Crossroads Visalia

Goals 2

2009-12-30T07:30:00.002-08:00

2010 now just two days away. I'm not a real "resolution" guy but I'm pretty passionate about a few things I want to see happen in the next 365 days.

1. WRITE THE BOOK. I have two notebooks full of thoughts, ideas, half-chapters, illustrations, and sermons. It's about time that I actually did something about it.

2. Protect my day off. Friday is the day that I'm supposed to shut everything down - except my morning job but that's only till 10am. In 2009, I occasional slipped in a meeting or two which led to a phone conversation which led to a conversation with someone on staff and on and on and on. No more.

3. Listen more, talk less.

4. Remodel the kitchen. It's old and dreary. I want to make the cover of one of those cool magazines. The only way we can afford it will be to get on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. So, I'm working on developing some type of sympathy angle.

5. Avoid getting sued for stupid things said on the radio show. Long story.

There you have it.

Goals

2009-12-29T07:45:00.002-08:00

I was unsuccessfully trying to clean up my war-torn office last night when I came across an old notebook. Every six months or so, I go through a 150 page college ruled notebook. It's divided into two parts: administration and teaching materials. The teaching section is pretty self-explanatory. I write sermons about 3 months in advance so the notebook keeps me focused on notes and ideas in an easy-to-follow chronological order. I use my computer, too, but I've just never been able to surrender the basic pen and paper combination. In the administrative section, I keep notes from our staff meetings, employee issues, finances, doodling (lots of doodling), and thoughts about vision.

I pulled out one of my old notebooks last night. It was from 2006 - about one year into Crossroads. In it, I had some five-year goals. I'm sure I jotted them down based on the advice of some leadership expert who said that goals would never come to pass unless you actually wrote things down. These were the things I wanted to see come to pass by the year 2011 - now just 367 days away. At the top of the list - BUILD A CHURCH CAMPUS. I must have been passionate when I wrote it down because it was obvious that the pen was being pressed firmly to the notebook. Needless to say, we are nowhere close to building or buying a facility and, for that matter, I don't want one. There isn't one part of me that wants to own my own building. I don't want to pay someone to mow the grass. I don't want to fix the air conditioner. I don't want to justify office hours. I don't want to hire a secretary who sits in a church office and gossips with the church janitor about who is sleeping with the guy who sits in the back row during the 10:30am service. I am happy as a clam paying rent every month on two properties that we get to use as often as we need to and leave the headaches to someone else.

So, I have a different plan about long-term plans: no more specifics. What I thought I was passionate about 5 years ago is so far from where I am today. I'm glad I didn't break my back to achieve something that, especially in this economy, could have been a financial tragedy. One leader I follow said this:

What we may perceive as success today, could look very different a few years from now. The goal may be too high or too low or we could be trying to reach a goal that has nothing to do with the long-term health and viability of our organization.

My next goal is to get up from my computer and make a cup or coffee and I'm not writing that goal in my notebook. I'm just going to do it and see what happens.

2009-12-28T08:01:00.002-08:00

Sometimes, for kicks and giggles, I go online and read Christian movie reviews just to see how crazy my brothers and sisters of Christ are about some films. This is what I read this morning with my cup of coffee...

AVATAR is a visually stunning, but slow, shallow and abhorrent, science fiction adventure pitting evil human capitalists against heroic, spiritually sensitive aliens on the planet Pandora, who worship a false diety and nature. Too graphically intense for children, AVATAR has an abhorrent New Age, pagan, anti-capitalist worldview that promotes goddess worship and the destruction of the human race. If only someone had edited this movie, it may have been more interesting. Great entertainment puts plot first, character second, dialogue third, idea forth, music fifth, and spectacle last, as Aristotle noted. James Cameron, the writer and director of AVATAR, reverses this. And, all too often, when you put spectacle first, you turn a great little movie like KING KONG into KING BORE. The Na’vi have a special hair like sexual appendage that enables them to physically connect in a spiritual, mental, and even sexual bond with the creatures they ride or fly. The goddess and the spiritual concepts presented in the movie are fiction. The Spirit we need is the Spirit of Almighty God, our Creator, who is only available when we accept the loving gift of His redemption in the name of Jesus Christ, who is God made flesh, who died to pay the penalty for our sins and was raised from the dead to secure eternal life for each of us who accept Him. While we remain here, we are to be stewards of the other living things on earth, not equals. Cameron’s anti-capitalist ideology is more dangerous than Michael Moore, whose recent anti-capitalist documentary will be seen by far fewer people. The truth is that we live in amazing luxury today under capitalism, compared to what we’d have if we lived like Pandora’s aliens. Would you like to get up each morning from a hammock in a tree and hunt for food with a bow and arrow? Capitalism can be brutal and ugly if the capitalist is brutal and ugly, but so can every other economic system. Capitalism can be a beautiful thing in a nation where capitalists live by God’s golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If you want to live in a kinder, gentler, more compassionate world, don’t go hug a tree or look for some earthly version of an Earth goddess. Give your life to God through Jesus Christ and let Him use you to reach out to those trapped in selfishness, greed, pride, and hatred.

I went to see Avatar last night and loved it. I took my kids (both of whom fall under the required age to watch PG-13 movies) and they loved it. There was bad language and violence but I'm not dumb enough to think that they don't know every bad word in (and out) of the dictionary and have seen plenty of violence on childrens' television programming. Both of them are smart enough to avoid bad language and live in a state of non-violence.

I loved the movie, James Cameron is brilliant, and I'm still going to Heaven.

Joseph and Mary

2009-12-22T05:46:00.002-08:00

It's interesting to throw people a curve ball every once and a while.

I hope that you have a great Christmas. Rest in the grace of Jesus and jump boldly into the new year.

Tiger

2009-12-14T08:03:00.002-08:00

Sports columnist Rick Reilly has suggested the following plan of action for Tiger:

1. Take an immediate and indefinite leave from pro golf (which he has done). Reilly said, "You don't go play the Buick Open when your house is on fire."

2. Go on Oprah and offer his unconditional apology. Spill the beans. Lay it all on the table. Every sordid detail. Every woman. Leave nothing - NOTHING - out.

3. After Oprah, take a break from all public appearances. He should spend every waking minute trying to work on his marriage in private.

4. Fire everybody close to him. Caddy, driver, business partners...everyone. If they were around him during his infidelity and had some degree of knowledge about what was happening, they are enablers and shouldn't hang around. Based on the number of women, travel arrangements, hotel guests, etc., there had to be whispers about what was going on.

5. Offer to suspend all sponsorship contracts until (if) he gets back on track - whatever that means.

Taking a break from golf is a no-brainer. I think the Oprah thing is a good idea. She has America's largest television audience so his apology would reach the greatest number of people. I'm not sure he needs to fire everybody close to him. It appears he was pretty good about flying under the radar for a while so many of his associates may not have known about his infidelities. Suspending all contracts would, probably, be a good thing to do. Once he gets back on his feet, he will have plenty of opportunities to get plugged back in.

Will Tiger get a second chance?

Religion

2009-12-08T08:08:00.002-08:00

We (our church) recently ran a radio commercial that said, "We believe that 'religion' can really hurt people. Jesus is all about relationships - not religion." I was confronted by an employee at my kids' Christian school who had heard the advertisement and was offended. She had grown up in the church and the word "religion" was simply another way of defining a lifestyle. For example, "I'm a religious person" or "Christianity is my religion." The truth is, "religion" means something completely different. So, when I said that we weren't "religious", she thought I was criticizing her long-held belief system.

The word "religion" comes from the old Latin word, religare, meaning "to bind up." It points people toward obligations they have toward God. So the essence of the word is that it puts people into bondage and causes them to feel condemnation for not measuring up. If I define myself as a "religious person", I am describing myself as someone who has to do certain things for God. Religion has it's roots in performance which is much different than living in the grace of God.

Jesus didn't just set us free from sin. He set us free from religion. We don't have to perform to score points with God. When you see religion - run , but be sure you run straight into the arms of your Father who loves and accepts you just the way you are.

Your voice

2009-12-04T07:37:00.001-08:00

From Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C.

There never has been and never will be anyone like you. But that isn't a testament to you. It's a testament to the God who created you absolutely unique.

All of creation is singing a worship chorus to God. And it's not just the meadow lark with its 300 notes or the nightingale finch with its 24 songs. According to the German physicist and pianist, Arnold Summerfield, a hydrogen atom emits 100 frequencies which makes it more complex musically than a grand piano which emits 88 frequencies.

For what its worth, Pythagoras said: "A stone is frozen music." Very interesting in light of what Jesus said: "If you remain silent the stones will cry out."

My point? All of creation is singing a unique song to the Creator. And you are part of that universal chorus. No one can worship God FOR you or LIKE you. God has given you a unique voiceprint. There are millions of people praying and worshiping God in every language all the time. But your voiceprint is unique. Like a parent who knows His child's unique cry or scream or laugh, God knows your voice. He hears your voice. The Heavenly Father loves your voice.

Grace in Romans 6

2009-12-02T06:45:00.003-08:00

I like Paul (the Pharisee turned grace-filled Jesus follower in the New Testament). He had a certain knack for addressing a variety of different groups and sharing the Message of Christ in a way that they could understand. That doesn't mean that his method was necessarily "soft". In fact, he was pretty harsh but everyone - no matter their religious or non-religious background - knew exactly where he was coming from.

One of the times he didn't mince words was in Romans 6. He was talking about God's grace (surprise surprise) and how God's grace "works". Basically, Paul wanted to explain grace in the simplest of terms so that people could walk away with a better understanding of who God is and what He offers. At one point, he answers his own question about "sin" and how it fits into the grace framework.

"So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!" Romans 6: 1-3

I'm learning more and more that we sin because we don't fully understand what God offers us (love, forgiveness, and - of course - grace). When we get closer to understanding what God freely gives, sin diminishes. It never goes away but our perspective changes. One author said it this way;

"Genuine grace not only delivers us from something, but also delivers us to Someone."

Grace opens our eyes to the union we share with Jesus Christ. It doesn’t give a Christian an excuse to sin. Instead it energizes us with the gift of grace that Jesus offers.

No family at Thanksgiving?

2009-11-25T08:48:00.002-08:00

Thanksgiving is a holiday that usually includes an army of family members who show up on your doorstep at the break of dawn Thursday morning and stay later than you had planned. My wife ran down a list of all the people who were going to be at her mom's house tomorrow and there were at least three names I didn't recognize. My son asked a question - the same question I had in my head but chose not to say out loud: "Who the heck are those people? Isn't Thanksgiving just for 'real' family members?" However, we are fortunate. Some people have no family members with which to share this important holiday. One of my favorite blogs offered these suggestions for those who are "family-less" tomorrow...

Have a picnic

This one might seem weather-dependent, but that’s only if you don’t get creative (and yes, summer-y climate dwellers, you should go outside). Regardless of where you go, pack a picnic basket full of summer favorites crossed with traditional Thanksgiving fare: Turkey sandwiches, potato salad (instead of mashed potatoes), cranberry jam, sweet potato fries/potato chips and, of course, apple pie. Put down a checkered table cloth, grab a guitar to start a singalong and make your Thanksgiving mobile this year.

Visit a nursing home or hospital

Sometimes in our planning, we forget about those in our community who are physically unable to join family or friends for a Thanksgiving dinner. So work with your friends to find a nursing home or hospital that might let you bring Thanksgiving food (and hopefully some good conversation) to people who might not get visitors very often. Just make sure to verify with the officials you talk to what kind of food to bring to avoid any dietary complications.

Host a friendly potluck

The most obvious one on the list: Invite a bunch of friends over. Have each of them bring a dish to share. And then, share. You’ll be surprised how amazing the day becomes (and how good of cooks your friends are).

Throw together a progressive dinner

A variation of the potluck idea, this one is a bit more involved. Essentially, you’ll move from place to place for each course of the Thanksgiving dinner. One person will host pre-dinner drinks and hors d’oeuvres, the next person will host a soup/salad/bread course, the next person will host the main meal and so on. That way the responsibility isn’t all on one person or on one home. Plus, you get to walk off your meal as you get from place to place. 

Road trip!

Just because you’re not traveling to see family doesn’t mean you can’t travel. Pile a group of friends in the car and head out to see places you’ve always wanted to go but have never gotten a chance. And if you have Friday off, even better—make a long weekend out of it and see how far you can get. Just make sure to find places to stay along the way. And for your dinner, stop at a local truckstop or roadside cafe—their food is probably just as good as what would survive hours in the car.

Thanksgiving luau

Just because it’s freezing outside doesn’t mean you have to give in. Throw a Hawaiian-luau for Thanksgiving this year. Make Hawaiian shirts and tacky grass skirts mandatory. Serve Polynesian food (get ready to hone your fish-cooking skills), listen to terrible Tiki-music and embrace the kitsch with your decor. And don’t forget that a limbo contest is a necessity.

Thanksgiving trilogy

Thanksgiving is a perfect day to kick back with your belly full of turkey and gravy and watch a movie. But why stop there? Have you always meant to watch that one trilogy but you’ve just never gotten around to it? So have a trilogy party. No one’s going to complain if you say, “Hey, after dinner, who wants to watch all three Godfather movies?” Besides, you can watch the first two and then sleep through the third one and be even happier. Other trilogies: Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones (it’s a quadrilogy, but still), Star Wars (two trilogies), Free Willy, Scream, Jurassic Park and the Three Colors Trilogy.

Serve in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter

Chances are, your church has opportunities to serve in a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen. It’s a great activity for a group of friends or a small group to engage in together—it’ll make you thankful for what you have and it’ll compel you to think outside of yourself and your own context. And on Thanksgiving, of all days, that’s certainly not a bad thing.

Game day

Holidays are the perfect times to break out those games that take way too long to play under normal circumstances—think Risk, Monopoly, Settlers of Catan and pretty much any game that involves things like “hit points.” Try setting up a different game in each room, so people can pick and choose what they want to play. The nerds will flock to Settlers, while the people who just want to laugh a lot will head to Catch Phrase or Apples to Apples. Plus, if you get bored with one game, there’s literally another one right around the corner.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Coloring outside the lines

2009-11-24T06:23:00.003-08:00

I'm talking about the importance of "acceptance" this week in our Sunday teaching. An author posted this last week on his blog:

Jesus was always accused of associating with sinners and tax collectors. In Matthew 9:11 and Mark 2:16 the religious leaders question Jesus' disciples. They asked, "Why does he eat with sinners and tax collectors?" They ask this question because it really bothered them. The law taught that these people were dirty, not physically, but spiritually. Associating with these people would make you unclean.

There are two things that sticks out to me in both of these accounts. The religious leaders approached the disciples with this question, not Jesus. Why? Is it possible they did not want to get close to Jesus because he was now considered unclean? Chew on that thought for a moment. No wonder these sinners and tax collectors did not want anything to do with religion.

And what about the disciples? The question asked did not include them. The religious leaders did not say, "Why do 'you' eat with sinners and tax collectors?" Were they just standing back and watching Jesus hang out with these outcasts? Maybe they were shocked as well. It was just so uncommon for a religious figure to mix and mingle with people who were so far from God.

Not much has changed has it? I have watched religious leaders criticize followers of Jesus for hanging out in places that are full of "sinners." It is becoming more common for Christians to create their own utopia society where they never hang out with people who are far from God.

But Jesus did it? Why did Jesus hang out with sinners and tax collectors?

Jesus hears the question and says:

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:13)

Jesus went to the margins of society to find people who were far from God. He did not wait for them to come to Him. When he got there he showed them mercy by eating with them, talking with them and rubbing shoulders with them. This is something they had never experienced from anyone associated with Judaism.

Not only did Jesus show those far from God mercy, he showed religious leaders and his disciples how to love people who are far from God.

My favorite line: He went to the margins of society to find people who were far from God. I don't spend enough time in the margins. I tend to color between the lines and carefully avoid anything beyond the approved boundaries. In fact, all of us were taught that we were "messy" if our coloring extended beyond the picture's edge. Jesus was messy and lived outside the edge every day. Even as a teenager, he broke rules during church (something I've grown to embrace as we plan our Sunday gatherings).

How can we live in the margins?

Was Jesus political?

2009-11-19T06:06:00.002-08:00

I'm conflicted about a lot of things in the Church (the Church universal - not just Crossroads). One of the biggies is what role, if any, politics should play in how we live. Some political issues go right to the heart of how we are called to live as Christians (murder, theft, etc.). If we are called to be like Jesus, shouldn't we take his lead on everything?

It's interesting that both sides of the political aisle claim that Jesus is on their side. Republicans say that Jesus clearly endorsed conservative values while liberals point to Jesus' passion for the disenfranchised. I think Jesus made a point of being apolitical. Instead of referring to himself in political terms like "king" or "ruler", Jesus called himself the "Son of Man" - language that avoided the appearance of political leadership.

A blogging friend explained it this way:
In Mark 11, Jesus enters Jerusalem, allowing the political figures to make their rulings. He didn’t enter the city riding high upon a regal horse or luxuriously reclining in a comfortable carriage. Jesus entered the city on a donkey. Not the way political powers of the day usually traveled. In biblical times the donkey was a symbol of peace. No one fought wars on a donkey, and pity the political figure who mounted one. A donkey was too small for war and too humble to garner prestige. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, people gathered along the road waving palm branches and exclaiming, Hosanna, or “save us.” Many of the people waved and yelled out of misaligned political interest. They wanted Jesus to take power. And He did. Just not in the way they expected. He was on a death march, not a political parade.

I think that Jesus was pretty intentional to avoided the politics of His day. For now, I'm going to experiment with the idea of avoiding political labels.

Solitude on the mountain

2009-11-18T05:35:00.006-08:00

I went to a friend's cabin this week. It's amazing how much I can decompress by driving east for 32 minutes, sitting on a redwood porch and listening to the river 50 yards away. I spent some time thinking about Christmas and what direction we should go as a church as we walk through the story of Christ's birth. I think I'm going with a "Starbucks" theme. More on that later.

I brought along my camera.

More on listening

2009-11-17T05:52:00.002-08:00

My kids hear me but only occasionally do they really listen to me. "Hearing" is passive. I can hear an ambulance or a baby cry but it requires no work on my part. Those sounds are just part of my environment. "Listening", on the other hand, is much more active. It requires the participation of two people. While one person speaks, the other is focused on what they're saying. It's intentional. It requires a certain degree of focus. It applies to marriages, the relationship we have with our kids, all the ups and downs at work, and in our connection with God. Here are some sure-fire ways to fail in the listening department:

* Talk louder than the person who is trying to communicate with you.

* Refuse to look at your dog when he is staring at you. It's good practice for when you want to block out a real person.

* Turn the other way.

* Maintain a laser sharp focus on your own life and disregard anything else.

Practice makes perfect!

Listening

2009-11-16T08:16:00.002-08:00

And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10

Verse 10 (above) follows 9 verses of Samuel struggling to figure out who was calling his name. It took God a few attempts before Samuel finally determined that God was speaking, not anyone else.

I don't listen enough. My wife talks to me and I start to walk away to do something else. When she gets frustrated, I try to convince her that I can listen and perform various other functions. Funny...she doesn't buy it. My kids try to talk to me and I text away on my Blackberry. I can even type on my computer while talking on the radio. I am the king of multitasking.

God can talk pretty loud. In fact, I would guess that he is the loudest guy in the universe. But, His voice won't penetrate our decision to focus on things other than Him. He will keep knocking but He won't break down our door (ok, that's not completely true...He will, occasionally, break down the door). The point is that God wants us to listen. When we do, we learn more about His love for us and where He wants us to go.

I'm going to the cabin today to listen.

The Gas Co.

2009-11-13T05:54:00.003-08:00

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

I woke up Wednesday morning to a flicker of flame in my fireplace. The night before, we had a fire and when I went to bed, the fire was dying down. When I saw the flame the next morning, I just assumed a small piece of wood had survived the night. I walked to the fireplace to find that there was no wood - just a flame. Apparently, our gas log - which we never use - was leaking a small amount of gas which kept a small fire burning. Simple fix: find the gas key and turn it to the "off" position. No key. I looked everywhere to no avail. Fortunately, we weren't in danger since there was a flame but the situation still needed to be addressed asap.

When I got to work, I called the Gas Company and navigated the automated phone response maze. By pushing a series of buttons, I indicated that this was an emergency situation. If the flame went out, gas would fill our home and any electrical spark could produce devastating results. Within seconds, a real person interrupted the automated system. She asked me to explain the situation and I assumed that, based on the information provided, a Gas Company representative would be dispatched to our home within minutes to fix the problem.

I was put on hold.
I was put on hold for a loooong time.

She came back on the line and gave me plan of action. The funny thing is that when she gave me instructions on what to do until the Gas Company employee arrived, she made it sound like the situation was very dangerous and we needed to take some drastic precautions. Did I mention that I was on hold for a long time?

I'm glad that God doesn't put me on hold. He is always there and wants to hear my voice when I face challenges. As I learn to lean on Him more, I realize that His love for me allows me to rest in the knowledge of His protection.

Kids

2009-11-11T05:51:00.002-08:00

Granger Community Church is a community in Indiana that's doing some great things. Like us, one of their passions is to "pour life" into kids. This video shows how important it is to remember that God meets all of us right where we are - regardless of our age.

We are really blessed to have some great people who lead our kids' ministry. They give their time, emotions, and wisdom to children, pre-teens, and teenagers who are looking for hope and asking for help. All too often, "church" is programmed with the adult in mind but at Crossroads, we've learned that kids are coming to church with huge needs. For that reason, we will continue to make sure that kids are a priority and that people are there to help them experience life, and life more abundant (John 10:10).

Thank you Kristin, Blake, Michelle, Carly, Barb, Allison and a huge cast of other great people. You are givers.

Marathon finisher

2009-11-09T06:51:00.003-08:00

For the second time, I have finished a marathon. I've posted a picture of the event. That's me, wearing the white shirt and black shorts towards the front. OK...that's not really me and that's not the marathon I ran yesterday.

My run time was miserable. I had to stop at two medical aid stations along the way because of knee problems and muscle cramps - two things that I've never experienced. As a result, I finished a lot slower than I had planned. The one bright spot was the finish line where my wife and son had positioned themselves to cheer me on. It was a great feeling to come around the last corner and see them standing there. The great thing was that they didn't really care what place I was in. I did - but they could have cared less. They were just happy to see me finish.

Finish means to bring something to an end or to completion. Paul said in Acts 20:24 his own life didn’t matter to him as long as he’d “finish the race and complete the task” that the Lord gave him. It's good to know that whatever happens during the race (including a few stops at medical aid stations) God will be there to cheer us on.

Apologies

2009-11-06T06:39:00.002-08:00

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post. I don't have a good excuse but here are some options.

1. My dog ate all of my blog drafts which had been stored in a manila folder next to my home computer.

2. I've been lazy.

3. I haven't had anything profound to say.

4. I got tired of talking about whether or not homosexuals should be baptized.

5. My time has been spent on other things and the blog lost it's "top 5" status on my priority list.

6. Some guy in South Carolina called me a heretic and I've spent two months investigating the merits of his claim.

7. I forgot my blog username and password.

8. I needed to sin some more so that I could share my thoughts about grace with greater authority.

9. I switched from PC to Apple. OK, that has nothing to do with the blog but I needed to throw that in there.

10. That's it. I only have 9.

I will try really really hard to keep things updated so that all of you can absorb my wisdom and wit every week. That's a joke, by the way. Not the updating part. Just the wisdom and wit part.

Wow

2009-08-27T06:07:00.002-07:00

What a summer! Our family had the opportunity to travel to a couple of foreign destinations including Beaver, Utah and Lamar, Colorado as part of Parker's baseball season. His team won the state title in July (which seems like a year ago), then won their regional tournament in Utah which secured them a spot in the World Series in Colorado. The experience, although tiring and expensive, was incredible. His team did well and made it to the quarterfinals in Colorado before being knocked out by Connecticut. He is now home with the flu and pneumonia - what the doctor says is the result of the heavy demands placed on his body.

So, it's time to dip back into the pool of God's grace - a topic we can't talk about enough. Since my life has been consumed by baseball over the past few months, don't be surprised if I use baseball analogies because I'm sure God is a huge Dodger fan.

I received a nice note yesterday.

Hi Darrin,

In the last few months, I've shared many a sermon quote, the web media player and some of your Facebook entries with a dear friend in Germany. He visited the United States eleven years ago and we still keep in touch. I met him when I did tech support on the web for the Corel Corporation.

Today he asked I share this with you, so I'm taking your time to do so. Roli wrote:
Will be on Darrin's page this afternoon. If you find the time, tell him, his sermons are heard over the big ocean too. Would like to have such a community here in germany too, but at least I can snuggle in at crossroads a bit.

He 'gets' it .... has grasped the Grace concept because of your excellent teaching. English is not his native tongue and he so appreciates the study time with the Bible as well as the language lesson by following Crossroads wherever you take us.

Thanks for all you do.

Hugs, Joanna

So, greetings to our friends in Germany!

Exciting stuff

2009-07-22T05:42:00.002-07:00

I apologize for not posting any blog entries for the last week. My son's baseball team has been competing in a series of tournaments across the fruited plain and last night, the team won the state title. As a result, we are traveling to Beaver, Utah on Sunday to compete in the southwest regionals next week. Obviously, my life has been consumed with my son's activities and it's been a blast.

I will keep you posted along the way!

Choking

2009-07-15T06:06:00.002-07:00

I received a panicked call from my daughter yesterday. One of our fish had died and she was heartbroken. We don't have a small glass tabletop look-at-the-little-fishes-in-the-water fishbowl. We have a 3,000 gallon backyard pond that's home to more than 30 koi fish - some of which are 3 feet long. The pond was built by a Japanese pond master for the previous owner but had fallen into disrepair before we bought the house. When we moved in, we decided to perform pond surgery and restore it to it's former glory. Over the past 5 years, we've added a few fish every year but we had a few favorites. The kids took pleasure in naming most of them. Perhaps it's good that the dead fish was never given a proper name. He was just "white and orange fish". Now, he's the dead white and orange fish.

Although I've never asked them directly, our fish seem to be happy. Every once and a while, they will jump a few inches out of the water and, to the untrained eye, it seems as though they're playing. Maybe they're fighting because they hate one another but I like to believe that they're just as happy as...fish. Unfortunately, "white and orange" became a little too aggressive in his jumping and landed in the garden, unable to flip back into the water. I guess it's possible that the fish committed suicide because he just couldn't take the stress of being a fish but my guess is that his flip-out was accidental and the ensuing suffocation ended his brief life on earth .

Talk to any asthma sufferer and they will tell you that suffocation stinks. The inability to inhale and exhale causes an enormous amount of physical and mental stress on the body. Have you ever felt like you can't breathe when it comes to your spiritual condition? This isn't a lose-your-breath, gasping-for-air, physical suffocation – though spiritual suffocation certainly evokes physical symptoms. I’m talking about feelings that are so powerful, you physically feel like you’re suffocating in your chest and throat.

David seems to describe it in Psalm 32:

“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.”

Suffocation is one thing but suffocating all alone has to be so much worse. In his wilderness experiences, David was alone in his groaning to God. But, David realized that God was all he needed when God was all he had. He had to train himself in the practice of standing firm like Paul describes in Ephesians 6.

I've had a couple of spiritually suffocating weeks so, today, I'm relying on His promise to walk with me along the journey.

Breathe.

Training

2009-07-09T06:17:00.002-07:00

I'm training for my second marathon which happens in November. As you might expect, there's a lot of running that will happen between now and then. I follow a schedule that tells me how many miles I need to run every day. Right now, I'm running about 25 miles a week but 2 weeks from now, I will be running about 30. Towards the end of my training, I will put in 45-48 miles every week with 20 mile runs once a week. The idea behind marathon training is that you are teaching your body to endure the rigors of distance running so that when the marathon happens, you're ready.

Those long run days are tough. I usually hit the road after work and run anywhere from 2 - 3 hours. Every 4 miles or so, I will walk for 30 seconds to allow my muscles a chance to recover and regenerate. Marathon experts are conflicted on this practice. Some say that you should never stop because starting again gets more and more difficult. I know what they mean, especially as it gets hotter outside and I struggle to get going again. In last year's marathon, I hit a wall at mile 20. In my mind, I couldn't go another step.

My spiritual journey is very similar. At times, I need to stop but the more times I stop, the harder it is to get going again. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit was given to us to help us get going again. In the Greek, the authors used the word, "paraclete" which is defined as a helper who comes to help us to finish the race.

The Holy Spirit lives in us, empowering us to keep on moving forward through the course of life especially when it seems that we can't take another step. Paul said, "You take over. I'm about to die, my life an offering on God's altar. This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that's left now is the shouting—God's applause! Depend on it, he's an honest judge. He'll do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for his coming." (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

We have someone who runs the race with us. Another way to look at it is that He runs the race through us.

Train effectively.

Set your sights on the finish line.

Depend on Him along the way.

Bizarre

2009-07-06T07:45:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was a defining moment in the short history of our church.

Just before my message, a man jumped on stage, stole a microphone, and began hurling obscenities at someone (including the REALLY bad word). His anger was sourced in the belief that the accused was doing something improper with his wife. The accuser was escorted off the stage, kept yelling the really bad word and, for added emphasis, broke a door on his way out. It wasn't the only incident. We also had two fights in the lobby and someone suffered an epileptic seizure during the service.

Ironically, my message surrounded Isaiah 41:10

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isn't that crazy? I would like to say that I was calm and collected all day while I immersed myself in God's promise of protection. Hardly. I was scared about what happened and what could have happened. What if he had a gun? What if we had new people in the crowd who came expecting a "normal" church service? What if the accused decided to violently settle the issue on stage?

Given the nature of our church, I'm surprised more craziness hasn't happened over the last 4 years. We are a hospital for sick people and, fortunately or unfortunately, sick people create an dangerous environment. Hospitals are in the healing business but the healing process is painful. Talk to a burn patient about his skin grafting. Talk to a cancer patient about her chemotherapy treatments. It hurts and it takes time.

Although I'm still riding a roller coaster of emotions, I'm glad (kind of) that the sickness was revealed in church. I'm not sure what God was thinking but I think He's interested to see how we react. Will we dismiss the outburst as an isolated incident and pray that it never happens again? Or, will we rejoice in the knowledge that a sick person landed in the hospital on his own accord, showed everyone just how sick he was, and - just maybe - gave God the opportunity to start the healing process?

God tells us to "fear not" but I'm still pretty scared.

Taking some time...

2009-06-29T10:26:00.003-07:00

Our family is at the beach, enjoying beautiful cool weather, and watching my son play in a baseball tournament. Blogging will resume later in the week.

Enjoy God's grace today!

The coolness factor

2009-06-26T06:08:00.003-07:00

Ed Young is the senior pastor of Fellowship Church in Dallas - a non-denominational mega-church considered one of the fastest growing churches in the country. Recently, Ed spoke at a pastor's conference and shared his opinion about how pastors should act and, specifically, the dangers and irresponsibility of using profanity.

At the conference, Ed made it very clear that many words should never be uttered by pastors. These includes the biggies (I would give examples here but don't want to offend you) and some not-so biggies - at least in my opinion. Ed doesn't use the words, "crap", "screwed", "hell", "damn", or "sucks". I'm not sure if he's ok with the popular replacement cuss words like "heck", "dang", or "fudge". He thinks the reason some pastors use naughty words is that they are "chasing cool". For example, when I say, "crap", Ed thinks that I'm just trying to maintain my relevancy in today's culture. Ed says that's a cop-out. He's certainly entitled to his opinion but my problem and the problem with some pastors at the conference is that Ed created his own benchmark and said pastors weren't cutting it.

Irony of all ironies...Ed is the poster boy for cool. He wears the coolest clothes, has the coolest hair, and doesn't the coolest things from the church platform. In fact, Ed became ultra-cool when he preached a message on sex and challenged married couples in his congregation to have sex every day for 7 days - whether one of the partners wanted to or not. Now that's cool and for everyone who agreed to participate, they became cool, too.

Here's what a Dallas blogger and frequent attendee at Fellowship said:

The fact is, one person's cool is another person's relevant. One person's relevant is another person's reality. One person's reality is another person's damnation. [With regards to profanity] I think it's more likely that younger pastors are using what Ed considers profanity because for their younger generation it's no longer considered profanity. That's my two cents.

I think we need to be very careful when we (me included) start telling other pastors how to be a pastor. Here are some nuggets of wisdom that I've picked up along the way:

"You are really supposed to do it this way."
"You really shouldn't drink."
"You really shouldn't go to "R" rated movies (unless it's The Passion of the Christ)."
"You are supposed to read your Bible every day."
"You're doing something wrong if your kids are out of control."

In Acts, we learn about a rabbi named Gamaliel who drew criticism by many Christ-followers about how and what he taught. Paul was quick to silence Gamaliel's critics, defending the rabbi's passion to teach. He said that God would judge Gamaliel - it wasn't their job.

Ed Young may think "sucks" is a swear word and be offended I use it but my grandmother would be offended by a seven-day sex challenge. Taking offense at another Christian's actions doesn't automatically mean they're in the wrong. It also doesn't mean everything is admissible (this isn't relativism 101).

Let's get worked up over the big stuff like sharing the Message with people who don't know about Christ, teaching them about grace, and showing them that's there's room at God's table for everyone.