Dead to Religion (The Evidence)

So...the stork is late. With my baby girl coming any minute, this waiting-room mentality is taking its toll! It is, however, giving me some extra time in thought to help provide a concrete foundation for the series we just finished, "Dead to Religion." I encountered several verses during my time steeping in the subject matter - Scripture that jumped off the page and smacked me across the face like a floppy fish, saying, "Quote me, you big dummy!" In light of this fish-smacking, I thought it best to share the verses that most profoundly expressed the points I so adamantly shared with you. I pray that, as you read these verses, you would open your spiritual ears to what God would have to say to you, how he might free you from the chains that religion has shackled on you over the years. Open your heart to what he has to say to you, even now. Here's Dead to Religion, The Evidence:

This passage is from Paul, former prominent religious leader of the day called a Pharisee who, by God's saving grace, eventually became one of the greatest apostles of Christ. He used to have Christians killed in the name of God because he felt they were going against religious law, but as he so clearly states in this passage, he became dead to religion. This is Colossians 2:6-23, The Message Version:

"My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

"Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.

"Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.

"So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.

"Don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They’re a lot of hot air, that’s all they are. They’re completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us. So, then, if with Christ you’ve put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? 'Don’t touch this! Don’t taste that! Don’t go near this!' Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they’re just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important."

This next passage of Scripture is also from Paul. No one knows the chains of a religious mindset better than Paul. He was at the top of the religious food-chain before he became an apostle of Christ - thinking he was right in his religious ways, he ended up being asked by God himself, "Why do you persecute me?" The things Paul did for the sake of religion went against the grain of the very core of his religion itself. And so, Paul summarizes what really matters in his letter to the Galatians. This is from Galatians 5:4-6, The Message Version:

"I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love."

Dead to Religion (pt. 3)

And so, Part 3 of this controversial series, "Dead to Religion" beckons us to examine another fly in the ointment. If you haven't caught up on the series thus far, I outlined in my last post how pride is a sure-fire sign of a religious approach to God. In this post, I'm going to tell you about another distinctive "fly" of religion is exclusivity. 

More often than not, it seems those preoccupied with a religious view of God make spirituality out to be a country club instead of a public park. They point to rules, standards, and exceptions that keep out the subjectively-perceived riffraff. That's why Jesus went off on the Pharisees so often - they acted like God's doormen. "Excuse me, sir...ma'am...do you have reservations to meet with God?" They acted like key-holders, claiming knowledge of the "only way" to God...when the Way himself was standing right in front of them all along! How ironic. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14:

"Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention."

Religion does a very good job of taking the truth and packaging it nice and pretty in a steel-reinforced, padlocked box with the seals welded shut. It's impossible to arrive at the truth through a religious mindset. Why? Because it's the polar opposite mindset of God's. He brings life, hearts formed by religion only carry bondage. The religious people of Jesus day even made a something as simple and intimate as a conversation with God (commonly called "prayer") something complicated and overbearing. Here's what Jesus had to say about all that:

"And when you come before God, don't that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?..."The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply." (Matthew 6:5, 7-8)

You may be thinking, "Yeah sure, but I've seen some pretty dedicated people who wave the flag of religion AND live in a Godly manner." Ok, so even if someone who claims to be "religious" has pure motives and operates in their religion with feverish commitment, as commendable their heart may be, they are ultimately like a horse with blinders on: religion focuses all our energy and effort on God alone, leaving the broken and wounded hearts all around us in our blind-spot. That's a trademark of religious plodding: a self-and-God obsession, no room for others. Do you really want to label Mother Teresa "religious" just because she was a nun? 

I'll go one step further and say she wasn't religious at all! Remember, religion vs. relationship. Her intangible approach had no signature of religion to it, no trace of the dysfunctional heart-issues inherent in a religious approach to God. She didn't nurture the disenfranchised in the name of the Catholic church. She didn't show compassion to the hopeless for the sake of wrestling to maintain a pristine standing with God. She didn't feed and clothe hundreds of orphans to put her holiness on display. She did all those things in the name of Christ Jesus, for the sake of hope, to put his heart on display.

To even use the term "religion" to describe Christianity just sickens me now because the term fosters so many different perceptions. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism are all considered major world religions, and all of them have one distinctive quality that differs from what Christ came to establish: God's kingdom is others-focused. Not worried about living a good enough life to deserve a bunch of virgins in paradise, not focused on channeling and sustaining inner peace, not obsessed with achieving a higher level of spirituality than those around me. Jesus' life and sacrifice established an "it is finished" standard: no more struggling and straining for salvation and perfection. Christ already did it. 

You may be asking, "What do I have to do to experience real life?!" Jesus gave a young man a hard answer when he asked that same question. Check it out here. His disciples were like, "Say what?! Who then can be saved?!" Jesus' response sums up the problem of religion: "With [humanity] this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Our human efforts to get "in" with God were nailed to the cross; we never have to struggle our way to God anymore. As the old saying goes, "The ground at the foot of the cross is level ground." There's nothing we can do to deserve God's grace, no unreachable spiritual level we have to power-up to so we can get to heaven...or get a better seat in heaven. 

So if Christ did the heavy-lifting, the Scripture that culture has made into a cliche really is true: all we have to do is believe. Jesus said it himself - believing is the main ingredient in the recipe, remember John 3:16? Other than that, when asked to sum up what God's looking for, Jesus said 1) Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and 2) Love other people, just like you love yourself (Luke 10:26-28). 

That's it, simple as that. We make such a big deal out of being a Christian - putting unreal expectations on ourselves and others...no wonder people think twice when considering Christianity! Remember that old saying, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" - well, religion is the vinegar. Religion is the judgmental approach to "loving people," critiquing them and guilting them into church rather than embracing them for who they are (like Jesus embraced the whores and thieves). Seems like more people are scared into the arms of God than escorted. As a result, people view God's open arms as those of a maniacal dog catcher or legalistic truant officer, rather than seeing his arms for what they really are: real peace, real rest, real love...unconditionally.

Religion misrepresents God, and so do we if we choose the religion route. So go against the supposed archetype. You already have God's attention, sinner or saint. We are all his children, we just need to come home. Religion is not the way home; that route will only keep you going in circles. Relationship with the Father is the only way to access his heart and reflect it in your own life, shining God's grace into the lives of others. I leave you with one final comment from the Christ, this invitation by Jesus, and I pray that you examine your own life for the wounds religion has left you with. This is my prayer: that you would be dead to religion...and alive in Christ...

 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” ~ Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in Matthew 11:28-30

Dead to Religion (pt. 2)

Ah yes, Part 2 of a very controversial first post - Part 2, a.k.a., "The Explanation." If you haven't read "Dead to Religion (pt. 1)" yet, check it out here. My goal was not to pick a fight or cattle-prod your spiritual good intentions. I'm just merely challenging the status quo. I'm questioning our culture's definition of spirituality. I'm wondering what's running through the minds of the circle-runners, those who go through the motions thinking their efforts merit more of God's attention and approval...I'm wondering what the heck is going through the minds of the lemmings as they tumble off their own cliff.

Let me be very clear about something: I'm not bashing any sect or denomination or tradition in the Christian faith. I'm not writing to say one is more righteous than another or anything discriminatory like that. I'm talking about religion vs. relationship. The religion I'm talking about is a frame of mind, it's a heart-issue; it's an intangible approach to God, not a tangible outlet to seek him. Let me be even more painfully clear: Religion's not so much the church you go to as it is the attitude in which you go...and mostly, the attitude you take out into the world after leaving church. Religion's not so much what denomination or sect of Christianity you claim as it is heart behind what belief you've chosen to live out. Religion's not so much what "brand" of Christian you are (who people see you to be) as it is your determination to set the core of Jesus' character in motion in your own life and the lives of those around you (who God sees you to be). It's not about which flag you wave, it's about what that flag stands for. I have good friends who are Christians from a far more "traditional" faith background - yet they get it. They embrace Jesus' heart and live out their faith in tremendous ways, some ways far more involved than my own! Why? Because they understand God didn't create us as street-performing monkeys, always trying to impress him with spiritual tricks - he created us for relationship with him, and to facilitate that same relationship in others.

Clearly, religion isn't working. It's a broken system that's been hobbling around since humanity fell away from God. At its core, any religion is a man-made system of beliefs, concepts, actions and ways of living that are believed to bring one closer to some supernatural entity (such as God), and in participating in such, one will attain a higher "spiritual level." Now, this sounds pretty kosher, right? Not much to disagree with here. But remember, in the DNA of every lie is a partial truth. There's a fly in the ointment that few people see before smearing it on their face. Here are just a couple of flies for your consideration:

You'll know if you've tried the religion route that one of the flies of religion is pride. It seems more like a contest to be godly than a relationship with God himself. The religious leaders of the Jesus' day were the target of a lot of his disapproval. Imagine that! The very people esteemed by the masses to be "the most spiritual" were called snakes and frauds by Jesus. And why? It was a heart-issue. They were full of the puss called pride, preening like peacocks in their spirituality. Look at what Jesus said about the "religious people" in Matthew 23:1-12, 27-28:

Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.

 “Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’

 “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ. 

 “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty. 

 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.”

 Religion is the "bundles of rules," the "flowery prayers," the "secret passwords," all the things we think will get us brownie points with God. But what's the intention behind all those things? Wanting to be perceived as spiritual by those around us, that's what. One of my favorite authors, John Ortberg, calls it "impression management." We try to make others think we're more spiritual than we really are, or better off than we appear to be, by our words and actions - essentially, managing the impressions we're giving. It's a game we all play, some all-day long. Problem is, God's not impressed. Jesus said it best, as recorded in Matthew 7:21-23:

 “Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’”

The message Christ came to teach was a loss of self-importance. Religious activities feel like nothing more than dead monotony because they are focused on me only, attentive to my spiritual needs alone. It's like a treadmill: your work and sweat is only fulfilling a personal need for your body only, and in doing so, you are staying still...you are not going anywhere. This idea is very similar to the next root of religion...which we will discuss next time, so come on back and bring a friend ;)

P.S. - If you're still confused about the difference between religion and relationship with God, check out this video. It's a bold definition of this difference. I hope this sheds some light on the subject at hand for you...comment with what you're thinking!

Dead to Religion (pt. 1)

UGHHH!!! I love writing my blog, but boy has it suffered the past month! My career as a performing artist has reached a new level, and my blog has paid the consequences. I'm frustrated by my lack of posting, so the only way to remedy that...is to post! :)  I've been daydreaming about something for the past few years that God's been teaching me through various outlets of his truth, and as I was reading Romans 9 today, I felt I needed to flesh out this daydream...

Are you a religious person? I used to think I was. I've known God my whole life - in a constant, steady relationship with him all along - and it's because of this that I've come to know something about him: God is NOT a God of religion.

Whoa, HELLO!! I bet that rang your bell! Right now, you're one of two things: 1) Absolutely appalled, or 2) Pretty darn confused. Maybe you're both. So that leads me to one thing: an explanation. Eh, what the heck, I guess I'll go ahead and explain myself. I owe ya that (wink, wink).

You heard right - God is definitely not about religion. Religion is not in his agenda. He didn't send his son into a broken world as the ultimate scapegoat in order to preserve the continuity of a religious system. If that shocks you, you need to rethink God. Brazen? Bold? Nope, truth. So many of our perceptions about God and Christianity and what it means to follow Jesus is based on what we've been told, or what we've heard is "right," not based on Jesus' actual mission as described in biblical accounts. Think about it: the Bible is read by humans. Check. Humans, by nature, are imperfect beings and oftentimes intentionally or non-intentionally misconstrue the truth. Check. Humans teach/instruct/correct other humans "truth" based on what they themselves have heard/experienced. Check. The problem goes back to the second check mark: humans are imperfect beings. We don't always interpret "truth" accurately, and whether intentionally or non-intentionally, we end up feeding someone a lie. The recipe for a lie is a partial truth, so it sounds good and we eat it - often in a state of mind ignorant of the truth. Thus the young and impressionable are formed by a train of thought -potentially truth-filled, potentially faulty - until they mature one day and hopefully seek the whole truth by God's help (who is, by the way, the Truth, the Whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth...the source, remember?)

Now, let me clear the air a little: I'm not saying that parents and sunday school teachers and friends/relatives are deviously spoon-feeding us lies, watching with a devilish grin as we take the bait. Far from it! We are all the product of what's been passed on to us or what's shaping us in this moment - culture and generational doctrine mostly, what's been passed down to us from someone else's teaching, a chain of teaching with many links. This chain can be very strong...if based on something more foundationally sound and greater than itself, such as God's word. Even teaching passed on from human-conceived concepts are dangerous - many a cult have been founded through these ideologies.

I'm also not saying that truth is relative. Far from it! Truth is absolute - anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't met the Truth yet, and that's the Christian's mission: to introduce people to the Truth. That's one reason I have this blog. If truth were relative, society would be like a dog chasing cars - trying to find what's real and what's right in every worldview, every dependency, everything! Those who sought the truth would be hard-pressed to find it in this kind of cultural climate, and those who held to the truth being relative wouldn't care to find the truth at all...mostly because to them, truth is relative, which means there is no truth. Sound familiar? Sounds a lot like the world we live in right now.

The point is, we struggle with truth...and that's ok! Truth is worth wrestling with. That's when it bears the best fruit - a farmer doesn't produce good crops when he hardly lifts a finger to cultivate the ground! Good crops - in this case, truth - come with the sweat put into it: asking the hard questions, seeking fullness among the fillers, knocking on doors that have been closed to most others. God's heart beats for the askers, the seekers, those who knock on truth's door. It's a passionate pursuit, not for the passion-less. Truth-seeking is a journey, not a routine. It's not for those who would rather settle for going through the motions, not for those who think God respects the outer works of humans. God is more interested in the heart of humanity. That leads me to my original point: God is NOT a God of religion.

Real quick, when you think of religion, what comes to mind?...chew on it for a few seconds.

Ok, now what were those thoughts? I'll give you a little of what comes to my mind: I think of robes and rituals. Silly, ornate garments. Motions and mechanics. Traditional barriers, rights of passage, exclusive clubs called churches. I think of swinging lanterns and pride renamed as "piety." And see, like I said before, the lie is not far from the truth. Most people think "holiness" and "piety" are the same thing. Most people think God is keeping tally of their prayers and building a case against them on the basis of how often they act good or not. This God is a God of score-keeping. This God is a God of payback. This God is a God of paranoia. This God...is a God of religion.

But this is NOT the God of Creation, the Father God so many have come to misunderstand. This is NOT my God. My God is NOT a God of religion. What are your thoughts on this kind of God? Comment and let's discuss, we'll transition to Part 2 soon...

Life As We Know It

Eight weeks...

Exactly eight weeks until our baby girl arrives! No, not in the mail or by stork. Just like the "proof is in the pudding," I can say, "the baby is in the belly." And you know, it's been all this time, but honestly - the impact of what is about to happen hasn't fully hit us yet. Everyone keeps saying this one distinctive phrase: "life as you know it is about to change." Duh. I'm not sure if they intend to say that to encourage us, or to let it loom ominously over our foreboding heads, but either way it's daunting. I think we are still dumbfounded in a way. I mean, we're not in denial or anything - we're super excited! But since it wasn't a planned pregnancy, I can say this: we are elated that this joy is coming into our lives, and we've dreamt of it for so long - yet at the same time, it's like the feelings we expected to feel haven't caught up to us yet. We've run really far ahead of them.

The antsy feeling waiting for the little blue + on the tester. The friends at our side to cheer our good news. The sheer feeling of intentionality with something so meaningful to us, something we wanted to get the conditions just right for...all these didn't happen. Nonetheless, I've realized that it probably never would have happened if we were waiting for all the "perfect" conditions. If we waited until everything lined up and fell into place as we envisioned it to, we would be childless for a long while! A great artist named Warren Barfield said it best in a song of his called The Right Time:

When we got the news, it was like God saying
"I knew better than to wait on you..."
If you're waiting for the right time
The right time will fly right by you
Always planning, never moving
Always praying, never doing
It ain't living if you're just spending your life
Waiting for the right time

Check out this amazing song on YouTube -

















Let me be clear: there's no stale taste in our mouth. How could there be, we're getting the one thing we've been preparing our hearts for since long before we entered adulthood - our prized and precious child. The fruit of our love. We've had absolutely no problem wrapping our heads around the who, what, where, and why- we've just had to adjust to the when of our little joy coming into our lives and the how we experienced the news vs. how we thought we would.

But you know what I've come to learn through this experience? Preconceived notions are overrated. I dreamed of being the perfect example of a Godly father, someone who listens to their children every time and executes sound judgement with wisdom and compassion. But from what other parents have told me, that's pretty unrealistic! Let me tell ya, I'm going to do my best to be that father, but much to my chagrin, I'm going to screw up sometimes. I know there may be times when I'll be frank with them when I should've listened. I know there may be times when I will need to assert my wisdom, but instead I will opt to leave things unsaid like a coward...or I may assert it too often and become the father no one listens to or respects.

That's the beauty of it all, though. No one has ever gotten fatherhood perfect but God himself. That's why one of his nicknames is "The Perfect Father." I'm glad I'm not trying to live up to the job description of "perfect father"- that's a lot of pressure! If I go into this expecting perfection out of myself, I will be sorely mistaken and end up disappointed in myself pretty quickly. One of my favorite bands, Shane and Shane, got it right in a recent song of theirs, The One You Need:

I wish that I could be your everything
Be the one to give you all the things you need
Sometimes I'm gonna let you down
But there's someone if you just believe
He'll be your hero like he's always been for me
Darling, Jesus is the one you need...

Check out this tear-jerker on YouTube --->

















The closer the time comes, the more I realize that God has been equipping both me and Jodi in very specific ways all our lives, and that my disillusioned expectations, if pandered to, will subtly set me up for some major insecurities. All I can hope to be is a Godly model of a father to my children and raise them to know Jesus for who he is. The rest is going to fluctuate with the circumstances, but I can resolve to be intentional about sharing my faith with them. I can be intentional about valuing their formation above the things that bite at my time. I can be intentional about raising them well, not trying to raise them perfectly. That's how people become resentful many times - from being raised in a home with unreal expectations, or none at all.

So if life as we know it is about to change, I can say without a doubt..."I'm ready." Not ready in the ways I thought I'd be, but who is? Who will ever be? I'm glad the goggles we see life through now is about to change. The way we define what "life" is. Life as we know it is about to be exchanged for a very different life...a very welcome other kind of life.

Last Ditch

So it's the final minute, and the team you're head-coaching is fighting for the lead in game 7 of the NBA Finals. You're down by four, so a comeback is possible...but the other team has been holding your team at bay all game, quashing your every strategy. It's down to the wire, and the five you've got on the floor haven't been cutting the mustard. You need a Savior. You need someone who will step up to the pressure with fierce finesse, clever on offense and relentless on defense. You need a proven champion. So you look down your bench line and study the string of athletes at your disposal. Two stand out from the restless lot: Michael Jordan is one of them. Your mind is tossed. Your palms are greasy. You're straining for a sign, but you make up your mind in a flustered climax of indecision: you choose the other player, who just so happens to be none other than the great...Steve Urkel.

Needless to say, this is a bit ridiculous, yes? I mean c'mon, a toss-up between a 6-time NBA champion & Hall of Famer...and a jeans-and-suspenders Geek Hall of Famer? Is this a tough decision at all? But relating to many people's view of God, the Urkel decision is pretty logical.

This daydream started a couple weeks back when I was at work. I overheard a woman's phone conversation as she passed by. All I caught was a well-used expression in our culture, said with a half-hearted sigh: "Well, I don't know what else to do, I'll just pray for ya." Yeah sure, pray for 'em. Might as well, right? Wouldn't hurt. Eh, who knows, maybe something good will come of it...probably not, but hey, at least ya tried, huh? - sound like the viewpoint of someone you know?...or maybe your own?

As I heard this woman's flippant comment, it struck me - this is an epidemic view of prayer. So many people pray like it's a last-ditch effort, the backup plan to your backup plan's backup plan. How did prayer get reduced to the understudy's third cousin twice-removed? I think the answer people would give the most is this: "I dunno, it just seems like God doesn't really respond every time, especially when I need him most."

Our opinion of prayer has dwindled to mediocrity because of this - we are hesitant to give the important things to a God that sometimes feels distant. And that's understandable. We wouldn't entrust our criminal charges and impending court date to an attorney on an extended vacation, would we? That's what a lot of people have come to believe in God as - someone who is powerful enough to take care of business, but lacks the reason or motivation to attend to the lowly peons of this Earth.

It's hard to change someone's mind about this because every opinion like this stems from personal experience. "Where was God when my mom was on her deathbed?" "Where was God when I filed for divorce?" "Where was God when the eviction papers came?" "Where was God when my kid turned into a street thug?" It's a hard issue to address, simply because there are so many emotions tied to this subject, so many "been-there-done-that's" in play. So when I say "there's hope in prayer," even now you may have felt a twinge, a subtle dismissing notion or an unspoken longing of "if that were only true..."

I'm no expert on prayer, but I do know this: God did not intend any part of our relationship with him to be stressful or burdensome. If it is, there's a hitch in your giddy-up. That's why Jesus himself said "I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." If we have trouble trusting God by talking with him and handing him our burdens, our relationship with him is basically built on a self-serving basis. Sound like an unfair assumption? You're right, I don't mean to assume what God means to you. But here's what I do mean: if you struggle with approaching God, you may have the notion that God exists to make sure your life is perfect (enter buzzword - "blessed"). 

Here's some news for you - good news, actually: God does not exist to make sure your life goes peachy-keen. "How is that good news, Shane?" In the assumption that God is our personal genie, we miss the fact that God is a loving Father. Who would you rather have in your life a genie or a loving Father? Depending on your answer to that question, some red flags might be shooting up concerning your view of God. The difference between a "your wish is my command" genie and a "my command is good for you" loving Father is that a good parent exercises unconditional love. That includes "tough love" and "constructive love." Being loving isn't always walks in the park and ice cream cones. Sometimes a good parent shows he loves his child most through not allowing his child to participate in activities that could compromise the child's integrity. Or sometimes a parent's love is best displayed when letting the child figure out the facts of life for himself instead of spelling everything out for him. Or maybe the best way a parent could show their unconditional love is by saying no, so as not to enable their child's downfall or addiction. Or maybe some of the best proof of a parent's love for their child is to let them walk away, making room for them to arrive at the realization that true love was always waiting for them back home.

We are so spoiled when it comes to God. If he doesn't bend to our every whim, we throw a tantrum and stomp off in disgust, shaking an angry fist and threatening to never speak to him again. So it really is good news that God doesn't conform to our idea of what's right. If he did, we would have a marionette divinity, playing God from our positions as puppeteers. That would be messed up, let me tell ya. The world is a broken place, but to think everything should go the way we feel it should would often make for an even more mess-up world. 

Granted, we do have the ability to envision what's best on an honest scale. We're not totally depraved. We can imagine and expect what would actually be ideal. And guess what? God put that ability in us. We all have a vision of heaven set deep within us. At the core of our humanity is still Adam and Eve, the ones who experienced what God intended humanity to live in: paradise. We are all still looking for paradise in this fallen state of humanity, but we never find it outside of the source of paradise itself - the Creator - do we? We wander the earth like Adam and Eve banished from the garden (for their own good, by the way), looking for what's right in the world and blaming God when things don't turn up daisies...all while wiping the juices of the forbidden fruit from our lips. We are guilty as guilty gets, and our view of what the perfect Father God "should and shouldn't do" does not come with his welcome, just as a still-maturing, hormone-frenzied teen doesn't always win his father's agreement on what is best for the teen - and the entire family for that matter.

So if God has been your last-ditch effort, maybe it's time to ask why. If praying and talking with him about your beautiful, messy life seems to be a contrived, last-resort response, maybe it's time to rethink your prayer life - and more foundationally, your view of who God is. Believe it or not, God's track record is a lot more trust-worthy than any Steve Urkel you could substitute him with. All the other options on the bench might seem productive, but why settle when you can call on the one who made you, who knows your inmost being? Who would you trust to give you valuable life counsel: a friend you met at that one party a few months ago, or the loving parent who raised you and knows you inside and out? I'm sure the one with the most intimate knowledge of who you are would be the best choice, wouldn't you? So try it out - keep calm and talk to Jesus...and post a comment below to let me know how it goes!

Through Me

There are a lot of cycles that are popular these days...ever notice that? The Nitrogen cycle, the rinse cycle, the spin cycle, the breeding cycle (thanks National Geographic), icicles, bicycles, motorcycles, tricycles, motorcycles that look like tricycles...bunches of cycles! You know which cycle seems to get me in the most trouble though? The "Me-cycle." Oftentimes it's easy to get stuck on me - what I want for today, what decisions I want to make, what place I want to go, which people I want to see, when it's convenient for me. It's the "Me-cycle" taking me for a spin. When I land, though, I realize how self-absorbed I can be and how it's not very productive in the end.

That's where I turn my attention away from "me" and focus on the "we." Whether it be my wife, my co-workers, or the strangers that surround my everyday life, all us "we's" in the human race function at our most productive, God-intended best when we harmonize. You know, a 7 billion-part harmony. Social symbiosis. Yeah, world peace would be great, but that won't happen until God's good and ready to bring heaven to the scene. I'm not necessarily talking about world peace, I'm talking about you and me. I'm talking about you and that co-worker that you've felt compassion for. I'm talking about you and whoever else God places in your path. Here's an experiment you can try as homework: don't pray for yourself for a week. Yup, you heard me. I'm tellin' ya, you may not think that's a good idea, but you'll see what I'm talking about with this whole "we" thing. And trust me, God doesn't need you to pray for your finances, your job, your health to keep your little world glued together - He's not bracing the beams of your life with sweaty palms saying, "What are you doing?! You're not praying for yourself?! Are you crazy?! I can't hold this up much longer, you gotta pray or else this whole thing's comin' down on you!" On the contrary, if you focus all your prayer energy on others, you'll feel...well, just try it and leave a comment below on how you feel :)

When we focus our attention, our resources, our effort - our prayers - on others, God's design called "community" starts to flourish and dance. But how does this design become reality to us? Read a how-to guide? Say a magic incantation? Plant a magic bean? Well, not really. It's simpler than all that. We can see God's hand reaching and care-taking this great garden of humanity through us. Yes! One amazing thing that baffles me about God is that, even though He is more than able to do it Himself, He often chooses to empower us to touch people's hearts in lasting ways. What an honor. So we embrace the honor with excitement, eager to see how God can use our gifts and abilities to make a meaningful impact on the lives of those around us. That's the prayer behind a song I wrote called "Through Me."

Take a few minutes to watch my original worship song "Through Me" on YouTube by clicking HERE. As you reflect on what it means to you, ask God to use you to affect someone's life this week. Then comment below when you see God's hand at work. I promise, you'll see what I'm talking about. And this isn't one of those hokey, chain letter kind of promises - this is real. God is at work all around us, and He wants to use me and you in the greater story that's unfolding - the bigger picture we can't see. So come on back with a comment and let me know what happened when you prayed your "Through Me" prayer.

The Super in the Natural

Whew! I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and write something in my beloved blog again! Sorry it's been a while, but The 9 Event has had me out straight! (If you didn't catch the link I threw in there just now, scroll over ^The 9 Event ^ up there ^^^, well more ^up and >over there now)

Last time we met I was talking about God, The Plan, and Spiderman and how bad things happen to good people. It's a question many people lose their faith over, and it's probably because people have off-handedly given a myriad of answers that are callous, careless, prejudice, ignorant, or just downright wrong. Should we awaken our hearts to the true character of God, asking for His truth and enlightenment on the questions we wrestle with, we'll know how and why things happen. But that's probably not a specific enough answer to cut your mustard (which is why you shouldn't take it from me, but go directly to the source and ask Him to help you understand).

If God has already given you some insight on this subject though, you are ready to take the next step: action. James 2:26 tells us that faith and understanding of God is meaningless without taking action. It's like the Dead Sea: the Jordan River feeds into the Dead Sea, but there are no outlets, so the water has nowhere to go. It stays where it is - stagnant, too salty for life to flourish...dead. That's what happens in us if we keep the Spirit of God pent up inside us. It's too powerful, and like a raging river of life feeding into a body of water with no outlet, our spirit will die. It's just not healthy to keep God's spirit inactive in our lives, clutching it close to our chest selfishly. Ok, totally off-the-wall analogy, but heck, even something as filthy as excrement needs an outlet. How nasty do you feel when you're constipated? It feels completely unnatural and unhealthy, doesn't it? So of course that begs the question, is your spirit constipated? Are you pooping more often than you're sharing your faith? Yeah, I went there...

And here is the paradox of learning about God: some people think they will attain a higher spirituality if they keep grasping for as much knowledge of God as they can - gorging themselves on Godly resources, reading their Bible like rabid Theologians, squawking the garbled mess of the latest debate topic, jockeying for position in the Kingdom. Sorry, it just doesn't work that way. Being a glutton for God-facts and God-knowledge without putting it to work is like buying a fleet of snow plows and just leaving them in the garage when the blizzard hits. When the snow storms of life drop a pile of cold mess on you, all those facts and all that head-knowledge can't dig you out. It's the heart-knowledge that keeps you sturdy and productive - head-to-heart, remember? Here's the best verse I've found yet that defines what I'm talking about - I ran across it yesterday in my visit with God:

"I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion or our disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love." (Galatians 5:4-6, MSG) 

I could stop right there and let that verse speak for itself, but I've got itchy fingers now. In regards to religious striving vs. faith-filled action, it's important to dissect your soul and see your underlying power source. Are you drawing strength, confidence, and your identity as a believer through your encyclopedic knowledge of God, or are you drawing from who Christ is - His sovereign character, and who He says you are? Like our Pastor Steven Furtick was talking about in Part 1 of our current series "I Don't Know What I Believe," it's not necessarily about needing to rely on what I believe - sweating all the small stuff to make sure my theology is flawless - it's depending on whom I believe (2 Timothy 1:12). He will take care of the rest. The wise man built his house on the rock, remember? Hint: the rock is Jesus. The life He offers is sure, steady...proven. But the foolish man built his house on the sand. Hint: the sand is the things that diminish/overtake Jesus' rightful place in our lives, including an obsessive, unhealthy penchant for trying to figure God out, trying to get our understanding of God perfect before trusting Him.

Not to be a downer, but it's just another way we perplexingly complicate things by over-analyzing our relationship with God. There's a guy I work with who's about my age- he's handicapped by Asperger's Syndrome. He actually has an acute sense for details and an astounding memory, so he's always hungry for knowledge. Every time I see him, he spouts a barrage of questions about how God works and if I keep up with Pokemon much and if my hair was messy on purpose and if I have watched the installment of Godzilla that was made the year I was born...whew, it's fun wondering what he'll ask next. Just yesterday, he walked up to me and asked, as he often does, about God because he knows I'm a Christian. "So Shane, how do I keep from, you know, going to the 'bad place'?" I tried prying a bit more specificity out of him. "What do you mean?" He explained, "You know, how do I get on God's good side?" Many people, I would dare say the majority of the world's population, are wrestling with that same question in one way or another, whether they realize it or not. "Is God mad at me?"..."Is God toying with me?"..."There's no way I'm good enough for God to give me a second glance."..."I'm going to hell, I might as well live it up while I'm here." Fear, paranoia, feelings of inadequacy, resignation...all these and more infect the heart of humanity. I say infect because at the heart of humanity is a disease: we know we're fallen in some way or another, and we feel we are unlovable because of that brokenness. We feel like we're too much of a mess to clean up. We feel...undesirable by God. 

The first answer that popped into my head was just as simple as the answer God intended to present through the Messiah Christ's life on earth: I told my friend, "Well man, it's as simple as this: Jesus said to love God and love other people." (Matthew 22:37-40) That's it? Yes! Isn't that good news?! You say, "It can't be that simple, Shane, what about all the other stuff God outlines in the Bible, the stuff He expects of us, like holiness and righteousness?" Remember, humanity is fallen and not yet restored (heaven), and the only way possible that we can be holy and righteous on this Earth is through the life and person of Christ within us, lived out through our daily lives and actions. Ah yes, back to actions. You didn't think I'd come back to that, did you? See, it all ties in together. Our Savior Jesus offers his righteousness to shine in and through us, therefore making us "righteous before God." Scripture tells us our own striving for righteousness - our striving to get God's approval, our straining to be "the best little Christian I can be" without Christ's righteousness being our soul's compass- that self-driven righteousness is like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64) 

"Say what?! So what's the point of trying to be righteous, Shane? I should just do what I feel is right, what's the difference if my righteousness is like filthy rags?" That's not the point. The point is this: no matter how "good" or "perfect" of a God-follower we try to be - no matter how moral or right-standing we are - we will never be perfect in this state of humanity...not until Christ returns again and establishes heaven (reread that Scripture from Galatians I typed out above). Perfection was not meant for this side of eternity. If it were, we would all have a shot at being gods, and some of us actually might achieve that. If that were a level to be attained, we would be chiseled gods - muscular, witty, wise, and at the pinnacle of the universe. Do you know anyone who is even close to this perfection?...even the ones who are closest to God, are they truly perfect? No, everyone sins and falls short of God (Romans 3:21-26)  We are not God, and that is GREAT news! Can you imagine a world full of God-posers? Wow, that would be aweful. That's why there is only one God, and Jehovah is His name. 

So...actions...here's what I'm getting at: since humanity is broken, as a whole and on an individual level, we are nothing more than...natural. We can't be anything more in and of ourselves. You ever hear that expression, "I'm special...just like everyone else." That always makes me laugh, but it's so true. Each of us has extraordinary ability and capability, but it only goes so far. There's a capacity to humanity. Our capability doesn't reach the stars...on our own. That's where God comes in. It's good news that we're not God, but when God takes His rightful place in our hearts and lives, something amazing happens: our potential is expanded exponentially. There is no limit to what God can do through a willing heart. Gifts and talents reach their full potential. Gutter-lives shift to become productive portraits of God's heart. Down-and-outers flourish into up-and-comers. Even "normal" people awaken to the handprint of God in their lives...and run into their purpose full-steam. It's not a smokescreen I'm throwing up here - I'm serious. It's not pipe-dream talk either. It's real, tangible living - the way God intended for life this side of heaven. 

But it's important to note that you have to bring your natural so God can add His super. As my favorite duo Shane & Shane writes in their new album, "Bring your nothing." Remember God is a God of paradox - He can use your humble nothing better than He can use your selfish something. Look at nine out of ten superhero movies/books - when the protagonist is still a mere mortal with little to offer, there's always an event that transforms him into a hero. An oozing meteor that crashed from the depths of space, a radioactive spider that bites him, a nuclear fusion out of control. Something super has to enter the natural for the main character's purpose to hit its stride. So stop trying to bring stuff to God to impress Him - your masquerade of a perfect moral life is not getting His attention. It's the simplicity that makes Him smile - "Love God, love people." Action. God can't add His super if your natural is puffed up and selfish, swollen with your "I've finally arrived" attitude. There's no room for Him to work. The wood has already been whittled, the clay has already been shaped and set. Do yourself a favor and realize, "It can't be done." Super can't be achieved of my own strength - it takes more than me. It takes the only super we were designed to be inhabited by: God's super. Once you get it - really get it - you will realize that having superpowers is possible...just bring your natural to God's super and watch Him transform you.

God, The Plan & Spiderman

Why do bad things happen to good people, or to anyone for that matter? Innocent people, people unable to defend themselves, people who trusted God at one time only to feel let down by Him in the end. Villages being burned to the ground, women and children being raped and killed for no reason at all, natural disasters that destroy everything and everyone mercilessly—why does God allow such things? If He is an all-powerful, all-seeing God, why does it seem like He is indifferent to the injustices happening all around us. To face one of the hardest questions of all time, we must turn to dissect God’s character. We must look at God through a magnifying glass and see Him for who He really is.

Before we come to understand God’s character, we must first come to realize one simple truth: yes, it’s a shame that bad things happen to good people, and even that good things happen to bad people. But remember, it is just as true that good things happen to good people, and conversely, bad things happen to bad people. Chew on this for a minute: we question God when terrible things happen, but do we thank Him when good things happen? If we believe in God enough to be angry toward Him in the bad times, it should also be within us to be grateful toward God in the good times. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45b) If we blame God for “not taking action” against all the injustices of the world, and at the same time fail to contribute all the marvelous things that are happening in the world to Him, we have a one-legged faith—not in balance. Why? Because on one hand we are saying God has the power to stop bad things from happening, but on the other hand, somehow we downplay God’s active hand of blessing upon the Earth. How does that make sense? We believe in His existence enough to demand justice in the face of turmoil, yet we brush off the fact that He's "the giver of all good and perfect gifts," and even dare to attribute those gifts to man's doing or science or evolution, or any other avoidance of the divine in the latest grab bag of human ignorance. This creates an incomplete picture of God's character, leaving the canvas half-empty for us to try to understand a half-God. Of course, this theology is unbalanced, screaming with ignorance, if not bordering atheism. He's not a half-God. He really is fully capable of wiping out evil for good (Great, remember?), and He really is actively pouring His favor on humanity (Good, remember?). But like I said earlier, people most often wrestle with the question of why God doesn't make the wrong in the world right. For the answer, let's look at what's behind the question.

Long ago in a galaxy far far away (actually, it was right here on Earth, but it was pretty long ago), Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and toward the land God promised for them. Remember that story in your kiddy coloring books? If you have no clue what I'm talking about, brush up on Exodus. Let me tell ya, the most frustrating part about the story of the Israelites' redemption is how stinkin' foolish they are! No matter how many times they see the direct, unadulterated hand of God working miracles for them, literally fighting for them, they still somehow meander back into the idol-building business. Even with an over-abundance of exposure to God's helping hand, they still seek to cut their spirituality to the quick and replace God with something tangible, something easy to understand...something ultimately man-made. 

Sound familiar? It should, we all do it. We're no better than the Israelites - which, when I realized this, knocked me down a couple pegs. And this is the crucial truth we can learn from the struggle of the Israelites: even if God were to personally escort us to the promised land with a pillar of fire and a huge cloud, feed us with the bread of heaven, and route nearly every enemy along the way against insurmountable odds, humanity - in its deep-rooted state of brokenness - would still eventually shake its angry fist at the Heavenly Father. Humanity's story is the spiritual equivalent of a rebellious teenager and a loving father - no matter how gracious, giving and good the father is to the teenager, the unruly teen will view his dad as the most awful person on the planet...until the teenager grows out of his hormone-clouded rebellion and comes to the truth of his father's character. If this analogy didn't work for ya, surely a superhero analogy will...what superhero analogy doesn't work?!

In movies like Spiderman, Hellboy, and the Dark Knight, the main superhero characters are always misunderstood by the civilians. Here’s how it goes down every time, never fails: the hero performs one or several acts of bravery but stays behind the scenes, out of the lime-light; but eventually, the hero is confronted/discovered by the public and rumors circulate—people start wanting to spot the superhero, start daring him to make himself known by publicly speculating his existence, basically prodding him to reveal himself. Finally the hero is caught in the act of servitude, and for a while, the people cheer. "We love you Superman!" "We love you Batman!" Kiss the baby for the front page, keys to the city, the whole nine yards. But after awhile, the hero shows up at the scene to those same people throwing seditious, false accusations at the superhero, often construing the righteous acts of the hero as questionable and suspicious. I always find myself yelling at the TV…like, full-throttle, fist in the air toward the townspeople because I’m blown away at how clueless they must be to make ludicrous accusations against the savior of the city. “What are you doing to my baby, you sick freak?! “—that’s the first thing one woman says after Hellboy saves her baby from the path of a giant monster’s destruction. “Get away from that baby!” cry the men as they surround Hellboy threateningly. Same thing with Batman. The Gothamites, especially the police, always want to catch the “vigilante,” even to the point where Batman’s enemies start using the Gothamites’ spite to their advantage. That would preach. You see, townspeople always scream for the blood of the savior, and I never understood why. But now I finally know why: the townspeople don’t trust the hero and his power; they are blinded by their mistrust to the point where they don’t realize the hero only wants what’s best for them. 

Humanity's expectancy of divine action, in a way, marginalizes God’s master plan of redemption. It’s true, and I'm about to drop a Truth-bomb on ya: we have had a “superhero” view of God for far too long. We are always waiting for God to step in and save the day, to keep all bad things from happening. First of all, who do we think we are to claim that we know better than God, that we know what’s best for the future of human kind? (especially in light of a God who knows the future anyway). Second of all, believe it or not, God stepped in and saved the day a long time ago. The only hope for humanity’s destructive nature—for the people who cause all these terrible things to happen—is Jesus Christ, the God-given, supreme sacrifice (as understood by Jewish law). He is Hope incarnate, even right now. Sure we can’t physically see God, see Jesus, but if we give Jesus a chance, He will take that opportunity to transform our destructive humanity so we can “bear His fruit” (or in other words, develop His character in ourselves and others through our daily lives). 

So as a Christian, or a person striving for Christ’s likeness, it is our calling to awaken this realization within the hearts of mankind that humanity’s destructive nature will be vanquished by Christ’s hope one heart at a time. In light of all this, I dare say it almost seems selfish to question God’s “lack of action” toward injustice because we are only focusing on a very false and narrow view of God, one that sees Him only as a God of wrath and indifference. This selfish view squeezes God into a box we create with who we think God should be/what He should do with His power. There's a plan in place, and it's the kind of saving we really need.

God planned it all out through the Redemptive Messiah Jesus long ago, and there would be no point to redemption and the final judgment of mankind if God physically interceded in every situation, “saving the day” as I called it. No, Jesus’ redemption and Day of Judgment would have no purpose because God would have been housekeeping every bit of evil the whole time! You see? God’s plan for redemption is much more meaningful, much more “final” than stopping every injustice. If He did that, we would yawn at God’s power, seeing His acts of heroism as ordinary, therefore shattering the significance of faith in the first place...and we would maybe even come to despise God as a push-over to our every whim (then we would be the gods, right?) Even the Gothamites took Batman for granted and came to hate him, despite his good intentions. 

At the same time, I do believe God is very active in every situation of injustice in the world. “Wait, what? Didn’t you just say…?” You see, even if God doesn’t save the day in each situation of calamity in the world, He does intervene…through us! This is what I touched on earlier—we are to be Christ’s love to a broken world. That’s why He came, and that’s why He modeled that love to us: so we could do the same for others who suffer injustice. As cold a statement as it may seem, good can come from evil. The village that was burned to the ground? True Christ followers would come to their aid. The women and children that were abused? True disciples of Christ’s heart would seek to mend their spirits. The earthquake in Haiti? True Christ-like people would race to help the broken-hearted. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying God is some kind of sick-o who makes bad things happen so His minions can look good doing His bidding. That’s pretty much the opposite of reality. God weeps over injustice.

As recorded by Matthew (chapter 23, verse 37), Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Jesus wants to gather mankind under his warm wing, but all we do is hate Him through our misguided philosophy that He smugly overlooks these catastrophes that plague the Earth. If we only gave Him a chance to gather us in, we would realize He is on our side—God is on our side! How amazing is that?! I hope we can all grasp this concept and answer that question that has been transmitted through society, “why do bad things happen to good people?” Like Romans 8 says, the world God made is good, but it's fallen from glory and riddled with bad things. In the end God will redeem creation and set everything back into perfect order (heaven); but until then, evil is allowed. Some people turn to God because of it, some people walk away from Him in bitterness and confusion. But I will say this: we wouldn't need cleaning if they weren't a mess. We wouldn't need saving if there were no fallenness, no injustice, no disease. 

There's no pretending humanity isn't broken. There's no getting around the fact that we're in need of restoration from something outside our own means (does that drink or that porn website or that hobby take the pain away or just numb your heart to it?). We may not see the superhero in the sky, but ultimately, God is not uninvolved - He just longs to be involved through us instead of taking the cheap and easy way out by “saving the day” every time. We wouldn't need faith if He did that...we'd be spoiled rotten, just like the Israelites in the wilderness. What a privilege it is to know God decided to use us to bring hope to the hopeless instead of just taking care of every situation Himself, like some kind of cheap magic show. Did you hear what I just said? He decided to use us...we are His superheroes. More on our super powers next time...

Rainfall

I'm sitting here on the porch of my favorite coffee shop, my personal getaway for serenity, and it's raining. Not the pouring kind of rain, not the harsh sloppy kind. Just the light gentle kind. The kind of shower that reminds me of how rain is a pleasant thing, not just a taxing thing that makes our driveway muddy and keeps our puppies stinky. Nope, this rain is slow, cascading...it's beautiful, it's full of life. Not pressing, not forcing itself. Just...present.

As I sit here on the covered porch, I was daydreaming about the rain, all while my gaze was fixed on the shrubbery at the base of the porch. When I woke from my daydream, I realized I was staring at the shrubbery (sometimes this incognizance is embarrassing - ever wake up from a daydream and realize you've been unintentionally staring at something completely inappropriate, like someone's butt or something? Alas, thus is price of daydreaming I guess). But as I wakened to the sight of the shrubbery, I noticed something profound: the rain was affecting the shrubs. Most of the time, humans don't like the effect rain has on us - dodging puddles in our suede shoes, hoisting umbrellas so as not to look and smell like a drowned rat all day. I remember my gram used to rig a plastic bag over her freshly permed hair before venturing into the wet weather. I thought it looked funny.

We've all dodged the dewy droplets from the sky, but as I sit and watch how the shrub is affected by the rain, I'm overcome with inspiration. This is what I learned from the shrubs today:

1. The wetness may be inconvenient for us, but for them, it is essential. It is crucial. They don't mind sitting it in the least bit. In fact, they seem to enjoy it. Which leads me to the second thing I learned...

2. The shrubs' posture is affected by the water. The misty rain is too fine today to stir the plant life, but the droplets from the overhead gutter create quite the stir in the posture of the shrubbery. As each giant water drop falls onto the leaves of the bushes, they bend. They are roused. They come alive. The leaves are no longer arid, but clean. They are being shaken from their sleep to drink and be nourished. They are dancing to the feel of the drops on their skin. They are not hurt by the rain, as it may seem by their bending. For the rain brings a healthy movement, and like all creatures of our God and King, we all need a good stirring to sift out the complacencies we struggle with in this wounded world.

Now, you can imagine what daydreaming this stirred in me! This is such a direct and brazen image of our ever-unfolding life God intended for us: the rain is good, it is crucial, and it stirs us with life. Look over the course of your week, your month perhaps, and tell me: what has been your rain? What has stirred you to life? What has made your soul dance with nourishment? Leave a comment and share!

Ride Hard

A couple months ago, Jodi and I decided to venture through the various trilogies pop culture had embraced over the past few years. We plowed through all the epic trilogies in like a month - Lord of the Rings (extended editions, box sets...don't judge), The Matrix, Spiderman (I still think Tobey Maguire is the best), Batman (of course, Christopher Nolan's adaptation stands alone - Christian Bale is Batman)...pretty much all the superhero series' from the past 20 years. And let me tell ya, there's a lot to daydream about in watching all that. As many times as I've watched those movies, there's always something inspiring to take away from them. I'm tellin' ya, there is real substantive inspiration to be found in these epic tales, though fiction they are. Just recently, I was struck by the recollection of a certain scene in one of these movies, as it related to what my wife and I have been experiencing lately. So here's where I'll begin...

Over the past year or so, I've been applying to a lot of churches, trying to get back into vocational ministry as a worship leader. It's been disheartening. Every application, every interview has come up empty, and not for lack of ability or leadership. Jodi and I were talking about all this the other day, and we noticed something strange: recently, in the past 5 months or so, the opportunities presented to me have turned from shoo-in's to slaps in the face. Churches that seemed to be sure-thing no-brainers ended up not only deciding to walk away from me as a candidate, but also hit me with the door on my way out. The first slap in the face was Florida. There was one church there that sent the worship pastor and associate worship pastor to observe me leading at a friend's church close by. It was a tantalizing prospect - moving to the oasis of Florida, with good friends nearby. The shoreline sweet life. I thought, "This would be nice, God." So I went to lead at my friend's church, and at the same time, I would kill two birds with one stone by giving the chaps from this prospect church a taste of my leadership style. After the gathering was over, I scanned the crowded room, only to find they had left right away without even speaking to me. I had gone all that way, and they didn't give me the decency of even a good-bye - needless to say, I never heard a peep from that church again.

Then a position opened up here in Charlotte at the sister church of the one I had lead part-time in for a year. Big church, nice area, people we knew, good salary. I thought, "This would be nice, God." I was scheduled for an observation leading at their Saturday night service about 3 months in advance. It was a long three months, waiting to interview like that. Each week was filled with anticipation to get off the bench and play. Finally the week came, all the preparation and anticipation was about to climax. Then the night before, that Friday night, I received an email through the church's worship team email list that they had decided on a candidate for their new worship leader. I think the email wasn't meant to include me, but my heart simultaneously exploded with anger and sank with depletion. Battleship sunk. What an unprofessional move. After much heart-aligning and peace-seeking that Saturday morning, I ended up leading that night. They handed me a check afterward, like they never really even considered me a candidate, just a fill-in leader while they were looking.

Then there was the local church plant I got connected to through a good friend from the last church I lead part-time. It was a solid connection, and connections are half the battle in paid ministry. And that part-time experience was a church plant as well, so I would fit comfortably in this new prospect. Comfortably, but honestly, not preferably. But it was something, so I thought, "This would be nice, God." The first ten minutes of my practice with the team, there was conflict. I was like, "Really?" I lead two weeks there, and I haven't heard a word from them since - that was over a month ago.

My face is cut from all the slaps I've been dealt. But as Jodi and I were talking, something became more and more clear: God doesn't want to give us nice. You may think He's a table-scraps God, but He's not. He's a God of feast, not famine. So often, we feel like we don't deserve any more than scraps. But that's not how God rolls. You may have been burned in the past, and this concept of a good God may sting; but like so many of us, your view of God is skewed. He's a God of open arms, not clenched fists...no matter what the culture around us tells you. I would have been miserable with "nice" opportunities, and God knows that. He wants to give me, and you, more than "nice."

So I thought, "What does 'more than nice' mean for me?"  And then something came to mind that I've been pushing off as impossible for a while now. We've been going to a church we absolutely love for a while now - Elevation. A friend of mine told me a long time ago that the best way to get into vocational ministry is to find a church you love first, then seek a deeper involvement from there. For so long, I've been trying to tread water by finding a church that is hiring first, then hopefully grow to love it. But it doesn't work like that, your heart will shrivel up and die first. So I did something to take a step in the Elevation direction last week - I applied to their apprenticeship program, the "Prodigy Program." Now, Elevation isn't one of those churches where it's easy to get involved on a deep level. Elevation is a church of over 12,000 people, with 8 campuses and an extremely guarded inner-core of paid involvement...and rightly so. It's a huge battle to even get positioned to where your gifts are considered for paid employment. And the apprenticeship doesn't mean you'll get hired, but it's the best stepping stone. So I applied, knowing it's an intense screening process. I know God wants to use my gifts of leadership and songwriting, but I don't know how that's all going to play out. I hope it starts at the church my wife and I love, and if I don't get accepted into the program, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do for employment...especially with a baby girl on the way.

So here's where the whole trilogy thing comes back into focus (that wasn't just a random thought to open my blog entry with). I'd been marinating on what all this means for quite some time, dressing the wounds inflicted on my face, when randomly one day recently, a moving scene from Lord of the Rings came to mind. Remember the scene where Arwen is rushing Frodo to the Elf Kingdom before he turns into a Ringwraith? Frodo had been stabbed by a Wraith, and he was fading fast. He needed the healing powers of the Elfs. Hero Aragorn charged his love, Arwen, to race him to her home Kingdom on her fastest horse, but the Ringwraiths were in chase right on her heels. I'll never forget that epic scene, Arwen flying through the pines in a race against time for Frodo's life, with death biting at her back. At one point, a stray branch from one of the pines strikes her face as she speeds past it. It leaves an instant laceration on her cheek, but her focus is so strong she hardly even reacts. That's the kind of faith I want. The extreme focus on the goal, on the promises of God that speak life to the full - in spite of the branches that cut my face on the way by.

Branch after branch has struck me right in the face as I've raced forward, but I will not lose my eye on God's purpose for my life. I will not lose heart. I will not lose aim of the hope I charge towards.

If you've not seen the movie, check out this clip and ask God to make clear what you need to focus on with such intensity as this. And I'll charge you the words Aragorn gave Arwen before she set off: "Ride hard - don't look back..."