This Changes Everything!

Happy Easter!

I hope your day is blessed, and more than anything you take some time to remember that the resurrection of Christ changes EVERYTHING. It turns all the definitions of this life and the next on their head, and creates hope and faith where before there was only despair.

Here's a video to remind you of that fact.

Have a blessed day!


He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

EDIT: By the way, when I did the "He is Risen" greeting at church, I got blank stares, which was kind of funny, since that's something I've known most of my life. It's just neat, the differences we grow up with, yet we follow the same Savior.

Here's a cartoon to that effect I found on the net:












Ya, Sure Ya Betcha!

The Day No One Remembers...

So today is Saturday. Like you didn't know.

Saturdays are usually great for me. Like now, I have a cup of coffee, I'm hanging around in my PJ's, and just enjoying relaxing. But today is not any Saturday. It's the Saturday everyone forgets.

What I mean is this. Yesterday was Good Friday, where we traditionally assign Christ's crucifixion. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, where we traditionally assign the Resurrection. both are amazing foundational truths that we don't want to forget, and so we take time each year to recall the power and the significance of the Cross and the Empty Tomb. At our church, we remember the death, burial and resurrection of Christ every Sunday as we share in the communion of the Lord's Supper.

I could maybe pause here and talk about how the amazing power of the Cross and the Empty Tomb has become commonplace because we've grown up with it our whole lives, or whatever, but that's another blog post.

No, my thoughts are on today, because no one remembers today, really. We hit the Cross, and then skip straight to the Empty Tomb, and we miss the richness of The Silence.

A little more than 2000 years ago on a Saturday like this, there was utter Silence. Christ is dead. The apostles (just disciples then) are scattered and in hiding. The ride is over. The entry into Jerusalem just six days ago, where everyone was dancing and shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" is like a distant memory. There is no celebration today. No party. No assurance, no relief.

Instead there is this real fear. And gnawing doubt. And unanswered questions.

"Was I wrong to trust in Jesus of Nazareth? Did I actually make the worst decision of my life when I decided to follow Him 3 and a half years ago? Should I have stayed mending my nets, or in my tax collector's booth?"

"Is this going to cost me my life? I thought we were going to rule everything! I thought we were establishing a new Kingdom of Heaven! How could this be part of God's plan? I just don't understand!"

"Did you hear about Judas? He was the betrayer! And now he's dead! Maybe he sold us all out? What are we going to do if they come for us?"

"What am I going to do? The last words He ever heard me say were 'I'm not with Him! I don't even know Him!' How am I supposed to take that back? How can I apologize now? How can I receive forgiveness from a dead man? How am I supposed to live with myself now?"

"What are we supposed to do now? He said He was the Way! Did He not have the Words of Life? Was He really not the Messiah we all thought He was?"

"Was I wrong to trust in Jesus of Nazareth?"

Nope, we totally miss today. We just move straight to the power of angels rolling stones back, Roman Praetorians fainting, fingers in nail holes, and hands in spear-wounds. We like it better that way.

I know in my heart why we forget this day so often. Because we don't like fear. We don't want to have doubts or unanswered questions. My life would be a whole lot simpler if I could read it like the New Testament and see the whole thing laid out, beginning to end, and KNOW for SURE that all the risks, all the suffering, all the sacrifice of submitting to God with my life was worth it.


But I don't.

And it's the not knowing that makes this life both difficult to follow at sometimes, and incomparably rich at other times.

If I miss Silent Saturday, then I can't really appreciate Easter Sunday. If we don't allow ourselves to appreciate the depth and the richness of not knowing everything, of knowing the principles but not always seeing the result, then we can't appreciate the answer. If we can't allow ourselves to savor the richness of doubt, of wondering "is this worth it, or did I make the biggest mistake of my life?" then we miss the incredible joy of the resurrection, the proclamation that Jesus and the Father both make when He rises; "I AM worthy of your trust. I AM faithful. I AM."

Because most of our life occurs in the Saturday of Silence.

We know what has happened. He rose, He appeared to the disciples, He spent a little more than a month with them, and then one day on top of another hill, He went away, ascending to Heaven.

We also have an idea how this all is supposed to end. He made another promise. That He was going away, but He was coming back, and He was going to get us to come be with Him forever. That the same thing God did with Him, overcoming death, He was going to do in you and me, day by day, bringing the death of our sin into the new life of Grace.

But we live in the space in between those two things. And here, lots of times, there is Silence. And where there is Silence, sometimes there is Fear, and Doubt, and Questions.

I guess for most of my life growing up I thought that having Faith meant that I should blatantly ignore fear, doubt, or questions. When they gnawed or nagged, I was supposed to push them down, ignore them, or scold myself for not having more Faith, and try to "believe harder". I guess I missed the gist of what the writer of Hebrews really meant when he (or she) :0) wrote

"now faith is having assurance in things that we can only hope for, and bringing certainty to things we are unable to see now."

Reassurance doesn't come in and blast doubt, or ignore questions. Reassurance comes alongside the one needing it and gives support and stability. It acknowledges the doubt and the fear, it doesn't try to hide it, and it doesn't chastise the one who doubts or fears or questions. Instead, it alleviates the need for those things by replacing them with assurance, lending certainty in uncertain times. In short, it works through Saturday to see that Sunday will indeed come to pass.
That is the Hope we posses. And that is why I wish you a blessed Easter, but also a rich Silent Saturday. May you know the richness of the Silence, that you may receive the fullness of the Joy of the Answer.

Catching it in the Rear End...

Well, I learned a lot this past Monday afternoon, about a multitude of things, most notably these:

1) Auto accidents happen at the most inopportune times and derail your day, and you just have to live with it.

2) People make really awesome faces when they see your car about to get hit by another car.

3) Whiplash(or whatever you call that sore and stiff post-getting hit by a car feeling) actually gets me in the lower back more than the neck or shoulders.

4) I still have quite a ways to go on controlling my actions.

...So now that you've seen the outline, here is the more "detailed report." And no, that is not my car in the picture.

I was on my way to a youth function on Monday evening after closing up church, and as I was waiting at a red light, I was rear ended. Now, referencing point #1, I was running a bit late, and I was supposed to help lead the event. That is not going to happen because I know I will be tied up with waiting for cops, exchanging information, doing paperwork, etc. All in all though, they did a great job of finishing up, and within about an hour I was done, and able to head home.

It was also one of those accidents that comes out of nowhere. It happened very quickly, but i do remember some things in stark detail. I was sitting at the light, and i was just debating whether it would have been faster for me to go straight or turn left at the intersection, and I had just said to myself, well, I suppose we'll never know for sure (now I do). And I also remember the traffic from the cross street had started turning left in front of me, and then I see the lady turning left in front of me scrunch her face up somewhat like THIS ->


That was something quite memorable, and I remember thinking to myself something like "what's her problem?" and then I get a close up with the steering wheel as I get smacked from behind. The guy was probably going about 15-20 mph when he hit me, no brakes, nothing. It was probably good because I got flung around quite a bit, and if I had seen him coming or tensed up, I'd probably be hurting much worse right now.

Oh yea, that's point #3 - I hurt. but I'm not sure I hurt bad enough to need help, it doesn't feel much worse than after I've spent a day woodcutting with Hutch for the Ghana Mission Fund or anything. I was expecting my neck to hurt a ton, but it doesn't; instead it is all in my lower back, like this big ball of tight soreness. I don't usually complain when I get hurt, and I definitely don't want to be viewed in the same category as one of those "ow my back, give me compensation!" people that seem to embody the worst of American culture, so I'm waiting to see. I know some people that have had long-term problems because of an accident and this doesn't seem the same as them, so I'll wait it out and see if it heals.

Which brings me to the real point of the post, point #4. I need to work on my actions, on my first response. I know, you're saying, who doesn't? You were surprised, you were shocked, your fight or flight response was up...yeah, I've heard that already from my own mind.

But the first thing I do, I mean the very first thing, is think "What IDIOT just hit me while I was sitting here?", and I immediately jump out of the car, with my hands already thrown up in a "WHAT?" kind of attitude, and I look behind me and there is this meek looking, older Asian man behind the wheel, and he just kind of puts his hands up and mouths "Sorry!"

And what am I supposed to do then? I'm ready for some punk teenager or some Paris Hilton lookalike to start throwing me attitude and not have any insurance, and instead I get this meek, well mannered man apologizing, and he does so profusely, and is so worried because he was concerned there might be children in the van with me, and is just so humble about the whole thing, readily admits fault (I LOVE it how the first thing the insurance company tells you to do is to refuse to take any responsibility or admit any fault, and I wonder how I would have done it in this guys shoes, I hope I would have been as humble), and is asking if I am ok.

And it hits me like a ton of bricks, you know? The fact that I am a jerk.


I mean, here I am, coming from a day of working at a CHURCH, and going to a YOUTH EVENT where we're going to talk about how great JESUS is, and I act like, not Jesus, but a JERK. Just like I am the same as everyone else.

I ended up apologizing to the guy, and his wife when she showed up later, for my initial actions, just telling them I was sorry I hadn't treated him like I would want to be treated, like Jesus would have done it.


Now, let em step back and explain myself. I'm not posting this so you can give me comments that say "Oh man, it's Ok, UR still Kewl" or something like that.

I think the reason really is, first, I want to own up to when I do something that is stupid, or just plain wrong, even if it appears little. One of the big beefs that our world has against us as Christians is that we claim to have this great moral fabric, but we spend most of our time holding the world up to a standard it never agreed to follow and telling them they are wrong, and then rationalizing and finding all kinds of excuses for why it's alright for us to continue failing that same standard. When I look in the New Testament, I see the exact opposite was the design, that believers were expected to love each other enough to care and hold one another to the highest standard of accountability, because we know what the standard is and what Grace is supposed to be at work doing in our lives. Then they were showing amazing compassion and love to those outside in the world, and it was UNSTOPPABLE. People couldn't get enough of it, even when they were signing on to be persecuted and killed. I think maybe we got this all backward, and I want to be one of those people who lives it right. If I won't submit to that myself, how would I ever be able to expect to hold anyone else in our church accountable?

But second, and more important, is that I don't want to ever do that again. And one of the best ways I know how to keep myself from repeating sin is to confess it, get it out on the table, and ask for my brothers and sisters to help me. So I guess that's what I'm doing by sharing this.

Life will go on, the car will get fixed, and my back (hopefully) will stop hurting soon, but I hope this is one entry I never forget.

Have a blessed evening.

..And I believe that you are Ninja too...sort of...

OK, short post tonight. First, YouTube is the most beautiful waste of time in the world, where you find gems such as this great video.




"What kind of wood is this?" I loved that line.

You know, it's funny that I am sitting here laughing at these guys trying to be something they are most assuredly not, which is ninja material, and yet I am prone to spend so much time worrying and pouring my energy into trying to be someone I'm most assuredly not, which would be "righteous man" material.

For some reason, we as Christians seem to forget the simplest facts, like when Paul says in Romans 3 that "there is no one who is righteous". We hear it, we know it, we nod our head in agreement every time someone says it, and then we turn right around and try to "be righteous" of our won accord, and then beat ourselves up about it when we're not. I'm sure God kind of chuckles about that, even when His heart is overflowing with compassion about us.

But you know, maybe we could be a little better than the guys on this video. Maybe you look at this and say, "you know, that's pretty dumb, but I bet I probably could kick higher, or at least keep my balance better. At least I would look like less of a fool if I were doing that."

OK, in the realm of being a "shadow warrior" that might be true. But if I try to apply it to being righteous, that's something completely different. Isaiah reminds us in 64:6 that my best efforts, my most righteous acts, are still like unclean rags that God can't use because they are still tainted with the sin of who I am. In essence, we're ALL stumbling around looking like fools, and whether some of us look slightly less foolish than others really doesn't matter, because no one's fitting the mold here.

And if that is what God was looking for from you and I, we would really be in trouble, because He would just give up and leave because there is NO ONE doing it right.

Truth like that, when you really are honest and look at it, either breaks you or it breaks you. So the real question is who gets to re-build you, the one who can't do this, or the One who CAN?

So Thank God that's not what He's looking for. Thank God that instead He's looking to MAKE me righteous, instead of expecting me to do that on my own. Thank God that instead of having to lay awake at night with the burdening reality of the fact I'm making a fool of my life, I can have peace in knowing He's already made me that which I can not be alone. Which frees me to follow with everything I have, rather than be paralyzed by the enormity of the task of making a sinner like me righteous.


Just remember, you may never have great skills with the nunchucks, (non-wii, of course), but God still thinks you're everything you need to be. You keep following Him, He'll take care of the rest.

Now, off to work on my back flip...

Can you have spiritual ADD?

Today was a great Sunday, even though it was a difficult one.

For starters, I give great props to Mark, our preacher, for being in the saddle doing two sermons and usually a class each Sunday morning, and not bolting for the door immediately after. Hey, he even comes back on Sunday night!

When I do get the chance to preach, like today, it is always both a joy and something that dominates my week. It is something that becomes an outpouring of the ways that God has been working on me that week, and usually this is a good thing. This week, it almost seemed to become a form of spiritual ADD, if you'll pardon the metaphor.

I was actually diagnosed with ADD when I was a kid. It's made life interesting, especially the part where you can be completely derailed by small shiny objects or random entertainment like video games playing on loops at Best Buy. Whoever thought that idea up is a VERY BAD MAN, because you're just walking along, you know what you have to get, you're on a schedule, and it's get in, get out, and...
...Oooohh, DUDE! They're coming out with a new expansion pack for World of Warcraft!!!!! who cares if I never played it in my life! It's new and exciting and colorful and WOW. (not WoW, just WOW. ;0) )

And five minutes have gone by before you even realize that you're standing there like a slack jawed idiot fixated on something completely irrelevant to your life, and you totally have to snap out of it and get back to what's important. And you have to remember why you're in the store. And you might even have been there so long that you have to rearrange your schedule. Yep, it makes life interesting.

I think about my spiritual life sometimes in these terms and I wonder how if I have so much difficulty being focused sometimes in the physical realm how I'm supposed to stay focused in the spiritual realm.

Case in point, this Sunday. Daylight savings time does not do me any favors. I was at church, bleary eyed and latte in hand, at about 7:15. Or maybe 6:15, if you forgot to set your watch forward. Not to pump me up, but you all should know by now that I'm not exactly a morning person. It wasn't because I'm being super holy. It's because I knew with some of the stuff that's happened this week, some of it normal, some of it, like the situation with Hunter, not so normal, it was probably going to take that long just to get the focus back where it needs to be so I can be an effective mouthpiece for God.

In case you didn't know, ADD is on the rise. Now I know that we as a society tend to want to find a diagnosis for everything, and you may say that ADD wasn't a problem until we started making it an excuse for why we can't function normally. I will definitely agree with you on that point. But I don't think it's that it didn't exist, I think people learned how to adjust and live with it. They may have had some "learning disabilities", but for the most part they led fairly normal lives and learned to adjust to the norms of the world around them.

But here's the thing. Researchers are saying that one of the reasons ADD is on the rise is because our marketing and sales, even our culture, is starting to become ADD driven. More ads, larger ads. More outrageous looking things. More information coming faster than ever before. Music all day, everywhere. Sounds, sights, data flying at you all the time. Even as I am writing this I have some silly noise going off on my computer because my pop-up blocker is blocking some adware for refinancing my house or getting me cheap prescriptions from Canada or enhancing my love life or some silly thing.

Seems like when the world around us sets the norm at being unfocused, distracted, and changing course from here to there swiftly, we are prone to follow suit. I would tend to believe that it is the same in the spiritual as it is the physical realm for us as humans.

My point is simply this: I'm not doing myself any favors when I introduce lots of noise into my life and then try to focus on a single point. When I study or work, I usually have music on ( don't know what that has to say about my personality), but I can't have just anything on. I can't have my "driving music" (harder edge stuff, faster, techno, stuff like that) on. Instead I usually have chill or light instrumental. Always something with NO WORDS. I've had more than one instance in college of getting a song in my head while working, and proceeding to put half a sentence from a song into a term paper. It's about the only time I've thanked Microsoft for their grammar checking in Word, which in any other circumstance seems completely useless.

I also think we don't do ourselves a lot of favors when we introduce spiritual "noise" into our lives. You know what I'm talking about: busyness, strife, bitterness, worry, resentment, regret, guilt. The busyness especially gets us moving faster than we should in order to be able to really take notice of what God is doing in us and around us, but then it also lets our guard down, so we're ready to accept anything that any of that "noise" might want to introduce into the story of our life, and it just sneaks into the paper before we realize we've even written it. And that's just the internal noise! You start adding all the external sources, like media, materialism, gossip (boy, isn't that a huge source of distraction from loving each other and being focused on each other's well being!) , and other things like that, and your head is spinning worse than me in the Best Buy.

I guess that's why there is so much in the Word about being still. It's why our Sundays (or, if you're like me, it's Tuesdays!) really need to be Sabbath, rest, not just this day where we cram church in and then try to get done all those projects that have been nagging us all week, or catch up before it's Monday. It's why we need that time in the morning (maybe bleary eyed with our latte, maybe that extra five minutes in the shower, whatever) just to FOCUS on taking notice of the fact that God is doing something in us and with us, and maybe even through us.

I really want to do this more. To just have those times to stop and take notice. To hit the pause button and just be still. Hopefully you do to. Who knows? maybe stopping and reading this blog was one of them for you. Maybe God is using that to really get some wheels turning in our collective heads about how to do this better. I hope so.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think there's something shiny in the corner calling for my attention...

Getting started with Whatever...

What are you supposed to write for a first blog entry anyway? Are you supposed to lay out a mission statement, or some essay as to why you are doing what you are doing? I don't know. Mostly this is just so I can discipline myself more in following Christ by actively writing about and reflecting on the experiences He is putting in my path.

Hopefully this also means that you, as a reader, might get to share a few tidbits of wisdom if you dig around in the mess enough as well.

I hope that more than anything else that by doing this regularly, when I go back and look at these entries and experiences, I'll see the hand of God guiding and shaping my life. It will also be a chance to do something that ties in with my life as a minister, and be able to encourage you in your walk, as well as maybe letting you get to know me a bit more without the "minister" hat on all the time.

Of course, that may not be such a good thing, since I've often said of you could get into my mind you'd pay good money to get back out again...

So we will see where this goes.

Oh yeah. Why the title whatever? Simple:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. - Philippians 4:8

Makes perfect sense to me, right?

So stop by occasionally, kick off your shoes and stick around. We'll talk about whatever, and let God take care of the growing and the shaping. Deal? See you soon!