tragedy

This morning as I was getting ready for the day I was watching the Today Show, as I normally do, and it was nonstop coverage of the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech yesterday. It is absolutely terrible what happened yesterday with the shooting. My heart grieves with the families and friends who lost a loved one yesterday.

With that being said, I also found myself so very frustrated with the coverage of the event. Is there no other news happening in the world? What percentage of the coverage was sheer speculation? I can't begin to tell you how often I heard phrases like, "We think" or "We believe"... in my mind that is not news, that is guess work. I was frustrated with the questioning of the school administration and their handling of the incident. They make it sound as if the administration was working in conjunction with the shooter. What if they sent out an e-mail to the student body at 7:30 a.m. and all of the students were milling around outside and the shooter decided to open and fire on the campus square where it would have been more difficult to confine? Would they have praised the administration for the timeliness of their e-mail or would they have questioned their recklessness in sending it too quickly? I don't get it. What ever happened to assuming the best? What if we took the slant that the administration was doing the best they could with the information that they had and they were trying fallible, human best to do what they believed was in the best interest of the entire community?

Can you tell I'm worked up yet? Anyway, what finally got me was realizing that the hyped way in which the media (I use that generally because I tried flipping through channels and they were all covering the story in similar fashion) was covering this story was simply instilling fear. Underlying, perhaps unspoken, was this notion that you better be on the watch because the next gunman is probably going to open fire right next you at any moment now. Fear is no way to live our lives. We talked about it on Sunday when I preached on the story of Thomas in the gospel of John. Once again we have a very real example of the world telling us to live in fear, but Christ comes and tells us to live in peace giving us gifts of repentance and forgiveness. We sure could use that right about now, don't you think?

Wisdom

I was reading the devotion from Our Daily Bread (ODB) today and it was based on Proverbs 16:16, that reminds us that wisdom is better than gold. The author talked about how when we go shopping we are always looking to get the best: the best car, the best house, the best blouse, etc. So according to Proverbs here if given the choice between wisdom or gold (money) then go with wisdom.

I don't know, it was a good reminder I suppose, and I liked how the author went about getting to his point. However, I just don't know how fond I am of Proverbs. Yes, I think there is some good stuff in there. I'm just afraid that in our soundbite world that we want to reduce our faith down to a set of proverbs, a series of pithy little phrases of wisdom. Is that really all the more we need? Is it really that easy?

Go ahead, seek wisdom I'm all for it... but also seek Jesus and all of the wonderful complications that are a part of living a life of faith.

Resurrection?

I don't want to compare myself to Jesus really, but I've been thinking it's about time to resurrect this BLOG. I hadn't been seeing any comments so I felt like nobody was reading, so was it worth the effort? Then life caught up to me and that just sort of answered that question.

Well, some time has passed (much more than 3 days), and I'm starting to feel like there's a different answer. I am re-energized. I have heard of people that actually read from time to time. Most importantly I get the sense that it's good for me, healthy for me, to be writing on a regular basis. So look for more to come on a more regular basis once again.

thanks!