Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
The only creatures that were stirring were my keyboard and mouse.

The child was all snug in her bed as visions of Rudolph danced in her head.
Ma with her icepack, and I with my webcam, had just finished eating our Christmas ham.

When on instant messenger, there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my ergonomic chair to see what was the matter.
I turned on the monitor and cranked up the sound, away to my sign-in I jumped like a hound, when what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a host of heavenly emoticons saying, 'Don't fear.'

They spoke with such power and blinked with such force, I knew in a moment they came from the Lord.
More rapid than pop-up ads I clicked, following the links to the one God had picked.

He was dressed in swaddling clothes, laying in a manger, But he was a King, not just a stranger.
Giving a nod was Mary his mother, Joseph was there too among others.

Then the connection was lost, the portal was closed,
But I heard the angels before it faded from sight, 'Peace on Earth, Good Will to men on this first Christmas night!'

Surgeon needed

I think, err, I know I could write a boatload of entries on hospitals.

Spending some time in one — as a visitor, not a patient — you see so many ways in which a hospital is a metaphor for the church and spiritual life.

The first thing I notice is the wide variety of people who arrive for surgery. Some have a noticeable limp or some other physical defect that belies their need for help. Still others, you can't tell who is the patient and who is just along for support.

Not so different is the condition of people's hearts. Some have noticeable anger, sadness or other giveaways. And so many more just go along appearing perfectly normal while there is something — sin, guilt, etc. — eating away at the inside.

But they all need to be saved and they already have a Savior (surgeon): For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

What faith can do

As I think I've pointed out a time or ten already, sometimes a song expresses what we are feeling better than any attempt at words, spoken or written.

And while I'll leave out the why, the words of the song, "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless seem to work the best this weekend in our house. Just an excerpt:

Anyone can feel the ache
You think it's more than you can take
But you're stronger
Stronger than you know

Don't you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do

So, if you would, take a moment to say a prayer when you read this and let's see what faith can do.

Jimmy V

It was Jimmy V Week on ESPN and in honor of the occasion, I'm posting Jim Valvano's famous 1993 speech. The lessons imparted are timeless, and are perhaps even more relevant when it comes to faith. Enjoy:

Calculating God: Part III

Well, I come to the final installment of this little trilogy where I have described the struggle for belief, then understanding. And the final conclusion of Robert J. Sawyer's Calculating God is not unlike that of many people, who settle for acknowledging God's existence but not his presence. From Chapter 34:

"God was the programmer.
The laws of physics and the fundamental constants were the source code.
The universe was the application, running now for 13.9 billion years, leading up to this moment."

There it is. God is an ancient Charles Babbage (considered father of the computer), who did some programming, pressed a few buttons and away creation went.

It's a nice thought, and perhaps not entirely incorrect. But if that is all God is, then the Bible we read and quote is a mere storybook. The Bible is resplendent with tales of God's intervention in people's lives. It's a tapestry of interaction between God and his creation.

It cannot be real if God is merely the programmer. Maybe just an outdated instruction manual or even just there for the Bible Code or DaVinci Code or something.

And if God is the programmer, Jesus is merely anti-virus software, meant to clean us up a bit so the source code can keep working. A Saviour? No, not possible. Because a Saviour would require direct intervention on God's behalf.

So to bring it all back home from this alien place in which I started, is Christmas real or is it just part of the program? Read again from Luke 2:10-11:

"But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Calculating God: Part II

Now in our first post, we noted the character from Calculating God struggling to acknowledge God despite the evidence.

Next, he begins to admit that there could be a God but questions the nature of that God as you will see in this excerpt from Chapter 13.

“How do you explain the existence of cancer? What kind of god would create such a disease?”
“He/she/it may not have created it,” said the deep, translated voice. “… Nor are there an infinite number of possibilities from which God may choose. The specific deployment of reality that included cancer, presumably undesirable, must have also contained something much desired.”
“So he had to take the good with the bad?” I said.

And once again, for the second time in as many posts, I agree with an alien, sort of.

Let me explain. It's not that God desired for things like cancer to exist. In fact, his original creation was perfect and included no such thing. But the possibility for that existed in the balance of his perfect goodness with the possibility of evil.

And after creation, his allowance of free will made the potential for the bad to enter his good - no, make that perfect - creation.

So did God create things like cancer? No. Were they a possibility? Yes.

And what is that something "much desired" that made the risk worth taking? You and me.

God was willing to take the risk of evil, the risk of Lucifer's rebellion, the risk of the snake's seduction of Eve for the chance to commune with his creation. And while the fall banished us from the garden and his perfect presence -- temporarily -- he still desires our communion ... enough to send his own son to suffer evil for our redemption.

Part III coming soon.

Calculating God: Part I

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a science fiction fan, much to my wife's dismay. We'll save that discussion for another day, though.

I just finished a book called Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer. Short version: An alien arrives at a museum in Toronto, begins working with a paleontologist. The aliens believe in God. The human does not. Thus begins a conversation that does not merely center on creationism vs. evolution (and that's yet another topic for another day), but really becomes about multiple races searching for something greater than themselves.


Now, quick disclaimer. Don't expect this book to support a Biblical perspective. It does stereotype fundamentalist Christians as abortion clinic bombers. But the conversations that take place are well worth the read, and there are a few passages I want to touch on over the next few entries.

I'll start with a passage from chapter nine:

"There is no indisputable proof for the big bang," said Hollus. "And there is none for evolution. And yet you accept those. Why hold the question of whether there is a creator to a higher standard?"
I didn't have a good answer for that. "All I know," I said, "is that it will take overwhelming evidence to convince me."
"I believe you have already been given overwhelming evidence," said Hollus.

And I agree with a fictitious alien. We have been given overwhelming evidence of a creator, just as Jesus says in Luke 19:40, "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."

All the earth testifies to the presence of God. And once the hurdle of God's presence is cleared, the next challenge is often to understand what kind of God it is that exists. And that is where we will pick up in the next excerpt.

Thanksgiving

OK, maybe I'm a few days late, but it took a while for the tryptophan to wear off.

Anyway, I can't embed the video here, but I'm linking to a video I think is worth watching or at least listening to while you surf the web.

It comes from Topeka Bible Church in Kansas. The first section is about six or seven minutes of a woman sharing her testimony from church to teen pregnancy to bulimia to drug use and, finally, back to Jesus.

The second section is another five minutes or so featuring Kerry and Vicki Livgren. You might recall Kerry from a post I put on here a few months back as he talked about his search for God as a member of the rock band Kansas. Well, he and his wife have a new testimony. Just about three months ago, Kerry suffered a stroke that nearly killed him. But this video can't help but move you as you see he and his wife talk about their thankfulness to God. And if you've ever known a stroke victim, you realize that his ability to move and speak as clearly as he does is remarkable, even if as he says, he never plays music again.

The third section is the testimony of another fellow who has battled lifelong physical ailments, literally from the moment he was born.

And it concludes with about a nine-minute message from the Pastor on Thanksgiving.

Don't feel obligated to sit down and watch it all at once, but I really do recommend you check out at least the first couple of segments to remind us all to give thanks.

Humbled

If you're a sports fan, and even if you're not, you are aware of the topic of the week: The decision by New England football coach Bill Belichick to go for it on fourth down at his own 28 with a six-point lead against Indianapolis. His team didn't make it and they lost the game.

I heard a sports radio host describe it this way. Belichick had no one to humble him. He's divorced, so no one to humble him at home. No veterans on his defense to humble him on the field. If you aren't humbled by someone, then you get pretty arrogant. And so that left only his own mistake in judgment to do the humbling.

It seems a pretty apt description of each of us. If there is no to humble us -- to say there's a better option or a better way -- we will eventually make an error in judgment out of our arrogance.

So the question is: Who's humbling you? Don't wait to do it yourself, humble pie doesn't taste very good. Just ask Belichick.

Veterans Day

In honor of Veterans Day, I've posted this video story from ESPN. It's the story of how soldiers in the DMZ of Korea find refuge in sports.

But there's a great section a minute and a half in where they talk about how the two sides are still at war since no peace treaty was ever signed. One soldier says, "We're always prepared, we're always ready to deter North Korean aggression."

And so should our approach be spiritually. Though to the outer eye all is quiet between God and Satan, no peace treaty has been signed and good & evil remain at war. We must be always prepared and ready to deter the devil's aggression.

Resplendent

From time to time, I have posted music videos on this blog. Some of you might wish for a few less of those, but I'll tell you why I do it: Music is perhaps the most powerful and influential tool ever.

Songs take the best of the written word, then put a sound to it. It is the reason movies have soundtracks, the reason TV shows play music as scenes build to a climax, the reason the Bible has angels singing around God's throne. Music allows us to convey emotions and feelings in ways simply speaking or writing words cannot.

Today's featured video comes courtesy of one of the best, Bill Mallonee. Some of you reading this will say, "Bill who?" But if I tell you he is the driving force and vocalist of Vigilantes of Love, you'll know who I mean.

This song (lyrics below) is entitled, "Resplendent", from the excellent Audible Sigh album circa 2000. It features country superstar Emmylou Harris on vocals, and captures the best of Bill's work. In the story of a Dust Bowl-era family, he contrasts the creation of God with the fallen world resulting from sin, and the existence of that same contrast in ourselves. We are made in the image of God, but our selfish nature is quick to compromise and betray.

I remember the dark clouds raining dust for days on end
Blew all the Earth out to California
Just left us here with the wind
Desperate times, you know everybody's part
It's your own lines you'd like to forget
Till what you were meets what you've now become
And grins and says Hey, haven't we met

Lost my first born that Winter
My wife on the first day of Spring
So I poured my sweat to the Earth
to see what that harvest would bring
And I remember how the fury
just like a plague of locusts
Egypt's punishment for sins of pride
Is that now what has come over us

How much of this was meant to be
How much the work of the Devil
How far can one man's eyes really see
In these days of toil and trouble

Honey, we're all resplendent,
Yeah honey, we are all thrift store
Like a wine-o with a $20 bill
Yeah, forever and eternally yours

And I can make you promises
If you don't expect too much,
Yes, and I will run the distance
If you'll please, please excuse my crutch

How much of this was meant to be
How much the work of the Devil
How far can one man's eyes really see
In these days of toil and trouble
How much of this is failing flesh
How much a course of retribution
My, my, how loudly we plead our innocence
Long after we made our contribution

Book Preview

OK, I'm going at this a bit backward. You usually wait until after you read a book to talk about it. But there I was at Barnes and Noble, just killing time. (And without more than a dime in my pocket which is the best way to make sure I don't buy a CD or book or DVD or something).


Lo and behold, this book catches my eye. It is called, "Biblical Literacy" by Timothy Beal. The book has been out about a month and here's how it sells itself:

Whether watching political candidates quote Jesus or tracking court cases on how the stories of Adam and Eve should be taught in schools, we are surrounded by the legacy of the Bible in our contemporary world. Every person needs to know the core Bible stories — those biblical stories that have cultural, historical, or literary significance — that lie at the foundation of Western civilization. Professor Timothy Beal argues that without knowing these core stories, we cannot fully participate in the popular, political, and especially spiritual worlds that surround us.

Have you ever been told that you are the apple of someone's eye? Have you ever described a disastrous situation as the blind leading the blind or easily predicted the future by reading the writing on the wall? Unbeknownst to most of us, all these common expressions have biblical roots.

In Biblical Literacy, Beal showcases the Bible stories that have most shaped history and our world and provides the key information we need to know for how to understand these profound stories.

What a novel idea, reminding people just how much of our culture and our world is shaped by the Bible. It's on my to-read list. If you get to it first let me know how it goes.

Swine Flu humor

I liked this cartoon courtesy of The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus.

Love Broke Through

Phil Keaggy - "Love Broke Thru" (Live) - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

I'll take a break from my recent sermonizing for a little musical serenade, a song called "Love Broke Through" by Phil Keaggy, written by Keith Green as you'll hear him say at the start of the video. The song comes from the album of the same title released in 1976, and since I was 2 at the time, I can't say I've been behind this one from the start. But it is one of my favorite Phil Keaggy tunes, so enjoy.

Keaggy has long eluded being put in a box, other than being known as one of the world's best guitarists. If you're curious to read his full story, check out Wikipedia.

It has to be a gift

Well, I guess it's obvious the fall TV season is in full swing by now on this blog. For better or worse, here comes another one of those meditations brought on by the briefest of exchanges.

This time the source is a new show on CBS called Three Rivers. As I've mentioned before, the fact I'm referencing a show on this blog is not necessarily a ringing endorsement, just an observation.

Anyway, Three Rivers is yet another medical drama, courtesy of CBS. We've come a long way from Trapper John, M.D. don't you think? An organ transplant team travels from Pittsburgh to Cleveland in pursuit of a heart.

When they arrive, the man's daughter is not so sure organ donation is the best idea (maybe that's a blog debate for another day?). A member of the transplant team is upset and accosts the young lady saying, "Don't you know a woman is dying? She needs that heart."



One of his colleagues intervenes, grabbing him and says simply, "It has to be a gift."

And what a line that is. Woven throughout the Bible, we see one unfailing example after another of people that give a gift in service to God, first in a foreshadowing of the gift of Christ, then as an attempt to follow in his footsteps.

From Abraham's sacrifice of his only son Isaac to Rahab's scarlet thread, on through the generosity of Boaz to Ruth and Esther's great risk ... it has to be a gift.

From the infant in swaddling clothes to the perfumed washing of Jesus' feet, from Gethsemane and Calvary to the day of Pentecost ... it had to be a gift.

From the striking down of Ananias and Sapphira to the stoning of Stephen, continuing through the Reformation and the Great Awakening, even unto the martyrdom of Nate Saint, Jim Elliot and others throughout history ... it has to be a gift.

And on a smaller scale, the same is true within our hearts. Jesus does not come demanding, "Don't you know you're going to die? You have to give me your heart."

He knows that he can only use a willing heart. Just ask the rich young ruler. He followed the commandments, he believed in God. But Jesus offered him a simple proposition: "Go sell all you have and give it to the poor. Then come follow me." And the man simply walked away.

It's easy for us to do the same. We believe, we attend church, we follow the rules. But we're holding back, we're having second thoughts about donating one of our organs for God. We want it for ourselves, but we need to give it away to truly live.

It has to be a gift.

AM Radio

On the drive home this evening, I engaged in one of my favorite pastimes -- scanning through the AM radio dial.

This night's journey took me from Chicago to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to New Orleans to Minneapolis and a few other unknown stops along the way.

And I started thinking about what made AM radio fun. It's something I've done since high school when I donned my Walkman headphones in bed and tuned in basketball, baseball and football games, and occasionally just news.

The attraction lies in the ability to magically be transported to another place, another slice of life through the magic of radio waves. I am able to experience not just games, but commercials and personalities that convey information about a place I've never been.

Then I thought about the Bible. I used to let it do the same for me. While some boring sermons droned on, I used to read the stories surrounding the chosen biblical text. Or at home, I read through books of the Bible that took me places I'd never been, gave me a window into life as I'd never experienced.

As time has gone on, I admit some of that wonder is lost. Some of it is my hurried, harried life and some is a more jaded, cynical outlook. But most of it is just not taking enough time to get lost in God's Word and experience something new all over again.

I think it's time to turn the dial.

Faith and the Future

This is an interesting exchange of ideas about faith and the future from the new ABC show, "Flash Forward." And, no, I'm not getting kickbacks for my promotional work.

Just give it a watch and a think!

Not enough

This week, our pastor was talking about two of the most significant conversions recorded in the Bible. That would be Saul, soon to be Paul, (Acts 9) and Cornelius (Acts 10).

He pointed out that Saul, though we have a very negative image associated with that name, was a well-respected, well-intentioned man. In fact, the very reason he persecuted Christians was out of his zeal for God and protecting God's name. He was sincere, but sincerely wrong.

Cornelius, a Roman centurion no less, was a devout man. He prayed to God, he sought to do what was right. He was a good man, but he wasn't good enough.

These days, sincerity and goodness are two of the most admirable traits a person can have. But as the stories of Saul and Cornelius point out, that's not enough. Both needed to undergo a personal conversion experience through Jesus Christ.

For Saul, it was a bright light, a voice and blinded eyes that made the difference.

For Cornelius, it was his vision of an angel, Peter's vision of unclean animals lowered from heaven and the broken taboo of Jew associating with Gentile that brought change.

Locally, there was a recent flap about some signs being put on city buses. An atheist group paid to have signs saying, "You can be good without god." Other groups rallied against it, lawsuits were filed, but ultimately the atheists got their way.

When I see those words on a bus, I think that in a way they are right. You can be good without god.

But I also know, you can't be good enough. Saul wasn't, Cornelius wasn't, I'm not and you're not. But Jesus was, and that's enough for all of us.

Trauma

I was watching one of the new fall TV offerings this week. It was named "Trauma."

The jury's still out on whether the show is any good, but as things I watch are prone to do, one scene stood out.

A paramedic and an ER doctor were having a conversation at the end of a difficult day. She lamented the death of a patient and he responded, "People get hurt, some get saved, and a lot die."

She said, "I wish I hadn't come to work today."

"You don't get to choose the days or the results," he said.


That just about describes trauma of all kind ... physical, spiritual, mental. All of us get hurt, some of us are saved, and a lot die.

We all wish we could have avoided those traumas. If life offered us a skip day, there are days we would take it in a heartbeat.

But we don't get to choose. The day Adam and Eve ate that fruit in the Garden of Eden, trauma was destined to be a part of this world from beginning to end.

But that's no reason to quit either. We have to continue to try ... to try and heal, to try and trust, to try and understand our God and our fellow man. When we quit, that's when a lot die, including ourselves.

We must strive to be agents of mercy. It reminds me of one of my favorite songs, Mercy Lives Here, by The Choir.

A girl in the corner is crying
The silver haired lady’s alone
And the queen of the boulevard’s trying
To hustle somebody home
The smokin’ man shakes
While the broken girl aches
And the clown starts to sing his song

He sings mercy lives here
Oh Mercy lives here
At home with the saints and the sinners
Mercy lives here

Time

In this age of technological advances, scientific research and innumerable methods of communication, time is the final frontier.

No, space is no longer the final frontier, not really. Pop culture is actually quite an accurate indicator of this progression. Thirty or forty years ago, we had the original Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica on TV, Star Wars in theatres and a real-life man on the moon.

These days, it's shows like Lost, Heroes and a new series I watched earlier tonight, Flash Forward. This newest entry is based on the notion that everyone in the world blacked out at the same time, for the same amount of time and during that time experienced glimpses of the future.

You see, time is the one thing none of us can get a handle on. No matter how much science, how much intellect or even spiritualism we apply, time is beyond us. We can't stop it from marching on into the future and we can't change what has already happened in the past.

The Bible offers us little more on the subject. It actually confirms time's elusiveness:

Isaiah 46:10: I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Matthew 24:36: No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

All we are offered is the knowledge of who it is that controls time as stated simply in Revelation 22:13: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

And if we remember that truth in the present, we can live without being bound to our past, as in Psalm 103:12: as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

And we can also face the future, certain of who will still be there.

One phone call away

There is a current song out by a fellow named Matt Kearney. The opening verse of "Closer to Love" begins like this:
She got the call today, one out of the grey
And when the smoke cleared, it took her breath away
She said she didn’t believe it could happen to me
i guess we’re all one phone call from our knees

Man, those words hit me every time.

Just this week, I've seen a high school sports official be carted off a field on a stretcher, I've talked to a high school freshman just five chemotherapy treatments away from remission and I've read about a local teenager being struck and killed by a car.

I can promise you that not a single one of them thought something like that could happen to them. And when something like that happens to you, and it will, you'll hit your knees, but how well will you know the one you bow before? Will it be the honest, earnest words you would speak to a friend, or will it be the desperate, raving pleas for help you'd make to just about anyone still upright?

The answer could make the difference -- not necessarily in the outcome or answer to your prayers -- between losing a piece of your heart and mind or losing your soul.

Comfortably numb

So I heard a radio commercial today for a dentist. But not just any dentist. No, this one was special.

Not only could he fix your teeth, but he will sedate you so that all your dental work can be down in one sitting and without feeling a thing.

Near the end he says, "You wouldn't think of having your tonsils or appendix removed without sedation, so why not your teeth?"

Call me cynical, but this is emblematic of our society, of ourselves. We are eager to wrap ourselves in anything that prevents us from feeling.

Think about your life. The heating/air conditioning keep us from the cold/heat outside, not to mention having to chop wood for the fireplace. We watch TV or read books as a means of escape. Some of our greatest societal ills are the result of trying not to feel anything, or at least only what feels good: Alcohol, drugs or even caffeine, anyone?

And maybe most hypocritically, we insulate ourselves in the church. We have our feel-good songs, our once or twice a week visits for positive reinforcement and more. But we rarely allow ourselves to feel the pain, the hurt and the disappointment from those outside those walls. And the second we do, we run back inside our air-conditioned houses to listen to our Jesus Loves Me music and rest in our easy chair.

It makes me think maybe classic rockers Pink Floyd were on the right track 30 years ago with their song, "Comfortably Numb."

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.

Feline theology

Cats, I think, are by definition strange. Mine is no different.

He chases bugs, chews strings, meows at the wall, plays dead better than any dog ever could and is given to occasionally doing sprints from end to end of the house.

What that teaches us about God, I'm not sure, other than He must have a sense of humor.

But the other thing about my cat is this. Sometimes he is stand-offish and indifferent, even disappears. Other times he is my best buddy, laying on my lap or rubbing his head on my leg.

It is in those times that I feel a bond, a closeness that allows me to forgive all his other antics -- even if I just squirted him with the water bottle.

And I think it's not so different in our relationship with God. At times were are indifferent to His presence, uninterested in his intrusion.

But when we spend some time with Him, sharing a bond that began when we were created in His image, He loves it. It's then we can feel the gentle caress of His love, the one that says no matter how far you roam and how many times I must discipline you for your sins, You are mine.

Now that just makes me want to purr.

He's Alive

One of the fun things about blogging is the chance to make everybody reading take a trip down memory lane with you. Of course, it's really more to my benefit than yours, but who knows?

Anyway, tonight I was listening to the classic Don Francisco song, "He's Alive." Most of you have probably heard it some time or place, even if you didn't know it. The song is told from the viewpoint of Peter in the days after Jesus' death. He talks about of the disciples gathered in the upper room, expecting to hear the sound of soldiers' feet coming after them. Then he talks of the empty tomb and ensuing puzzlement including the excellent line, "Even if He was alive, it wouldn't be the same."

And in the end, Jesus appears to the disciples and Francisco sings, "He's alive, He's alive, He's alive and I'm forgiven, heaven's gates are open wide. He's alive, He's alive." It is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful, spine-tingling songs you'll ever hear.

But back to memory lane. I was reminded of the first time I heard this song. It was third grade if my memory doesn't fail me, and I went over to my friend Preston's house for a sleepover. There were many charms to that adventure: the magnificent miniature train set in the basement would have been enough alone. We also had these really cool cap guns we played with. But at some point, I recall his family getting this Don Francisco record out -- this was post 8-track, very early cassette and pre-historic CD era -- and playing "He's Alive." It was my new favorite song, at least for a few weeks.

Along every memory lane there are also some pot holes, one of them being that some time later, Preston's dad was found guilty of essentially stealing money in a pyramid scheme.

And the irony strikes me that just as with many Biblical characters, one who knew God and, in my case, inspired faith in God, had personal flaws that he just could not overcome. I don't know which way this man's faith went since, but I know that Jesus is alive and he's forgiven, heaven's gates are open wide.

Mid-life crisis

So I turned 35 last week. I don't think that's over the hill, but you can at least see the crest of the hill from there. I look back and see a path littered with life's building blocks and obstacles. Ahead? The same shroud of mist as always, keeping me from seeing much further than my next step.

But it is a matter of who directs that step, even takes that step with me that is important. I have no need to go try to buy a Ferrari, not that a sack of pop cans would get me very far, but I do have a need, perhaps more than ever, to know He that walks with me.

And so, you might say, this blog is my mid-life crisis. It's a haven for relating thoughts and feelings. It's a cathartic attempt to bring meaning to my life and those of others, for the internet gives us an extra reach into all the world.

It also forces me to take a longer look sometimes at the sights and sounds that I have in the past let wash over me with no further thought. I will admit it. Not always, if at all, have I spent the amount of time I ought contemplating the mysteries of God.

Maybe that's true for all of us. Maybe it's more true for those of us who have known of God and experienced his presence for all of our lives. We easily take for granted what others may never know.

But there's still the chance to pierce the mist with the Light of the world, both for them and myself.

Pass, punt and sing

No deep thinking this time around. I just thought I'd promote what seems to be a pretty good Christian band called Connersvine.

It's a duo made up of Chris Wilson and Hunter Smith. If that last name rings a bell, that's because Hunter Smith has been the punter for the Indianapolis Colts for the last however many years and will be kicking for the Washington Redskins this season.

Anyway, here's a video of a song of theirs called 'Live for You.' And for those who know what I mean, close your eyes and tell me Wilson doesn't sound just like Geoff Moore on this one.

A matter of trust

A while back, the doctor suggested sinus surgery for my wife. Now, surgery is not usually one of people's favorite activities. Even less so when it's the 11th (or is it 12th) surgery in the past five years, and much, much less so when you just had sinus surgery four months ago.

So needless to say, Mrs. J2P was less than thrilled by the notion. What if this didn't work, too? What if the pain was for nothing? Those were the negative questions.

On the flip side, could this finally be it? Is the long-term result worth a little short-term pain?

Well, ultimately she went through with it a couple weeks ago. So far, there have been moments of doubt, even regret, but also hope. Time will tell the ultimate outcome, but my wife did what needed to be done, trusting in the work of the surgeon.

With that fresh in my mind, I was fascinated by a passage I read today that relayed some of the same feelings. My current book, or more accurately trilogy, of choice is The Dragon King Trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead. If you are a fan of C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien, I recommend his work. This passage comes from the second book, The Warlords of Nin. Listen to the exchange between the would-be hero, Quentin, and his priest friend, Durwin:

D: "To accept the crown of priest king would mean placing your trust totally in the Most High. It means that you must trust him to know what is best for you, to know you better than you know yourself. It would mean trusting him beyond all trust, even when the way is unclear -- especially when the way is unclear.
When you trust like that, you necessarily test the god's ability to keep you. You are -- we all are -- unwilling to make such demands of our gods. If we trust but little, we will be disappointed but little, eh?"

Q: If I do not believe, but follow anyway, does that not mock the Most High and defeat his will?"

D: "On the contrary, my friend. To follow without seeing the end -- in unbelief, as you say -- is really the highest form of trust."

Q:"It is but blind trust."

D: "Not blind trust. Not at all. Those who trust the powerless gods of earth and sky -- they trust blindly.
"Quentin, look at me. You cannot serve the Most High without trusting him totally, for there always comes a time when he will put you to the test. He will have all of you or nothing at all. There can be no middle ground. It is a demand that he makes of his followers."

Yes, sometimes in life -- both physical and spiritual -- we must do things we do not want to do, trust in those we do not want to trust and let go of parts of ourselves we do not want to let go of. It is called faith.

Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Two journalists, one man

So there was no power for a couple of days this week, but I saw this story on TV elsewhere during that time and I come back to it now that we're plugged in again.

As I'm sure most of you saw, two American journalists were released after being held prisoner by North Korea for several months. But here's the part of the story that I grabbed onto. Listen to the words of Laura Ling as she describes the release.

"We feared that at any moment we could be prisoners in a hard labor camp. Then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. When we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton. We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here home and free."

Think of that. One minute, you're fearing the very worst and in the twinkling of an eye, you see one man that guarantees freedom.

That's the very promise of what will happen to us if we believe in Christ. When our time on earth is through, and we head to that meeting realizing that we deserve the worst punishment for our sin, we will see Jesus standing there as a guarantee of our freedom.

And we need not wait until that moment to make the most of this assurance. Not so coincidentally, the text for this Sunday's sermon fits most perfectly.

Hebrews 10:19-24: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Take that confidence, that assurance, that unswerving hope of ultimate freedom and make a difference here and now that will last forever.

Bumper Sticker of the Day

On the way home from church Sunday, I look over and read this:

God bless our troops,
Especially the snipers.

I don't even know where to begin with that, but it strikes me as having an Old Testament mentality. Just something to think about, I know I will.

Crickets

So all of a sudden I realize, it's been a while since I blogged. As a matter of fact, I posted two weeks and since then? Crickets.

In case you're confused, crickets is a popular term for silence in response to something. For example, somebody tells a really bad joke, and everybody just sits and stares ... crickets.

So along this line of thinking, it seems to me that this is the way a lot people see God. I pray, I go to church, etc. but then ... crickets.

And sometimes they're right. But I was also reminded of a "cricket" analogy by Max Lucado in his book, "In the Grip of Grace." He writes of seeing a cricket in church as he was taking communion, then imagines life from the cricket's point of view:


Perhaps the best question is, who does a cricket worship? Does he acknowlege that there was a hand behind the building? Or does he choose to worship the building itself? Or perhaps a place in the building? Does he assume that since he has never seen the builder, there was no builder?

Sometimes all we get is evidence of God in the things he created, but nothing else ... crickets. And sometimes so it goes for long periods of time. But eventually, like the cricket interrupting communion, we suddenly run into the Creator, and he's bigger than anything we've ever seen, sometimes more quiet, too.

Consider the story of Elijah in I Kings 19. Elijah ran for 40 days and 40 nights so he could hole up in a cave. When God asked him what he was doing, he said, "I'm the only one left, and they're trying to kill me, too."

Probably muttering under his breath and shaking his head, God said, "Go stand on the mountain, the presence of the Lord will pass by."

First came a great and powerful win that shattered rocks, but no presence of the Lord ... crickets.

Second came an earthquake, but no presence of the Lord ... crickets.

Third came a fire, but no presence of the Lord ... crickets.

Finally came what the King James Version calls a still, small voice or what the NIV calls a gentle whisper. It was the Lord.

The point is sometimes we're looking for the miraculous, the incredible, unbelievable, earth-shattering response when what we really ought to be listening for is ... crickets.

King of Pop vs. King of Kings

I didn't mean to. It just happened. But I'll admit it now: I watched the Michael Jackson Memorial Service.

And I definitely wasn't going to blog about it. But I guess I've blown that one too.

I watched as people lauded the "King of Pop" for his message of love, his stand against racism, his charitable work and his bravery in the face of criticism. It saddened me.


I was sad for the misguided talk of God and heaven, for all the nice sentiments sailing wide of the target and for the lost soul of whom they spoke.

In Michael Jackson, I see a man made in the image of God who never saw himself that way, and it is sad. For all his worldly success, Jackson sought security by changing the hue of his skin and the shape of his face -- not to mention owning a chimp, wearing a glove, etc. His lyrics sometimes hinted at a belief in God, but other lyrics as well as actions spoke otherwise. It reminded me of 2 Timothy 3:5, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."

And this applied to many of the people I saw on stage as well. Many professed to believe in a God and a heaven, though many of their own actions, words and music testified differently. It was a sad echo of society at-large, but not an entirely new phenomenon.

Romans 1:21-23: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles (might we substitute Grammys and Emmys?)."

But in the end, it was a story told by Michael's brother Marlon that captured me.

He told of entering a record store where he saw a man with long, curly hair, blackened teeth and baggy clothes buying a pile of CDs. He said he walked up behind the man and said, "Michael, what are you doing here?"

Michael replied, "How did you know it was me?"

And Marlon said, "I know you. I know the way you walk, your body language. I'd know you anywhere."

And that's the message of love that God, the King of Kings, was speaking to Michael Jackson for 50 years, and to each one of us who will listen still today: "No matter how you try to disguise yourself, I know you. ... I'd know you anywhere.
"You belong to me."

Huh?

From the "Huh?" files:

A Christian outreach organization recently received a letter from a church saying that their support was being cut by 50 percent.

In the attached bulletin, it said, "The pastor and his wife, along with 20 other couples, are going to play a golf tournament in the Bahamas, please pray for them."

Now that's good stewardship!

Proof is in the ...?

It's funny. Not funny haha, more like funny hmmm.

I can watch an entire movie, and when it's over, there's often just one scene that stands out in my memory. Strictly speaking for myself, and not the general lemming-like moviegoer, those scenes are almost never things going ka-blooie. It's those simple, earnest exchanges that stick.

In a scene I was watching tonight, the exchange went something like this, give or take a few words:

MAN: You keep saying, 'Give me proof that you love me.' And I do. Where's your proof that you love me?
WOMAN: All I have is me, that's your proof.
MAN: Proof is not what you say, it's what you do.

Next thing I knew, a couple of Bible passages sprang to mind.

First, James 2:17-18: "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."

Second, it reminds of the exchange between the resurrected Christ and Peter in John 21:15-17: "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?'
'Yes, Lord,' he said, 'you know that I love you.'
Jesus said, 'Feed my lambs.'
Again Jesus said, 'Simon son of John, do you truly love me?'
He answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.'
Jesus said, 'Take care of my sheep.'
The third time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?'
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, 'Do you love me?'
He said, 'Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.'
Jesus said, 'Feed my sheep.' "

How many times has God shown us proof of his love, and how much clearer could it be than the cross?

But when it comes to our love in return, the proof is much harder to find. As Jesus pointed out to Peter, and James pointed out to the early church, the proof is in the doing. Not the actual salvation mind you, just the proof.

Texting gone bad

Vacation is over, the blogger is back. You may all breathe a deep sigh of relief.

While I was gone, I heard a story of two teens sitting next to each other sending text messages, or texting for short, during school. When asked why they were texting just inches away from each other, they said, "We don't want anyone to know what we're saying."



Now some of you may find texting rude (How hard would it be to just look at me instead of the Blackberry during a conversation?), dangerous (I hear you are four times more likely to be in an accident with a texter than a drunk driver) or technologically too much (What button do I push again?).

But the above story illustrates the greater problem. We've found just another way to sin: a new way to gossip and slander, an even more gentle way of sliding the knife into people's backs.

No one may ever see the "words" we type, but the poison fills our hearts and minds just the same, leaving a black stain on our soul. Or to paraphrase James 3:6, a treatise on the tongue: "No man can tame the keyboard. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

Passion

Pardon my lengthy blog absence. It's not that I didn't have anything to say, just that there were too many bits and pieces. But what I think I've meant to focus on is passion.

Passion is what drives people, for better or worse, for good or evil. When people start talking about losing their passion for something, it usually means quitting or giving up. It means the end of a job or a marriage, a loss of faith or friends.

And the result is usually that we continue carrying out our daily duties, but we are no longer engaged. We are going through the motions.

And that is really why this blog exists. I can go through the motions of faith on autopilot, but I need to do more. I need to, I must, find a way to kindle not only my own fire, but those around me. I pray you feel the same.

So with that in mind, I offer a song that captures passion with more eloquence than my pecking at the keyboard: The Motions by Matthew West.

Of Milestones and Tombstones

The milestones start with the day you are born -- your birthday -- and continue for the rest of your life.

Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, graduations, moving in, moving out, moving up, retiring -- the milestones only end with a tombstone.

I've experienced a bit of both this week.

Today, I celebrated my 9th wedding anniversary with my wife. Anniversaries remind us of previous events in our lives, and in this case that's a good thing. And the higher the number of the anniversary, often times the memories are all the more pleasant because for one, we remember less clearly, and for two, because it reminds us of different times in our life. Times when our dreams and expectations for the future were different. Not necessarily better, just different.

Of course, the other nice thing about wedding anniversaries, at least, is the chance to spend a few hours reacqainting ourselves with that person we fell in love with in the first place.

Now, for all the memories piling up anniversary milestones brings, it also draws us ever closer to that tombstone.


That I was reminded of with the death of a co-worker this week. Mr. K, as I shall call him, died at the age of 59 after a year-and-a-half battling cancer. And might I say, even 59 seemed much too young to die.

But the good news is Mr. K was well-prepared for that tombstone day. "I won't live one day less or one day more than the Lord says," he often stated. He had a faith that was unshakable no matter the circumstances, and enjoyed the milestones of his life all along the way, down to one of his favorites, the Indy 500 just a few weeks ago.

And while I don't know what his tombstone might actually say, the things I have heard and read all echo a respect for the man, respect for someone who not everybody agreed with, but for taking a stand for who and what he believed in, for daring to be different.

May the milestones of our lives lead people to say something similar about each of us.

Home

I was driving home last night when the song "This is Home," by Switchfoot came on. The song is on the movie soundtrack to "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (Highly recommended by the way).

I never fail to be moved by this song as it captures the allegorical nature of C.S. Lewis superbly.

If you've had that nagging feeling, like the Pevensie children, that you just don't belong in this world, if you've felt the pull toward someone or something higher, then you understand.

And if you've allowed the Lion of Judah to reign in your heart, you've already found a sense of home even now that will be far greater when you leave this world and arrive in a place not ruled by a tame lion.

The Point

So, how long has it been since you asked, "What's the point?"

Five minutes, five days, five months ... Sooner or later you're gonna ask.

The boss mistreats you, the husband/wife misunderstands you or you just misremember (a word according to Roger clemens).

What's the point?

Well, when it gets right down to it, there's only one good answer.

As a matter of fact, it's written on the inside jacket of Paul Alan's 2008 album, Drive It Home.


Redemption was the point.
The line comes from the album's title track. The chorus goes:

Come on and let it go
Let me drive it home
You wanted set free
But all you are is alone
Come on and let it go
Let me drive it home
Redemption was the point
When I rolled away the stone
Let me drive it home

It's a powerful thought, really. Think about it. There is no better story than that of redemption. The story of a troubled kid that eventually helps others in trouble, the fallen athlete that resurrects his career, the reformed criminal and the list goes on.

More often than not, about the time we are asking, "What's the point?" is about the time we need to follow the song's advice and let go.

When we're driving, we miss the point. When God's driving, the point is redemption.

Our redemption, the redemption of our friends, family and neighbors, the redemption of a sinful world with a holy God.

Point taken.

The sound of silence

After an idea came to him one recent morning, a colleague asked, "Why do these things come to you in the morning?"

And the answer came to me today, but not in the morning. It didn't come while I was watching SportsCenter or twittering, not while I was e-mailing or reading and most certainly not while playing 'Princess' with a 4-year-old.

No, it came to me as the steady drone of the lawnmower drowned out all distractions. And there you have it. These things come to us in the morning, or mowing the grass, or in the shower or lying in bed because these are the times when we are silent. Even when the world is not silent around us, our minds are free to think, to wonder, to create.

As I plowed from one end of the yard to the other thinking about this, I was reminded of an experience in high school. A small group of 8 or 10 of us went on an Easter weekend retreat. For a portion of Good Friday afternoon, each person was sequestered in a room by themselves. No TV, no radio, no conversation. Just a Bible and a notepad.

I don't remember coming up with any radical theology during this time, but as the rain pelted down outside, it seemed I never better understood what it might have been like on a hill outside Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. In the silence, I found an emotional connection that's nearly impossible in a sound-saturated world.

It turns out the Bible was onto something: "Be still, and know that I am God."

A bridge too far

You might have read or heard this story last week about the Chinese man threatening to commit suicide who was given a push by a passer-by to speed up the process. Of course, the bridge was only about 26 feet high, and the man suffered only back and neck injuries.

But there is a passer-by on another bridge in China that seeks to save those seeking to commit suicide. Meet Chen Si (pictured). A manager in a transport company by day, he is a super hero on evenings and weekends on the Nanjing Bridge.


The bridge was completed in 1968 and won a place in the Guiness Book of World Records as the longest highway and railway bridge. But it is now notable as a place where more than 1,000 people have killed themselves in the last 40 years.

Chen Si does his best to prevent that number from rising. In one story, Si talks about how he sometimes tackles the men to prevent them from hurling themselves over 100 yards into the swirling waters of the Yangtze River.

Si has been called a Good Samaritan, a guardian angel, a lifeguard and a one-man crusade.

Maybe we could all learn something from this Chinese man who began his patrols after his own grandfather starved himself to death to keep the family from squabbling about who should look after him. As of last summer, Si had saved 144 lives by his own count.

There are plenty of lost souls out there committing spiritual suicide. Are we like the first passer-by, simply giving people a shove because they are inconvenient to us?

Or are we daring to look for those who need help? Are we willing to even tackle those embracing the path to destruction?

Most of the time, I am neither. I am simply the hustle and bustle of traffic going my own way with the neither the time nor the interest in finding out if those souls on the side of the road need my help. And by default, that puts me in the camp of the pusher.

Jesus said, "For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

And he might have added, "I was standing on a bridge and you did nothing."

Who's on first

Sometimes in the game of life, you feel like you're playing a part with Abbott and Costello. You might be getting answers, but you don't realize it. And even when you know the answers, they don't make any sense. So the only thing you can really do is have a good laugh. So here you go, I dare you not to at least have a smirk on your face by the time this is done.

Living on Death Row

"It is appointed unto man once to die." -- Hebrews 9:27

Mark Allen Wisehart understands that as well as anyone. Wisehart was sentenced to death on Sept. 26, 1983, for murder (Details here). Twenty-six years later, he still lives on Death Row in the state of Indiana. His hair is gray now, and the malice seen even in his 1994 mugshot is now replaced with wistfulness.

Wisehart was one of several men featured on MSNBC's Lockup a few years ago, an episode I only just caught over the weekend. In the TV interview, Wisehart said he thought death would come within five years and then it would all be over. Instead, he watched his "friends" die, knowing that his day was inevitably coming. He talks about hanging on to his sanity by a thread, and they even showed how he adopted a cat. Asked if the cat knew it was imprisoned, Wisehart said he knew cats preferred to roam free, but when the calico cat lifted its chin to be scratched or rubbed its head on his face, that was his connection to humanity.

Since that show aired, Wisehart had a federal appeals court overturn the sentence, but the law process continues. Wisehart technically no longer has a death sentence, but still lives on Death Row (or at least he did last year), knowing that any day could bring his freedom, be it life or death.

Few of us realize just how much we have in common with Wisehart. We are all living under a death sentence which may be carried out sooner or later. We are surely guilty of crimes against each other and our God -- though surely more discreet than those of a man on death row.

We've seen acquaintances come and go, sometimes wondering, 'Why them?' or 'Why not us?' Our sanity may occasionally hang by a thread, and we seek a connection to others. We search for it in bars and churches, in sporting events and on the internet, and even in pets.

And we all have also had our sentence overturned. Overturned by the execution of Jesus Christ and sealed by his resurrection. We have only to choose to file our appeal with God above.

And when we appeal, it means our eventual death will actually be our freedom and the start of life eternal.

Word of the Day I

No, I'm not going Sesame Street on you here ... at least not yet. I'll save the lesson Cookie Monster teaches us on temptation for another time.

This is about one of those times you read something and a word just jumps out you. In this case it was a quote from Charles Darwin and the word was "enfeebling". Darwin was describing how he no longer drew a sense of delight from things such as pictures, poetry and scenery.

"The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature."

What a great word -- enfeebling. To deprive of strength, make feeble. Causing debilitation.

How many times do we enfeeble ourselves? We think we're doing something important but we're so busy we enfeeble our relationships with others. ... We want to prove we're strong, we're tough but rather we enfeeble our emotions. ... We want to make a statement for God and in our zeal we enfeeble His ability to be seen.

It reminds me of this recent news story involving the Ohio teen attending a private Christian school that was suspended for going to the public school prom. And when it was over, he went on national talk shows, being hailed as a hero.

While both sides were claiming victory for their beliefs, there was no winner to be found. The school was painted as close-minded legalists and held up the Bible-thumping stereotype all the way. The boy and his stepdad/handler looked like publicity seekers who found a way to one-up those Puritanical school administrators.

And the God they all claimed to serve was enfeebled. Well, to be fair, God wasn't actually enfeebled, but his message was.

My challenge to you and to myself? Go and enfeeble no more.

The Great American Novel

I was listening to Larry Norman tonight. If you don't know, Norman is considered the father of Christian rock. He wasn't necessarily part of the Jesus People movement of the late 60s and early 70s, but he looked like he belong (see album cover at right).

From what I've read, Norman didn't particularly like to be labeled, and that included his music. He sound was sometimes the Beatles, sometimes Bob Dylan or sometimes the Rolling Stones. But it was definitely Jesus.

In one interview, the question was asked, What does your audience expect of you?
Norman said, "I don't know. I only do between 5 and 15 concerts a year. So I don't build up an exceptional rapport. I don't do what they tell me to. If they cracked a whip and said, 'Smile and do a back hand-spring,' I have an idea I'd just go home.

"I'm going to tell you something you probably don't want to hear. Because I'm not here to fulfill your expectations. I'm here to tell you that if you're not a Christian then you should become one. And if you are a Christian then you better stop putting expectations on people.

"Start getting rid of your own limitations, your own preconceptions and your own repressions. Stop coming to these concerts. Go out into the world and preach the Gospel. I'm not coming to entertain you, I'm coming to inspire you; to be so filled with Christ that you stop listening to Christian records because you don't have money for it because you're giving your money to people who don't have food."

Right on! Anyway, I was listening to his song, The Great American Novel off the 1972 album above, Only Visiting This Planet. And you know what's neat is when something written 37 years ago sounds like it could have been written yesterday? Listen to this:

You are far across the ocean
but the war is not your own
and while you're winning theirs
you're gonna lose the one at home
do you really think the only way
to bring about the peace
is to sacrifice your children
and kill all your enemies

the politicians all make speeches
while the news men all take note
and they exaggerate the issues
as they shove them down our throats
is it really up to them
whether this country sinks or floats
well i wonder who would lead us
if none of us would vote

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it
you say all men are equal, all men are brothers
then why are the rich more equal than others
don't ask me for the answers, I've only got one
that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son.

Happy Mother's Day!

And sometimes you just need to say the obvious. No deep thoughts here, just a Happy Mother's Day wish for all to whom it applies.

Wayward Son

I'd like to keep this interesting by changing things up from time to time, so this post I'm going to let you hear from somebody else.

Kerry Livgren was a member of the highly successful rock band, Kansas. He became a Christian in the late '70s, changing the subject matter of his songs and eventually leading him into a role as an '80s Christian rock pioneer. He has some interesting comments on the whole notion of "Christian" music, but we'll save that for another time. For now, listen as he shares the story of his spiritual journey from the set of an independent Christian film called The Imposter.

The Variable

So it only took until the fourth post before I referenced the TV show, Lost. I'll go ahead and apologize now for the next 20 times it happens. Anyway, fan of the show or never seen it, I think you'll understand why this struck me.

In last week's episode (5.14), a character named Daniel Faraday (learn more about his namesake, Michael Faraday here) makes the following statement.

"I've been spending so much time focused on the constants that I forgot about the variables, and do you know what the variables are? Us. People. We seek the reason, we have choices, we have free will."

How much time do we spend focused on the constants? The constants of work, family, TV shows ... the things that make up the routine of life. And we forget about the variables ... the people, us.

In an internet age, it's surely easy to forget about the variables, and it's sometimes harder to think about the variables, a.k.a. people, across the street than the ones across the world.

For example, I have a neighbor that I would often rank somewhere between plant life and my cat for value to society. Yet, it seems to me that I could be his variable. The constants in his life seem largely of the destructive kind. But he has choices, he has free will ... (pause to let the Calvinists think about it) ... and perhaps I could do something to sway those choices. Or at least I could if I ever stopped worrying about my constants long enough.

Romans 10:14: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

Slumdog (Spiritual) Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire was 2009 Picture of the Year and winner of 8 Academy Awards. It is the story of a teen from the slums of India who goes on that country's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and knows the answers to the questions as a result of his life experiences. Or at least that's the short version.

Anyway, this morning at church, our missions pastor told of his experiences in the slums of India where he recently visited.

He spoke of Pastor James, a man that was kidnapped by the authorities, jailed and beaten. Pastor James eventually was able to get a note to a maintenance worker who told his family where he was being held. A group from the church got together, marched on the police station and demanded his freedom.

On the evening of the third day (imagine that?), Pastor James was released, his face puffy, bruised and bloodied from interrogation tactics. Well, our missions pastor went to visit Pastor James the day after he was released, to share some words of encouragement. As the driver pulled up to the house, he said, "Oh, no." Not because something was wrong, but because Pastor James had set up a stage with lights across the street to take advantage of the foreigners' presence to show that he had a message that could not be stopped.

Another story described a church that is to be bulldozed in a month. Some members of a higher caste are building some high rises next to the church and they are going to clear away the squalor of the neighboring slums. A church bought and paid for with wedding rings, heirlooms and other valuable jewelry is going to disappear, but still they meet.

Slumdog millionaires indeed. These people need no game show because they are already rich beyond measure. They are spiritual millionaires and I imagine that when it comes to storing up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21), their barns are overflowing while mine looks rather unused.

All truth ...

I thought I'd begin by letting you know where I am coming from.

In college, I had a professor -- of sociology to be exact -- make the statement that "All truth is God's truth." Well, truth be told, I wasn't sure I was on board with that notion at first. It sounded sort of relativist, not a real cut and dried world view. But it grew on me and while I may no longer remember as much sociology as I should, I never forgot that.

For what he intended by that statement was that when you see the world from a Biblical perspective, there is truth to be found. Evaluate a movie, a book and even personal experience with a Christian eye.

It's not really a new concept. When it comes to seeing a flawed world through God's eyes, we're late to the party. The Bible is filled with stories of imperfect people, deceitful people and untruthful people ... people that delivered God's truth, sometimes willingly and sometimes unwittingly. Abraham, Jacob, Samson, David, Rahab, Judas, Peter, Saul/Paul just to name a few. And even today, just in reading their stories, we learn God's truth in spite of and because of their sin.

So it is with that critical eye that I approach things, so while you may wonder in future posts, "Where in the world is he going with this?", sooner or later I hope to arrive at God's truth.

Of course, Jesus said it best in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

In the beginning ...

Welcome to the debut installment of this blog. It's pretty much safe to say that anyone reading this knows me, but for the purposes of this blog, I am heretofore known as j2p or J2P. Consider it my pen name.

And that is the origin of the blog name. I thought about telling you it meant from Jesus to the Pentateuch, or Joseph to Paul, or even justification to prophecy. But it's just not that complicated.

I hope this becomes a place where you can check in for some devotional thoughts, stories and ideas.
It is intended for those who need more faith, need sustained faith or are just needing any faith at all.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next post!

J2P