Redemption Song

Questions on a Hardened Heart

2010-06-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago in conjunction with a sermon I preached on Acts 28 someone sent me a text message asking about the concept of God hardening the hearts of people. Because Paul blasts many of the Pharisees that came to visit him in Rome with these words from Isaiah 6:9 & 10

9 He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

And when we hear this we bridle. When we read these words we bristle at the thought that God would harden the hearts of the people He loves. But we gotta be very careful here as readers and doers of God’s word. Because to take this text in Isaiah or Acts or when it is found in Romans out of context you have the possibility of missing out on how God deals richly with us. You also have a possibility of unraveling in a really bad way some key truths about God and His way.

The words translated as hardened in the Bible relate to a series of medical concepts that mean to be made impervious to liquid, to be calloused, or to be or be made insensitive. And that can happen to a person’s heart spiritually.

And in the Bible we read of God hardening the hearts of people. He actively and purpose allows the hardening process to occur and on occasion has been seen to facilitate the hardening process. Now at first this hardening was only seen in people who were not connected to Him in any way. God actually flat out tells Moses in Ex. 4 and 7 and 14 that He would harden the heart of Pharaoh. Later in chapter 14 God let’s Moses know that He would harden the hearts of the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. The Egyptian’s hearts were hardened. The Canaanite’s hearts were hardened as they fought against the children of Israel. This was a condition exclusive to those not connected to a prescribed relationship with God. But later on in the Old Testament and further in the New, the hardening of heart became solely a condition found in the Jewish people themselves and later to some Christians.

But to gain a greater understanding of God’s role of hardening hearts, especially in Isaiah 6 we have to look at what precedes this passage by looking at Isaiah 5. This chapter begins with a song about a vineyard and sings of a loving God doing everything He could possibly do as the owner of a vineyard to yield a harvest. He found a great plot of land, freed it from stones, planted the best vines and yet it did not produce one grape. And God’s response:

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." 7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

This is not a vengeful God arbitrarily making people calloused; condemning them to oblivion. The concept of a hardened heart begins with a loving God doing everything He could possibly do to draw the best out of people only to find that there was not a willingness to yield what was to be yielded from them. As a matter of fact, what God finds is not only are people unwilling to produce fruit in keeping with His loving tending; they choose to yield that which is contrary to what love demands.

But the question dogs us. Can one rebound from this hardening of heart? And as we look at scriptural precedence it looks as if people can. While there were Jews whose hearts were hardened we see many finding their way to faith in Jesus. While even the Apostles where marked by Jesus Himself as hardened hearts and stiff necked they found a way to deeper relationship with Christ and His truths. We must never arrest the gift of choice and freewill from God’s equation. Because if you think about it “good and bad” as concepts do not exist if there is no opportunity for disobedience or obedience. For good or bad to exist there has to be human choice in following the good or following that which is bad. Without choice neither one exists.

Yes, God allows and sometimes fosters hearts to be hardened. This is not done arbitrarily or quickly. From scripture it seems as if God out of absolute love for everyone does everything He can to redeem and reconcile people into deep relationship with Him. It is at the point that we out rightly reject His advances and begin behaving in ways that are absolutely contrary to His attempts at loving us that He allows callousness and insensitivity to overcome people’s lives. Is there a way to overcome this callousness and hardheartedness? Absolutely! For scripture tells us in I John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Commitment of the Heart As Well As the Hands

2009-06-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Pow! Luke doesn't pull any punches when it comes to what John the Baptizer preached. It's amazing how so many Jewish people came from so many far away communities to go in the wilderness to hear John; only to have him theologically blast them out of the water. John calls them a brood of vipers. Seems to question their intelligences by asking, "who warned you of the coming wrath." As if to say, you couldn't have come up with this on your own. Someone must have warned you! But that's not the upper cut to their doctrinal chins.

John then says to them in so many words, group affiliation does not guarantee your salvation. If you get a chance look at what John says in Luke 3:8, 9. He paints a picture of God literally taking an ax to the notion that group or family affiliation was enough. Graphic enough for you? I can imagine how hard it was for them to hear that. The thing I relied on for my salvation from the coming wrath (my ethnic identity as a child of Abraham) is not adequate enough to save my soul. I imagine it was hard for our church to hear that as well, yesterday. Because many of us believe group affiliation in the "right" church is good enough to warrant eternity with God. But John emphatically states it is more than just being connected to the right group.

We can see throughout the Old and New Testaments people in the right group doing the wrong thing and forced to deal with the natural consequences of that wrong behavior. And I'm so glad John boldly proclaimed this truth. Because if group affiliation is all that is needed then our commitment to Christ can be merely mental assent instead of incarnational living. Think about it. If being connected to the right group was enough, the only thing I would need to do is the minimum requirements to stay connected to the group. My commitment could stay on the heart level and would never really have to move to the hand level; that level of taking my beliefs and enfleshing them in healthy behavior--thus incarnational living.

Commitment in the heart naturally leads to commitment of the hands (behavior, service, action); if in fact there was a commitment made. In truth, it really is not so much about doing a lot of stuff. It's more about owning a belief system so much so that the natural response of that belief is the outpouring of behavior in keeping with that system. It is owning this Christian belief system to such a degree that our very character is changed and that change prompts Christlikeness.

This reliance on group affiliation gets in the way of this type of transformative living. Does this mean any and every group is sound in their teaching and practice and we no longer have to be mindful of those sorts of thing? Not at all. But that discussion tends to distract us from the transformative process. Let us focus on commitment in sound truth to such a degree that it leads to us living out that truth in sound ways.

Where do you look first?

2009-06-21T20:24:00.001-07:00

In Luke 2:41-50 we have this very interesting moment in Mary and Joseph's life. After spending time in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover, Mary and Joseph head back to their hometown unaware that Jesus stays behind to spend time in the Temple discussing the things of His Father with the teachers of the Law. After a day of travel Mary and Joseph discover their 12 year old son is not with them or anyone else in the group heading home. Scripture says they spend three days searching for Jesus. Finally they look for Jesus in the Temple and find Him.

The question was asked: Why didn't they look in the Temple first? I think that is such a good question. I think it is a question that goes to the heart of who we are as a people. I think the image of a searching Mary and Joseph is Luke's depiction of a truly human condition. Why didn't they look for Jesus at the Temple first? I think it is the same reason we look for wholeness and contentment everywhere else first before we find it in Christ. Jesus' parents discovered they have lost something along their journey. And so often that happens to us along our way. And at the point we discover something is missing we look almost everywhere before we look upward. We will look to our jobs; our families; our possessions only to find out they are insufficient surrogates to Christ.

It's really hard to go to Christ first. We seem to think running to Christ first will require much of us. It seems as if it will be a lot of ripping, breaking, and wounding. When in truth it only takes one thing: Our willingness to be absolutely loved & taking that love to it's natural conclusion. But often we will look everywhere else before we move couragously toward love.

For believers, Christ is in the temple of our being. The indwelling of the very Spirit of Christ; the Holy Spirit resides in our being. And Christ stands open armed in the sacred space of our inner life waiting for us to find Him there. Find Him in a place where we can be accepted wholely in the divine.

Where will you go first?

How Much Does God Have To Do?

2009-06-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

You know I'm looking over Luke 1 again after the sermon I preached yesterday. And it's really incredible. To me Luke makes it pretty clear in the first 4 verses that his writing is to help make certain the teachings of our faith. He then leads off his account with a depiction of a man, Zechariah, who's first response to an encounter with the divine is uncertainty. And I know that's who I am as well. In these last seven years of ministry I have run across the hand prints of God over so many peoples lives. And when I encounter the traces of God in peoples' stuff I'm astounded. How much does God have to do to convince me that He is as active today in peoples' lives as He was in the time of scripture. I'll tell you what it took for Zechariah. With the odds against him he was chosen to serve in the temple. Which sounds like it would be an easy thing but it wasn't. An angel is sent. (Now that in itself should be enough, if you think about it). But not only is an angel sent but an angel is sent with the greatest news! "Zechariah not only is your aged and barren wife going to have a son but your son will have the honor of paving the way for the messiah to come." And Zechariah's response? "How can I be sure its going to happen. We are too old." Wow! Instead of looking at the angel with good news before him, Zechariah is looking at all of the reasons this thing can't work! What more could God have done to convince Zechariah? What more does God have to do to convince me? To convince you? I guess it takes all of us to get struck dumb to be convinced. It seemed to help Zechariah. It finally takes being silenced and stilled enough in order to convince and make certain. Maybe it's true: we learn from being burned by the fire instead of being enlightened by the flame. I'm just grateful God was gracious enough to do what ever it took to get Zechariah to believe. There is hope for us all.

Do We Trust The Story?

2009-05-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is the key question I asked of everyone yesterday in the message. Do we trust the story of suffering spelled out in scripture. Not that we go out looking for opportunities for persecution. But, are we able to handle the natural suffering that is a part of life and handle it in such a way that brings glory to God. I never thought that was the case you know. I always thought everything eventually works out and that everyone inevitably lives happily ever after. But after seven years of ministry I have found that sometimes the baby doesn't make it. Sometime the boss doesn't rise to the occasion and gets better. The boyfriend doesn't kick that heroin addiction. And the relationship doesn't bounce back. Sometimes the blessed happens and when it does we shout it from the mountain tops and praise God. But when the miraculous does not occur can we live in faith knowing God is sovereign over it all (in times of plenty and in famine; in times of certainty and times of desert wandering). Can we trust the story of the way of the cross. The story of suffering for the purpose of growth and death begetting life. Its a thought easily written but awfully hard to live.

What are our doubts?

2009-05-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm finishing up preparations for this new sermon series I'm starting in June on the Gospel of Luke. In this book Luke is parading in front of us 100s of "eyewitnesses" to affirm our faith. Then I began asking the question what doubts do each of these eyewitnesses address. Because that is the function of a witness, isn't it? There is a doubt about the truthfulness of an event. Then someone presents witnesses to clear up doubts so we can rely on the truthfulness of the event in question. So what are our doubts about faith? I want to collect as many comments as I can so that I can factor them into my further sermon preparation. So let me know: What are some doubts and uncertainties that people have about faith? What are the uncertainties we find ourselves living with as Christians?

The Harder Lesson

2008-09-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a communication that I had with a member.

He writes:

Eric, To whom is it harder to get THE LESSON across? Someone just hearing of God's love or someone that has turned their backs on their first love and Savior? I hesitated about sending you this note until today. My brother-in-law and sister will be with us on Sunday, the Lord willing. He was my roommate at Freed-Hardeman Jr. College and has been my best friend since the 7th grade. Somewhere along the line, he has given up on the Lord. Probably the most intelligent person I've known my whole life but simply doesn't believe anymore. We remain best friends but do not discuss God. I pray for you and your family constantly. Your work and words mean so much to us. We come home, feeling refreshed and ready to tackle another week from our drive to Columbia on Sunday mornings. Keep on keeping on. God bless.

I wrote:

God bless you for your words of encouragement. I praise God that you are fed and filled by your sacrificial drive to and from. You will never know what that means to me. But to answer your question I tend to believe it works on a case by case basis. There are those who have never known Christ that have had so many wounds that they can’t believe anyone especially God would love them while others who never knew Christ fall head over heels immediately upon the meeting. Now with those who have turned from Christ I tend to believe they turn not from God but their misconceptions about God. I think all of us have a tendency to create for ourselves a idea of God pieced together by fragments of scripture, pop cultural fallacy, ideas that come from our own experiences, etc. And that idea of God sometimes is vastly different than the God in the Bible ( It’s hard to even realize the fact that God is so much bigger than what we find in the Bible. He has only revealed that which humanity can understand of Him. But He is infinitely bigger than what our minds can conceive of. We can’t grasp that because we have a hard time understanding the little bit He has given us.) So it is quite natural to come up with grave misconceptions and when the mistaken God doesn’t function like the real God we tend to turn away. So some people begin seeing God for who He is vs. who they thought He was and fall head over heels immediately while others refuse to believe God could be anything other than what they can conceive of with their petty consciousness and get stuck. But what we do is pray harder than we have ever before and allow God to use us all to love your friend into deeper relationship and deeper truth. If it’s God’s will I look forward to meeting them and I pray God has His way with him this weekend.

Your Brother,
Eric

Point of Grace

2008-05-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

My worst day as a Christian is better than the best day of the one who has yet to find Christ.

Talking About Him As If He Is Not In The Room

2008-04-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

Has that ever happen to you? Your in a room with a bunch of people and they start talking about you but do not acknowledge that you are actually right there. You're listening; with the ability to chime in and maybe give greater depth to the conversation; because it's your life and experience that they are talking about. I hate those moments.

And I find that I do that all of the time to God. Because as I'm working on developing a sermon I'm researching about God, and pondering about God, and writing about God but at no point regularly do I acknowledge His presence in the room. Last week was different though. Armed with this new profound awareness of His presence I began to write my sermon as if a dialogue between me and my God in the room. The process became so much more intimate.

Then I started thinking, "Wow, what if I lived my life with God in the room!" Aware of His presence as I talk to my kids as I love my wife as I plan our future as I serve His church. Now a formerly distant impersonal God is surrounding me with His wisdom and insight and grace listening and giving greater depth to the conversation. Why? Because even with my family and my future it's His life and His experience that I'm dealing with.

Motivation to preach from Ecclesiates

2008-04-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Absurdity is the anguish of realizing that underneath the apparently logical pattern of a more or less “well organized” and rational life, there lies an abyss of irrationality, confusion, pointlessness, and indeed of apparent chaos. This is what immediately impresses itself upon the man who has renounced diversion. It cannot be otherwise; for in renouncing diversion, he renounces the seemingly harmless pleasure of building a tight, self-contained illusion about himself and his little world. He accepts the difficulty of facing the million things in his life which are incomprehensible instead of simply ignoring them. Incidentally it is only when the apparent absurdity of life is faced in all truth that faith really becomes possible. Otherwise, faith tends to be a kind of diversion, a spiritual amusement, in which one gathers up accepted, conventional formulas and arranges them in the approved mental patters, without bothering to investigate their meaning, or ask if they have any practical consequences in one’s life. --Thomas Merton

Yikes!

2008-03-24T05:56:00.001-07:00

We have a habitual tendency to reduce the irreducible. Because we cannot rest in our identity as paint strokes in a larger canvas; threads in a much larger tapestry; because we have a hard time seeing that we are not the biggest thing around, we tend to reduce things to suit our twisted and self-centered perspective. We think love too small; the earth too local; God as petty. We need to create for ourselves the myth that we are indeed the right people to determine what is ultimately the right thing for our lives. So we spend an inordinate amount of time reducing thing in our mind to bit size chunks that suit us. Case in point: the resurrection of Christ. If it is reduced to a nice story that may or may not happen we can look at it romantically. If we look at it as a historic event relegated to the past then we can look at it authoritatively. But if we see it as it truly is as something larger than the universe itself; something wild and untamed; something primal; something that simultaneously merges the earthly with the divine in the most miraculous of ways then we would have to change almost everything about ourselves. We would have to celebrate that resurrection daily by living a resurrected life. Yikes!

I Guess I Better Read the Manual

2008-03-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

We just purchased a really effective tool for the church. It's called PhoneTree. Anytime I need to make an announcement to the whole church I get on the computer, record one message, and the computer calls all the church members and leaves that message on their answering machines. It can do a lot of things (text message, send emails, take my message and translate it into different languages). But it is more than likely I will not be able to do the majority of those things because I REFUSE TO READ THE MANUAL!!!! It ain't gonna happen. I'm a guy, I'm too busy, I'm just not feelin' it. I got it to call everyone to let them know to sign up for the potluck last Sunday and that's good enough for me. I think that's the way we are with our kingdom hearts. At the point of belief and baptism we receive a kingdom heart. While under the waters of baptism God performs spiritual surgery and gives us a kingdom heart. A heart that desires to do God's will; that desires to love sacrificially; that desires to change the world for the better! And that heart can do so much. But we refuse to read the manual! If we could only see the Bible as the manual for the kingdom heart. To see how it works; what it can do; how it can be expanded; what environment the kingdom heart must exist in to function well. I think we (and I include myself in this) live far below the potential of our kingdom hearts. We manage our day, we sin a little less than we did upon the start of our walk with Christ, we make it to church regularly, we pray sometimes, we read our Bibles periodically. And that's good enough? When the kingdom heart can exact change in our family and our world? Man, I guess I better read the manual.

They Might Not Notice!

2008-02-25T03:55:00.000-08:00

It's true! I didn't mention race or ethnicity for about 2 years of my preaching ministry for fear that the predominantly white congregation that I minister to might notice that I was black! And the thinking was literally this: If I don't mention it they might not notice. As if that would work. And as crazy as that sounds we do it all the time with the sin in our lives. If I don't say anything they might not notice. As if people, if they took the time to look, could not see the signs and markings of sin in a persons life. I mean I'm not a sin monitoring machine and I certainly don't go around looking intently in order to spot the signs of sin in people's lives. But it isn't all that hard to spot. Inconsistency in speech and action, distance and distraction, an inability to be authentic; its all there if you look for it. But you don't have to even do that because we all fall short and that "all" stacks the deck in favor of everyone having some sort of sin in their lives. So it can't be hidden. And instead of confronting the sin head on we, "just won't speak of it". But scripture counter intuitively says speak of it, say it, confess it, own it. For only then can you eradicate it. Confession is a launching pad for redemption and forgiveness. I've become more authentic in front of people now that I speak of race and heritage and culture. And I think the same can be said of sins, shortcomings, and struggles. Get real with it. Find someone, not a bunch of people, but someone who is a safe place and let that stuff go! If the story stays inside of you it controls you but once released you control it. You have contained it in language. God has something to work with when you are authentic and available. Confession places you on the Potter's wheel.

Being, Becoming, and Heavy Stuff I'm Trying to Figure Out

2008-02-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

One of the truths of spiritual formation is this: We all have a desire to be as well as to become. Keith Anderson in a lecture on the topic shared that we want self definition and self transcendence. And we move from this place of being to the place of becoming. We have a longing to be transformed. This is why the motif of pilgrimage or journey is seen throughout the Bible and in books that attempt to embody our faith. We have a deep longing to define our identity and to determine our destiny. As Christians it is important to own our identity as the beloved of God. We have to embrace the fact that we are the children of God. We have to take hold of the fact that we are followers of Christ. This is the essential step that must proceeds action. We can't determine how to act, how to proceed toward becoming until we truly embrace our being. If we don't, we end up doing seemingly good things and sometimes end up with wrong results; because the action did not proceed from the right place of being. But once we own the being God determined for us; that identity becomes the launching pad for action. And conversely the more we act from that God determined place the act itself solidifies our identity as the beloved follower of Christ. The being determines the action and the action further defines the being.

You Prepare a Table Before Me in the Presence of My Enemies

2008-01-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how struck I was by the thought that I saw it all wrong. I now see the 5th verse of the 23rd Psalm totally different! You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The thought that this verse is not so much about me gaining the upper hand on my enemies by God blessing me before them. As a disciple of Christ I can't imagine as I sit at Jesus' feet he would actually say, "I will bless you in front of all of your foes so you can feel good and they can feel bad." No!!!! Now keep in mind God does favor those who have committed their lives to Him. He will use our divine favor to convict others of sin and convince them of His grace. But more and more I don't believe that is the point of the verse in the 23rd Psalm. After dealing with years and years of conflict resolution and forgiveness and reconciliation work with church members and husbands and wives I see this verse totally different. Could it be this verse is about God getting all of us together in table fellowship. Where as in ancient times the host offers peace and renewed relationship with those at his table. God does the same for us. Shepherding us; leading us to His table. Where we are forgiven and find our way back into right relationship with Him. Where we then have an opportunity to offer peace to our enemies at that same table. We forgive them because God has forgiven us. My prayer: Peace please give way to peace.

The Roots of Faith Grow Deep in Dark Valleys

2008-01-21T05:24:00.001-08:00

I shared this thought yesterday in service. And while I hate it, it is certainly true. The roots of faith do grow deep in dark valleys. After church Kathy told me that the reason they grow deep in the valley is because that's where all of the "fertilizer" is. She was so right. Unfortunately it seems as if we need our hands forced to have faith in God. And the fertilizer of life pushes us to grow. For when it pills up we come to grips that it is too much for us to deal with alone. Which provides us an opportunity to turn to God.

I Don't Like Turkey

2007-11-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

You know every year I stuff myself with turkey. Drown it in gravy. Carefully place a portion on my fork with just the right accompaniment of dressing and cranberry sauce. Scarf it down and go for more. I've done this every year for quite a long time. Except for this year. I've come to realize I'm forcing myself to eat it and truth be told I really don't like turkey. This is another addition of a growing list of things I consume that in truth I do not like. Turkey goes on the list with coffee and modern jazz. All things I have consumed in mass quantities for several years. I think I like the idea of those things just not the things themselves. I think this list is being developed the older I get. Because the older I get the more I'm sluffing off all of the things that are not authentically me. I am on a quest for authenticity. A me that really can't stand turkey, or bitter coffee, or self pity, or cowardice. But what's funny I'm beginning to think this authentic me is the me God intended for me to be instead of the one society or my on insecurities have made me out to be. But what I'm really trippin' off of is discovering that there are things about myself that I have just done out of habit more than actual preference. For years I've gotten up every morning and fixed coffee I really don't like; eaten turkey I really don't like. What other stuff is in me like that. Sins and behaviors that I just do that are done just because I've gotten into a groove with them. This becoming is no small task. Truthfully it sucks. But my sense is that I'm getting there. I just got to figure out what I'm going to eat for Christmas dinner now.

Bearing Crosses

2007-11-20T11:55:00.000-08:00

We are no more like Christ than when we take responsibility for things we didn't mess up. I am so good at seeing messes that other people make. In their lives; in the lives of other people; messes in their homes and on their jobs; interpersonal relationships; family strife. All of those messes!!!!! Its like the proverbial juice stain in the carpeting of their lives. And many times I'm like my little sons. If I see a stain I'll ask, "why didn't you wipe that up?" And they will say, " Cuss' I didn't spill it." And I too will see problems arise and if I didn't contribute to the problem I don't see the need to stoop down and do anything about it besides stating in my infinite wisdom, "Wow what a mess!"

What if God did that? What if he judged us and our messes and stood back and merely said, "Wow, what a mess!" What if God took the stance, "Let the one who made the mess clean up the mess." No, God through Jesus Christ took responsibility for our mess even though He had absolutely positively nothing to do with the mess!!!! Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. He contributed not a drop in the deep pool of human sin. But instead of saying, "Clean that up." Jesus says I'll take responsibility for my beloved's mistakes.

Now the wonder of this truth is this: What if we lived in that manner? What if we became part of the solutions to other peoples messes? I mean intentionally and consistently determine to help, heal,& hold those around us who mess up. Instead of stating the obvious; instead of blaming; instead of accusing; we lovingly stoop down and try to do something to help in the cleansing process. In our homes, on our jobs, in the world.

I'm beginning to believe that is what is meant by bearing our cross.

In the throws of Worship

2007-10-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

I had the greatest time while I was gone. I preached a gospel meeting at Center Point church of Christ in Rogersville Missouri, right outside of Springfield and I went to the Zoe Conference in Nashville directly after the meeting. In Rogersville I preached 4 days to a small rural congregation. How small? One of the Elders assured me if people brought their dogs there would be about 60 there. And praise be to God there where more than 60 there and each and every one of them had voices like angels. The singing was wonderful. Mostly older hymns. And the rafters of that church shook with the beautiful sound coming from older men and women, country, rural folk; all giving praise to God. Then I went to Nashville. Huge church! Thousands of people in one place. Being lead by a praise team singing praise songs. And it was wonderful!!! And while both experiences were different they were both right. And it had nothing to do with style or number. It had everything to do with the fact that God was in our midst and He was the focus of our attention and adoration. Young, old, big, small, rural, urban, contemporary, traditional none of those things mean anything in the presence of God. What did Isaiah say when he found himself in the midst of a living God? I am undone. And so are all of our differences.

Greatest Production

2007-09-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

I have written plays that have toured around the country. I have had productions performed at the Kennedy Center in D.C. I have directed stars and trained actors that have been on T.V and on the big screen. But the greatest production I have ever been a part of are my sons. They are two of the most beautiful, funniest, coolest kids. As confusing as it is to raise them; their presence in my life makes things make sense. To be hugged by one of them is an honor. To laugh with them is a treat. To listen to the way they see the world is one of the most interesting times you could spend. I think the world is a better place because they are in it. We are truly fortunate to have children in the world. I think its proof that God has hope for His creation.

Turning the sprinklers on

2007-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

I was walking this morning and passed one of my neighbor's homes with their sprinkler system on. Their yard was beautiful when all around them all of the rest of the homes grass was brown. But there was one other neighbor that had just as nice a yard. It was the neighbor right next to the one with the sprinkler system on. While the next door neighbor didn't have a sprinkler system, their grass was being watered from the run off from of the neighbor's. What a cool picture of the by product of spiritual maturity. If we are feeding ourselves; doing those things we need to do to grow in Christlikeness, others are blessed by the run off. The 23rd Psalm says, "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Ain't it great when our growth in Christ blesses others with goodness and mercy?

I Want to Be Taken for Granted

2007-07-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

I want to be taken for granted. I want to be able to do things without expecting a parade to be held in my name. I want to do things without looking for someone to name a street after me. I want to get to the point where it no longer matters whether I am appreciated or swooned over. I want to be able to love and serve without conditions. I don't know about all of humanity anymore. I've tended to generalize too much as of late. So I wont put this all on humanity and our "fallen-ness". I'll just say for me I tend to do things, love people, serve people out of obligation or for the purpose of getting something in return. With God's help I'd like to change my motives. I want to do things solely because God did so much for me. Everything people ask of me is stuff God has already done for me. Cleaning--God did that for me already. Lifting and lugging stuff around-- God has already lifted and lugged more of my burdens than I care to mention. Encourage-- God is so faithful to provide that up lift in so many different ways. If I am motivated by what God has already done for me through Christ I can do great things for others without looking for a thing in return. Because I would have been doing it out of gratitude for what has already been done instead of doing things for the sake of what I hope I get in the return. I want to be taken for granted.

Col. 2:9,10

2007-07-06T07:56:00.001-07:00

In Christ is the fullness of God. In Christ we find fullness. Christ--the source of all wholeness.

It Would Need to Be a Mighty Big Room!

2007-07-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about the life of the Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton recently and in one of his books he talks about this point in his life, while on a corner of a busy intersection in a major metropolitan center, where he fell in love with humanity. What?!?!?!? He talks about this moment when he realized he loved every one of the people that passed by him. His heart opened. I know what this heart opening feels like. I experienced it when my children were born. At the time I realized I loved my wife to such a overwhelming degree that I was sure there was no more room in my heart to love someone else. Then my son was born. And all of a sudden a door to another room opened up in my heart that I didn't even know existed. And the same thing happened again with the birth of my youngest son. So I know what that "opening up" feels like. But, for all of humanity?!?! This thought haunts me and now I want to be there. I want to love, truly love, everyone I meet. Despite all of their short comings and my misgivings.

It just struck me...

2007-07-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm no Paris Hilton fan, but isn't it interesting that she did more time than Scooter Libby?

Let's Hear it for the Woman Who Has Everything

2007-07-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

When did television news become so idiotic? I find myself watching it out of obligation. And I sit there with such a stupid look on my face. The look is a mix of shock and disgust. But in a twisted way: I must watch-I must watch- I must watch. Sharita and I are amazed that they even let the Today Show stay on the air. Now keep in mind we watch it everyday. What I love is that obligatory “news” segment about the woman who has everything. You know the one where they find this poor woman: she’s beautiful, has the clothes, the car, the career, three children, this husband with this look of despair hiding just behind the “curtain of his smile”, she has all of these wonderful aphorisms and saying about success and living life. And the news anchor with words shape by their own desires for completeness says of her: She’s the woman who has everything! Really-- everything? I know one thing she doesn’t have: Rest!!! When does she get to sit down, contemplate the beauty of her children, the contradictions and illusions of success and failure, the craftsmanship of the handmade shoes she’s wearing. Where is her time for God? But what’s worst everybody, men and women alike, watch this and are suffused with this feeling of discontent with their own lives because they don’t have what she has. And the people that watch never see her tears, her anxiety that chokes her, the paranoia that haunts her steps. Let’s hear it for the woman that has everything and the news people that celebrate her.

First Blog. First Thoughts.

2007-07-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hey! I'm glad you stopped in. I have been looking for a way to share random thoughts as I make it through my day. My job (although it's so much more than a job); this opportunity I have been given to be a minister is wild. As I pray, read scripture, counsel people in need, and plan ways of serving God I find insights that very seldom find there way into sermons or writings but I know are beneficial to me. I say beneficial to me because it’s not like I conceive of these things on my own. A few I do think of or discover (but those thoughts are in the minority). Most of these stray thoughts and ideas come from scripture, people that I talk to, observations from God's creation. And when I find them I'm astounded and gain greatly from them. Wisdom is at our door step. So here is an attempt to share them. If there are questions I'll be sure to try and answer them. If some find offense to some of these thoughts I'll try humbly to learn from others views.

My love to you.