Religiously Correct

If this phrase hasn't been used yet, then I'm taking credit for coining it. It's called "Religiously Correct." The usual battles that occur this time of year between the Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays/Season's Greetings crowd have resulted in this phrase.

As a believer and follower of Christ, I am embarrassed that these battles go on. In previous years, religious groups have organized boycotts of business and retail stores that say "Happy Holidays," sell "Holiday Trees," or have "Holiday Sales" instead of using the word Christmas. This year, the battle has heated up against atheist groups in metropolitan areas buying billboard space with a picture of the nativity scene asking the public if they really believe this happened. Local church groups have organized boycotts of the companies that sold this ad space. (It should be noted that the companies selling the ad space say they would be glad to sell ad space to Christian groups to advertise their message too). Furthermore, there are posts going around Facebook asking people if they really believe in saying "Merry Christmas" instead of the politically correct "Happy Holidays," then copy and paste this as your Facebook status.

I really don't know where to begin in addressing this, but I will start with the political correctness issue.

First, saying "Happy Holidays" doesn't necessarily make one politically correct or anti-Jesus. I will say both "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas." These are the holidays. Within just over a month, you have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. These are three nationally recognized holidays. There is nothing wrong with wishing someone well during these days.

Second, we as Christians need to be confronted with a harsh reality. We say "Merry Christmas" and want others to say "Merry Christmas," but when going by actions instead of words, are we really celebrating the birth of Christ? Yes, we (I am including myself here) like to think that we are, but actions speak louder than words and what our actions really say, if we are not careful, is that we are taking the name of Christ and using it to feed our materialism. We are so concerned about what we will get and what to get others that we will shop ourselves stupid and spend money we don't have. We don't need most of the stuff we get for Christmas and we know we don't need it, but we will use the name of Jesus as an excuse for feeding our materialistic desires. No wonder there are atheist groups organizing themselves to question what is recorded in the scriptures about Christ's birth. I believe what the scriptures say. But do my actions about Christmas speak to the world that I believe the scriptures? Or do my actions say that I am all about stuff, that I am attached to stuff, and that I want more stuff. Not that giving and receiving gifts is wrong as long as we keep in perspective that we are about the Hope that arrived in this world in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. So, what I am saying in so many words, is that we are showing a lot of hypocrisy. Instead of fighting the world over using politically correct phrases, let's examine ourselves first.

Third, Jesus isn't politically correct and never has been in any culture. We as Christians just need to deal with that. He's been controversial ever since he arrived in this world (remember, he ticked-off King Herod). Instead of fighting the political correctness in the larger culture, we need to be on guard against religious correctness in our Christian subculture. People in church circles will use religious litmus tests to determine someone's Christianity. These litmus tests aren't based upon things found in scripture, but are things considered taboo in religious subculture. Alcohol is an example of this. The scriptures don't actually prohibit someone from taking a drink, just for getting drunk or allowing alcohol (or anything else for that matter) standing between an individual and God). In our culture, we need to consider the negative connotation of alcohol and whether or not we would be tempting someone who struggles with alcohol addiction if we were to take a drink. For this reason, I don't take a drink. But I won't hold it against someone or consider him or her less Christian if he or she decides to take a drink. Same goes with saying "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas." I sense from some in the Christian subculture that if you don't say "Merry Christmas" then you aren't the spiritual and Godly giant that they think they are. This is the same smugness and air of superiority that Jesus confronted in the religious people of his day. I use the term religion here because when we get to that point, it is no longer about faith, but just about keeping rules.

To sum this all up, if we as followers of Christ would be more concerned about living our faith in our culture instead of waging war against our culture at Christmas time and every other time of the year, maybe the culture would be different. By fighting political correctness, we are just digging ourselves deeper into a hole.

Attitude

Sometimes I prefer the company of unchurched people. Last weekend, my wife and I were vacationing in Dallas and spent some time in the hot tub at the hotel we were staying at. In the hot tub were two other couples. In conversations with them, I realized they didn't attend church and probably had little or no relationship with God. However, they were very nice, great to talk to, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. They just seemed to love life and had a great attitude about things.
Contrast this with most of what I hear out of Christian acquaintances. Much of what I hear is complaining about life; griping about family, griping about work, griping about church, griping about the city, griping about the government, and on and on. It's draining and I don't realize how much that spirit affects me until I get away from it for a few days.
A friend of mine who spent 11 years in prison before his life altering encounter with God once shared with me that he met more honest people in prison than he has ever met in church. I believe every bit of that statement. Oftentimes I wonder when I am around church people and even fellow pastors, if I'm really hearing the truth or just a bunch of.....well......that stuff that makes crops grow.
Why is it this way? How come those of us who claim to follow Christ can't display a better attitude about life? Why do we put on such a facade when we are around each other that we don't really know one another and what's really going on in our lives?
It seems the world has us beat in attitude, joy, honesty, and I'm willing to bet they have us beat in forgiving too.
Instead of us informing the world, the world seems to be informing us. It shouldn't be that way.

What's Going On?

Over the past year, I have had two friends leave the ministry not for moral reasons, but just for the fact that it was taking a toll on them spiritually, physically, and in many other ways. Just in the previous week, I have heard about several others who have walked away from it within the past year too. Even the healthiest of churches seem to be having problems with many people on edge right now. On a weekly basis, I receive news of a different church being attacked by wolves/busybodies or whatever you want to call them.
I know this stuff has always taken place, but I'm hearing more of it now. Are things really heating up? What exactly is going on that's causing all of these things to take place? (And don't tell me that we are just living in the Last Days. We have been since Jesus left this world 2000 years ago and we could be here another 2000 or so years so that isn't a good enough answer).

One of Us

Jesus' disciples once came up to him and proudly informed him that they saw a man driving out demons in Jesus' name, but they told him to stop because "he was not one of us." It must have been quite a blow to their inflated sense of self-righteousness when Jesus didn't give them the pat on the back they felt they deserved. Instead they got rebuked.
I guess I'm of the generation that is post-denominational. I pastor a church affiliated with the local Baptist Association, we're affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and the Southern Baptist Convention. We affiliate with other churches for the sake of missions. I don't agree with everything that these entities do (anyone who says he agrees 100% is lying), but doctrinally I line up with them closer than I would any other faith group. I also realize that the day of large denominational structures are coming to an end. In about 15-20 years, I feel that we'll be seeing less and less of the local Baptist Association, state convention, and national convention.
There are many external factors for this. But a large internal factor is the main cause of this. There is a bad case of "One of Us" Syndrome. I see this more in the Southern Baptist Convention than anywhere else. The criteria for doing anything in the Southern Baptist Convention is unreal. You are judged according to whether you'll sign a statement agreeing to an uninspired document, your church must give so much to Cooperative Program missions, and apparently now, you have to be in the circle of people associated with the GCR task force.
I could write more about this, but just thinking about it makes me sick. The Southern Baptist Convention is bleeding and no one seems to be asking the question as to why. If your goal in life is to have an ineffective ministry, just take a lesson from the current Southern Baptist Convention. Become more inclusive and try to stop those from doing ministry that you should be partnering with.
Do I sound ornery today?

Who Needs Them?

I don't understand where the talk of dissolving the Big 12 Conference started or when it started, but it has been all the talk the past few days and seems to have come out of nowhere. Personally, I don't understand why you would dissolve a powerhouse conference like the Big 12. It makes about as much sense as dissolving the Southwest Conference years ago. I also don't understand why Colorado and Nebraska leaving the conference would make the Big 12 start bleeding other schools. The conference can certainly go on without them.
Here is my proposal. I've been reading that this is all about maneuvering to get the University of Texas. The Pac-10, the Big 10, and the SEC all really want Texas in their conference because of the big money that comes with it. If I were the Athletic Director of the University of Texas (he can switch jobs with me for a day if he would like to), I would say enough. Nobody wants to be that naive little rich kid who only has friends because he has a lot of cool toys. Texas doesn't need any of these other conferences. What stinks is that these other conferences don't really want any of these other Big 12 schools. All they really want is Texas. But these other schools are getting caught up in it. Poor Baylor is going to be left in the dust. Let's form a Texas Conference. We can do it! Let's have Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, SMU, TCU, Rice, and Houston. Yes, it's the old Southwest Conference without Arkansas (the way it always should have been). Let's make an unofficial and unwritten agreement with all Texas high schools that their athletes can only go to Texas Conference schools. The Texas Conference will dominate, annihilate, and destroy all other schools in the nation. Alabama will definitely have to take another cheap shot on the Texas quarterback in order to have any chance of winning another National Championship.
Texas can do quite well on its own. Let's keep all of our money and resources right here south of the Red River. Say no to these other money-hungry, stab-you-in-the-back conferences and tell them we don't need them.

Who or What we Really Serve

We put "In God we Trust" on our money. People will fight over whether or not we should keep that on there. But, in the end, we all serve the dollar. Money motivates us, guides our decisions (rather than being guided by conviction), and becomes the basis of our value and security. Ultimately, we will put more trust in how much is in the bank rather than anything else. Yes, this is wrong. We cannot serve both God and the dollar. But if we were really honest, we would admit that we struggle with believing in the dollar more than in the name of the God who's printed on it. Maybe that's why God allows recessions and perhaps a depression if we don't start to get with it.

Mystery

I don't have an answer, just a question this evening. How can people pray to the same God about the same situation and get such different answers?

If Only......

I don't know how many times I have heard the reason for the moral decline in our part of the world being due to the fact that "they took prayer out of schools." As a result, "kids these days just don't understand" and "America is no longer a Christian nation" and that's the reason "things aren't like they were back in my day." "If only we had prayer back in the schools" and "if only we had more Christians in the government" and "if only we taught the Bible in public schools." These are just a few of the "if onlys", but some of the most common I hear.
All of these statements are great adventures in missing the point. These are statements made by good people that I respect and are, as far as I can tell, sincere Christ-followers. These are also statements that I once bought into and statements I used to make myself, but now realize they are a bit shallow.
First, I don't know of any school anywhere in the United States that prohibits a student from praying. How can they? How can anyone at anytime stop someone from praying? There may be a few instances where public assemblies have been prohibited on public school campuses, but no student has ever been sent to the principal's office for bowing his or her head and praying. What aggravates me is when people use prayer as a form of protest or a way of saying "screw you." I don't know how many times at public gatherings (i.e. high school football games) where they once had public prayer, but no longer do, have I witnessed a mass organization of people stand and recite the Lord's Prayer and then cheer for themselves for how Godly they think they are. Of all those who participated and patted themselves on the back, I wonder how many of them actually prayed back when they had public prayer. How many of them actually have a conversation with God throughout the day? How many of them will be in a local church the following Sunday?
The point is that if suddenly tomorrow, Congress passes a resolution and President Obama signs it, ordering public prayer in schools by only devout Christian pastors, is that really going to change one thing?
Second, I'm not sure exactly what constitutes whether or not a nation is Christian or not. How many people in a land have to be Christian in order for the land to be considered "Christian." What I do know, drawing from my BA in History, is that many of the people who were here when this nation was founded are not the devout Christians we like to think they are. (Yes, it was a shock to me when I started investigating this in my college days and a little depressing for me). Some of our Founding Fathers were Christ-followers, based upon what we know about them. Others though, made no secret of their deistic convictions (sounds Christian, but it's not) and the fact that they could not equate reason with the supernatural. For example, Thomas Jefferson rewrote the Gospels, excluding the miracles of Jesus. Ben Franklin contributed to and was a regular attender of the local church. But he also contributed to and supported other religions and belief systems convinced that he found an element of truth in all of them. Sounds a lot like the pluralism in our world today! So we can't exactly say that this nation was founded on God or the Bible (at least not the way that Evangelical Christians such as myself understand God or the Bible). I realize this may strike a nerve in you, but do some research on this before you start throwing things at me.
Third, as a believer and follower of Christ and as a pastor in today's world, I don't give a lick about whether or not there is public prayer in public places, it doesn't matter whether or not we have a monument of the Ten Commandments in federal places, and I don't believe that organized protests and public demonstrations are going to make the government or the nation suddenly turn to God. I'm more concerned about the local church and her impact on the world. That's the problem with our world! The church is not being the antidote to many of the things that are wrong in our society, but tends to behave just like the world. Instead of sitting back and griping about the fact that there is no public prayer in our public schools, let's ask this question; is there prayer in our church?
Oh sure there is. We pray for Ms. Bernice's urinary tract infection and Mr. Ernie's colonoscopy. We prayed for them and took cookies by their house. We also made sure they got a visit from the pastor because that would be awful if he didn't stop by to console them. Oh, how we just love each other! But have we prayed for the family across the street with the beer bottles in their yard and the strong stench of marijuana? Have we prayed for their salvation and opportunities to speak truth into their life? No, we just gripe about how bad they are and how they wouldn't be that way if only we had prayer in schools and God in the government.
Have we taught our students how to be salt and light on their school campuses? No, we don't have much contact with our youth. We hired someone to baby-sit them and to keep them out of our way (a.k.a. the Youth Minister).
Have we done anything to address the problems in our community? in our nation? in our world? Nope. So, as a result of our inactivity, Daddy Government steps in with a costly and ineffective program that will halfway address the problem, if even that.
Don't misunderstand my rant, I'm not opposed to the idea of a Christian nation or public prayer in schools. I hope that this nation becomes so filled with sincere Christ-followers that we see that happen. I also would like to see our government filled with sincere believers who pray for guidance and wisdom from God before each decision they make. But it's not that way. The reason is because our churches are dead. Instead of praying for a movement of God, we feel that we have to plot and protest our way into making everyone believe and behave the way we do. The only hope for our world is when the church starts being the church. No other way and no other method. Question: Are you being the church in the world or are you just being a gripey old hack?

Enough of the Health Care Debate!

After a year of the back-and-forth on the proposed health care bill, I don't believe any of us reallyknow what is in it. I don't believe those who are actually voting on it really know what is in it or the implications of what they are voting on. It has turned into a matter of setting a precedent and proving a point rather than actually passing something that is going to be beneficial to our society. Ultimately, we're going to end up getting something that nobody wants if this continues.
My suggestion is to step-back from this and let's take care of some other pressing issues for now. We have a nation that is still knee-deep in economic woes and in desperate need of an overhaul (don't read too much into that, I'm just saying that all-around we have been spending money we don't have and all of us need to stop). We have an education system that has never run effectively or efficiently. We are still fighting two wars. I'm sure there are other pressing needs out there, but in my own little world, it's hard to keep an eye on everything.
Don't get me wrong. Health care is important. In a nation where health care is readily available, it shouldn't be difficult for anyone to receive. We should have a system where no one is denied the best possible health care available. The only problem is that there is no nation out there where such a system exists. An example is Canada's health care system, which has a model that many in Washington are seemingly trying to follow. Yes, in Canada health care is available to all regardless of social or economic status. The only problem (and this is a huge problem) is that Canada has inadverdently established a health-care caste system. Social and economic status actually do come into play there. Your status determines the level of health care you receive. There has to be a better way than this and certainly we can devise something that provides health care to everyone without anyone getting short-changed.
My advice (not that it's worth anything) is to throw away and forget all the proposed legislation that is being tossed around Congress right now. Take a break from it for about a year or two and then step back into the dialogue again with a better plan. It doesn't mean anyone loses and it isn't a sign of bad leadership. It's doing what is in the best interest of the nation and would be leadership that I respect.

The Broken System

Until I married a school teacher, I never realized how messed-up our accountability priorities are in our public education system. I think George W. Bush was on the right track with the "No Child Left Behind" initiative a few years ago, but that train didn't go far enough. Educators and administrators are held accountable for how their students perform on standardized tests. That is not bad. But there are so many things that are wrong with just stopping there.
First, this system puts too much priority on a child being able to pass one test. Teachers will spend most of a school year teaching a child what he or she needs to know just to pass a test. Most teachers, including my wife, will tell you that's not true education.
Second, the accountability in this system is one-sided. Teachers and administrators are held accountable, but what about the students? What about the parents? I've seen my wife put in 12-16 hour workdays trying to get students ready to take the test. She has stayed after school to tutor kids, at times with no extra pay. She does it because she is dedicated and also her butt is on the line if the students don't do well (yes, I am biased here). It drives me up the wall to see her do all of that on her end, but to get little or no commitment from the student. Of course, most of the time when the student is apathetic or rebellious like that, it goes back to his or her home life. Few times does my wife get any help or support from the parents/guardian of these kids. Many times she has called and been unable to reach them. Many times she has set-up conferences to meet with them only for the parent/guardian to be a no-show. She has even gone out of her way to try to go to them at times.
She does all this and if the students don't do well on the test, she is the one who could get into trouble.
Where is the accountability for the students and the parents? How come in our education system, we keep passing students on through and eventually hand them a piece of paper at the end of 12 years (or longer) telling them they've satisfactorily met the requirements when they actually have not?
Third, my wife teaches 4th grade at a Title I school. Most of her students entered 4th grade on a 1st grade reading level, if even that good. They had no business being in 4th grade or 3rd or 2nd, but she is required to get them ready to pass a 4th grade test!
Here's a proposal. Yes, let's have accountability, but let's make it all around. Teachers must do all they can to educate their students. Okay, a test should be taken just to see where a child is, but let's not place such a do-or-die emphasis on it. If the student doesn't show a certain level of commitment, then he or she can be in the public education system for only so long before being required to enter the work force. If a parent/guardian doesn't show a certain level of commitment, then he or she will be required to pay for the child to continue in education or else go to jail.
Oh, and while I'm changing the system, here's another idea. Let's raise teacher pay. For the amount of hours and grief they have to put in, they deserve about double what they make now.
Those are just a few ideas. I have more, but I will save them for another time.

As the Tiger Turns

I was just at a car dealership getting my truck worked on. While I was in the waiting room reading a book and watching ESPN, everyone (it seemed like everyone) in the dealership suddenly gathered around the tv and turned up the volume. Tiger Woods was making a public statement about the events that have been going on in his life in recent months. One of the employees at the dealership, a young lady who looked to be in her mid-twenties, didn't give him much of a chance to say anything. When she heard him say the words "counseling" and "therapy" she just walked off saying that neither of those things will do anything for him because he is "just a stupid cheating man."
I did laugh at her response because it was kind of comical. Another employee at the dealership, a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties told her to "leave him alone." I couldn't help but laugh at his response too.
After that, I was just halfway paying attention to the rest of Tiger's statement. The way the young lady responded was a bit comical at the time, but I started to wonder what she must have personally experienced to make her respond the way she did. I wonder what has been going on in the young man's life to make him respond so quickly to her response.
For months now, I have had the attitude that the news media must leave Tiger and his family alone as they deal with this. That would be ideal, but unlikely. Just from looking at him today while he was reading his prepared statement, I could tell he did not want to be there. He was doing something that he felt forced to do. I'm not calling his sincerity into question, as one ESPN commentator did immediately after Tiger made his statement, but it does seem as if the public attention is going to make this recovery and healing process more problematic. It just looks as if Tiger was doing something today that he was not ready to do, but felt compelled to do in order to appease the public or the news media (I don't know about you, but Tiger Woods hasn't crossed my mind in quite some time).
Here's my take on it. First, what Tiger did is wrong and it is a sickness. Second, his family is torn apart over it. Third, Tiger can move past this illness and there can be healing in his marriage and the many others affected by this. It will take time and it will take all of them seeking God. Fourth, all of us have a sickness too in one form or another. It may not be sleeping with numerous women like Tiger, but we all have something that stands between us and God and will hurt (or have hurt) others in our lives unless we give it to God and take steps to get away from it. Fifth, we have all been hurt by someone else's sickness and won't move on from it until we allow God to heal it. Just like Tiger's family and just like the young lady who reacted so abruptly at the car dealership, what someone did to us will destroy us if we don't allow God to heal like he is so willing to do. Finally, when going through this, we wouldn't want people sticking their noses in it and spreading it, so why do we keep feeding a news media so obsessed with doing that exact thing?
How do we tell the news media that we don't want to hear it? How do we tell them that they are behaving inappropriately? I don't know, but this is just another example of piling sickness upon sickness. Unfortunately, the church doesn't do a good job of providing an antidote to this. Much of this same behavior is displayed in Sunday School classes and back-pew gossip in churches across America every Sunday. But that is another blog post for another time......

A Starr at Baylor University!

I have to say I was really surprised by the announcement a couple of days ago that Ken Starr was being named the next President of Baylor University. The same Ken Starr who was famously or infamously known in the 90's (depends on which way one looks at it) as the thorn in Bill Clinton's side. As a result of that one item on his resume, he has been compared to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. I'm not necessarily saying that's bad, but since he has an extremist image as being one on the hard Right of the social and political spectrum, I never would have put his name together with being at Baylor University. Since his hiring, I have learned a little more about his background, which makes him more of an unlikely candidate for the position of President of the world's largest Baptist university. Mr. Starr is the son of a Church of Christ preacher, attended a non-denominational church in his adult years, and was a Dean at a Church of Christ-affiliated school (though Pepperdine is considered a left-leaning Church of Christ school) when Baylor hired him.
Since his hiring, the Baylor board of regents have faced criticism from both sides of the aisle. More moderate-leaning pastors have labeled Mr. Starr as "divisive" and the wrong person that a deeply divided university like Baylor is needing right now. On the other side, Paige Patterson of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he wishes Baylor would hire a Baptist pastor with a Ph.D.
I offer a synthesis of both of these views. Perhaps we should give Starr a chance and not go by a media-created caricature of who he is or go by the traditional persona of choosing a Baptist university president. Whether or not you agree with the job he did in the 90's when investigating the allegations against Clinton, why let that be your only perception of him and the way you identify him? And yes, there was a time when only Baptist pastors were allowed to run Baptist institutions, but those days are over. Starr is a committed believer and follower of Christ who affirms the doctrines that are important to Baptists. So what's the problem? If we had a self-proclaimed atheist in there, then I would say there should be concern. But here is a guy who is committed to the faith, has experience in higher education, and has the leadership ability to take Baylor University through the process of healing the divisions that have been problematic now for years.
Here's another thought. Let's don't allow Mr. Starr just two years like his predecessor was given. That's an impossible amount of time to get anything done. This process may take ten years or better. Let's give him that time and allow him room for error.

Making a Jesus-Profit?

I receive brochures and ads all the time from organizations claiming to have the key to increasing our church's witness, increasing our church's membership, and increasing our church's giving. These are supposed tried and proven methods that have a high percentage of success. I can get all of this secret treasure for such-and-such an amount. Somewhere in these ads I am given the guilt-trip that it may seem costly, but the results are worth it. Some even have the audacity to say that if I feel that buying their secrets isn't affordable, then I'm short on faith. (This is my paraphrase, but that is pretty much what it sounds like). In addition, I am constantly bombarded with ads for sermons by other popular pastors (for a fee of course). I will admit that I have bought and read and listened to sermons by other pastors. No, I don't copy them and regurgitate them from the pulpit on Sunday, but during my sermon prep. for the week, I do glean what others have said on the particular passage(s) I am preaching from. A friend and mentor of mine calls it "eating the chicken and spitting out the bones." Years ago when I was a Youth Minister and filled the pulpit at church one Sunday, I pretty much preached almost word-for-word someone else's sermon (with his permission) and it was such a disaster, that I resolved never to do it again.
In case you aren't able to pick up on my tone in the previous paragraph, I'm having a problem with this. Maybe I'm jealous because I don't have a ministry product that can sell and e-mails aren't filling up my inbox from fellow pastors asking me to send my famous sermon transcripts that they've been hearing about. And I don't have a problem with sharing ministry ideas or sermon ideas. I think we should. When sharing these ideas, I don't have a problem with people charging to cover the cost of materials or administrative costs (I hope that is what is taking place with all these ads I receive). But it does bother me when someone seeks to gain a profit this way.
If someone is doing this for profit, this is what they are doing; they are holding back the growth of God's kingdom for their selfishness. I believe Jesus said something about the kingdom of God being like a treasure in a field. Once a man finds that treasure, he sells everything so that he can go buy that field. Jesus is speaking more of salvation in this case, but there is application to this topic too. Hypothetically speaking, suppose Pastor Bob serves at a church and follows God's vision to lead that church to be very effective in a certain ministry. People come to Christ in droves because of this ministry and the church thrives. Pastor Bob writes about what his church did and develops a generic method that other churches can adapt to their own contexts, which can also reach people for Christ they haven't been able to reach previously. What a tragedy if Pastor Bob decides he wants to make a profit on this and won't give his secret to the treasure in a field unless he gets paid for directions! If what he knows can really advance God's kingdom, then why not share it with as many as possible? Those are some potential serious eternal consequences just to make a few bucks!
Am I missing something here?

Celebrate the Little Things?

The past month has been rough. There were fires that popped-up all around that were out of my control. After a few pity-parties and a few "woe is me" moments, I had a revelation. It hasn't all been bad. In fact, these fires that started could very well be God moving instead of Satan attacking. I don't say this lightly, it has been after a few weeks of prayer and talking to others that I know are people of prayer.
Here's the thing. Stuff came up that was painful to go through. It affected a lot of people. It isn't over yet. But still even through this, there are reasons to celebrate. I was calling it "celebrating the small stuff." The more I think about it though, these things I need to celebrate aren't really small at all. They are definitely things that I couldn't do on my own and only come from God.
In that revelation, came a further revelation. There are many big things to celebrate. Nothing is small. The only things that are small are the petty fires that pop-up and take our eyes off the big things that are all around us that call for us to celebrate and give glory to God.

Worry, Anxiety, and Fear

This has not been an easy week. Perhaps one of the toughest I've had in some time. My old, so-called friends showed up. Their names are Worry, Anxiety, and Fear. I didn't even realize I was hanging around with them again. I've tried making myself conscious of their presence, I know not to associate with them, I've preached about not giving into them, and I counsel people all the time not to put these three in the driver's seat.
Last night at a men's prayer gathering, someone pointed out that worry is something he has struggled with for several weeks now. He has prayed about it. Even though the circumstances have not changed, he is at peace about the circumstances now. When he mentioned this, I realized how much I was letting these three guys into my life again. I need to work on this in the coming weeks.
This morning I have been sitting here thinking about how much of our world is driven by worry, anxiety, and fear. People are voted in and out of office based upon these three things. Those that get elected to office tend to operate under the influence of these three things. Business deals are made or broken based upon them. Even more scary is that marriage decisions, parenting decisions, and church decisions are made under the influence of these three more often than we want to admit.
Why do we keep hanging out with these three? They're bad dudes. They get us nowhere. Jesus made it very clear that none of them add a single hour to our lives. Medically, they've been known to wreak havoc on our physical selves. Psychologically, they've been known to wreak havoc on our mental selves. As Jesus told us many years ago, they mess us up spiritually. That's all three components of our make-up!
Question: If one of your friends was hanging around with someone that was messing them up as much as worry, anxiety, and fear were messing with you, what advice would you give them?...........Yep, that's right. Now let's all heed our own advice.

Who or What Feeds You?

In the 10+ years I've worked in churches as a Youth Pastor, Assoc. Pastor, and now as the guy in the hot-seat (the Lead Pastor) the number 1 complaint that I've observed from disgruntled church members is "I'm not being fed." In every church I have served, I just don't see how this is possible. Every church I have served has numerous classes and groups available that study and discuss the scriptures. Every church I have served had a pastor who opened the scriptures in every sermon and spoke from it. If someone wants to be fed with solid spiritual food, the opportunity is there. Granted, I'm sure there are churches out there that offer fluff and frosting, but none that I have been a part of. The churches I have been a part of had other problems, but the opportunity to be fed has always been there. So every time I hear that complaint, I always try to get to what the "real problem" is. Most of the time, the "I'm not being fed" complaint is just a spiritualized cover people use when they don't want to admit that their real issue is petty and childish. But this isn't the main point of this post. I'm going to get to the main point now.
The truth is that we're always being fed. It's just what we choose as our food that affects other parts of our being. What really aggravates me is that many within the church are taking in a more steady diet of the news media than they are the Bible. Just look at financial giving to churches over the past two years. The economic news in the media has been scary. The spirit of fear has spread all over the government, the market, the banking industry, and just about every other aspect of our society. Sadly, it has spread through the church. Yes, there are many in the church who have fallen into hard times with the economic downturn and haven't been able to financially contribute to God's kingdom like they have in the past (and the church needs to be there to walk with them through these hard times). But there are also many who haven't been hit but have withheld out of fear. I had a conversation with a fellow pastor the other day who was telling me that his church was far behind their budget towards the close of 2009. In November, he proposed a catch-up Sunday where the members were challenged to go above and beyond to catch up on the church's budget. They exceeded their goal on that Sunday and closed the year with a balanced budget. He said that many came to him confessing they had the money to give and knew they should have been giving better throughout the year, but had withheld out of fear of a collapsing economy.
Another example, a couple months ago a lady came by our church office freaking-out about the proposed health care bill being passed through Congress. She was talking gloom-and-doom over this bill and felt that I as the church's pastor needed to drop everything we were doing and call the church to pray about this. Yes, I do agree that we need to pray for our nation's leaders and that they will look to God for the wisdom to make the right decisions. But this particular lady was buying into and spreading fear that she had heard in the news.
Have we forgotten that God is on his throne? Does it not occur to us that the economic situation in our world didn't catch God off-guard? Does it not occur to us that God is well aware of the health-care bill being discussed in Congress? Just from reading our Bibles, we should be very conscious of the fact that God prevails. He has a plan through all of this and last time I checked, he intends to include the church in his plan.
But he can't use us if we buy into and spread fear. When we start serving fear, then we are serving Satan.
It's all about what we go to as our main source of food. Is it what CNN say, FoxNews says, Glenn Beck says, Keith Olbermann says, or is it what God says. Those of us in the church should know it's what God says, but is that really what we feast on?

A Waste of Time

How much of our time can we really label as "constructive"? It seems that everyone I know, including myself, are always talking about how busy life is. I can't speak on behalf of others in my life who constantly complain of a lack of time, but from looking at myself, I suspect all of us actually have more time than we know or want to admit to.
Much of my time-problem has to do with me. When I get up in the morning, I have to keep a check on not doing anything else other than what I've already committed my morning to. I decided long ago that I was going to give my mornings to reading the scripture, hearing God, speaking to God, journaling about my faith journey, and anything else possible to building spiritual muscle. Doing so gives me perspective on my day and helps keep on track with those things that are important. I know this, but it's amazing how easily that can go if I talk myself into doing something else "real quick." For example, I may turn on the tv or search the internet "real quick" just to check the weather or check on one item of news "real quick" and before I know it, I've read about 6 or 7 news websites, checked all my e-mail, wrote a few comments on facebook, and started working on church-related or school-related items for the day.
There are many times during the day, I could easily head over to the Y and work-out. Doing so is relaxing, energizing, and can add more hours to my day. Instead, I get caught up in getting work done that can wait and wears me down. Incidentally, that neglect of my physical health doesn't add any more time to my day and there is always more stuff to get done.
These are just a couple of examples of time-wasters or failure to prioritize. The fact is, I know I can carry my full load of being a husband, being a pastor, and being a student among other things a lot better than I am right now. I just have to learn to give the appropriate amount of attention to certain things, learn to say "no" more than I actually do, understand I can't be everywhere at once, and remind myself that I'm not here in this world to please man, but to play to the audience of One.
The amazing this is, we serve a God who lives outside of time. Time isn't going to matter when we get to heaven. Why are we so constrained by it now?
Again, I can only speak for myself, but I know I can accomplish everything God has placed in my life a lot better than I am now with a lot less stress and wear-and-tear. I wonder if you can do the same thing.

Why the Title?

There is only one Way, one Truth, and one Life. Our lives are to be dedicated to seeking Him. None of us are capable of knowing everything about Him. Our life's pursuit is to try to understand only what He has revealed to us and to follow Him.
None of us see Him or the world through the same lenses. We view everything through our own unique experiences and perspectives. As a result, our perspectives are limited. The trouble is that we view the world and view God through our own limited perspectives and assume that what we see is all there is.
It is disastrous to assume that all we can see is all there is because we are missing out. Just as disastrous is when we try to force our limited perspectives on others. Instead, we should be sharing our perspective on God and the world and have an open-mind to hear another perspective on the same things. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to buy into everything you hear, but two or more people earnestly seeking the Way, the Truth, and the Life together can really sharpen each other.
This blog is simply about God and the world through my lenses. Feel free to offer your thoughts any time.