God on I-4

I commute. My home, my job, and my school are 52 miles apart from each other resulting in a 104 mile commute-5 days a week. I am not complaining, believe me. I love the drive time and how it gives me a great excuse to just sit back and enjoy an hour and a half of my life. I think all kinds of thoughts. I sings ALL kinds of songs. In fact, most of the foundations of my relationship were laid somewhere between mile markers 38 and 58 on I-4. (Anyone trying to work on your relationship should try commuting with your significant other since you are forced to gain good communication when you are stuck in a car doing 70;) This past week I was driving by myself and God started showing me some things that I wanted to write about...

The drastic weather here in Florida lately has notably effected the landscape. In other words, everything is brown right now. Much of the grass that runs alongside Interstate 4 is dry and dead and the trees stand bare like ominous skeletons cheering on the chaos of rush hour. Driving home a few days ago I noted how bleak everything looked. Then God showed me something. Now whether He organized these events for me to see or heightened my awareness to see them I do not know. All I know is as I looked at a tree void of leaves, I noticed how all that was left was the moss that hangs from the branches like droopy sackcloth. As I watched, a beautiful bird, perhaps an eagle (pardon my incompetent ornithology), swoop down and grasp all the moss that it could. The majestic creature soared alongside my car for a few moments until it reached a half-completed nest further down the road. It added the new addition to the work-in-progress and I smirked at how there was such purpose for something I thought was so uselessly ugly.
A few moments later I saw the fields of brown grass that are usually filled with grazing cows, void of any signs of life. Dead grass does no service to hungry cows. A few moments later I passed a row of trees that were dead on the top but had lower branches that were regaining their green vitality. I then saw cows with necks raised up, eating leaves from trees. Cows eating from trees!! Perhaps my child-like attitude towards life attributed more amazement than necessary, but I am still in awe over that sight.
How many times has this dumb cow looked at the grass of my life and fretted over the lack that I see? How many times have I stressed about how everything would work out? How many times have I neglected to see the purpose in moss and low-branches? This is a long passage, but please read it openly. Jesus said in Luke 12:
"Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can't even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don't fuss with their appearance—but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen, don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself."
Jesus has a way of lovingly stopping us in our tracks doesn't he? According to Him, if we worry, it means we don't really know God. Ouch. We must be steeped in God-reality, seeing things the way He tells us to see them. Where others might see a dry and barren land, we must be the ones gazing upward for manna and looking to rocks for water. When others are looking at the mountains of economic and circumstantial impossibility, we must be the ones who look BEYOND the hills to where our help comes from. If you know your Father, you will trust Him. I need to get to know Him more...perhaps you do too.

In Love pt 3

I saw this a couple of days ago and instantly knew I would have to write about it. Please, study this picture.

Kill 'em all
Let God sort 'em out!
Only God will judge me.

Pardon me...WHAT?!?!?

I am not going to take the time or energy to address the theological inconsistencies with this, and I refuse to try and dive into the political squabble that it is trying to entertain. I actually have no interest in discussing what this person is saying nor am I angry at him or her for saying it. Rather, I am more intrigued by the liberty in which it was said. It got me thinking about the way that I, and other Christians, speak. Our self expressions are often just that, expressions of our very selves. We are often careless with out words, but that is not what I am referring to here. I am talking about when we say what we mean and we mean what we say. In this instance, "Kill 'em all." Even if it was intended to be humorous, it was still intended. How would you feel if you were 'em? The death threat would be bad enough, but then what about the symbol of the cross being used as justification for your murder? I'll admit up front that I am pulling no punches here, but please know that I am not nearly as passionate and enraged about the words on this car as I am about the things I see in myself.

I may never say, "Kill 'em all" but what do I say? What do you say?
"She is an idiot." "I hate people who..." "I want to punch him" "I am so stupid" "People like that make me want to..."
There are plenty of other things I could list, but I hope you can see that I am talking about our emotionally-charged self expressions. Please take caution when exercising your freedom of speech. I would submit to you that as Christians, even as American Christians, ESPECIALLY as American Christians, we really do not have the freedom of speech. When we entered into covenant with God through Christ, we gave up our rights to do whatever we want to do. As I have written in my love blogs before, the way we love others is the very proof of our salvation. When it comes to loving others, it is encouraging to know that as we do so we are doing it unto God. However, that rule applies when we are firing off our verbal bullets. The way we speak to and about others shows our heart towards God. James puts it this way:
"The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!"
How can you kill 'em all, call 'em idiots, punch 'em, and despise 'em, when God made 'em? I am really serious about renovating the way I speak, even in my frustration. The Bible tells me that the things I say are actually samples of my heart. If I can verbally execute someone in a moment of anger, what must my heart look like? I urge you to look at the little (your name)-isms that pepper your vocabulary. It would be a very sad thing for your love, the evidence and completion of our relationship with God, to be compromised by the way you speak. Choose your words wisely and pass them through the filter of love.
...and if you don't have anything nice to say, don't plaster it on your car at all.

In Love pt 2

The past few days have been an endless slot machine of emotions for me. My circumstances are like spinning reels and flashing lights and at every turn, a new combination results in a different payout. I have felt more unique combinations of emotion this week than I have in quite some time. How does one feel contentment, grief, and relaxation all at once? Is there a name for being delighted, devastated, and determined? How can you feel all these things in the same day, or even worse, the same HOUR? Yet from this endless emission of emotion emerges another thought pertaining to my recent fascination with true love in Christianity. (If you haven't read "In Love pt 1" you may want to do so, but this thought is freestanding nonetheless.)

Though I may express them a little theatrically, the variety of emotions I have felt do have a name: humanness. Each and every person is so extremely multi-faceted that one individual could feel an innumerable amount of emotions over any given issue. Some say they are "torn" while others call them "mixed feelings." Semantics aside, we all feel much more than our words can keep up with. (That's why feelings are felt instead of spoken) This poses quite a problem when it comes to relationships. You love your best friends because they know you better than anyone else, but what about when that friend has to be out of the country for an extended period of time and that familiarity is removed? You love your family because you can be yourself with them, but what about when they misunderstand you? You love God because He first loved you, but what if you can't feel that love in the combination of your emotional slot machine? How do we love consistently when we are so inconsistent? How do we have deep-rooted love when life seems to bring upheaval to our landscape? How does love exist in the face of tension, bankruptcy, illness, loss, anger, jealousy, and every other anti-love force?

Humor me as I take a dip in the waters of theology.

One "hot" topic in Christianity, or at least Pentecostalism, is the Baptism of the Spirit. There are plenty of opinions on what it is, what it isn't, what it does, and what it means. I don't aim to unleash the fullness of that discussion here, only just a thought. Some say that the "initial physical evidence" of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. This experience with the manifested power of God's Spirit is indicated by speaking in a heavenly language. Let me say clearly that I fully believe that this and all other gifts of the Spirit are available to Christians today. However, I also believe that being baptized or immersed in the Holy Spirit may have more implications than many people realize. In the days of Paul, there were plenty of cults in which the members believed in speaking in tongues. In particular, Mithraism taught that a person could be filled with a spirit (perhaps of a god or otherwise) and that speaking in tongues was the sign of a spirit coming into the body. Paul doesn't dismiss this totally, but rather launches from it into a deeper point.

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing...but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." 1 Corinthians 13 TM

Paul writes these words not just as beautiful poetry, but to teach Christians. Chapters 12 and 14 deal with many of the gifts of the Spirit, but here in 13 Paul gives the true meaning. In his day, people believed in tongues and miracles as a sign of a spirit indwelling a person, but Paul distinguishes by saying that the "evidence" of being filled with the One True Spirit of God is love. It is more than just an ecstatic experience producing otherworldly phenomena. The Baptism of the Spirit is an intimate communion with God that grants the believer the power to infuse each and every action with supernatural love. Yes you may speak in tongues, prophecy, and see miracles, but all these things occur within the context of a life of love and that is the true miracle. Being immersed in the love of the Holy Spirit allows us to love people despite what the slots say. It enables us to go boldly into the difficult issues of life and show true love. Many churches stay silent when it comes to suffering, pain, and unexplainable injustice. A group of believers immersed in the Spirit, however, have love so bold that they do not have to run and hide. Someone who has been immersed in true love can see their friends after extended absence and continue constructing community. Someone who has been immersed in true love can push through family misunderstandings. Someone who has been immersed in true love is not destroyed by even the worst report. Baptism in the Spirit brings us into a tangible circle of relationship with the Trinity that manifests in our relationships with each other.

So, continue relying on the Spirit for all the gifts of power for service, but begin relying on Him most of all for the greatest power you could wield: love. He is the source from which we can draw true love. The church must be concerned with evangelism. It must be concerned with social justice. It must be concerned with holiness. However, these things in and of themselves result in fanaticism, activism, and legalism respectively. They are only effective when they are the overflow of a genuine and supernatural love for people. True love is the most supernatural act that a Christian can partake in and it can and must infiltrate every facet of life. If, at any given moment, you are not operating in love...doesn't that mean that you are operating outside of it? If so, your impact is as life-changing as a penny clinking at the bottom of a bucket. If, however, you have been immersed in the Spirit, meaning you have entered into intimate communion with God, the love that will flow from you will be an endless jackpot that will bailout the bankrupt world in which we live.

In Love pt 1

I'm writing this first sentence at 5:27pm on Saturday night. Officially, over the past three days I have had a combined total of seven hours of sleep. Yesterday, I actually headed to bed as my Dad was waking up for work...quite a comical exchange:) I am usually a sleep junkie so this is not usual for me, but a combination of finals week, finishing classes, and Christmas parties resulted in it. Believe it or not, I am pleasantly energized. God has been doing renovation in me and I am exhilarated by what is happening. I know for a fact that the totality of this shift will not be contained in this post, hence the pt. 1, but I have to start putting words to what is occurring in me.

On 11/23 I preached a sermon entitled "The Romance of the Ages" and it dealt with the God's love for us. The conclusion of the sermon pointed toward believers loving others. Little did I know that this closing thought would catapult me into a much more intense personal learning experience. 2008 has been a year of dramatic change in almost every area of my life, but all of that combined seems to be just a pre-game show to what has begun in me this week. I feel like the deepest, most foundational, structural parts of who I am and how I think are being rearranged, renovated, and in some cases, removed. It is hard to explain what it feels like other than to say I feel certain paradigms melting away and new worldviews sprouting. It is all centered around what love really, really, REALLY is and how I can better live in love. As I'm starting to see glimmers of what true love means, I realize the multitude of areas in my life that could use more of it and this thrills me. This is perhaps the deepest, most exciting shift that God has ever initiated in me. Please keep me in prayer as I journey through it because I know that what will come is what I need. Any "In Love" entries you see will deal with this journey of mine. In the meantime, here is one thought that I have had in this overhaul:

What if I did not go to church? Now this is a very hypothetical thought so stay with me. What if my Wednesday nights and my Sunday mornings were totally cleared. What if there was not a "church" in the organized sense that so many are familiar with? What would distinguish me as a follower of Jesus to those around me? Obviously my personal prayer and devotional life could continue, but that's not the question. What would be my visible, public, and evident distinction? The only answer would have to be found in my relationships. Hard work is the trait of a believer but those who do not believe can still work hard. Integrity is the trait of a believer but there are unbelievers who live with integrity. But when it comes to loving people, not just liking them and not just enjoying them, but truly and sacrificially loving someone, we find the unique and defining factor of a true believer...the Bible tells me so. "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”John 13:34-35 NLV.

Okay, now lets step out of the hypothetical and back into reality...does that truth change? Do I have any less responsibility to love others as a means of "proving" my belief in Christ or am I exempt from this burden of proof because I sit in a building twice a week and can sing the songs without looking at the words? Don't get me wrong, I love coming together in a worship service perhaps more than most, but I also recognize that as just a part of the life Christ came to give.

More to come...but now I lay me down to sleep:)

I See The Church

inspired by the events in a worship service on 12/03/08

I see The Church...

...crowned in humble triumph. There is something remarkable about this church as it is existentially victorious and yet evidently undistinguished. Let it be understood that I am not beholding a building, nor am I observing an organization. I am looking at people, precious in His sight...and perplexing in mine. These people are not truly 'these' but rather a 'this.' They are many yet one. The remarkable thing, however, is not the ethereal qualities that make up the nature of this being. The remarkable thing is the way this being-The Church-operates. It is a force of powerful, victorious, rambunctious love. It has tapped into the world's most desirable resource: true Love. 'This' people lives in a world addicted to a drug. The masses call it love, but the insidiousness of this drug is found in the fact that it is the furthest thing from Love. Self-centered, self-seeking, self-gratifying, self-serving, self-indulging and self-destructive. The masses sway back and forth in a riotous fashion reaching, hording, and groping for a fix on the drug and sensations of this pseudo-love. They takes hits of the drug from needles of empty relationships, from pipes of secret sins, and from joints of careless living. This riot pulses, pushing the individuals around like pawns until they reach the edges and are carelessly and quietly trampled beneath its lethal force. In this very same riot world, I see The Church...

...it proclaims justice, hope, restoration, and life. All these are beautiful messages that many people would willingly accept. However, the primary message of this church-entity is also the very thing that causes vicious hate, searing strife, and repeated rejection from the masses: Love. The rioters do not want to hear The Church's message of Love. They are in a continual cycle of either feeling like they are moments away from attaining love by their own might, or like they have just been abused and defiled by it. The rioters have a love-hate relationship with love. It is their unstoppable addiction yet the ever-present carrot dangled before them leading to their own demise. They want it and fear it all at once. Their very definition of love is different from what The Church knows as Love. The rioters hate love, but insatiably crave it. So, between the riot and The Church, there is a language barrier. The Church sends a message of Love and the riot quakes in vile repulsion. They have had enough with love since it is the reason they are caught in the riot. Yet The Church says that God is Love...and therefore the riot hates God. The Church means that Love must be defined according to God, but the riot hears that God is defined according to love. With a skewed definition of love, the riot's concept of God is lost in translation. They see God as an abusive force from which all pain stems, for that is what their love is. They see God as an unattainable goal that strips us of all dignity and leaves us dejected, for that is what their love is. But in the face of this devious definition, I see The Church...

...it is filled with compassion and hurls itself into the riot. Some will most likely be trampled, yet all enter fearlessly. The Church used to be on the other side of the street shouting out its message. Now, its members have permeated the crowd and are whispering in the ears of the rioters. The hands of the addicts shiver and grapple in habitual attempts to find love, but the members of The Church hold their hands still with gentle strength. The eyes of the addicts dart to and fro in fear, but the members of The Church send a calm and piercing gaze that does not break. The addicts push and shove one another, but the members of The Church stand still and take the brunt of the momentum. Slowly, the swaying mass stills and the noise of shouting has died down. Now a roar of whispers is all that remains. The whispers of affirmation, acceptance, and validation are both foreign and refreshing to the addicts. The addicts are puzzle as the members of The Church perform a strange custom they have never seen. They had lived in a riot of taking, but these peculiar people begin giving. They remove their outer garments to warm the crowd. They offer their shoulders to support those who have been wounded. They empty their wallets to those who have been robbed. They give their car keys to those who have none. They offer their homes to all that can fit. A new sound is heard, clinking and clicking as the addicts drop their needles, pipes, and joints. They abandon those old behaviors they had of living life trying to feel love. I do not see a mixed crowd of rioters and rescuers any longer. I see The Church...

...they are one once again. They are the new riot. A gentle revolution looking to overthrow the next riot with love. Concerning this vision, a friend of mine from the Middle East replied:

"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. " (Matt 5:14-16)

Are you part of this community? I understand you may be a part of a church, but are you a part of THE Church. Do you shine enough to bring out the God-colors in a world of colorblind art critics? Is your love backed by action or do you merely give your faith lip service? I see The Church...

...do you see what I see?