A friend of mine posted a status on Facebook that caught my attention. It was a conversation between her and her daughter.
Mom: What made you think to make a sand angel last night?
Daughter: God. He told me to, he thought it would be funny. He laughed.
Mom: Being 3 is so awesome!
This is such a cute conversation. There is something about a little kid's innocence that adds a layer of sweet to everything.
But this little conversation got me thinking about people who say, "God told me to."
In fact my first comment on her post was..."It's not so cute when they are 13, is it?"
Yeah I know, I totally killed the moment. There reaches an age when hearing someone say the phrase "God told me to." causes you to first think, "Wait a minute, is this person crazy?"
I think that happens after puberty. Puberty screws a lot of things up.
But have you ever heard someone say that phrase? You can't tell me that you haven't thought in the back of your mind, "I wonder where the closest exit is."
Why is that? Why do we get so weirded out by the thought that God has told someone to do that? I have a couple of ideas.
1. Crazy people really do exist- Last month an actor from the t.v show Ugly Betty killed his mother with a samurai sword because God told him to kill the demon inside her......oooookkkkk that's creepy. In fact it seems that the only time God gets major publicity for something is when someone crazy says it. Sidenote: Why do crazy people get so much publicity?
2. It's hard to prove otherwise.- I mean anyone can say "God told me" about anything and you can't really argue with them. Why did you buy a Justin Bieber cd? God told me to....really? I mean in my imagination I picture God having much better musical talent than a 12 year old with the same hair as Tom Brady, but who am I to say that it didn't happen? I know that God won't tell you to sin so that limits things. Is buying a Justin Bieber cd a sin?
"I need more product!"
3. Because T.V. preachers say that God is telling you to give them money- Let's be honest. It cost a lot to have this hair. It takes a ton of product to defy the laws of physics and have this stay in place...but really, televangelists have been giving God a bad name for a long time. I've heard multiple televangelists say that God is calling people to give them money for His glory only to later learn that the money was spent on an airplane. If you want to glorify God, you can fly coach with the rest of us. Although I might hope that God tells my 7 month old to throw up on you.
4. If you hear from God, there's a chance He wants to talk to me too- I think that this is a fear of a lot of people. If God told you to do something, then He might tell me to do something too. What if He tells me I have to give up my stuff? What if He tells me I have to move to Africa? What if He tells me to take up my cross and follow Him? That's hard. Really hard. I think a lot of people don't want to admit that others hear from God because they fear that God might tell them something they don't want to hear.
Have you ever heard from God?
Did people think you were crazy?
Drop a comment below. (I turned off moderation so it should appear immediately!)
I gotta be honest. When I typed the title I felt like that kid from The 6th Sense. It was cool and creepy at the same time. That has nothing to do with the post but it's fun none the less.
This past weekend my family and I got to visit what we call Heaven on Earth. We met up with some friends in Boone, Nc which is home of the Appalachian State Mountaineers. We know it as our Alma Mater. You probably know it as the team that beat Michigan in 2005.
On Saturday, my brother in law Daniel (a current Mountaineer), my friend Brian, and I headed to a football game between # 3 Appstate and #4 Wofford. This was going to be a big game. If we won, we got at least a share of the conference title....FOR THE 6th STRAIGHT YEAR. If we lost, then we got nothing. It was all or nothing.
The stadium was PACKED. The environment was ELECTRIC. It was INTENSE!
And then the game started. First App drive = Touchdown.
The crowd went wild. Everyone was jumping and screaming and cheering. It was a first blow to our opponents. Nerves settled back in as Wofford took the ball. Would this be a defensive struggle? Would we go back and forth? Would we be able to hold on to our lead??
The first quarter ended with the score App 7 - Wofford 0
Then the second and third quarters happened. I'll summarize it to save some time.
App went on to win the game 43-13 over a team that was essentially ranked the same as us. It was dominating.
But where did I see God?
When we scored our second touchdown in the 3rd touchdown we jumped, we screamed, we laughed. We gave high fives. We hugged people we didn't know. We were overjoyed!!
and I thought. "This is heaven."
If you are a sports fan you know that feeling. That feeling of euphoria when your team prevails. That feeling you get where you could almost jump out of your skin because it's so amazing.
You might have a particular game in mind. (Duke vs Kentucky 1992 Eastern Regional Final comes to my mind)
That feeling is overwhelming.
And then I thought more about my previous though. "This is heaven"
Really? Heaven? I mean, I'm just watching a silly game that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Yeah there is the conference championship. Sure there is the guaranteed play-off spot. But to compare it to heaven??
Then it hit me. If this is how excited I get watching a silly little football game? How excited am I going to be to spend eternity with my God in the REAL HEAVEN? If this feeling of victory is overwhelming, how much more overwhelming will it be when God overcomes and defeats evil forever.
How much will I cheer to see the end of DEATH? PAIN? HURT?
How awesome is it going to be to experience that feeling FOREVER??
Think back to the game that came to your mind earlier. How much more awesome will heaven be than that game?
Share which game came to mind in the comments section below!!
There is a memory that I have held on to for a long time. It's one of the earliest memories from my life. Let me take you there.
I'm five years old and it's early spring. The sun is shining and it's warm outside. I'm standing beside my house holding a long yellow plastic bat. My dad is standing about ten feet away holding a white plastic ball that has holes all over it. You guessed it, a wiffle ball). My dad is teaching me how to play baseball. He asks me if I'm ready and then takes a step and lofts the ball underhanded. I swing and miss. He offers me advice on how to hold the back. Choke Up. Swing earlier. Keep my eye on the ball.
He pitches again. I swing and smack the ball over his head. He claps and tells me that I did it perfect. I did a great job. He goes and grabs the ball and we repeat the process a few times. We keep going until I hit one that soars over his head. He tells me good job again and goes to pick up the ball.
Except this time there is a man walking down the street who is watching us. The following is a conversation I'll never forget.
"Hey there" - the man said.
"Hey" - my dad responded
"You guys playing baseball huh?"
"Yeah we're just learning" - my dad replied.
"Well, he can certainly smack that ball"
"Yes he can" my dad replied laughing.
At that moment I knew something. I knew that my dad was proud of what I had done. You could see it in the way he smiled from ear to ear. You could hear it in his voice. My dad was proud of me. It was the best feeling in the world. A couple of years ago my dad wrote me an email that laid out how proud he was of me. That same feeling came rushing over me. How great is it to know that someone feels that way?
We long for someone to be proud of us. We long for our lives to matter. There are so many times that we work and work and work so that someone will be proud of what we've done. And so many times that affirmation doesn't come. As a result we are let down and after a while we don't even try anymore.
We spend our lives doing nothing all the while still hoping to make someone proud.
Fast forward 24 years. I still long to make someone proud. Everything that I do in my life I hope and pray that it makes God proud of me. I long for the day when I stand before Him and He looks at me and says "Well done my good and faithful servant." It's been a long road to get here. It's been a road full of mistakes as well as glories. I want my Father in Heaven to be proud of me. I want my life to count for something more. I want your life to count for something more. I want you to stand before God and hear Him say that He's proud of the life you gave to follow Him.
I know that sometimes life keeps you from this.
Some of you are too busy to follow God.
Some of you are too angry at God.
Some of you have never realized that your life could matter.
Some of you have never realized that the creator of the Universe could know you much less be proud of you.
The truth is that He knows you more than you'll ever know. He loves you more than you ever know and He desperately wants to be proud of you.
I was leaving work the other day driving in my 1997 Honda Accord. It sits low to the ground and often smells like oil being burnt off. That's most likely because under the hood oil leaks are being burnt off. My wife got this car when she turned 16. That's right. I drive my wife's first car.
I pulled up to a stop light and waited for the light to turn green. That's when a Jeep pulled up next to me. It was an old school jeep wrangler. The doors were off and in the driver seat sat a guy who looked like he should be climbing a mountain without gear. He was the definition of manly. He was rugged and muscular. He even had one leg hanging out of the door. (which apparently adds 50 points on the man scale)
I sat with in my 97 Honda Accord. My doors were attached and all of my extremities were inside the vehicle. I sat and thought. "What happened to my manhood?' Then I remembered that my wife's car was named Daisy. Yes, Daisy. I was driving Miss Daisy. Wow. I can't even tell you how cool I felt. Was Jeep Guy who I was supposed to be and somehow I turned out to drive a 13 year old car named after a bright flower?
Being a pastor I know about image. I know that I was created in God's image. I've taught on it. I've led whole retreats on it. I know this stuff. After a few seconds, I remembered that I am not defined by my car (or my car's name for that matter) but it's God who defines me. It's still hard for a lot of guys though. When the world says that you should be like the Old Spice guy, you definitely feel like you fall short of manhood sometimes. And it's not just some guys. It's a lot of guys.
It's not hard. Check out my favorite Old Spice commercial. I find it funny, but it highlights my point exactly. Check it out...
See what I mean? Everything in that clip spoke about how a man should look, speak, act, swan dive, and smell. I mean log rolling? Really? I have trouble not tripping on the edge of the side walk. These are the things that tell men how we should be. And to be honest, most of us can't measure up to that.
The truth is that we talk about image issues with women a lot. I'm not saying that we shouldn't because there are a million things bombarding women about image. I'm saying that because we tend to focus on women and image, we forget that men struggle with this too.
When men struggle with image and identity they tend to do stupid things to try and figure it out. Mid-life crisis anyone? I think (because I haven't experienced it) that mid-life crises happen most often because a man gets to a point and wonders, "Who am I? I work all day and for what?" Then they look for things that make them feel alive again. It might be a new car to try and experience power. It might be a motorcycle to experience danger. It might be a mistress in order to experience the power of new love. In all cases it is filling a void with something.
I feel lucky to be a man and know God. There are a few of us who do. A lot of guys don't. They might come to church every once and a while but it's for other reasons. Maybe they are searching. Usually it's because their wife nagged them. It makes me sad though, because I know that God made them who they are. God made them unique, amazing, and powerful and He did it without the help of Old Spice Body Wash.
Men need to know that they are created in the image of God. This is the God that is creative, powerful, loving, protective, and sacrificial. Perhaps if most men understood this, they wouldn't struggle with who they are. Maybe if men understood the Sacrifice that God gave to save His children, men would see the honor and glory of sacrificing in order to provide for their families.
Perhaps if men knew these things, they would proudly drive a 1997 Honda Accord named Daisy, and they would look to "Jeep Guys" everywhere and say, "Dude, Let me tell you what makes me a man..."
If you are reading this and you are a man, take heart, you are created by God and that's is stinkin' awesome. Find some reading about being a man of God. I would start with anything by Tony Dungy. (lots of football stories)
If you are a woman who has a man in her life, I want you to figure out a way to affirm that man.
Maybe, just maybe ,we'll change the world one man at a time.
So I know that there are two of you. There is the real you..... and there is the you that you let others see. I'm on to you. It's ok. I'm that way too. We are all. But why? Why is it that we pretend to be someone else?....
This all started while I was reading a news article online about a singer who had collapsed on stage. This singer is in a band that I used to like a while back and so it caught my interest. I read the article and scanned down to where people can comment on the news. BIG MISTAKE.
It's interesting because the two places that I see two sides of people is online and at church.
In this article the comments went on and on about how the singer wasn't any good anyways and that his collapse probably had to do with the fact that he was a terrible musician... Honestly this frustrated me because I feel like the singer was fairly talented. I wanted to write something mean to respond to those comments. I wanted to show them up. I wanted to belittle them and make them look stupid. I wanted to be....just like them.
The internet allows us to be whoever we want. I can say mean things and rip you to shreds because I will never have to face you. As I was sitting and thinking through the the things I could write, a thought hit me. If this guy was standing next to the singer, would he call him a "no talent hack"? No. In fact, he most likely would stand there quietly and wait for the singer to leave before insulting him.
There are two of each of us. It's sinful nature at it's worst. Paul says in the book of Romans that he struggles with this. He says that he does everything that he DOESN'T want to do and he doesn't do everything that he wishes he would do. He is torn between his two natures.
You and I are the same way. Everyone struggles with this. It is a part of our very being.
Paul goes on to ask, "who can save me from this?" He goes on to say that it is through Jesus that we are saved.
My prayer for you today is that you will understand that we are all this way. We all have two natures that are always fighting each other. I pray that you understand what Christ did for us and that it will help you through times when your more hateful nature begins to come through.
And I pray that God will guide us away from the sinful side of our lives so that our lives can reflect His love. That's my prayer today.
A few weeks back I ran across an awesome video on Dan Cathy's Blog (the president of Chick-Fil-A, dancathy.com) and it made me think about my story....check out the video.
Every life has a story. Mine included. I tell my students that it's important to tell your story. It's important to pass on what God has done in your life. That's how we tell others about God. We share God's story and our story together. I wanted to take a minute and do this: I want to tell you my story with God.
Christian camps come in two varieties. Good and Bad. When I was nine I went to one marked, "BAD". Everything about this camp was terrible. Uncomfortable bunks, standard food, and showers that were either frozen tundra cold or lava hot. it was a week long retreat and I took one shower....on Wednesday. Everything was ridiculously far apart which meant that you had to WALK and WALK and WALK every where. On top of that, this camp used manipulative methods to get kids to accept Christ as their savior. Thinking back on it, I shudder.
This horrible camp is where I met God.
People ask me if God has a sense of humor. I tell them yes because of this story. I didn't come to know God through any manipulative process or song. I met God because I fell asleep in chapel. See this terrible camp had out of touch speakers who were amazingly boring. Pretty much they were preachers who tried to talk to kids like they talked to adults and they prayed for long amounts of time. On top of that were the aforementioned uncomfortable bunks and lots of walking. Put that together and you have a recipe for sleeping in chapel.
It was during one of the prayers. The guy kept going on and on and sleepiness just caught up with me. I have no clue what he was talking about and so I drifted into a sleepy bliss. The next thing I remember was an arm around me shoulder. It was the pastor's wife. She very quietly walked me through what it took to be a Christian and asked me if I accepted Christ. I said yes. She immediately sat up and said loudly, "Pastor Jonathan Greenhill has just accepted Christ. I opened my eyes. Everyone in the room was standing up and staring at me. Apparently when I fell asleep the pastor finished up his prayer and everyone stood up to sing the closing song. Since had not moved from my 'prayer' posture everyone (including the pastor's wife) assumed I was deep in prayer with God. Nope. I was asleep. That's why she came over and talked to me about Christ. I'm not sue if we would have ever had that conversation if I hadn't fallen asleep in church. God has a funny way about him.
That night I laid in bed and stared out the window. I didn't quite understand what it all meant but I knew my life would be different. I didn't know how, but just that it would. I wouldn't understand that for another 6 years thanks to two other men, one that owned a motorcycle and one that was a Carolina fan. But that's a story for next time.
There's a lot going on in life isn't there? I'm preparing for a week long trip with middle schoolers and high schoolers. Mollie can tell you that the day before a retreat is always a terrible day. I'm so completely stressed that I make life miserable for everyone.
Do you ever get that way? Do you ever become so stressed that people don't like being around you?
I do. That's why I'm sitting by myself at a local coffee shop with a large coffee writing my thoughts out. Alone. I brought a book too. It's called "The Christian Atheist: Believing in God, but Living as If He Doesn't Exist". You can see the cover of the book right here.
It's a very good book. (I'm looking to teach a series on it in the fall) I'd recommend getting it.
But today I was sitting here reading and the chapter was about Worry. I'm a worrier. It's weird. When something is on my mind it will overwhelm me to the point that I can't handle it anymore. I sit and worry. I stand and worry. I pace and worry. When my kids are teenagers I'm in trouble.
But today's chapter talked about worrying. In a sense it said the following
Worrying is when you don't trust in God.
Excess of Worry means lack of Faith.
Ouch. That's me. Is it you?
Do you find yourself consumed with worry when something goes wrong. Perhaps you have a deadline. Perhaps someone you love has cancer? Maybe you don't have enough money to pay the bills. There's a lot we can worry about. But what good does that do?
Jesus asks in the Bible, "How can worrying add time to your life?" Good point Jesus. But worrying is ingrained in my life. It's my nature to worry.
Phil 4:6-7 says the following:
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In other words EVERY time you think about something and begin to worry. Take it to God and pray about it. Pray about the issue. Pray about how you are worried. Ask God for that peace. Do this OVER AND OVER AND OVER, every time you worry. See what God does. See how God works.
When we can take things to God, we can begin to let them go.
I pray that worry will not overwhelm your lives. I pray that you will be able to let go and let God deal with it. I pray that you can lead a changed life that trusts God in everything. That's my prayer for you today.
Have you ever noticed that we tend to resist help until we hit a wall. I experienced this a couple of weeks ago. Long story short, Mollie and I had our second child in a year on April 27th. We knew it was going to be hard but we welcomed the challenge. We could handle two kids on our own. We knew we could handle it.
And then a few things happened. Mollie had some complications that left her confined to the recliner ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT. That left me doing everything. 3 days and 3 hours of sleep later I hit a wall. In our living room Mollie cried and I sat with my head in my hands. We needed help.
We called some of our friends and being the awesome people that they are they came and helped out with EVERYTHING. Cooking, Taking care of our kids, Changing dirty diapers, Cleaning our toilets, Washing our clothes. EVERYTHING.
Sometimes it's really hard to accept help from other people. I think we look at the things that happen in our lives and we say, "You know, I can handle that." But the truth is, we can't. We can't even come close. We try to take the challenge head on but at some point we hit that wall and crumple to the floor. How much pain could we save ourselves if we just admit that something is too big for us?
I had a tough day that Tuesday. Somewhere around lunch time I realized that this is how I treat God. I find that often, I don't look for God's help until I hit the wall. It was the most liberating moments of my life. All of a sudden I realized that I didn't have to wait until things became unbearable to look for God's help. God is here and wants us to come to Him at all times. All we have to drop our pride and turn to Him.
I need Help. And so do You.
Where in your life do you need help from God? From Friends?
*this was written watching passengers "going" while I was "waiting" for a flight in the Charlotte, NC airport.*
Everyone is going somewhere. We all have schedules and destinations. We all have goals and timetables to reach them. It seems we all want to be somewhere that we aren't. There are two states of being throughout each of our lives. The first state is known as "going". Boy, we love to "go".
Sometimes we "go" quickly. We run towards our goals. We strive for our dreams. We don't want to miss the deadlines that we have set to reach them.... I have to be ahead of everyone else. I have to be on top. I must do the most. I must be the best. I must go as fast as possible.....We go so fast that everything around us is a blur. In order to achieve life, we end up missing it.
Sometimes we "go" slowly. We go real slow. We go slow enough so that we can say that we are still moving in a forward direction but going at a pace that will never get us there. We go slow when we have to face fear. We go slow when we are afraid of what's in front of us....What if I don't know what I'm doing? What if I don't make it. What if they laugh at me? What if I fail? In an effort to avoid the pain that comes with failure we go slow so we don't even have to try.
But there are times in life where we aren't "going". There are times when we really have to sit and wait. That's the second state of life. Waiting. As humans, we don't like to wait. It goes against our natural tendency to go. We don't like to wait because in order to wait you have give up control. That's one of the foundational truths of waiting. You must sit and wait on circumstances that are influenced by someone or something else. When we wait, we aren't in control.... When will my flight finally leave? When will I get that promotion? When will I finally meet that special someone? When will I have answers?....Sometimes we find ourselves waiting on God. We sit. We wait.
The truth of the matter is that whether waiting or going, we prefer not to do it alone. We are made for relationships. We walk hand in hand with a loved one. We laugh with close friends. Being in relationship makes "going" more enjoyable. There is someone to talk to. There is someone to share life with. In the same way, waiting is far easier when you are waiting with someone. There is someone to share our frustrations. There is someone to keep us company as we wait. There is someone to help keep us engaged in life as we wait. We are meant to be in relationships with others.
There is beauty in following God. That beauty when you are following God, going and waiting become easier in certain ways. We get to accompany our Creator in the story that He has for us....God where should I go next? God what is my next job going to be?...God thank you for your guidance. God thank you for walking me through that terrible time... Going is far easier when you have someone to go with you. It's even easier when that person is God.
There is nothing as tough as waiting through a bad situation. Having a relationship with God gives strength to the weakest of people who wait in Him...God will I ever get a job? Will she ever be healed? Will I ever find love? Will I ever feel complete?....God give us a peace that defies understanding. God's peace doesn't make sense to the world. That's why a relationship with God is key. When "waiting" in life, there is no one I would rather have by my side than the God who spoke the universe into existence. He is the God that provides even when we feel He isn't there.
There is truly nothing like a relationship with God.
This winter has been nuts. We had a 14 inch snowfall in December and another 12 inch snowfall last weekend. It's funny. Each time one of these storms is mentioned on the news, there is an onrush to the local grocery store to stock up on milk and bread....I don't understand this at all. What can you make with milk and bread? soggy bread? anyways.....
Saturday afternoon while snow was still falling I got geared up and went outside to shovel my driveway. I can't decide why I went to shovel my driveway but I did. I hate shoveling. It's terrible. Something about repetitive motions that cause pain and soreness that just annoy me I guess. But for whatever reason, I went outside and shoveled away.
I shoveled a good part of the driveway and realizing that I was exhausted, I sat down on my front porch. And that's when it hit me.
Silence.
More Silence.
A LONG SILENCE.
There was no noise. Just falling snow. I live in the suburbs. There are over 150,000 people who live within 8 miles of my house...but there was only silence. It was as if I was the only one in the world.
For about 10 minutes I felt as if it were just God and me. And so I started talking to Him. I don't remember what God and I talked about for those 10 minutes. I just know that I could have a conversation with him. for once my life wasn't too busy. For once, I didn't have my tv, ipod, computer, work to distract me. I couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't do anything. the only thing I could do was sit in silence with God....it was beautiful.
My question for you is this... Why is it that we are so busy that it takes an act of God just to cause us to slow down enough to spend time with God? Why did it take a foot of snow to slow things down enough for me to truly sit in silence with God? Why are we so busy that a state of emergency in our state is the thing that allows us to profess the state of emergency in our hearts to God?
A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I am starting to run. It's proven to be quite the challenge. My shins burn nearly constantly now. And every morning that I'm supposed to run, my bed is that much more comfortable. This morning was that morning. I slept an hour later than I was supposed to and therefore ran an hour later than I should have. It seems innocent enough, but today it was absolutely crucial...let me explain.
I run with my training team on Saturdays. This is where I push for distance and time. This past Saturday I ran 2 miles. I've never run two miles in my life. It was ridiculously hard for me, but there were at least 75 people with me so I made it in decent time.
Mondays are my re-coup run day. I run the same distance that I did on Saturday but I take an easier pace and walk if I need to. So today I was running another 2 miles. 2 Miles for the second time in my life. And it kicked my tail. I ran, then walked, then ran, then walked, then walked, then staggered, then ran....you get the picture. I was on my way back to my house after having been roughly 1.6 miles. I had walked for about 2 minutes and worked up some energy to run for a bit.
I told myself. "You have to make it to this street. You have to run until you get to this street." So I started to run. Every part of my body hurt. I was having a hard time catching my breath. I was sweating and hot and sweaty. Every piece of me wanted to quit. And then something interesting happened....
It started to rain. A sprinkle at first. Then some bigger drops. And then an all out rain. A heavy cooling and refreshing rain. It was exactly what I needed. I cooled me off and gave me an extra bit of energy to run. At the same time the song "We Win" by David Crowder Band came on my ipod. The music built up, the rain fell down. And I ran. I ran past my goal and kept going. I ran past the next street and ran all the way back to my street. It was amazing....
Sometimes I feel like my life is that way. I feel like every part of me wants to quit. Whether it's tough times with work or maybe I feel far away from God. Maybe I just can't figure out what God wants me to do next. These are the times that we face and we just want to give up on following God. These are the times where we just crave for God to rain down on us....
The amazing thing about God is that He always will rain down on us. It might not be on our time table. We might even have to run on despite everything in us telling us to quite. But God is faithful. God will rain His comfort, peace, wisdom, .etc down on you when you need it most. You just have to keep running.
When I was a kid, I was what you would call, political. Perhaps that is the wrong word for it. But pretty much I would use my blue eyes, chubby cheeks, and shy charm in an attempt to get what I wanted. I remember a woman looking at me one time and saying, "You're going to be president someday." I always took it as a compliment and continued on in life.
But the weird thing is that I've always felt like I was meant for something bigger than myself. I always thought that I was going to be big one day. I have that feeling right now actually. It's weird. Perhaps you have felt the feeling as well. Maybe you have felt the feeling that you were meant for more than whatever it is that you are doing. Maybe you feel it right now.
Last spring I picked up a devotional book that was about "dying to self". That phrase is used regularly in Christian circles. When I first learned it, it was about being disciplined and not indulging in things that weren't Godly. It was like a chore.When I thought of "dying to self" I felt it was like keeping my room clean or washing the dishes. It was a task I had to do in order to be holy.
Fast forward to last year. I attended a conference called DC/LA with a number of students. There they taught that God created for a specific purpose. In their words, "The way God created me, is the greatest way to live". In other words, God created me to do something. Maybe it's something big. Maybe it's not. But when I live my life doing what God created me to do, I will live life to it's fullest.
If God created me to impact the life of 1000 kids and I do that, I will have lived life to it's fullest. On the other end, if God created me to impact just 1 life and I do that, I will have lived life to it's fullest.
There is a line in a song by John Reuben. It says: "It's just not that simple, I'm not trying to save it all, I just want to create a ripple. And even if one individual is affected, it's monumental with an unusual perspective that is beautiful in essence. Traditional thinking won't suggest this. Is life that precious? Well Yes it is."
I guess the point of this post is this: When we are "dying to self", we are putting away our desires and dreams and looking to God for what He created us for. When we do that, then we truly can start to live.
In December I joined a weight loss challenge with about 100 other youth pastors from around the country. It seemed like a pretty dumb idea to start weight loss right before Christmas. And it was, I gained everything back that I had lost before Christmas! Right now I've lost about 5 pounds and I'm hovering there. (I blame Chick Fil A). But that's not what I'm here to talk about exactly.
You see a couple weeks ago my wife who is encouraging me in my weight loss made a challenge to me. She said it like this: "I have a crazy idea. I think that you should train for the 10k" Yup, she was crazy. The 10k trainers were the people who ran through our neighborhood at 8 am in Saturdays. I would try not to hit them while on my way to Chick Fil A. Yet, she was insisting that I could do it. So I signed up.
I was excited but there were obstacles. When I started telling people that I was training for the 10k, most people laughed at me and included a "yeah right" to top it all off. My wife still encouraged me at home. She encouraged me to go get some running clothes and shoes. Before my first training day, I did some self training so that I wouldn't embarrass myself in front of others. It was tough. I had to stop frequently to walk and catch my breath. I thought that I would never make it a full mile running (how sad is that?)
This past Saturday was my first training day. I reported to where we were running from at 8 am. After some rules and what not we started running. By some weird luck I was at the front of the pack....I knew embarrassment was coming because I would have to stop and everyone would pass me. Then a funny thing happened. It took longer for muscle fatigue to set in. I didn't have as hard of a time catching my breath. I kept running. When muscle fatigue started to set in, I noticed that everyone around me was experiencing the same thing. It was encouraging to have someone next to me experiencing the same thing. We didn't stop. We kept running. The pain in my legs kept coming but after a while I could see the finish line. I kept running in order to cross the finish line. FINALLY we made it to the finish. We were all tired but proud of ourselves. We had made it through the first step of our new journey. Next week we're going for 2. We're going to keep running.
I think that we experience this in our lives when it comes to our relationship with God. We sit around and don't spend anytime with Him. We grow fat and lazy in our spiritual lives. One day we look at our lives and think...."wow, I feel really far from God" So we make a challenge to ourselves, we are going to spend time with God. But it usually falters after that.
I want to encourage you to take the steps to seek after God. Buy some new shoes (get a new Bible or a devotional book), mark a time to run (Set a time to spend time talking to God), ignore the laughter and start to train (ignore those who say you can't do it and start off slowly in the Bible and praying), run (read, think, pray), realize you aren't alone (do a study with someone else to help motivate you), when the pain sets in, aim for the finish line (when it's hard to pray or read, press on knowing that the finish line is a closer relationship with your God), cross the finish line and look forward to the next milestone (finish a study, series, specific prayer time and set your sights for the next level)
If we do these things, we will exercise our relationship with God and we will see the fruit in no time!
So there's a war going on inside my head and inside the church. I don't know if the church even knows it. It's about how the people of God should evangelize. This applies especially when it comes down to how a church should evangelize. Let me explain by taking at the three general forms of evangelizing that I've been taught growing up.
1. If-You-Died-Tonight- Method. I've seen this approach taken far too much in the world. The premise is that you bring up death as a way to tell about God. You stress the person's sinful nature and their complete dependence on God to save them from the fiery pits of hell. That's all true. Because of our sinful nature we are separated from God and the only way that we can escape an eternity in Hell is through the loving sacrifice of God through Jesus. The problem is that why are we using the fear of death to talk about the Love of God?? Every time that I've used this approach the person that I've been talking to has given me this look like, "You are the strangest person I know. Please stop talking to me..." The truth is that this either scares people or turns them off to God altogether...If there was only a way where we can turn people on to God without scaring them....
2. Don't-worry-God-Loves-You-So-Much Method. I think that this method came about when people got tired of the other method. It consist of telling anyone and everyone that God loves them. Hey you, captain sinner, God loves you. Hey kids, God loves you! Hey creepy Co-worker, God loves you. Hey, Mr.Christian who keeps intentionally sinning, God loves you. These are all true. God is Love and loves each of us. The problem is that there is no mention of our sinful nature taking us away from God. There's also no mention of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. It's like taking the first part of John 3:16. "For God so loved the world," Well isn't that nice. God loves the world. Well how? Why? This method falls short also. But it still has God in it. God offends people, what if there was a way to tell people about God, without actually mentioning God.
3. Let's-All-Be-Nice-and-Maybe-work-at-A-Soup-Kitchen Method. This is the last method that I've seen taught in church. There's a verse in the Bible that talks about how people will no who we are by our actions. I've even taught that. I've told teenagers, other teenagers will look at them and see that they are different and therefore then wonder about God. For the record, this does happen. I've seen it happen. But it seems that there is a trend growing in the church that says that this is ALL that we should do. Just be nice to people, maybe they will see God. Just feed a homeless guy, maybe he'll see God. Just DO all these nice things and the world will be saved. That way we can evangelize to people without offending them by saying the words Jesus or God. This is one of the most dangerous methods because you are almost removing God from the entire equation. (and He created the equation!)
The middle ground falls at the heart of all three methods. The middle ground says that we are sinful. Our sin keeps us from an eternity with God. Because God loves us, He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Because God has saved us, we can be filled with His joy and love. This love then can pour out and be shared with others through our actions.
There you have all three combined together. I think that this middle ground is the most authentic way to tell others of how God has saved us. What do you think?
Tonight is the first Duke/Carolina game. In fact it's already started and Duke isn't doing that hot. This is an annual event that gives me automatic heartburn. In fact, for this game I've never even really thought that Duke ever had a chance. I guess I'm not a true Duke fan.
I did have a chance to attend the Duke-Miami game this past weekend. It was a dream come true for me and my wife as Duke tickets are hard to come by. We drove 2.5 hours each way to get there. We took out a whole Saturday to go to a basketball game. We got there, got in, and Duke went down by 16 points. It seemed like a wasted trip....
But as we were down by 16 points, I noticed something. The Duke students never stopped chanting. When going to someone elses court the first thing you want to do is take the crowd out of it. You do that by building a seemingly insurmountable lead. When that happens, the crowd usually dies out taking the team with it.
At Duke the cheering not only kept going, but as the deficit went up, the cheering got LOUDER. You never see that. Each time Miami would score, the students would yell louder to encourage their team to keep working. The crazy thing is that it worked. Duke slowly but surely went on a run. The gap started to close. As we got closer, the cheers got LOUDER. As Jon Scheyer took a shot that tied the game, the crowd went ballistic. It was so loud that my ears were ringing 15 minutes later....The game went to overtime and Duke eventually won it. They were carried by the crowd.
This doesn't happen in the church. When one of our own falls behind, we stop cheering them on. They don't even have to fall behind by much and we completely abandon them. Why is that? Why is it that if one of our own sins, we don't cheer for them to return to a righteous God loving life. This is the most critical time in our relationships with our fellow Christians and we fail.
I want to challenge you if you are reading this. The next time you see a Christian stumble start encouraging and start praying. The more they fall the more you encourage and pray. If we can do this imagine how much we can grow closer to God.
*This was written in early January of 2007 after a Christmas time trip to Canada to go skiing. By the way, Canada is awesome because they sell their milk in a bag!*
So we went to Canada for a family trip. I was eager to go despite having to fly to get there. In Canada they have lemmings, and mounties, and milk in a bag. All the things that make a great country. We flew up to Philadelphia and then on to Montreal. The interesting thing is that once we got to Montreal, everything was in French. I figured wow, I like French. I took it 7 years ago in high school. I should be able to hang and understand people at least a little...then I tried to order a combo meal at a local restaurant. I was all suave in approaching the counter. In French I asked for a "number 8, please". I was like this is cake. Little did I know that the combo 8 came with the option of soup or cole slaw. Since I had ordered in French the lady behind the register took no pity on me in asking me in French(speed French if you ask me) which i preferred. I stared at her like a monkey doing a math problem. She obviously understanding that I was a tourist that had been in her country less than an hour took pity on me and spoke English(very well i might add)...I don't know if I've ever felt like such an outsider in my life. The whole week I had to decide was I going to look stupid speaking English or look stupid speaking French. That's a humbling feeling. To know that there is so much that you want to say but you are limited by how much you know. You want to communicate but you can't. It's incredibly frustrating.
God is amazingly awesome. We know that. After my french encounter I began to think. The language of God and the language of man is so incredibly different. I can't even begin to describe how i'm different than God. I mean that whole thing about me being a sinner is a good start. God is a perfect being. Unbelievably huge and magnificent. He is perfect without a single flaw. He is the creator of the universe. I am a sinner. I am one measily little person on a small planet in a remote neighborhood in the universe that God has made.(He made it by speaking no less). I sometimes feel that I a foreigner to God. I try to talk to him, and I utter some phrases that I know in his language. Lord, I beeseech thee. Thou thine heareth myeth prayers-eth.(king james in not actually God's language but a lot of people think so!) I feel so helpless sometimes when I talk to God, as if God could ever understand little me. But i'm reminded as I look through the Bible that God finds ways to communicate with us. Through prayer, we can talk to God in any language and He hears us and can even speak to us in the quietness of our hearts. God has talked through a burning bush and even the jawbone of a donkey. You see when that girl at the register finally spoke English to me it was a relief. I could finally get my chicken sandwhich(with soup not slaw). I finally got the nourishment that I needed. Likewise, when we stop and listen and trust in God, He will speak to us in a way that we can understand. He will speak to us so that we may be nourished on his word.
*The chicken sandwich was delicious as well. This is one of my favorite stories. *
