Don't Get Comfortable

THE CREATION // [FREEDOM1]

2012-02-17T13:35:00.001-08:00

There is an amazing lyric that says, “If the world was how it should be maybe I could get some sleep”.

If the world was how it should be? How should the world be?

I can barely imagine a world with no violence/disease /war/hate/crime/gossip/injustice/tragedy?

Try to think about what your life would be like if you didn’t have a worry in the world. Imagine that you didn’t have to fear anything at all. You wouldn’t have to concern yourself with if what you eat will make you fat or if what you wear will make you accepted or if your grandma will die from her cancer or if the car you’re riding in might end your life today.

What if you had eyes to see things for how beautiful they really are? You could hear the glory of God in every piece of music and every voice. You would wake up every morning feeling more refreshed than you’ve ever felt, with a smile on your face and joy in your heart. Every friendship you had would be based on genuine love, no hidden agendas or drama. No politics, no games to play. Everything was how it seemed. Everything was good.

Welcome to Paradise. This is how the world should be.

In the beginning, God created everything and set history in motion. “Genesis” means beginning/starting point/origin, and it tells us a magnificent story about how it all got started, what God is like, and what it means to be human. It reveals the mind of a God who has an imagination more enormous than galaxies and more intricate than atoms. It reveals the heart of a God who is good to His very core. It unveils the wisdom of a God who sits supreme over all things. It’s the shotgun start to a beautiful story still unfolding before our eyes.

A newborn baby cries – mom & dad stand amazed as they watch the miracle of a new life beginning.
Creation is still happening.
A girl is soak and wet crying – hundreds of people are moved to tears, worshipping with all of heaven as they watch her come out of the water – they watch the miracle of a new life beginning.
Creation is still happening.

Close your eyes. Can you hear the sound of hope rising in the voices as they join together to proclaim the greatness of God. Can you feel the hope rising in your chest? Maybe all this time you’ve been alive, you’ve never grasped what it means to live. Maybe you’ve never rolled out of bed with God’s heart beating in your chest. Maybe you’ve never seen God in all His brilliance because your eyes are still closed. You don’t know what you’re missing.

Creation happened again in the resurrection of Jesus. The invitation of Jesus isn’t necessarily to come and die – you’re already dead. The invitation is to come and live. Maybe you’ve been trying to save your life when it’s already lost. If you were how you should be maybe you could get some sleep.

This is it. Jesus came to take everything that was dead and breathe life into it again. We are the creation He came to restore. You are the creation He came to restore.

Welcome to paradise. This is how the world should be.

The Empty Box

2012-02-07T12:06:00.001-08:00

Our lives can easily become compartmentalized. We let the words of Jesus shape our actions, but not our hearts – and we end up knowing exactly how to manage every situation carefully. We wrap Jesus up and carefully place him in a box. Then we store Him in the top left hand corner of our closet – and we take it with us when we go to worship services – we hold tight to it when people close to us die – and we grab it when someone tries to prove evolution to us… but if we ever actually opened the box we would find that He has escaped and we’ve been carrying around an empty, powerless box.

Jesus refuses to be boxed up. The call to follow Him has always been “come, give me everything.”

That’s why Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword. I’ve come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

This is one of the most challenging teachings of Jesus. A sword cuts and divides. And if we live according to the teachings of Jesus, it can cause division in our relationships, both with our friends and our families. Difficult or not, this was the nature of the situation for His disciples. It would cost them everything, even their lives. And we would be remiss if we failed to consider that our own decision to follow could cost us too.

It can offend your Buddhist grandmother… you might get cut out of someone’s will or disowned as a part of your family… you could hurt your parents feelings… your mom might roll her eyes… your dad might mock you… your brother might tell you that you’re uneducated to believe in such a stupid thing… and your sister might tell you to calm down with all the radical lifestyle changes. Your friends might stop calling you to hang out… your reputation might be altered… people might make fun of you… BUT when those things happen, Jesus says you have to choose him. He doesn’t want to be one of the things in your life; he wants your entire life. And for some people, hearing that makes Jesus sound like He is being a little over dramatic – maybe even letting some jealousy shine through. But I don't think so.

Before Lindsay and I started dating I had a lot of female friends. I would talk to them on the phone. I would ride in cars alone with them. I would flirt with them. It would be the modern day equivalent of texting them whenever I wanted, writing flirty things on their Facebook wall, and having coffee with them alone. But when Lindsay and I started dating all of those things had to stop. And when we got married it became completely off limits. How would Lindsay feel if I called up one of those girls and talked to them on the phone for a few hours? And what if I let her flirt with me and I flirted back? And then what if we both agreed to meet early the next morning at Starbucks for coffee? If Lindsay finds out about this and gets angry with me for it does that mean she has a jealousy problem? Does that mean she is possessive because she doesn’t want me to have coffee alone with another girl?

No. It means she expects me to love her ONLY.

In the same way, Jesus will not share his affection. If you’re his, then He wants you to be His. All throughout scripture, Jesus paints His people as His bride. And when they turn away to chase after other things (created things, perverted things, whatever things) he calls it an affair. And some of us are having affairs – and Jesus has come to us and said, “unless you make me the only, you can’t have me”. Jesus isn't being unreasonable. He just wants you to love Him ONLY.

6 Drinks To A Son: A Parable

2011-12-09T07:46:00.001-08:00

I was 18, an orphan, thrown around from house to house in the foster care system my entire life. I had been out on my own for about a year. It was 3am, I was drunk, and I was driving too fast on a curvy road right outside of Phoenix. I can’t tell you much else other than I saw headlights, heard a loud noise, felt a sensation like I was on fire, heard sirens, and the next thing I know I’m laying in a hospital bed. Two men dressed in blue are standing by the door. I ask what’s going on. And as they begin to recount to me the events of that tragic morning, my heart begins to feel sick – terrified even – as they tell me the details. The driver of the other car was 17, not drunk, and driving home early from an all night event at his church because he wasn’t feeling too well. And he was dead. I cannot describe with words the horror that overwhelmed me in that moment – the full understanding that my stupidity, pride, and selfishness had cost someone my same age their life – his parents a son – his siblings a brother – his girlfriend a best friend. I wished I could die. But they wouldn’t let me. The doctors pulled me through my injuries, I was tried for vehicular homicide and I was convicted. And off to the penitentiary I went. For at least 15 years. Living under the worst physical conditions of your life while simultaneously dealing with the guilt you feel for taking someone’s life is a kind of pain I can’t express with words. No visitors came for the first year, I had no family -- but sometime the following March some family I had never seen before began to visit me. They came once each week; sometimes it was just the dad, sometimes it was just the mom, and sometimes they had their 2 daughters with them. We would talk for hours about life and they would tell me all about this guy named Jesus and what he taught. They told me that there was forgiveness and that they deeply valued me even if no one else did – but they never once asked me what I had done to deserve this. I assumed they already knew, but if they didn’t I was nervous to risk losing the only people who seemed to care about me. But after my third year of being in prison, they all came in one day declaring that they had 2 pieces of good news. First, they said I was going to be released from prison in just one more year because I had exemplified model behavior for a prisoner – of course everyone knew how much sorrow I felt for what I did. And the second piece of good news is that, since they knew I did not have a family, they wanted to adopt me and take me in as their son. At the moment, the joy I felt was only tempered by the thought in the back of mind that they must know who I really am in order for me to be okay with this. So, with tears in my eyes I told them I needed to tell them what I had done, and I recounted the story of the night that my selfish actions took the life of that 17 year old boy… and as tears filled every eye, the father looked back at me and said, “we know, that boy was our son”.

God’s love is like this.

“Get out of my closet”: A Parable of Apathy

2011-11-04T20:20:00.001-07:00

Jesus and I had some mutual friends, so we were bound to cross paths sooner or later. I couldn’t tell you where I was or what I was doing when we first met, it was a casual encounter -- by happenstance at some point or another we were in the same room and exchanged “hello’s”. Most of my friends were much more enamored with Him than I ever was; they were extreme in their pursuit of becoming more like Him. I always thought the whole thing was strange. My friends would tell me about some of the things He said but sometimes I didn’t even agree with them – He seemed somewhat judgmental and kind of arrogant.

But after I started getting more exposure to Him, I noticed that His words did have a certain pull to them. I began to enjoy having conversations with Him – He never seemed satisfied to let the conversation stay on the surface, He genuinely wanted to know who I was and who I wanted to become. I started to realize that my friends had often misrepresented Him to me and that He was actually more genuine than anyone else I had ever met. He wasn’t judgmental at all. He wasn’t arrogant either. Over time I learned much more about Him and I too became enamored with Him. So, when I moved out of my parents house I asked Him if He wanted to grab an apartment together and become roommates. He was happy to do it!

The first few months were awesome. I loved having Him around. We would stay up late talking about life and discussing the deep questions of the universe. In that apartment I felt a freedom that I had never felt before. I wanted to become more like Him – I wanted His advice for living. I had never met someone with such a magnetic personality and such a full grasp on truth; I had never encountered someone with such a passion for life. I was ready to change.

Since we shared an apartment, I will describe what happened next in my life in terms of cleaning that apartment. He started by washing all the dishes and making sure there was nothing out of place. He straightened the pillows on the couch and dusted off the furniture. He ran the vacuum on the floor and sprayed some smelly good stuff around the house. I thought He was done.

But much to my surprise He was just getting started. He started by washing the windows and mopping the floor by hand. Then he grabbed a bucket of water and started washing down the walls and cleaned out the window seals. He got crazy when it came to cleaning the bathroom – all the soap-scum needed to go away and He scrubbed and scrubbed the tub until it was perfectly white again. He got behind the back of the toilet too. Then he started re painting all the trim white. I thought He was done.

But then He started taking everything out of the refrigerator and throwing away the outdated product. He scrubbed down the shelves. He started opening up all the cabinets and removing everything before washing every part of them down. Then he started asking me if I was sure I needed my toaster oven and blender. I told Him I did. He disagreed. I thought He was done.

But then He went too far. He started messing around in my garage, getting out all my tubs and sorting through my stuff. He wanted me to get rid of a lot of things I’d been holding onto for years. I knew I shouldn’t keep them but I fought with Him every step of the way. He got out the lockbox in my closet and started sorting through the most private of all my things. I felt like He was overstepping His boundaries but I couldn’t muster up the courage to tell Him I wanted Him to give me some space – so I decided to play Him and begin undoing all the things He did around the apartment. I was tired of changing. I was okay with a few changes here and there, but He wasn’t content to let me be myself. He wanted too much.

Jesus told me to forgive everyone of their offenses, but I wanted to hold on to the bitter feelings I had toward those who had wronged me

He told me to end disputes quickly, but I liked being able to talk to my friends about how terrible the other person was before revolving the matter

He told me that it would be better for me to get rid of the part of my life that causes me to sin than for my whole life to be destroyed, I didn’t believe Him

Jesus told me to feed the poor, clothe the naked, fight for the oppressed, but I just wanted to relax after a hard day at work

He told me not to judge, but how could he expect me to overlook the obvious stupidity of the people around me

He told me I’d have to deny myself, but I’m just naturally control oriented

He said follow me – I said “no”.

Would Jesus Celebrate Halloween?

2011-10-31T08:43:00.001-07:00

Today I’d like to address a cultural issue that I believe the church is typically nervous about addressing. You know me... I'm not. And I’m willing to bet it’s a cultural issue that affects almost every single one of you. I’m also willing to bet that you might be offended by this. It’s the celebration of today: Halloween.

Let’s start with getting a firm understanding of where Halloween descended from. The Celtic people who lived in the land that is now Ireland, Great Britain, and France, had a festival on October 31^st every year called “Samhain”. It was the end of their calendar year, so it was something like our celebration of New Years Eve. The day marked the end of the summer and beginning of the winter – which symbolized darkness and cold, and for them it had a lot to do with human death. Some said it was the end of the “lighter half” of the year and the beginning of the “darker half” – November 1^st was the day of death. And they believed that very weird things happened on the night before: the dead would walk among the living. It was a night full of divination and fortune telling. They believed that everyone who had died during that year would rise up from their grave on that night and move to the underworld and people who had already passed into the underworld could freely come back. As one writer says, the gates between the worlds were wide open and the veil of separation between the two worlds was very thin. This is where the idea of ghosts on Halloween came from. The Celtic people believed that in order to ward off the evil spirits, they should dress up in appalling costumes to convince the spirits that they were spirits too. They would light big bonfires and sacrifice a share of their crops to the gods. In many other cultures similar festivals were held – some were even called “the festival of the dead”. Halloween is also New Years Eve for those who practice Wicca (pagan witchcraft) – a night when communication with the dead is said to be easiest. When Christianity spread throughout Europe, one of their strategies was to take pagan traditions and infuse Christian concepts into them. So, they adopted the name “All Hallows Eve”, later shortened to “Hallowe-en” and changed the date of their celebration of the saints from April 20^th to November 1^st. For some strange reason, trying to fuse a pagan festival together with Christian concepts didn’t work… and while the name changed, the focus of the night continued to be death and supernatural phenomenon. Halloween didn’t exist in America at first, but came into existence in the 1800's when several immigrants from Ireland and Scotland introduced their Halloween customs. They brought various beliefs about ghosts and witches with them. Other groups added their own cultural influences to Halloween customs: German immigrants brought a vivid witchcraft lore, while Haitian and African peoples brought their native voodoo beliefs about black cats, fire, and witchcraft. All of this combined to create a day of celebration that doesn't have any root in the Jesus movement.

Fast forward to the year 2011 and we still see the ancient traditions abounding. We have kept the tradition of costumes, only now it’s an opportunity for girls to dress like prostitutes without fear of being judged. We’ve taken the liberty of adding in the element of terror with haunted houses, haunted trails, and scary movies. Paranormal activity 3 has broken all kinds of box office records this month, the latest in a long line of films descending from the original terror movie from 1978 called, you guessed it: “Halloween”. And we as followers of Jesus have jumped on the bandwagon – most of us have made a habit of supporting these things. But let me ask you this follower of Jesus: what is it about the celebration of evil things that so resonates with the Holy Spirit inside you? What is it about a serial killer with a chain saw that reinforces the message of Jesus: reconciliation? What is it about vampires (the drinking of blood and distortion of sex) that is pure? How can you sit through a movie that glorifies demonic activity terrorizing a family without the Holy Spirit compelling you to leave?

Maybe you’ve misinterpreted something deep inside yourself. You say, “I like the sensation of fear”. But let me suggest that fear is a response intended only for God – what you feel is “terror”. That feeling you get when you’re in that haunted house or watching that scary movie is not fear at all – it’s actually the thing God put inside you in order to help you know when a situation is deeply wrong – it’s supposed to make you leave, not make you stay. Let me ask you this follower of Jesus: do you believe God was kidding when he told the Israelites that anyone who practices fortune-telling or sorcery, or interprets omens, or engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead is an object of horror and disgust to the Lord? Why would he give them those instructions? Well, because these things are real. Johanna Michaleson, former occultist and author of The Beautiful Side of Evil said, “For a true Christian to participate in the ancient trappings of Halloween is as incongruous as for a committed Satanist coming from blood sacrifices on Christmas Eve to set up a nativity scene in his living room singing Silent Night, Holy Night with sincere devotion to baby Jesus!”

Paul asks the question 2 Corinthians 6, “what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What communion does light have with darkness?” He goes on to say that Christ doesn’t have any communion with false gods. He then asks how the temple of God (you) can participate in the worship of false gods? His command is this: Come out from them and be separate, do not touch what is unclean. If we’re honest with ourselves, the primary elements of Halloween glorify evil things.

Ephesians 5:7-12 says, “Don't participate in the things these people do. For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke and expose them.”

So, you must test everything. It is okay to go trick or treating? Is it okay to dress up in costumes and go to parties? Is it alright to carve a pumpkin (this tradition comes from remembering the fallen saints)? I think each follower of Jesus should use their own discernment on these matters. But I will not be silent when it comes to the glorification of witchcraft or ghosts (demons) – these things are God’s opponents and should have zero place in the lives of people who are chasing after Jesus and living according to his mission. Jesus came to destroy the work of Satan, death, and everything evil– it was so important to His mission that He gave up His life. What does it say about us then if we make light of and even participate in the celebration of those things? There is no better way for Satan to render the church ineffective than by tricking them into thinking that the things he stands for are no big deal.

As always, it doesn’t matter what the culture says, what your pastor says, or what your parents say… it only matters what God says. And if you think Jesus would have dressed his disciples up as witches while they watched a movie about demons terrorizing a family for entertainment, we know a different guy.

Jordan vs. Jordan

2011-09-12T06:57:00.001-07:00

Last night, the Legend and Carl Curtis had a disagreement about the proper pronunciation of Reese’s. To get to the bottom of it, Carl Curtis wrote this email to Hershey.

“I am writing to you with a dilemma. I need to know the appropriate pronunciation of the word "Reese's" in Reese's Cups. This has been a debate amongst my friends tonight and we must get to the bottom of this. I understand you are busy and have important things to do, like make more chocolate-y, delicious treats for millions to enjoy, but if it wouldn't be too much trouble this could save a friendship!
Thank you for your time.

Jordan (a concerned Hershey lover)”

HAHAHAHA. Back to work now, but thought I should share this with everyone of my faithful readers :)

Accelerators

2011-08-23T11:48:00.001-07:00

There are certain names that become inscribed on walls and written about in books. Their words carry a distinct weight because of the legacy they left to accompany them. These are people who spark constant change in whatever they do and wherever they go – the world is different because of them. They leave no doubt as to who they are and what they are here for. Their names become common, yet something about their lives mystically elevates them beyond everything else that we think of as common. They are indispensible. They are accelerators. They see the world in a different way. They ask a lot of questions. They aren’t satisfied with keeping things the way they are; but rather than focusing on the problems that exist they invest their time into finding solutions. They don’t love change, they simply see the need to move forward at any cost.

And there are other names that get put in scrapbooks and tagged in photos. These are the names of people you met at the beach one summer; a week you will never forget, a relationship that faded after a few letters sent in the fall. They are mysterious. We don’t really know who they are. And we never will. They remain an ever fading memory, their impact disappearing in the dust they leave behind. They believe in a better world but won’t stick around to help you create it. They have so much promise and potential but don’t have the wherewithal to realize it. They love pointing out problems but don’t spend enough time dreaming of solutions. They ignite movement. But they are crumbling windmills.

This might be a strange way to say this, but every person who sparks change for a short period of time has the choice to become either one of these people, an accelerator or a crumbling windmill.

Fool me twice.. shame on me

2011-08-19T08:41:00.001-07:00

When you know someone well and think, “I don’t want to be like them” are you judging them? I mean, you’ve obviously drawn that conclusion based on your perception of who they really are. When you see a pattern a behavior that remains constant throughout countless seasons of their life, are you wrong to assume they will probably continue in those patterns? If you see some major flaws in their life, is it okay to point them out… or is it okay for you to just stay silent about them? What about choosing to disconnect from them altogether? These are questions I have been wrestling with for a while now.

Christians often say, “Don’t judge”. Wait; are they judging other Christians when they say that? Regular people (I’ve resolved to calling them this since they hate “lost”, “unchristian”, “sinner”, “not born again”, “outsiders” “unregenerate”, and “hell mongers”) often say, “Christians are so judgmental”. I think that’s a pretty judgmental statement. Yet that is the word most used to describe Christians in surveys (try conducting a survey at Wal-Mart or a local university… its fun). With all this talk about judgment, I wonder if we can even agree on what it means to judge. Since everything else started with Jesus, we will too.

“Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you look at a speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘let me take the speck out of your eye’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite [actor], first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye”. Matthew 7:1-5

Jesus is pretty clear here. Judging is wrong. But the act of wanting to help someone get rid of the sawdust in their eye is not judging… the act of trying to remove it without first examining your own life is. There is a whole heart condition behind judgment. It has overtones of condemnation – it’s sitting at the front of the courtroom where God belongs, wearing His robe, holding his gavel, and pretending that we have the authority to speak on heart issues. It’s making the assumption that you know the motives behind why they act the way they do without having any proof, and chalking it up to bad character. It’s thinking in your heart, “They are so messed up because they do ‘___’” while completely ignoring that you do the same thing. Jesus says, “Stop ACTING like you’re perfect; first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye”. Judgment can only be instituted by someone with authority – so when God walks into the room and tells you to take off His robe and get out of His seat, whatever judgment you had previously made doesn’t even matter, except that He will try you as harshly as you were trying your brother and hold you in contempt for insulting His seat by sitting in it. Yes, judgment comes from a heart that regards itself more highly than it should – it’s wearing a mask and pretending to be someone you are not (the literal meaning of the Greek work hypokrites is stage actor or in reference to a public performance). Do not judge.

If there is one continual theme in Proverbs it’s that some people are wise, some people are foolish/stupid, and some people are evil. The writer of these proverbs continually makes references to “the fool” and gives very practical tips on how to spot them and interact with them. This would require that we recognize the fool and label them one. He even says at one point (kevan’s translation), “imagine that you steal some baby bears from a big momma bear – now imagine that bear is very angry with you and wants to rip you into tiny pieces and eat you… run from a fool as quickly as you would run from that bear”. He says “leave the presence of a fool or you will become like them”, “drive out the fool”, and “don’t try to instruct a fool”. It seems like Solomon was well rehearsed in identifying the fool. And Jesus actually comments on the subject in Matthew 7 right after he says the thing about judging, “do not give to dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. This is a way of saying, “holy and valuable things must only be given to those who appreciate them” (France). The message here and all throughout Proverbs is this: don’t waste your breath on correcting those that won’t value your insight, use discernment when determining who to become vulnerable with. Discernment is different than judgment.

Discernment has overtones of wisdom – its saying, “I don’t know their heart but God does; and I will choose to not associate with them because the fruit of their life is not consistent with the fruit I want to produce”. It’s refusing to assume that you know their motives and chalking their flaws up to being human, while deeply examining whether or not the bad fruit in their life can be found in yours. It’s acknowledging that you have no authority to put anyone on trial, while simultaneously adjusting your life patterns in order to present yourself with purity at yours. Discernment is important. And it’s a deeply spiritual process.

I have often judged people in the name of discernment. And that’s a heart issue. I do not have the authority to determine who is a fool, but I have a spiritual responsibility to refrain from foolish actions. Therefore I must choose to run from people who consistently model the characteristics of the fool as described by Solomon. That, I believe, is wisdom. I also do not believe that confronting issues present in someone else’s life is wrong – as long as we have taken the responsible action of evaluating our life first.

Jesus: Undercover Boss

2011-07-27T06:42:00.001-07:00

Maybe you’ve seen the show, “Undercover Boss”. If you haven’t seen it, the concept is that the CEO/owner/president of a company takes an entry level position in their own company to see whether or not the mission of the company is being lived out by the employees in the day to day. One night, as Lindsay and I were watching it she raised the disturbing question about what would happen if Jesus did the undercover boss thing, and took an entry level position at any given church at any given time. I have to wonder if the people he’d be working with and preaching to would like Him very much at all.

In our student ministry, we taught a series last year called “Jesus who?” The whole purpose of the series was to expose some of our most deeply rooted misconceptions about who Jesus is, so we can divide what the gospels say about His life and ministry from what we’ve sort of added in to make Him easier to swallow. We picture a safe Jesus with flowing brown, flat ironed, hair that spoke gently and stood on street corners holding children and petting sheep. He’s handsome and clean cut. He only wears the nicest flowing white robes. Even though he was born in the Middle East some 1700 years before the United States of America existed, He looks like an American and has the same values as most Americans. Mostly, Jesus has been presented as a nice guy – a mister Rogers of the first century if you will. People that grew up going to Sunday school have learned to associate Jesus with Kool-aid, golden stars for attendance, flannel graph boards, and sugar cookies. Just Google image search the word “Jesus” and you’ll see what I mean. We’ve created a Jesus in our minds and in our paintings that doesn’t look much like the real one at all. And for this very reason, when the moment comes at the end of the show when the employees walk into a room and find out that this person is the CEO, I believe many people would be shocked to find out this guy was really Jesus.

Every time I move away from reading the gospels for a while, I gradually lose the sense that our Jesus looks very different from the Jesus in scripture. But when I dive back in, I’m confronted every single time with how straight forward and controversial He is. I’m convicted that he was never okay with half hearted followers and even refused to allow people to follow Him who were not fully devoted. He didn’t care about numbers; when thousands of people were following him around in John 6, He preached the worst possible message for the situation… on purpose. He spent time with thieves, prostitutes, and other social outcasts and apparently ate and drank more casually with them than the religious leaders approved of. He was seemingly always getting his hands dirty. In His words, “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”. He came to bring good news for the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed. And He stressed that God’s kingdom had drawn near – in fact he spoke of this kingdom everywhere He went. He gave his disciples an invitation to get executed after living a life of denying themselves. Religious folk weren’t fans of him – they were always trying to get him to slip up and tried to kill him on more than one occasion. They succeeded once. I suspect that while we may not kill him, we may release him from his duties for the following reasons:

1) He speaks with too much authority and offends people, especially the ones who are already faithful to the religious establishment.

2) He is not interested in pleasing people – rather in challenging people to do what pleases God.

3) He does not play well with a crowd

4) He doesn’t understand people’s undying commitment to academics and athletics at the expense of their pursuit of God – his expectations are way too high

5) He talks about money too much – and rarely in a good way

6) He spends too much time in environments where ministers should not be seen

I say all this because I have been convicted so much over the past 3 years or so that I may not respond well to Jesus if he did the whole undercover boss thing. I only worry about what my reaction would be because he actually did to the undercover boss thing. And he was despised, rejected, betrayed, and murdered by the people who were “closest to God”. So, we must continually refocus our eyes on the mission Jesus has given us to ensure that we are fulfilling His purpose – not one we made up along the way.

The 5 albums that changed my life

2011-07-07T12:01:00.001-07:00

Several albums have made an impression on my life, but these are the ones that have influenced me more than all the others. Out of all the music I’ve ever listened to, these are the albums that have had the longest lasting impact.

#1 Hillsong United // In a Valley by the Sea

In October 2007, Lindsay and I left the church in Kokomo to begin a new adventure with CrossView. This was the same year Lindsay’s brother Chris was in Australia studying at Hillsong – and we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go visit him in Sydney during the 2 week period between the end of our time at Judson and the starting date at CrossView. We were worn out. There had never been a time in either of lives (and hasn’t been since) when we felt so overwhelmed and drained – our zeal for ministry was dissipating. But the trip to Australia would provide the breath of fresh air that we needed. During that trip, Hillsong was unveiling the songs from In a Valley by the Sea and we bought the CD, months before it ever came out in the states. And so the songs on this album vividly remind me of a time in my life when God restored me to a deeper understanding of the calling he had given me, making this by far the most influential album I’ve ever heard.

#2 Crossmovement // House of representatives

Christian rap has gotten a bad rap for a long time, but these guys were so fresh and unlike anything else Christian rap had ever heard when they first came out. They expressed biblical concepts in a way that helped me remember them – and I still remember the lyrics to most of their songs. This album showed me that you can speak truth in a direct and confrontational way with whatever medium you are gifted in producing.

#3 Lifehouse // No name face

I still remember the day my brother called me and told me about the song “hanging by a moment”. It was in the days of Napster and I illegally downloaded it. A few listens is all it took before I wanted to own their album – so when it came out I got it. Jason Wade has since became the songwriter I respect the most – there is something special about being able to write a song full of truth that applies cross-directionally to a variety of topics. Among the historically great songs “hanging by a moment” and “everything”, is “simon”. I fell asleep to this song every night for over a year.

#4 Jeremy Camp // Stay

Jeremy Camp lost his wife shortly after they were married – and he wrote this album as a response to God through it all. His continued trust in the faithfulness of God through the pain has served to remind me that it is in the middle of the most difficult times in our life that our real faith is actually exposed. I heard Jeremy tell the story live at one of his concerts, and as he sat there with an acoustic guitar playing these songs I saw the heart of an artist I would like to model.

#5 Jeremy Riddle / Full Attention

I’m not sure there has ever been an album this spirit filled. He refuses to compromise the wording of scripture to make it more accessible to the music. “Please keep my eyes fixed on you, please root my heart so deeply in you, keep me abiding that I may bear fruit” is the chorus line that I have tried to live by. Whenever I want to be surrounded by the presence of God and turn all of my attention to Him, I turn on this album.

Setting Things Right // Living Righteously

2011-06-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

In Matthew 5, Jesus has just begun what will go down in history as His most popular sermon – from a mountaintop – the same way God delivered His message to the Israelites in Exodus 19. He begins teaching about how things work in this new kingdom He is ushering in. Most of it is inverted, like it doesn’t make sense in the way we are typically taught to view the world – it’s like the teachings of Jesus are upside down. And He is laying out promises and gifts for those that choose to live within the truths of this new kingdom. A few sentences in, He makes this statement: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled”.

There are a few very interesting things in this statement, not the least of which is His use of “hunger and thirst” to describe what our relationship to righteousness should be. Hunger and thirst? Those are 2 of the most primal functions of our body -- food and drink sustain us. They provide our bodies with the fuel we need to continue living. And when you go without them for a while, your body begins to hunger and thirst… and it’s a painful and grueling experience when you don’t have anything to satisfy them. So when Jesus suggests that our relationship with righteousness should be similar to that of food and drink, it is not a small metaphor.

But what does righteousness mean?

Let’s go back to Exodus 19. What happens there? God extends an invitation to a group of people He wants to be in covenant relationship with and they accept. Both parties are now obligated to hold up their end of the deal. It basically goes like this, “I will be your God and you will be my people”. God then begins to lay out roughly 600 guidelines and expectations for how they should live under His rule, with the promise that He will bless them and make them into a mighty nation if they keep them, or destroy them if they followed after other gods and disobeyed His commands. He makes a covenant with them.

If you know anything about the history of Israel, they fail to uphold their end of the deal repeatedly. But in the midst of their rebellion, prophets and kings write about God’s continued righteousness. And unlike what we’ve been told, that doesn’t simply mean, “pure” or “good”. In the OT, the Hebrew word “Sedeq” (righteousness) when used to describe God, is almost always in the context of His saving actions in accordance with remaining faithful the covenant He made with His people. YAHWEH was not only the one who gave them the law, but also the one who was faithful to it, even when they were not.

See the covenant He made with Israel wasn’t simply about making them into a great nation; it was about fixing the world… restoring all things back to Himself through them. So in intervening on their behalf to demonstrate mercy toward them so that they might be restored, God’s proved himself to be “righteous”.

The ancient Jews believed that God is righteous for 2 reasons:

1) He is always faithful to His word

2) He is always faithful to His purpose

So God is just because He always acts in accordance with what He has established as truth. And in the midst of His justice, He always remains true to His purpose of ‘restoring all things’.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God’s justice to be upheld and for His purpose to be accomplished.

But followers of Jesus are also made righteous. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 that those who have been reconciled back to God now join in the ministry of reconciliation and that we are the ambassadors of His message making the appeal on His behalf; and he ends His thought with “that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God. ‘To become the righteousness of God’ means that believers become participants in God’s reconciling action, extensions of his restoring love. Righteousness is present in this restored relationship with God when life is lived in conformity with God’s purpose.

So as an extension of the invitation God gave to the Israelites in Exodus 19, Jesus invites you and I into covenant... a new and better covenant. Those who accept the invite are transformed by God power into the people of the re-established creation story, the restored world where God reigns supreme over all things – also called, the kingdom of God. Only those who have been restored live there. And they live righteously by working with God to make things right; and by “right” I mean, how it would be if God were king. This is what it means to usher in the kingdom of God. And these are the ones who are truly satisfied when it’s all said and done.

If my Droid dies young…

2011-05-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

Today I am saying goodbye to my smartphone. It’s called the “droid incredible… and it is. While it’s been a fantastic companion in my pocket, it is fiscally irresponsible for me to continue paying the extra $30 each month so I can get email, read Facebook status updates, and check the score to the reds game anytime I want. This was purely a financial decision… or so I thought.

Today has been a difficult day for me. I’ve known for a little while that this day was coming, but I hadn’t allowed myself to truly soak it in until this morning. It’s probably a somewhat temporary choice in the big scheme of things, but the thought of not having an awesome phone for any amount of time has really been bothering me. And that has really been bothering me. How addicted have I become to being connected to technology, that I’m even slightly devastated to get rid of my phone. What will I do now? Is there life after technology? These same emotions came for me when Lindsay and I decided to get rid of DISH network at our house. Then again when we decided to get rid of our internet access. I felt like I’d be missing out – like it wasn’t fair that everyone around me got to have those things and I didn’t. I felt like every human should be entitled to having these things. So, in the absence of those things I literally talked Lindsay in to getting data plans. “Every minister has one” I said. “Every minister needs one”. I felt the urge to constantly remain connected to the outside world. And after just 6 short months, I have become addicted once again to technology. For some reason, I forgot how much better our marriage had become when our evenings stopped consisting of watching 4 hours of shows recorded from our DVR. I had forgotten how nice it was to give my wife my full attention when we were together. I didn’t realize that my data plan would compete for my attention at every moment – or that I would ever succumb to the temptation of technology again.

There is nothing wrong with data plans. They aren’t the anti-Christ (although some have suggested… well, never mind). But, like every piece of technology, they are dangerous as they can lead us into an addiction that plays with our mind, trying to convince us that we need them. Like a well trained assassin, they can navigate through the unseen parts of our lives, picking off the good parts one by one until, at some point, we look around to find that we’ve lost those things which truly mattered. We are drawn in by the sexiness of it all and we began to focus on the happenings of the invisible world it connects us with … and we don’t realize how much we are actually missing out on the people who are sitting in the chair next to us.

I like being transparent with my friends and the people I lead. I like to express what I feel the Holy Spirit is revealing in my life. I’m not trying to Jesus juke anyone that has a data plan or fancy TV or internet at their house. And I know that for some people this will come across as “dramatic”. But I’m simply saying that these things have for a long time seduced me and prevented me from focusing fully on the Kingdom of God. They have at times caused me to cheat my family. They have caused me to place far too much value in temporary things. I can only pray that you will take the opportunity you have to examine your own heart to see if the love and value you place in technology has also seduced you. And if so, do something drastic to change it.

I used to be a Christian…

2011-03-31T10:00:00.001-07:00

I’ve struggled for a long time with the questions surrounding “how” someone becomes a “Christian”. I have been even more puzzled by the questions floating around in my mind about what qualities music and movies and lunchboxes must exhibit in order to become Christian. What exactly makes a bookstore Christian? If you take the “testa” out of the mint, is it still Christian? Is the computer I’m typing this on a Christian? How can I tell? These are ridiculous questions. But when did it become necessary to label inanimate objects “Christian” or “secular”? Are the mountains Christian? The grass? How about Coldplay’s music? Let’s examine.

The word “Christian” is used three times in the entire bible. It’s what the people of Antioch, Greece first called people who claimed that Jesus was “the Christ”, a.k.a. “the anointed one” or “the messiah”. It was a vulgar name – a term used for mocking. It was like saying, “those weirdos follow that crazy dude that claimed to be God”. It was good to be identified with Jesus, who said “the world will hate you because of me” and “blessed are you when you endure persecution for living according to my teachings (righteousness)”. When these people claimed Jesus or Yeshua was the Christ, they were proclaiming to everyone around them that they believed Him to be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament scripture. They were aligning themselves with His teachings, claiming that they were the best way to live – and this was evidenced by their commitment to following those teachings. The term used to be derogatory.

The term is still derogatory. The word Christian used to be synonymous with the word “mathetes” or disciple. That word meant “learner”, specifically “one who learns from and imitates their teacher”. Now the term is synonymous with judgmental people and actors (a name that used to be synonymous with ‘pharisee’ – the people Jesus couldn’t stand). It is synonymous with moral living and right wing politics. And it is synonymous with money hungry pastors and high profile scandals. We might be hated now, but not for the same reasons.

As a teenager I never tried on an “abreadcrumb and fish” shirt or stuck a politically laced Christian sticker on my bumper, but I went to church almost every week of my life. I read my bible here and there before I fell asleep. I listened almost exclusively to records produced by tooth and nail (“Christian” punk) and Grapetree (“Christian” rap). I knew my way around a Christian bookstore. But over time I found that all that was surprisingly empty. I learned that it was easy to think I was aligned with Jesus while doing our shopping at Family Christian and listening to K love at work. It’s common to get a warm, fuzzy feeling while worshipping in a church service with lots of other people. It’s easy to read books written by Christian authors and hang out with Christian people and come to conclude that we are in fact, righteous. It’s much more difficult to follow Jesus.

It’s difficult to love our enemies and turn the other cheek. It’s even hard to truly love our friends. It seems a little harsh to cut off the parts of our lives that cause us to sin. Why should we have to take care of the poor people? Shouldn’t they just get a job? It seems slightly irresponsible to not worry about what I will eat, drink, or wear and focus only on the kingdom of God. I don’t want to choose whether or not to serve God or money. I would much rather sit around and talk about how much “he” or “she” needs to fix their life than to listen to the voice of God and my friends regarding what I need to fix. I’d rather not wash people’s feet and serve them – I want to be powerful. But whether we do these things or not has every bearing on whether or not we are actually a disciple of Jesus.

Are we disciples of Jesus? Or are we comfortable, middle class, suburbians gathering in buildings, singing songs to the God we’ve basically ignored, buying products with His name on them, and making excuses for ourselves about why He didn’t really mean what He said?

Grunge Series: Beauty

2011-03-03T09:54:00.001-08:00

BEAUTY invades your senses, inviting you to experience things the way you were always supposed to. It’s finding the signature of the creative genius in everything you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. It teaches you to appreciate the magnitude of microscopic details and how much they change everything about our human experience. Pessimism finds no resting place among the beautifully minded. They navigate the world of the invisible and find hope in the universe of our impossible – this is where God lives. It sees those things which are truly good. And it directs every ounce of attention to the matchless mastermind behind it all, aware that everything beautiful is meant to help us conceive of a God that stretches far beyond the reach of our vast imagination.

Grunge Series: Justice

2011-03-03T09:43:00.001-08:00

JUSTICE is making things right. It’s having God’s eyes to see all the scattered pieces of the broken world, and God’s imagination to put everything back together again. Its end is shalom – or peaceful completeness. It’s doing whatever it takes to restore humans to the God who designed and longs for them. It sees excuses as exits along the highway, drawing us away from our purpose, convincing us that the comfort of a hotel room or the taste of a milkshake is worth more than world restoration. It’s storming the prison gates, stealing the keys, and releasing those who have been taken captive. Simply stated, it’s working with God to put the world back together again, restoring things to the way they are supposed to be. Justice is planting salvation, hope, freedom, and life into real people – its loving people the way God loves us.

Grunge Series: Love

2011-03-03T09:42:00.001-08:00

LOVE grabs you by the hand and asks you to dance. It strikes you as being transparently irresistible. You give it a shot. As your feet move back and forth to the music you become wrapped up in the beauty of it all. Like a waterfall, love flows from the very nature of the eternal God, who speaks value into you when no one else does; after all you were His idea. Chills run down your spine like electricity inside you, igniting some type of warmth you’ve never felt before. It’s like catching a glimpse of something much better than what you’ve always had, and feeling the overwhelming urge to sprint after it without hesitation. It’s like the longest hug on a bad day, safety in the middle of a war, a couch in the middle of a marathon. It’s the connection you were always created for, always craved, always chased after – never believing you’d actually find it. God is… love.

Grunge Series: Salvation

2011-03-03T09:41:00.001-08:00

SALVATION is new life springing from the most desolate heart. It’s finding the thing that’s been right in front of your eyes for so very long; sticks and flint on the coldest of nights. When the slightest spark glimmers off the wall of a heart that’s grown restless from mindless compliance, revolution begins. Suddenly the things God set deep inside us respond to the kind of life they’ve never seen before – it’s the beautiful transcription of a love story we’ve always known but could never put into words. Salvation steals us up from the grave as our chest begins to showcase the long lost sight of a beating heart. It feels like water against your skin; like fire rushing through your veins. In this moment you’re finally alive.

Grunge Series: Truth

2011-03-03T09:39:00.001-08:00

TRUTH hits you in the face like water, reviving you from your sleep as you gasp for breath in the aftermath of your mundane existence being peeled away. It’s a colorful inception cutting through our cold and calloused hearts, taking root and exploding into life. It invites you to step out of the neighborhood of darkness into a universe of light. Your heart pounds in your chest as your senses alert your intellect, opening up your eyes to find the things you can finally see. You’ve been caged all this time, but the truth unlocks the door that will set you free to live the way you were created to live. It’s inhaling the breath of God, realizing for the first time that you’re completely unsure of how you lived without it before. Then realizing you never did.

Hype = Worship ?

2011-02-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

At times I have to look at my life to make sure that I haven't fallen in love with experiencing God rather than fallen in love with God? This question has been stirring in my mind for a long time now. I will be honest & profess that I have often judged the spiritual depth of the people around me based on how they respond to the worship services we create rather than whether they are genuinely living out the teachings of Jesus. Our emotional response in worship is not an accurate way to assess how in tune with God we really are.

I find myself again sitting in the back of an auditorium while hundreds of students lift their hands & close their eyes as they belt out lyrics toward God that claim full life devotion. They have gathered here from different parts of the eastern coast to celebrate God together. Last night, hundreds of students re-devoted their lives to Jesus... the same way these kinds of events begin every year. By the end of the weekend, the students here will be fully energized about the life they desperately want to live at home. They will showcase a passion for God as they sing until they lose their voices. Yet their emotional response will most likely have no bearing on how they live come Monday morning... and it will almost certainly not matter one year from today. Not because its not a genuine response to the things that have been said and done here, but because real life change rarely arises from emotional response.

It truly makes me feel nauseated in my stomach to imagine that I could have played a big role in introducing the masses to God the feeling rather than God Himself. Worship is what happens when we see the greatness of God -- but true worship is born out of an intimate relationship with God in our everyday lives. Jesus tells His disciples in John 15 that they will know they are connected to Him if they obey His command: love one another. If we don't live according to the teachings of Jesus we don't know Him. Matthew 7 suggests strongly that we can easily build our spiritual houses on weak foundations that will crumble in the difficulties of life -- the way we make sure we have a strong foundation: by hearing the words of Jesus and putting them into action. On the day we meet Jesus there will be many that recall these spiritual experiences and claim they know Him because of them -- but the true test of a committed disciple is whether or not they walked the straight & narrow path and produced fruit in their lives. I would even suggest that Amos 5 & Isaiah 58 discourage worship born out of emotions that is not supported by a corporate commitment to righteousness & justice.

I believe its time to consider that introducing people to the emotional side of worship before they know who Jesus really is may do more to encourage a shallow pursuit of Him than we'd like to think. I believe its time to honestly evaluate whether we have at times been guilty of emotional manipulation in the name of genuine worship. I want to question whether we have too often been satisfied with shallow emotional responses over deep spiritual transformation in our own lives. It's easy to feel good about getting connected to God in a musical moment or during a hyped up weekend; but these things very well may cause us to trick ourselves into thinking that because we know "how" to worship, we are spiritually mature.

I don't have the answers, just some questions. But I challenge you to do the heart wrenching work of honestly examining whether we love God or love the idea of God. Are you fascinated by feeling Him or by knowing Him? The answer to that question is most likely revealed by how often we seek to understand & apply His truth when we are alone & no one is watching. Our response to God will always be emotional, it has to be. But let each of us devote our attention to loving God deeply and investing ourselves into making other disciples that love God deeply. I don't want to settle for the weekly moments where we are enraptured in a state of manufactured ecstasy -- I want to fall in love with God for who He is and what He has done, not how He makes me feel.

The Irony of Drug Commercials

2011-02-08T10:52:00.001-08:00

Someone close to me recently told me my blogs are too long. That’s fine. They were probably right. And in the wake of such a traumatic critique, I have determined to write blogs that even people with those attention disorders can read (sometimes).

I have often wondered why drugs get advertised on television. They want me to ask my doctor if they are right for me. But if I have to recommend a drug to my doctor, I don’t think I want to take it. How does that conversation go down? “Here I wrote you a prescription”. “Oh no, I was really hoping to go with Advair – I love their commercials.”

Like that’s the only thing that would discourage people. I could take a drug for my anxiety that can lead to kidney malfunction, urinary tract disorders, or lung problems. And in rare cases, I could die. Really? I thought the drug was supposed to ease up my anxiety? It would seem to me that it would either increase my worries or make me distinctly unaware of the impending death I am facing by taking it. I saw one for “Cymbalta” the other day and in the entire 12 minute commercial, they didn’t say one single good thing about it. Not a great marketing campaign for an anti-depressant. But there was a guy riding a bike and another guy fishing with his son, so that was good.

Mo money, mo problems.

2011-01-31T09:10:00.001-08:00

If you’ve grown up in America, you are one of the richest people in the world. Most people reading this are in the top 5%. And like me, you were probably taught by the popular culture and its media that money makes the world go round. You were taught to love money, to pursue it with your life. You were challenged to get good grades in school so you could get into a good college so you could land a career in a lucrative business so you could have a lot of money some day. That money would then provide you with everything you ever wanted. Then, once you have accumulated a bunch of possessions and amassed a pile of money for your financial security, you die. This is difficult to swallow. The bible speaks a whole lot about money, so let’s examine what it has to say.

During his sermon on the mount, Jesus talks about our pursuit of money and the things it provides (Matt 6). He makes statements like, “don’t store up for yourselves treasure on earth where things can be stolen or can rot”, “where you treasure is, there your heart is also”, and “you cannot serve both God and money”. Right before he tells a parable about a rich fool, Jesus says, “Be on your guard against all kind of greed. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12). Interestingly enough, Jesus teaches that we shouldn’t be concerned about what we will eat, drink, and wear directly following both of the aforementioned. In another instance, he challenges a certain yuppie to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor because he is too reliant on his financial security (Matt 19). Luke 16 is scary. Jesus has just told a parable about a smart manager of resources and the Pharisees “who loved money” were pretty angry with him. So he said, “You are the ones that justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts.” The point Jesus was making with his parable was that God gives more and more to those who can be trusted with it to do His will. The story that follows all this is even more disturbing, you should check it out.

You can either serve God or you can serve money.

I believe we let ourselves off the hook too quickly on this matter. I think we love money way more than we are willing to admit to ourselves. I’ve often pondered the question, “what would I do if Jesus asked me to give up every material possession I had in order to follow Him?” My answer is usually shrouded in some type of justification for keeping everything I have, directly followed by a dismissal of the subject as I claim, “Jesus would never ask me to do that nowadays”. I think each one of us should at least consider for a moment that we may be guilty of serving money over God and come to grips with the possibility that we could be sinning in our manifested hesitation to answer differently than the yuppie eventually did. Does Jesus have the audacity to ask me to give up something that makes me feel so secure?

Right after the yuppie walks away in Matt 19, Jesus says it’s close to impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. What does that mean? Am I rich? And most disturbing, what does it mean for us when Peter replies by reminding Jesus that they have left everything behind to follow Him?

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells His famous parable of the talents. In this parable, three servants are given different amounts of the master’s money to handle while he is away. Notice that all the money is the master’s, temporarily distributed to His servants. Basically, the servants must give account for how they invested the money for His purpose while he was away when he returns. I think this parable showcases the proper view of money: a resource to build God’s kingdom until Jesus returns. On that day, each one of us will have to give account for what we did with the resources he entrusted to us. And money just happens to be one of the most significant resources we have as Americans.

It is frightening to think that how we handle money is in some ways a reflection of our relationship with God. It’s disturbing mainly because it’s one of the most seductive temptations, especially in a culture that glorifies it like ours does. It’s easy to crave. People who don’t have it want it. People that have a lot of it want more of it. It’s sexy. So it easy controls us if we don’t take control of it first. This is not a popular topic to write or speak about – because we don’t like someone else telling us what to do with our money. That’s why we have all learned to skillfully glide past these incredibly difficult statements Jesus makes about it.

So where do we go from here? Should all of us sell our possessions and give the money to the poor? Should we continue to pretend Jesus never said these things? Or should we find some type of middle ground? The only thing I am convinced of is that we have to do something. So here are a few things I believe to be very biblical about money.

#1: Give to God off the top with the understanding that it’s not yours. Some people say 10% to your local church so they can continue to equip people to do the work of the ministry. The early church model in Acts was 100%, meaning they gave whatever they didn’t need to help each other out. Paul traveled around taking up a collection for the fellow churches that were experiencing economic troubles and persecution, encouraging people to give what God put in their hearts to give. While we quote that scripture a lot, I think it only works when we see God as God and money as a tool to give Him glory. Otherwise it becomes easy to justify giving less. Our money goes where our hearts are. So when our hearts are aligned with God’s, we invest our whole selves – including our temporary financial well being – into His eternal purpose.

#2: Figure out how much you need to live on and be generous with the rest. Avoid the temptation to adjust your lifestyle to your income. Your raise could mean monthly groceries for a single mom struggling to make ends meet or it could mean a bigger cable package. I’ve just offended myself. And you. Ask that God begins to help you see your money as a resource to express God’s love rather than to obtain more stuff. Does God give us more so that we can have more, or so that we can bless other people? May these words of Jesus haunt us: “a mans life does not consist in the abundance of His possessions”.

The bottom line is that Jesus is quite clear about the dangers of money. I often find in my own life that I’ve already discounted His message according to my cultural bias (whether I’m truthful about it or not). I can only pray that over time I become more sensitive to the words of Jesus, willing to adjust whatever I can in my own life to align more perfectly with Him.

If you are interested, here are some other places that talk about money: 2 Corinthians 8, 9. 1 Timothy 6:3-10 and James 5:1-6

Eating fish sticks in the middle of a revolution

2010-12-20T09:39:00.001-08:00

Sometimes the strangest things happened when we weren’t around. Let me just explain what was going on in our lives when all of this went down. Jesus’ name was starting to become pretty well known down in Judea. So well known in fact that some of the religious leaders were starting to get a little worried. You’ve heard of John right? “The Baptist” I think you call him? Well, people were starting to see that we (Jesus’ disciples) were baptizing more people than even him. Jesus thought that it would be best to travel back home for a little while so that the religious people wouldn’t get too upset yet…

The first strange thing that I remember about the journey is that it didn’t bother Jesus at all to walk through Samaria. I mean, yeah it’s the shortest way back home but most good Jews would rather swim a hundred miles up the Mediterranean Coast than walk through that terrible place. We always said they were half-breeds. Ever since the kingdom was divided shortly after Solomon died, they had been mixing it up with other cultures, and they’ve been caught up in worshiping other gods. We were ashamed to even admit that they had once been the same people as us. Samaritans.

There’s a place called Sychar, which sits kind of in-between two mountains and is about 35 miles north of Jerusalem. Many referred to it back then as “the belly-button of Canaan”. It was still quite the intersection of highways, which is why we found ourselves there. Of course, this is where Jacob’s well still stands. This was something we could all appreciate, so Jesus popped a squat there. We were all pretty hungry from our journey, so the other guys and me scooted into town to grab some food. What happened next was the strangest thing, and though Jesus told us about it later, like I started out saying…we weren’t around.

While Jesus was sitting there, waiting for us to get back and just resting, a woman came to draw water from the well. “Hello,” Jesus greeted her.

She couldn’t believe that he’d really spoken, so she didn’t respond. It was very unusual, first of all, for a man to acknowledge a woman that he didn’t already know out in public --- but let alone a Jewish man addressing a SAMARITAN woman.

“Give me something to drink, please,” Jesus said.

Startled by his continuing effort to communicate with her (without taking attention away from the thing she was already doing) she asked with logical uncertainty, “Why is it that you are a Jew and you’re talking to me, a Samaritan and a woman?”

“If you knew who asked you for a drink, you would have in return asked Him for a drink of living water,” Jesus responded.

She stopped drawing water for a moment and dared to really look at him. He appeared sincere, but he was alone and bucket-less. With her confusion evident in her eyes, the woman said to Jesus, “You don’t even have a bucket, sir…how will you get to this ‘living water’? The well is pretty deep.” She shook her head in disapproval. “Besides,” she went on, still puzzled by this peculiar man and his remarks, “this well is Jacob’s and it provided water for his family and his animals. And if you notice, it is still providing his ancestors water today; it gives us some good water. Are you claiming to be better than Jacob?”

Once again Jesus didn’t answer the question. “It’s amazing that the water that Jacob gave you has lasted this long,” He said instead, “because when you drink it, it only satisfies for a little while and then you need more. The water I offer you will completely satisfy you. You will never need another drink of water.”

“Audacious,” she must have thought…but something about this mysterious man hanging out by the well caused her to trust what he was saying. “I would like to have some of that water sir,” she said, feeling a bit less baffled and a bit more excited. “I wouldn’t have to keep coming down here to draw water then because I would never be thirsty again!”

Jesus smiled slightly. “Then go get your husband,” He told her. (This was one of his ways of continuing the conversation. Of course He knew she didn’t have one.) When she self-consciously replied to him conveying that very fact, Jesus said to her, “I know; you have had five different men who have held that title…and the man you live with now isn’t your husband.”

Rather shocked and unnerved that he knew so much about her, she figured that He must have been a prophet. And feeling even more uncomfortable by the turn of the conversation, she decided that she would get a feel for what His stance was on where the proper place to worship God was, get him into a different subject. “We worship on this mountain behind us,” she said, motioning offhandedly toward it, “but your people say that the real place of worship is in Jerusalem; what do you say?”

“There is coming a day when all of God’s people will not need a building or special place to worship in,” Jesus told her. “Then it is not going to matter if you worship on that mountain or in Jerusalem. The real question will be whether you are a true worshiper. They will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”

She looked at the ground and thought for a minute, then said, “I know that the Messiah is coming soon, and He will proclaim everything to us.” Setting her water bucket down, she glanced up at Jesus again.

“I AM He…” came the shocking reply out of His mouth.

Silence.

She stared into his dark, penetrating eyes, shaking slightly…those were not words that just anyone used. That was the very name of God. Was it true? Could it possibly be true? The Messiah… is talking to her?

Captivated by the truth in his voice, she continued to stare, unable to find words.

And that’s when we got back.

Um…well this is weird and awkward.

We all just kind of looked at each other in wonderment…like, what was Jesus doing talking to this woman? This Samaritan woman? (I personally was trying to figure out a way to get over to Bartholomew, because he had the fish sticks.)

And almost immediately, the girl turned and slowly began to walk away. Still in deep thought I could tell, and with every step toward the center of town, she gained speed.

“Guys, she forgot her water,” Thomas noted, “…which if you really think about it is the reason she came out here in the first place; she’s going to realize it when she gets back, and ---”

“Thomas, just be quiet and pass the bread to Jesus --- He has got to be starving,” Peter interrupted.

“No, I’m all right,” Jesus said dismissively. “I have food that you guys don’t even know about.”

HUH?

Peter was the first to respond. “Jesus, you sent us into town to get some food because…now wait a minute…did that Samaritan girl give you some food?”

Jesus unhurriedly stood to His feet and started to walk around near us. We all just watched Him, waiting for His explanation. “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.”

James’ head turned toward me. He raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. His smirk said it all for every one of us. For like the third time that week, Jesus was talking and we simply had no clue what about.

By this time we had all started to focus on feeding ourselves --- after all it had been a long day, we were hungry, and the food smelled great. We had already forgotten about the woman who left her water sitting beside Jesus. All I really understood at that moment was that the fish was pretty tasty.

But then something happened, something very intriguing. Jesus started in on another one of his stories (or so I thought) about harvest season. But then, with sudden authority in His voice He said, “Look around you and see how the fields are ripe with harvesting.”

I stopped stuffing food into my mouth and paused.

One by one we looked.

And one by one we saw.

There were hundreds of Samaritans coming through the fields, some running and some running faster…right toward Jesus. And first among all of them was a familiar face.

“I told you she’d be back,” Thomas said wryly, shaking his head slightly.

She had left behind her water…but she wasn’t coming back for it. She was coming for the living water. And she wanted everyone else to have some too. You see, when someone has experienced the power and love of Jesus, they cannot stay the same.

And neither can the people around them.

And neither could we.

Sometimes we become so concerned with the little things going on in our lives, that we fail to look out and see the opportunities that lay right before our eyes.

We were hungry, but Jesus knew that real satisfaction was found in doing what He was sent to do. He was always thinking like that when He was here with us. But that day taught me something: we exist to do the will of the Father. And no matter what else might be going on in that moment, we always have to be conscious of what He is doing around us. Once we caught hold of that, it changed our outlook on life…it changed our lives…it changed the course of history.

I’m Not That Important

2010-11-22T13:25:00.001-08:00

Over the past several years I have found that the Jewish “Sabbath” is a foundational concept in a meaningful and healthy relationship with God. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much airtime in Christian circles other than the occasion reference to a Sunday morning worship service or a late afternoon nap. But at the heart of the Sabbath is a deep and transformational truth that I believe to be massively conflicting with the current American standard of life.

First, I’ll confess that I have a slight obsession with first century Judaism and have read massive amounts of literature concerning their understanding of God and OT scripture. In terms of the Sabbath, I was always under the impression that Jews were to abide by a very strict set of rules on the Sabbath day. And while there are 39 categories of things that cannot be done on the Jewish Sabbath (Friday night to Saturday night), you will never catch the true meaning by simply looking at them.

The incentives for staying on the straight and narrow in the way you observe the Sabbath for Jews are convincing. Exodus 35:2 says that anyone who does any work on the Sabbath should be put to death. Obviously, one would like to avoid that at all costs. But more than that, Jews truly want to honor God with the way they walk through life; and because the concept of Sabbath is absolutely central to the Jewish faith, it is important that they get it right. So, they do whatever it takes to stay clear of working on this day.

But what does work mean? Well, a bunch of Rabbi’s (Jewish teachers and scholars) got together and came up with a definition that I think is interesting: work is “anything that causes you to exercise control over your environment”. So anything that fits this description is off limits.

At the beginning of Sabbath each week (18 minutes before sundown), the woman of the house will light two candles.

The first candle is in honor of Deuteronomy 5:12, which says, “observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy”. They light this candle as a reminder to observe the greatness of God.

The second candle is ignited in honor of Exodus 20:8, which says, “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy”. They light this one as a reminder to remember creation, the exodus and the conquest of Canaan. They remember with the lighting of this candle that they exist to bring God glory.

So the candles are lit to reinforce the concepts that guide the Jewish lifestyle: God is great and we exist to bring Him glory. You could also say that Sabbath is spent concentrating on who God is and what He has done.

The word Sabbath is derived from the Hebrew word Shavat, which we usually interpret, “to rest”. A better translation of that word would be “to cease”. Sabbath is not really about resting so that you can be ready to go for the rest of the week. Rather, it is about willingly ceasing from work in order to remind yourself that if you don’t do anything at all, the earth still spins. If you cease from the activities that cause you to exercise control over your environment, the world doesn’t come crashing down. He is still God and He is still in control.

This is a tough pill for us to swallow. We live in a culture that glorifies our pension for being busy by telling us that the busier we are, the more important we are. We slowly begin to believe that the world actually revolves around us and that if we stop for a minute, everything might just fall apart. When we continually let the weight of the world fall on our shoulders, we begin to place ourselves in the seat of God. When we don’t take the time to observe God’s greatness and remember all the great things He has done, we forget who we were created to be – and who we were created to be in relationship with. And ultimately we forget that we’re not important at all apart from the beauty and value that He invests into us.

So, light a few candles and take the time to reflect on this: God is God and you are not.

Faith & Works & Obedience

2010-11-18T08:20:00.001-08:00

I know this is going to offend some folks, but I don’t mind. I often hear the question, “what is the balance between faith and works?” I have heard a whole lot of people dispute that works have no bearing on whether or not we enter into the kingdom of heaven – sticking tight to their belief that our faith alone saves us. This conversation has disturbed me for quite some time. I cannot agree that how we choose to live has zero impact on our entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

This makes us move around in our seat a little bit because we’ve always been taught that there is nothing “we” could “do” to get to God. This is true. But there was something Jesus could do and He did it. Then he told us what “we” needed to “do” in order to gain access to eternal life.

As we confess that Jesus is God, we typically use the 2 words “Lord” and “Savior”. We truly enjoy the savior part. It’s an amazing thought to consider that the eternal God stepped into human history to become sin for us. But the other term we use is “Lord”; a term that suggests we want to give up control and become subject to His desires. The chief way we do this is through obedience. I would like to propose that obedience to a specific command is not a work; and that whether or not we truly let the words of Jesus reign supreme in our lives is the key factor in whether or not we are truly His disciples – and therefore, whether or not we have access to the Father.

Let me explain what I mean. Obedience is not the same thing as works. Works are things we do to try to gain favor in God’s eyes. They are almost always motivated by fear of how God thinks about us rather than by our passionate desire to make Him smile. Works are giving a lot of money to the church, mowing the grass for an elderly couple, passing out tracks, spending your Saturdays volunteering in the community, giving to charity, and praying on street corners. Works are sometimes products of following Jesus commands, but are also sometimes attempts to appear more righteous than we are to others. The latter is always what Jesus called in the lives of the religious leaders. This is because they didn’t have much interest in truly obeying God, just in the appearance of it. At one point Jesus says, you should have done everything you were doing while still loving God and justice. It wasn’t that they believed their works would save them, rather that their corrupt hearts had convinced them that acting pious is the same thing as being pious. It’s not. But we cannot abandon the truth that how we live has an impact on how we spend eternity in the name of, “works don’t save us”. This is a teaching rooted deeply in Augustinian and Calvinist theology, that we could never even have a single good desire because we are inherently evil – we therefore can’t base our salvation on anything from our end. It’s the idea that only God can elect us and pull us out if he chooses. It denies that truth that Jesus gave all people the opportunity to “choose” to be restored to God. Choosing to take those steps is a process of action. If Jesus did give all people the chance to choose, your salvation is dependant upon whether or not you take the steps He says we must take in order to gain access to eternal life.

Loving each another is not a work. Neither is discipling other people to Jesus. Neither is confessing that Jesus is God, repenting of your sin, or getting baptized. Being led by the Holy Spirit is not a work. Neither is ridding ourselves of the sin the apostles’ called out stating, “Those who practice these things will never enter into the kingdom of God”.

Jesus says, “this is how you know you are my disciples: if you obey my commands”

Jesus Who?

2010-11-16T10:20:00.001-08:00

No one is more controversial than Him. No one is more loved and hated by so many. He has been the subject of countless songs sung, books written, pictures painted, and stories passed down. His birth was so influential that we use it to divide up history into 2 parts, before Him and after Him.

He’s on Urban Outfitter t-shirts that Ashton Kutcher wears like “Jesus is my homeboy”, and makes frequent guest appearances on TV shows like the Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, and the Colbert Report. Over 100 films have been made about Him, without a single full blooded Jew cast to play His part – and many recent major motion pictures like the Da Vinci Code, Nativity, and the Passion of the Christ have centered on Him. His name is used by people when they are angry without thought. And without hesitation, almost every successful comedian uses Jesus jokes to advance their career while tons of famous athletes have attributed their success to Him.

When it comes to music, John Lennon compared His success with the Beatles to Him, saying that they had become bigger than Jesus. In the 90’s nearly everyone mentioned Him when they won a Grammy. Kanye West talks about Him a lot, Carrie Underwood’s first song ever was about Jesus taking the wheel, and he makes appearances in songs from bands like the Killers, Green Day, and U2. Madonna put herself up on a cross to mock Him during her “Confessions” tour. Brad Paisley says that outside of country music, people think it’s wrong to say Jesus is the answer.

Every year we celebrate his birthday by sitting around a pine tree and giving each other gifts– and we celebrate his death and resurrection by dressing up like bunnies and hiding eggs. All this for a guy who was born 2015 years ago to a low class teenage mom in one of the lightest populated places on the planet. All this for a man that was executed by the Romans just like thousands of other criminals that never got a single sentence in the history books. The book written about Him has sold over 4 billion copies – the best selling book in history. Like Mark Driscoll put it, “He never traveled more than a few hundred miles from His home. He never held a political office, never wrote a book, never got married, never had sex, never attended college, and never won a poker tournament. He died both homeless and poor.” Yet he has generated more conversation and drawn more criticism than almost every other person in history.

Mostly, Jesus has been presented as a nice guy – a mister Rogers of the first century if you will. We have learned to associate Jesus with cool-aid, golden stars for attendance, flannel graph boards, and sugar cookies. He’s a handsome, clean cut, white American who used a flat iron on his flowing brown hair – He likes to stand on street corners holding small children and petting sheep. He wore a beautifully flowing white robe, and spoke with kindness and promoted peace everywhere He went. Yet, people were always plotting to murder Him and He was eventually publicly executed at the demand of His own people.

Famous football players have envisioned Jesus like a linebacker since He endured the beating so well before he was crucified, while other people have seen him as a political revolutionary; sometimes a republican, sometimes a liberal, and sometimes a communist. Some say he was a Jewish pessimist, others say he was among the greatest teachers of His time. Some say He was uneducated, others say He was the most educated you could get. Was he rich, poor, or in the middle class? Was He a Pharisee or did he just despise one sect of Pharisee? Did he conduct Himself more like a grandfather figure or did he look like a hippy? Some say he was a self-absorbed liar that somehow concocted a brilliant movement to change history; some say He was a great teacher; some say He was a crazy man that truly believed He was the son of God; and some actually say that He is the son of God.

And the people who wrote about Jesus only gave us 10% of His life story. We know nothing of what He was like when He was a child, or whether He attended school and eventually became a rabbi, or whether he dropped out and started working with His dad building stuff when He was an early teenager. And when challenged by skeptics, Jesus never gives airtight proof of His identity. Yet one scholar estimates that more books have been written about Jesus in the last 30 years than in the previous 1900 years.

Most people in the US have an opinion of Him; usually a somewhat negative opinion of Him if they only went to church as a kid. And even if they’ve never been in church they have perceptions based on cultural media, what they’ve learned from teachers and parents, and what they’ve seen from skeptics and fanatics. But how many of the perceptions people have about Jesus are true? And how many of us sit in church every single week blinded to who Jesus actually is. No matter who you are, you can’t deny that there is something mysterious about this man, something about him that forever inscribed His name on the pages of the history books. And just like everyone who came before us and everyone who will come after us, we have to answer the question, “What will you do with Jesus”? So I think we should all set out on a journey, examining the question: “Jesus who?”.

What is truth?

2010-10-25T07:33:00.001-07:00

What is truth? It’s hard to figure out while we sit in front of the flat screen. It seems like relativity grows with our TV shows and our constant fight between things that used to be clearly black and white, wrong and right. Someone once said that “there’s nothing new under the sun” – and as I hear about everything going wrong with our world, I’m reminded that without Jesus at the center of our lives, we will always be left with desperate hearts and empty hands.

Waking up is hard to do when everyone around you is sleeping. I’ve been chained up in the prison cell of my own laziness – I have a hard time ever coming into contact with truth so I’m left to define for myself what is true for me while everyone around me tells me I can’t really know what it is.

I’ve constantly wondered, will we ever let truth inside our house? Will we ever let it come and break off the chains that keep us confined to our own couches? Around here we talk a lot about revolution – we dream of what our cities might be like if we actually let the message of Jesus change us, if we let his truth unfold us, and if we let his light overcome our dark. We talk a lot about life and what it might be like if we let him take away all the things that destroy us. The truth is, everybody wants a revolution but very people want to change.

But letting the truth about Jesus fall over us without ever changing us is like standing in the rain without ever getting wet. It’s only possible with an umbrella. But we believe following Jesus means shaking off our umbrellas of comfort, convenience, security, and selfishness. And that first moment is kind of cold, the raindrops seem annoying at first– but after a few minutes you begin to feel free, like you’re not sure why you ever used an umbrella in the first place.

Truth sets us free. It finds us in the middle of our broken down lives and puts us back together again. It leads us into the life we were created to have. It urges us on, to respond from the epicenter of who we are to the greatness of God -- and without Jesus there is no truth, there is no life, and there is no way. So with all of our hearts, we will invite God to be among us, challenging us to live according to His purpose. We will seek the face of God, asking that he becomes our one and only desire.

Time

2010-10-20T09:06:00.001-07:00

Someone once said, “Time is money”, but they were wrong. Unlike money, everyone starts everyday with the exact same amount of time, 24 hours. It is absolutely your choice how you spend that time. If you find yourself saying, “I just don’t have enough time in the day” or “I don’t know where all my time goes” or “I just can’t find the time”, then you probably need to control your time better. You have just as much time as everyone else – you have just chosen to spend it differently. Time is an incredible resource that often gets thrown in the trash can without much thought.

It would be nearly impossible to calculate the amount of time I have spent connected to some type of media outlet over the past year, whether television or cell phone or internet. Sadly, most of that time has been wasted. I can never get it back. I tried to shoot 200 shots a day (outside of practice) during my high school basketball career so I could be the proud owner of a consistent jump shot – which has helped me immensely during the 8 hours of basketball I’ve played this year. I will never have those week nights back. We throw away our time doing meaningless things. We tend to spread ourselves thin until our lives become layers of lifeless commitments, fruitless efforts.

Around here, the word “busy” has become identified with being important. The more things you have on your plate, the more everyone should be in awe of how incredible you are. Whenever I ask someone how they have been, they usually say, “busy, you”. Then I say, “Yeah, things have been crazy here lately”. So crazy in fact that I haven’t invested a single bit of my time in doing what God has called me to do.

How have you used your time today?

Get behind me computer

2010-08-09T06:01:00.001-07:00

As I was driving to work a few weeks ago, I was reminded that this was one of my “no computer days”. As I entered my office, I noticed that my computer was sitting in it’s normal place, at the center of my workspace. It has recently occurred to me that for most of us, like its place on our desks, the computer has become the center of our life at work & at home – this was a disturbing realization for me. If you’ve never had a “no computer day”, let me tell you firsthand how magnificently freeing it actually is. When I walk into work on a typical day, I am immediately bombarded with a list of things I never accomplished yesterday, which is soon accompanied by a bunch of things I didn’t know I’d have to do today – and after a full day on the computer I realize I really never accomplished anything of eternal value. This is my constant struggle with the to-do list on my legal pad, it always fills up with things that really aren’t very important but in the end somehow trump the things that are. And I find my to-do list fills up with many more shallow tasks the minute I turn on my wireless connection. A “no computer day” kills that opportunity and gives you the clarity of thought to plan out your day according to the priorities you set in your mind the night before. A “no computer day” also makes you realize you have an incredible amount of books in your office or in the library full of life giving insights, thought provoking concepts, and action inducing content. Something else strange happens on these days: time goes by much slower. It’s crazy when I think about how much I am able to accomplish when I’m not distracted by social networking tools and a servers worth of past presentations, documents, and folders to reference that end up subverting my creativity.

I don’t hate computers, but my “no computer days” have opened my eyes to how much of a god my laptop has become in my own life. My lust for computing is evident as I sit right beside it and my heart wants nothing more than to open it up and get connected with the rest of the world. Social networking is sexy – it seems innocent enough but slowly kills your productivity. The idea of a machine doing everything mine does is very alluring, but if you’re not careful it can quickly disable a significant amount of your brainpower. So I started wondering, what if I wasn’t a weirdo for being the guy that schedules times when I don’t use a computer and became the weirdo that schedules times when I do.

I believe our cultural love affair with electronic innovation pulls us away from our purpose more than we think it does. It is one tool in Satan’s briefcase that we hate to acknowledge… perhaps because we love it too much. It’s become so engrained in our thinking that you might hate reading this blog right now because it’s so foreign to think that our time spent on Facebook might actually distract us from living Christ in the world, as it numbs our mind to the blatant reality He taught – there is nothing else worth living for. So may we view our technology as a tool to do the work of God, while continually disciplining ourselves to make sure it doesn’t become something else. May we use our time as wisely as possible & become bold enough to make the change that might be counter cultural.

Why you care TOO MUCH about sports.

2009-12-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

Lets say 1,000 kids sign up each year in Dayton to play little league, peewee football, soccer, or some other sport.

Only 40% of them go on to play high school sports. That’s 400 of the original 1,000.

Out of all the high school students who play sports only 1.5% play college sports. That’s .6% of the original group of 1000 – yep, just 6 players.

According to the NCAA, only 1% of college athletes make it to the professional level.

This means that every kid that starts out at a young age in athletics has somewhere around a .006 chance of using it as a money making skill -- that’s significantly less than 1 player from the original 1,000.

Yet we spend thousands of hours, drive hundreds of miles, and devote ridiculous amounts of attention to raising athletes. We encourage our children to play sports year round so they can become the best (and so does everyone else).

All the while, we abandon the things that are truly important in their lives – like being an important part of the body of Christ and working together with a group of people to complete His mission. If I had a penny for every time a kid misses church because they had practice or a game, I would be a very rich man. Nothing makes my heart burn more.

I don’t hate sports; I love them. I played them all throughout high school. I watch football every Sunday. I think they teach people a great deal about life. But Jesus is life.

I had a tie back in the day that said, “Basketball’s my game, Jesus is my life”, and I wish more people lived by that sentiment.

The challenge is for the church to begin to put your commitment where your mouth is.

Scripture. Prayer. Community. Mission

2009-11-05T10:30:00.001-08:00

One of the most challenging things to do spiritually is evaluate how connected with God you really are. Recently, it has been on mind a lot though -- and I have been trying to figure out if there is a group of questions you can ask to at least get you started. Here is what I have decided, and while the first two are like duh, and the third one is something we are typically aware of, I believe the fourth one is the major reason for why most of us are so unsure of our connection with God.

On a scale of 1-10

#1 - Am I spending a significant amount of time in scripture everyday, and allowing what I read to change my life?

#2 - Am I spending a significant amount of dedicated time to seeking the face of God through prayer everyday?

#3 - Am I accountable to anyone for my spiritual growth, spending a significant amount of time talking with them about what God is doing in my life, how I am struggling, and what I need prayer for?

#4 - Am I actively a part of a community that is devoted to working with God to complete His mission to restore humanity back to Himself?

Jesus says in John 15 that you know you love Him if you keep His commands. What are His commands? To love God. To love people. To seek justice. To speak His eternal truth into our temporary world. To live in purity. To be lead by the Holy Spirit. And as is evident in Acts, He always intended us to be doing these things TOGETHER>

Blackberries and Church

2009-06-03T06:10:00.000-07:00

Throughout the history of the world, mankind has been forced to come to grips with some undeniable and often uncomfortable truths. One such revelation is this: grass needs cut. I’m no weirdo, but I like mowing the yard. There is something liberating about walking several miles while pushing a loud machine, smelling the neighbor’s barbecue, twisting your ankle in giant holes and dodging trees and/or small children. I like my yard and I spend a lot of time on upkeep. One day I hope it looks like that dudes yard on the Scott’s Turf Builder commercial. And I don’t mind taking 4 or 5 hours of my Saturday to make it happen. In fact, I kind of love it.

But if you are looking out from the patio door, all the way in the back right hand corner of our land is a part I kind of hate. There is a contraption back there used to grow my blackberries and in front of that whole system are 2 apple trees (that’s right, the ones from last time), and in front of those is a giant fire pit where I burn stuff. I disaffectionately call this area, "the blackberries". And when you take your mower back into “the blackberries”, it may very well be destroyed by the time your finished.

Our blackberry bushes are held in place by an annoying wire system -- about 40 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Just behind that whole deal is a fence. The whole thing is a mess and it’s almost impossible to get my mower back there. And though I try, I almost always break something on my mower and/or on my body – so I hate going back there. My solution: let it go. So gradually over time, that section of my yard becomes completely overgrown and nasty – a place that nobody wants to go.

I feel like we have some blackberry areas as the church. There are places we don’t want to go because they are ugly, difficult to deal with, and could cause us to get hurt. When we go into these kinds of places we become vulnerable and uncomfortable. So for the sake of ourselves, we conviently let these aread go, because it’s easier that way.

In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul says that God has given all of us the “ministry of reconciliation”. He says that since the church is a group of people who have been created new again and since we live in a restored relationship with God, we must now engage in His mission to restore the world. The problem with that is it sometimes can be uncomfortable and inconvenient and even scary – but it’s really nothing compared to what God did when He looked down on this messed up world and decided to intervene.

God’s has chosen to reveal Himself to others through us – and like U.S. ambassadors, that often means leaving our comforts and luxuries and securities so that we can intervene in a dangerous and unstable environment. Followers of Jesus are called to speak life to those who are dead, light to those in darkness, and hope to the hopeless – to be in the world but not conformed to the same lifestyles. We are called to tell an alternative story, stand for truth in a world that has a false sense of knowledge, fight for justice where there is none, and bring excitement to those who are stranded like lighthouses pointing the way home in the night. We are invited to share in God’s redemption work. This is the church.

“So then we are accredited representatives (ambassadors) for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us”. 2 Corinthians 5:20

Wind

2009-05-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

I think one of the most difficult things to understand about living out our faith is learning how to be lead by the Holy Spirit. Ironically, it's also one of the most critical. Let's talk about the Spirit. When Jesus is having His last dinner with the disciples in the late chapters of John, He tells them that when He goes the Spirit will come -- and it will actually be better than having Him with them. He tells a Pharisee named Nick at one point that the Holy Spirit is like the wind -- there is no telling where it comes from or where it blows. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that we are supposed to let the Holy Spirit lead us in our everyday lives. We know from various other places throughout scripture that the Holy Spirit can come upon us suddenly, but that He also lives inside us. Ephesians 2 says that the temple of the Holy Spirit is the body of followers who are built together into a communal structure, built around Jesus. The Holy Spirit is literally God in us, around us, working through us. He expresses to God what is deep inside us when we can't find the words. He drives sin out of us -- and gives us the ability to overcome it. Yet, I have always had difficulty figuring out how to let Him lead.

I think one of the things I have been struggling with is the popular idea that when we follow the Holy Spirit we are quite predictable. Followers of Jesus are supposed to be safe and clean cut, right? Like God wouldn't spark us to do anything out of the ordinary -- like if we let the Spirit lead us then we will basically just be pretty pure in the way we live. And for the longest time, I've kept the Holy Spirit inside this box, keeping Him at bay in my life -- hoping that would prevent Him from ever speaking directly to my heart in a confrontation way.

The Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit "the Wild Goose". I know, when I first read about it my blasphemy alarm went off too. The wild goose? I shrugged it off. But God has continued to open up my eyes to this alarming truth -- that being lead by the Holy Spirit isn't as simple and comfortable as I wish it was. Sometimes God asks his people to do alarming things. He told Abraham to perform a child sacrifice... Hosea to marry a prostitute... Boaz to say yes to a marriage proposal from a seemingly scandelous woman who came into him in the middle of the night... Isaiah to walk around naked for 3 years... Mary that she'd be getting pregnant with the Son of God... and so on and so on. And when all these people told everyone around them that God spoke to them, everyone around them thought they were crazy.

And I feel like lately God has been challenging me to think about these things. That God is always working around me and I continually shut Him out because I want to be comfortable in my simple understanding of how He works. And I wonder what would happen if we stopped trying to trap wind in a box.

Fruit and Vines

2009-05-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

I spent 2 years of my life being drawn back to John 15, like Hurley’s winning lottery number in the smash TV series LOST, it continually appeared to me in strange places. I couldn’t run from it. One day last spring I was out in my backyard pruning my grapevine when all the sudden this whole thing made sense to me. There were dead branches on my vine and I couldn’t stand them – they really just got in the way and made the rest of the vine look bad. In fact, the majority of the branches were dead. So I cut them off, took them over to my fire pit and watched them burn. The good branches though, I pruned so they would be more effective in producing my grapes. This is exactly what happens in John 15.

So, as I stood there watching the fire burn up the branches, I walked over to my apple trees. It was hot, I was thirsty. If you have never had a fresh apple straight off the tree when you’re hot and desperately thirsty, you’ve missed out on one of the good parts of life. However, my mission failed when I couldn’t find a good apple. You can imagine my disappointment, and my anger. If I would have had a chainsaw in my shed, the trees would have been gone that day… what kind of crappy apple tree do you have to be in order to not produce an apple that is pleasing to the eye? That’s when the Holy Spirit reminded me of Matthew 7 where Jesus says that bad trees bear bad fruit and good trees bear good fruit. I understood right away what Jesus meant by his very next statement, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So, you will know them by their fruits”. And oh, how I wished with all my heart that I had a piece of equipment capable of cutting those stupid trees down – I could tell by their fruits that they were bad trees.

But that’s when the Holy Spirit urged me to think about something else: what kind of tree am I? There are really only 2 kinds, good and bad – and I’ve got to be one. Am I a dead branch on the vine? Will I be the subject of spring pruning (to produce good fruit) or fall pruning (to be thrown into the fire)? And yes, on this occasion I was doing my fall pruning in the spring because I didn’t own the house in the fall (in your face).

Here is a disturbing question: are you connected to the vine? Are you drawing your life from the vine or from something else? Jesus uses the word “abide” or “remain” in John 15, stating that if we “abide/remain” in Him as He “abides/remains” in us, we will produce a lot of fruit. But I am guilty of connecting myself to lots of other things, and in some ways being crazy enough to believe those things are going to produce the right kind of things in my life. Simply stated, we cannot disconnect ourselves from the vine and still have the life Jesus offers. The moment a branch ceases to get water and nutrients from the vine, it dies.

So how do we remain in Jesus? I believe according to the context of what Jesus is saying here, that we remain in Him by living our lives out according to his commandments. And what are the two greatest commandments? Love God from the epicenter of who you are – and love other people like He loves us. Quite honestly, I’m not convinced the church should teach followers of Jesus anything else until we can really begin to grasp as a community what it means to truly love God and truly love other people.

And how does Jesus remain in us? I believe according to the context of what Jesus is saying here, that he remains in us through the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says a little later in his discourse that when He is gone He will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, and He will lead us into all truth.

This is how we bear fruit: we live according to the truth Jesus teaches and are lead by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8)What kind of tree are you?

Movement

2009-04-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

A movement is beginning to rise: a group of people who are conforming to the image of Jesus rather than the image of church. We refuse to chase after religion and tradition, instead we run hard to complete the mission we've been given by Jesus: to change the world. We can no longer be satisfied with checklists and moral obligations. It's not enough. There is an overwhelming cry deep inside us longing for something deeper, something real. Our hearts and minds have finally started to agree, that maybe chasing after God with every passionate element of our souls will breed a revolution in those around us. Maybe we can really make a difference in our friends that seem to care less and in a city that seems so set in their ways. Perhaps we could shine in the light of Jesus in a dark world, showing warmth to those who have only known what it means to be cold. Maybe together we could accomplish the things we thought impossible. Maybe together we could be the sparks that start the fires of revolution

Deep Cleaning

2009-03-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

One of the most clear-cut insights that my wife and I have seen is that the majority of students we come into contact with view Christianity as a moral code with a list of rules and a set of obligations. No matter how hard they try to convince you that they don’t believe that, it is clearly evident in their conversations that they see almost everything through that lens. Most students literally think that what Jesus wants to do is put us into his behavioral modification program. And I’m happy to note that nothing could be further from the truth.

There is a point in the Bible (Matthew 23) where Jesus runs into a bunch of religious leaders who want to put an entire culture under the microscope of their “behavioral modification program”. And He says some pretty interesting stuff to them, check it out. He tells them first that they are a bunch of actors, pretending to live the way they say other people should live. He says they put heavy weights on everyone else’s shoulders while being so lazy that they don’t lift a finger themselves. He tells them that they need to become humble because they are full of pride and only pursue status for themselves. In verse 13 he actually says that they lock people out of heaven and make converts that are twice the children of hell that they are. Have you ever heard the phrase, “the blind leading the blind?” Well, Jesus coins it here. He says that they always give their money but they don’t care about justice, mercy or faith. And then he tells them that they are like beautiful tombs: lovely on the outside but full of death and filth on the inside. Ouch. See I told you it was interesting. Some of you would like to say those things to some of the church people you know.

See, one of the most common misperceptions of Jesus is that He wants us to stiffly follow some sort of moral code and adhere to some set of religious principles. But what He really wants is our heart. It simply doesn’t matter much if we don’t drink and drive or sleep around or smoke marijuana; if we haven’t invited Him into our lives as the King over it, we’re just moral people.
When I worked at a sub place in college, we had lots of checklists of stuff that needed to be done. Some of the things needed to be done daily and other things only required us to do them once a week or something. But there was one checklist I hated: the deep cleaning checklist. Seriously, just typing that almost made me throw up in my mouth. These were the things that needed to be done when the smell got so bad that you couldn’t stand it anymore. Or when there wasn’t a single employee on staff that actually worked there the last time it was done. These were the things you did when business was bad. So naturally, as the assistant manager, I was willing to practice my delegation skills when it came to the deep cleaning checklist. No one wanted to do the stuff on that list because these were things that you’d definitely want to wear gloves for. Trust me, you can find some pretty interesting things when you really clean something that hasn’t been cleaned in a while. And you can find out some interesting things about your heart if you really open it up to let God examine it. I know it’s a difficult realization to come to that no matter how much we have let God change us on the inside, He’s nowhere even close to being done. He wants us to open up our hearts and let him go to work. He wants us to get rid of all the pride that deceives us into thinking that He is already done with us. He wants hearts that desire Him and want to pursue Him. He wants you. Not the pretty outside of you, but the dirty inside that you’re afraid to let anyone see. He wants you to come before Him with a heart willing to let Him do whatever He wants to do, no matter how painful it might be. He simply doesn’t want who you pretend to be on the outside. He wants to go where you have never let anyone go before: to the center of who you are.

Getting Scripture Wrong

2008-05-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult tasks I foresee us having in student ministry, is convincing students how important it is to spend time reading scripture. It shouldn't be that hard, but it seems that for quite some time students have been watching their parents and the churches they attend treat scripture like a Christian handbook or a detailed explanation of all the rules Christians are supposed to follow. This is the scripture I knew for a long time. Before I would hit the sack, I would pick up my Bible and read a chapter or two, hoping that I would know more about what the Bible says when I was finished. I read the Bible in pursuit of knowledge. After all, don't we tell our children how important it is for them to know and memorize scripture? I was aiming for that. I am so incredibly aware that all those hours I spent reading the Bible before I went to bed did nothing to change my life or my perspective. I could quote you some stuff, but I didn't know why it mattered. I was pursuing knowledge. If we want scripture to change our lives, then we have to shift the focus. We must stop treating it like a little handbook that gives us all the answers for every little thing. When we pick up God's words with the intention of getting smarter, I think we miss the point. I believe we have to start picking up scripture in pursuit of the heart of God. I want to know God's character, who He is, what He is passionate about, where He leads people, what He teaches them. I'm not interested in reading about rules, I'm interested in understanding why the heart of God has determined what is right and what is wrong. I'm not really interested in building a stable and safe set of guidelines that give me the assurance that I am doing what God wants me to do... I'm interested in seeking God out in my everyday life and letting Him lead me, even when it means that I will find myself in unsafe, uncomfortable situations... I don't really want to be able to quote you the definition of faith, I want to spend every moment of my life pursuing a belief that compels me to act where the heart of God is leading me.For I have found that this is true: Those who look at scripture in pursuit of knowledge can remain hard of heart and distant from a relationship with him; But those who search scripture in pursuit of the heart of God will never be the same... indeed, they cannot.

I Can't See Past Myself

2007-06-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

With each passing moment, it seems I become increasingly aware that any movement in Christ's church that is self centered and inward minded cannot be motivated by the heart of God. After all, the very basis of our faith is humility. Without humility it is impossible to live a sacrificial life, to love others unconditionally, to truly accept God's grace and to have a heart that burns for those who are lost. Humility lets us see past ourselves, and into a world that is full of despair, hopelessness and injustice. It allows us to truly understand that our lives are not tools through which we write our own stories, but tools in the hands of a sovereign, loving, just and holy God. Humility breaks down the wall of protection that we build around ourselves to prevent ourselves from getting hurt and shows us that a life lived with our own comfort and convenience in mind is a life that completely misses the point. Humility is what Christ had when he became a human and allowed himself to become subject to earthly rulers and false accusations.

The fear of the Lord begins with humility... that is, the understanding that I am not the center of the universe and everything doesn't revolve around me. And never will I be able to lose myself in the lifestyle of radical faith and authentic worship that I so desperately desire, if all the while I can't see past my own wants, my own desires, my own comfort.
Make me humble.

Single Minded in Pursuit of the King

2007-06-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

There are so many distractions in this place. Every way I turn someone wants my attention, and they want yours too. We have families and friends alongside work schedules and recreational activity. We have to pay bills, go to the store and still find time to cook, clean, shower and all that. Life just won't stop. Sometimes I wonder how possible it even is to follow Jesus here and now… we're just so busy and tired.There was once a King of the biggest empire of his time… the wealthiest and most successful civilization in existence. He grew up just a lowly boy watching his dad's sheep, but now finds himself at the center of the affairs of the entire known world. He had it all at his fingertips: power and wealth, success and good fortune. But as we well know with wealth, power and advancement comes a busy schedule. I can't even imagine how much pressure he was under.War was always breaking out around him, his armies always in battle with the enemy. The strategy of warfare must have constantly been on his mind.The financial well being of his people was on his shoulders, so he had to ensure that things were running the way they needed to be running.

Everything in the world it seemed was dependant upon him.

Sometimes I feel like that. But I'm no King. I'm just a guy pursuing God's will for my life through ministry to students. I'm just a husband with a beautiful wife and a nice place to live. I'm just a 23 year old with a guitar and a piano writing some songs. I'm just small. But sometimes I still feel like the world is on my shoulders. Sometimes it has been sin weighing me down; other times it's been me not having the endurance to keep running. But I want to keep running more than anything. I want to know Jesus, and see Him for who He really is. I have to keep running towards being more like Him, pure and holy.

That's why I look to this king for wisdom. He kept running. Even when he had killed a man to cover up the fact that he slept with that man's wife, he repented and kept running. Even when the enemies looked like they were going to keep pushing until his armies would break, he kept running. Even when the entire world felt like it was crashing down on him, he kept running. He wanted to know YHWH and see Him for WHO HE IS.

The king said, "I'm single minded in pursuit of you; don't let me go away from your words. I have hidden your word in my heart so that I won't sin against you."

Often, we get so sidetracked by the things that we call life that we forget what real life is: being God's image, doing His will, for His glory. How I wish with everything that I am that one day I can truly say, "God, I'm single minded in pursuit of you". Quite honestly, I'm tired of pursuing everything else. I've wasted so many years trying to bring myself glory, working to make a name for myself… but now like Isaiah I want to say, "God, your name and renown are the desire of my soul!" I want to be like that. May we keep running, when life is perfect and when the sky is falling. In silence and in the loudest room. In our words, our actions and our thoughts God, may we be single minded in pursuit of you!

Kingdom

2007-05-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Read through the gospels a few times, and you will see just how often Jesus walks around talking about the Kingdom of God. It seems at times, to be the only thing on his mind. The compares it to a number of things, like a man selling all that he has in order to buy a field that he finds a priceless treasure in; like a little leaven that is put into a bowl with some bread dough, and eventually penetrates every part of it; like a tiny seed that grows up to be a huge tree that provides a safe home for the birds; and like a net that a fisherman throws into a sea which captures lots of fish, but when it is dragged onto the shore only the good ones are kept. Jesus says that only certain people will inherit or see the Kingdom, like the poor in spirit and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. He told his disciples that they had been given the ability to know the mystery of the Kingdom, but everyone else had to learn about it through parables. When he taught his disciples how to pray, he told them to pray that God's Kingdom would come, and that his will would be done on this earth as it is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is referred to in the future tense, but it is also now. The Kingdom of God is territory, but it's not land. The Kingdom of God is a movement that is so unstoppable that Jesus said even the gates of Hell couldn't stand against it. The Kingdom is people, but it's not about people. The Kingdom of God is only about one... the King. And the King is moving throughout the earth; he won't be stopped. The Kingdom is coming, the Kingdom is here. The King has invited us to join in his massive story that has been moving throughout history since the beginning of time... it doesn't start or end with you or me, and it will go on without you or me... but I choose to join his movement. Move me

In the Middle

2007-05-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Today I find myself in the middle of a broken down worldI hear stories of war. Some are fighting for freedom; some are fighting for hope. I see pictures of a far away land where people don't have clean drinking water, where aids attacks without sexual intercourse and where children are being abducted everyday.I read magazines that tell me about young girls who are being sold into slavery, young boys who are being forced into revolution.I watch myself as I feel too weak and tired to raise my hands in the heartfelt worship of a holy God, while people half way around the world raise their hands with strength in the face of death.I see entertainment shows that continually play on those 'larger than life' people who finally break down after living their life under the microscope of an entire nationI find myself living in a place where 'living' is defined by material things and where 'happiness' is the only thing you can't buy with a Mastercard.The rain beats against the window this morning, and I am at home watching the most recent episode of 'lost'. I have a blanket and I have food. I get to spend tonight hanging out with my beautiful wife. I am safe, warm and comfortable. Everything is alright in my life."but it is a dangerous thing to think that my world, is the world" - Rob BellToday, I am not in the middle of a broken down world. I see it. I hear it. I feel it. I know it. But most the time, I'm looking into a broken down world from my own.Can we change the world, when we're not in it?

Faith

2007-05-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days that begged you to ask the question, "what in the world is wrong with my life?" I have. Everyone has. I don't know about you, but I would just assume not have those days. Obviously, no one likes to have a bad day. But lately I have been noticing a strange trend on these types of days: these are normally the days in which I fail to live out my life for the Kingdom of God. I find myself justifying my thoughts, my reactions and my motives by pointing to how rough it has been for me lately. Sometimes I make a conscious decision that on this day, I don't want to follow Jesus. I am finding out that when the sun is shining bright and when all is right in the world, it is pretty easy to follow Jesus. But when the storms roll in and when we start to get a little wet and cold, we find ourselves distancing ourselves from the words of Jesus. I am finding that our commitment to follow Jesus is found in these same moments. Moments of choice. Moments of sorrow. Moments of confusion and disappointment. Moments in which we feel completely justified in not following Jesus. When we have been wronged, and have felt the pains of injustice. When we have lost what we have always loved. When we feel like we are constantly fighting against that habit that always seems to beat us. When we break down. When our faith is challenged by circumstance, and our hope becomes tainted by confusion. When it would be easy to be comfortable, and more exciting to be someone else. When we don't feel like following Jesus.

These are the moments that define whether or not we really have faith. Do you?

I Watch the World

2007-02-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

Everyday I watch the world. Some things make me laugh. Some things make me cry. Sometimes I'm scared.

Everyday I watch the news. But there is nothing new. I hear a lot about freedom though. I guess I heard that in America we are free to do whatever we want, even if it hurts someone else… even if we are hurting ourselves. People have such a strange perspective of what it means to be alive… or maybe they don't have a perspective at all. Maybe we are just walking through life convinced that this is how it has to be; with no real reason to hope for anything that makes sense of all this. You know, I used to wonder how in the world the common person could possibly be so confused about these issues that used to be clearly black and white, and then I watched TV. Pleasantville had it right… when color TV came, morality was put in a chokehold and got beat down.

Everyday I see protest. I watch people holding signs high over civil rights and war, taxes and party preference, while few engage in discussion about why our teenagers have access to graphic pornography. Why does it matter so much that the Ten Commandments hang on walls in our state capital, but it doesn't matter that hundreds of thousands unborn babies are put to death each year in the name of comfort and convenience? While the television networks bask in the understanding that what we want is sex, scandal and immorality, Ludicrous lifts his Grammy in the air. And while we try to prove ourselves to be the smartest generation to ever exist, we are raising a generation of children that will be missing the basic foundation for wisdom and knowledge... the fear of the Lord.

Yes, everyday I watch people running around claiming freedom for all and I wonder: when will I stop watching the world? When will I do something.

Freedom without responsibility breeds chaos.
Responsibility does not exist apart from truth.
And truth cannot exist apart from God.

My Most Prized Possession

2007-02-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

I'm an American. I live in the Western world and I have alot to do today. My life has become like my plate on Thanksgiving Day. My world is surrounded by expectations, commitments and obligations. I have no room for anything else.

Honestly, my world hinges on whether or not I have completed the tasks I set out to accomplish.

My world finds me in the middle. What I want and need is the most important; you come second. That's what my tv screen says...

My most prized possession is myself.

So when circumstances break you down today, I won't be stopping to help you out. I have better things to do... things for me. When you are in your hour of desperate need, I will just pass you by, look in the rearview and then go on with my life forgetting that I have just missed a most amazing opportunity to show you the love of Jesus.

Please leave me alone: I'm chasing the American Dream. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. -- It's found in the new Cadillac. I wish I could stop and pick you up, but I don't have the time today. I've got so much to do, places I have to see, people I must impress. For you are not the most important person to me, I hold that place of honor.

It's a good thing that we all only look out for ourselves, otherwise we would have to open up into community... we'd have to trust... we'd have to abandon the idea that we each live to make our own name known in this world... we'd have to redefine the American Dream.

"This ain't my American Dream, I want to live and die for bigger things. I'm tired of living for just me, this ain't my American Dream" - Switchfoot

May I live for something bigger: to make the name of Jesus known, and his love felt. Let my allegiance be to Jesus before a government, before any dream of selfish ambition, before myself.