Nice View

I had a dream one night that my big brother turned into The Incredible Hulk.

This dream left a serious impression on me. I was probably 5 or 6 years old, but I still remember details of the dream. I also remember that for a little while, I secretly believed that he really had the ability to turn into the big green monster. Of course, if he had this ability, he would definitely use it to scare away Joey Balarucci and the other bullies in the neighborhood. While Mike would love to believe that he is indeed the Hulk, he certainly isn’t.

A kid will believe anything.

Whether it be a centuries old saint that delivers gifts to their home every Christmas Eve or a mischievous leprechaun that comes into the kindergarten classroom every weekend to rearrange things, outrageous faith comes naturally to a child.

Believing has very little to do with seeing.

When I was a kid, I really wanted to wear glasses. It seemed that all the kids with glasses received a lot of extra attention. I’ll never forget the disappointment when my mom finally took me to the optometrist. It turned out that my vision was perfect. Over the years, however, my vision has deteriorated. Near-sightedness coupled with excruciating headaches have brought me to the place where I shouldn’t leave the house without my glasses.

Be careful what you wish for.

Reminds me of my faith.

Gone are the days when I would believe anything. That nice world view of my childhood has been replaced with near-sightedness. Having outrageous faith has been taken over by being in touch with reality.

I feel like that servant in 2 Kings 6. I need GOD to open my eyes that I may see. I need to return to the days of having faith like a little child.

In the same way that I need glasses to see with the perfect vision of my childhood, I need to view the world around me through the spectacles of God’s Word and promises.

Childlike faith actually still comes naturally. The problem is that we fail to see beyond our own intellect. We let our memories of past experiences get in the way of all the existing divine possibilities.

I can’t even begin to fathom what God is doing in my life. I can’t see because I stopped looking at Him the way my little girl looks at me.

A return to the nice view of my childhood–that perfect vision and outrageous faith–will do nothing more than open the door to God’s reality.

In the words of my favorite IBC instructor, O.C. Marler, “Uhhh, has anyone seen my glasses?”

Family

My family used to be huge.

Growing up, there was nothing I enjoyed more than family time. Whether it was a cookout at my big brother’s pad or Christmas at Grandma B’s, family time was always special time. We always had an extended church family as well. My parents were seemingly always carting me off to visit with the Tracys or the Griffeys, or the Phelps or Wards were stopping by our place for a time of fellowship.

When I was 17, my parents and I moved from Toledo, OH to Albion, MI. Almost immediately it seemed that my family began to shrink. When my parents separated in 1996, it felt almost as if I was displaced. Grandma passed away and the Christmas get-togethers stopped. As the years pass, I get to visit Toledo less and less. I’m not close to either of my parents. My family just isn’t what it used to be.

It’s actually better.

I have the most wonderful wife a man could ever ask for. I have six amazing kids. I have the best dog in the world. We live in the prettiest house in town. Literally.  We’ve been adopted into the greatest church family around.

This week I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the most tightly knit family I’ve ever seen. Gathering for the funeral of the matriarch of the family, I have been inspired by their solidarity. It is a testament to the parental influence of this amazing family.

That’s what I want.

I don’t want my children to grow up and grow apart. I don’t want them to go their separate ways.

I realized today as I sat and watched this funeral that this is up to me. The cord that holds my family together will only be as tight as I keep it.

Man, I love this family.

Stop Sugarcoating the Bible

I liked this blog so much I had to share it.

By Steven James

The Bible is a gritty book. Very raw. Very real. It deals with people just like us, just as needy and screwed up as we are, encountering a God who would rather die than spend eternity without them.

Yet despite that, it seems like Christians are uncomfortable with how earthy the Bible really is. They feel the need to tidy up God.

For example, look in any modern translation of Isaiah 64:6, and you’ll find that, to a holy God, even our most righteous acts are like “filthy rags.” The original language doesn’t say “filthy rags”; it says “menstrual rags.” But that sounds a little too crass, so let’s just call them filthy instead.

And let’s not talk so much about Jesus being naked on the cross, and let’s pretend Paul said that he considered his good deeds “a pile of garbage” in Philippians 3:8 rather than a pile of crap, as the Greek would more accurately be translated.

And let’s definitely not mention the six times in the Old Testament that the Jewish writers referred to Gentile men as those who “pisseth against the wall.” (At least the King James Version got that one right.)

 

The point?

God’s message was not meant to be run through some arbitrary, holier-than-thou politeness filter. He intended the Bible to speak to people where they’re at, caught up in the stark reality of life on a fractured planet.

Dozens of Psalms are complaints and heart-wrenching cries of despair to God, not holy-sounding, reverently worded soliloquies. Take Psalm 77:1-3: “I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help” (New Living Translation).

And rather than shy away from difficult and painful topics, the Old Testament includes vivid descriptions of murder, cannibalism, witchcraft, dismemberment, torture, rape, idolatry, erotic sex and animal sacrifice. According to St. Paul, those stories were written as examples and warnings for us (1 Corinthians 10:11). So obviously they were meant to be retold without editing out all the things we don’t consider nice or agreeable.

I believe that Scripture includes such graphic material to show how far we, as a race, have fallen and how far God was willing to come to rescue us from ourselves.

God is much more interested in honesty than pietism.

And that’s what he gives us throughout Scripture, telling the stories of people who struggled with the same issues, questions and temptations we face today.

Peter struggled with doubt, and we hear all about it.

Elijah dealt with depression; Naomi raged with bitterness against God; Hannah struggled for years under the burden of her unanswered prayers.

David had an affair and then arranged to have his lover’s husband killed. Noah was a drunk, Abraham a liar, Moses a murderer. Job came to a place where he found it necessary to make a covenant with his eyes not to lust after young girls (Job 31:1).

It’s easy to make “Bible heroes” (as Protestants might say) or “saints” (as Catholics might refer to them) out to be bigger than life, immune from the temptations that everyone faces.

I find it encouraging that Jesus never came across as pietistic. In fact, he was never accused of being too religious; instead he partied so much that he was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:19).

Jesus never said, “The Kingdom of God is like a church service that goes on and on forever and never ends.” He said the kingdom was like a homecoming celebration, a wedding, a party, a feast to which all are invited.

This idea was too radical for the religious leaders of his day. They were more concerned about etiquette, manners, traditions and religious rituals than about partying with Jesus. And that’s why they missed out.

That’s why we miss out.

According to Jesus, the truly spiritual life is one marked by freedom rather than compulsion (John 8:36), love rather than ritual (Mark 12:30-33) and peace rather than guilt (John 14:27). Jesus saves us from the dry, dusty duties of religion and frees us to cut loose and celebrate.

I don’t believe we’ll ever recognize our need for the light until we’ve seen the depth of the darkness. So God wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty with us about life and temptation and forgiveness. And grace.

Only when the Bible seems relevant to us (which it is), only when the characters seem real to us (which they were), only then will the message of redemption become personal for us (which it was always meant to be).

We don’t need to edit God. We need to let him be the author of our new lives.

 

You Just Never Know

He was on his way to work.

He drove the same road everyday. He was familiar with the territory.

He cruised along Lansing Avenue and turned onto Millet Highway. Not only did he not slow down, it appeared as if he punched the gas a little to add some acceleration to his little Chevy as he drove around the gates of the railroad crossing.

Since they started keeping track in 1975, nine cars have been struck by trains at this particular railroad crossing. This one on Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 9:08 p.m. would be the first fatality.

You just never know.

What are your plans for the evening?

What do you intend on doing this week?

Last week, I highly doubt if Bobbi Kristina Brown planned on attending her mother’s funeral this week.

I was touched by the Winans family singing the song “Tomorrow” at the close of Whitney’s funeral.

Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Don’t believe me? Ask the family of Hermes Fernandez-Lopez. Ask the family of Whitney Houston. Ask the families of all of our brave soldiers who are giving their lives for our country on a daily basis.

Why not make a change today? Why not give our lives completely to Jesus Christ this very moment?

You just never know.

 

Son of a Slave Wife

I wonder how often God looks at us and just shakes His head.

I wonder if He ever wants to grab a hold of us and just shake us like a sock monkey in the mouth of a golden retriever.

Here’s a little transparent background: My wife and I both walked away from God a few years ago. During that time, we both made some mistakes that still affect us today. One of the biggest things that has been affected is our credit. I can’t lie. It’s bad. It’s getting better, but we still have a long way to go.

About three years ago, Rebecca and I both had the same dream. In the dream, someone had given us a vehicle, a white vehicle to be exact. We took that as a promise that God was going to provide a new vehicle for us. At the time, we were driving an old Ford Windstar. It was a hunk of junk, but it got us where we needed to go, and it was paid for.

Then came the challenge.

At the most inopportune time, the rear axle on the van cracked in half. The cost of repair was way more than the van was worth, so we decided to shop for a new car. Mind you, we still had this promise of a vehicle that God had shown both of us in a dream. However, we needed one immediately and, quite frankly, God didn’t seem to be delivering on His end of the promise.

Against the advice of my pastor (never a good idea), we went to one of those places that will finance anyone with a pulse and drove away behind the wheel of a silver Jeep Liberty.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. Some people gotta learn the hardway.

 

The Book of Galatians is one of my favorites in the Text. The basic message of Paul’s letter to the Galatian church is simple. Stop trying to do on your own what only God can do!

In chapter 4, Paul uses Abraham and his two sons as an illustration of how we can mess things up. God promised Abraham that He would give him a son through his wife Sarah. Through the dangerous combination of impatience and doubt, they decided that it would be better if Abraham took a slave and had a child through her.

Verse 23 of Galatians 4 puts it like this: “The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.”

Now I do realize that is demonstrating the contrast between the Law of Moses and the Holy Spirit, but I believe that it’s all relative. Verse 29 goes on to talk about how Ishmael, the son of the slave wife, persecuted Isaac. Isaac, of course, being the actual fulfillment of God’s promise.

The bombshell:

That Jeep Liberty is an Ishmael in my life.

God gave my wife and I a promise. We had the same dream. God is the only explanation for this. Through that same deadly combination of impatience and doubt, we took it upon ourselves to do something financially irresponsible. This action has not only hindered a divine promise, but it is actually persecuting it.

I wonder how often I’ve actually made this mistake. How many Ishmaels have I brought into my life by trying to force God’s hand at delivering His promise in my time?

This Liberty (note the irony of the name) has actually caused way more hardship than it’s worth. My solution to the problem has actually been a hindrance to God’s miraculous promise.

My only choice is to hand everything over to Him. My only choice is to completely give up control. I have proven that everything I touch falls apart.

It’s time for a change. It’s time to grow up.

It’s time to let God be God.

Learning To Fly

Fly along with me, I can’t quite make it alone.

~Foo Fighters

 

The eagle’s fall.

I’ve heard it preached a hundred times.

This sermon has been ripped off and plagiarized from generation to generation. The text is usually taken from Deuteronomy 32:11:

He was like an eagle hovering over its nest,
      overshadowing its young,
   Then spreading its wings, lifting them into the air,
      teaching them to fly.

The sermon deals with how an eagle teaches their young to fly by stirring up the nest. The eagle then actually pushes the eaglet out of  the nest compelling them to spread their wings and fly on their own. Then the masterful wordsmith goes on to compare the way GOD is with us to the eagle. Yadda yadda yadda, we all cry and snot all over the altar.

Somewhere along the line, someone received some bad info. I can’t help but think of how I was taught in Bible college that not only is perfectly acceptable to steal someone’s sermon, but even the great ones do it on a regular basis. The problem with this is that it turns into the proverbial game of “telephone”. Someone starts preaching something that isn’t true, then another takes the thought and makes it their own. Then another young preacher does the same thing. One thing leads to another and pretty soon we all stand behind the pulpit and make ourselves look like buffoons.

Fact: The eagle does not  push their young out of the nest.

What actually happens is the eagle does stir up her nest. She picks out all of the rabbit fur or soft down exposing the underlying sticks and thorns. This makes the nest very uncomfortable for the young eaglet. Then she stops feeding him. The eaglet then begins to learn to fly by observing his parents fly around the nest. His own hunger and discontent with being stuck in an uncomfortable place forces the little fella to spread his wings and fly. One of the adults will then fly over the young’n protecting him under their wings from predators. If the eaglet makes a wrong move and begins to fall, the parents will catch him and set him straight.

I don’t know about you, but I like this reality a whole lot more!

Contrary to popular religious teachings, GOD doesn’t use scare tactics to teach us all of life’s important lessons. He does put us in uncomfortable situations. He does stop spoon-feeding us allowing us to get hungry for His Word and His plan. He does allow us to spread our wings and fly on our own. The beauty of it all is that He always flies with us. He does overshadow us with His wings protecting us from predators. When we make horribly wrong decisions and begin to fall, He will catch us before our meeting with certain disaster.

This is beautiful!

I’m thankful for uncomfortable situations. I’m thankful that GOD has enough confidence in me to let me fly.

Most of all, I’m thankful for the protection of His wings.

How exquisite your love, O God!
      How eager we are to run under your wings.

~Psalm 36:7

 

 

Good Measure Pressed Down

It’s funny.

No, it’s not actually funny.

It’s sad.

It’s not only sad.

It’s scary.

I’m a little concerned when I hear people speak so harshly against others because their views on GOD may differ a little.

Since I was a wee lad,  I have always been into comic books. I especially loved Batman and Hulk. They were the coolest. I liked Hulk so much that I used to get in trouble for cutting up my clothes to look like they were torn up like his. On one occasion my mother was involved in an altercation with one of our neighbors because, as I was pretending to be the Incredible Hulk in my backyard, the lady proceeded to call me retarded and tell me that they would never let me into kindergarten. What a horrible thing to tell a 12-year old little boy! (JK on the 12-year old part.) I dig superheroes!

However, as a boy there were heroes that I was enamored with even more than Batman and Hulk:

Preachers!

I know. I was a strange kid, but it’s true. I loved going to church and listening to good ol’ fashioned Pentecostal preachin’! I remember being a 5-year old kid and deciding that that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up. In fact, in one school report I even wrote that I wanted to be a screaming preacher like Pastor J. Mark Jordan.

(I still have a long way to go, but I’m working on it.)

I’m still really into good preaching. I love all of the different styles. I love to hear a new twist put on an old story or verse.  I love really deep preaching that will have me thinking for months. I love a simple encouraging message that will have me inspired for the week. I love a strong sermon that brings conviction and leads me to make a change that will last the rest of my life. What can I say? I love good preachin’.

There are many different preachers from different backgrounds and points of view that I enjoy. I may not agree with everything doctrinally that they have to say, but I still like to hear what GOD has given to them.

That being said, I don’t understand why some feel the need to be so critical of others just because their viewpoint is different. I don’t get why when a guy is successful in reaching thousands of people we have to quote 2 Timothy 4:3 just because we can’t understand how else he could be reaching so many.

I’m saddened by this. My attention has been turned to a verse that has been taken out of context perhaps more than any other in the Text:

“Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” -Luke 6:38

We love to quote this when it’s time to take up the offering. We love to quote this when we’re preaching about giving and tithing. However, this verse has nothing to do with money.

It’s about mercy.

It’s about judgement.

It’s about forgiveness.

News flash! We don’t earn mercy by crying our eyes out and snotting all over an altar. We don’t escape GOD’s judgement by defending our doctrine. We don’t earn forgiveness by giving GOD an empty “I’m sorry.”

We attain these things by giving them. We determine how GOD will judge us by how we judge others.  That’s just simple Bible.

I’m happy for all of these pastors who I follow who are successful in their endeavors to reach a lost world. I pray that our doctrinal differences will eventually be nothing more than a conversation piece. I can’t wait for the day when the true Church can unite in our mission to save the world.

GOD, help us to be merciful. Help us to be wise in judgement. Help us to forgive our brothers for having varying outlooks.

Help us to be in one mind, one accord, and one place.