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Learning and Responding

November 1, 2011 in Blog with 2 Comments

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” These are the words of Jesus in Luke 9:23 as he instructs his disciples on the life he is calling them to. Those words are also for us as we seek to be his disciples.

On my journey of being a disciple of Jesus I’ve been blessed lately by one question that I came across in a few different readings (see here and here):

“What is God teaching me and what do I need to do next?”

I think there are times in each of our journeys of following Jesus where we don’t feel like we are growing. There are times when we’re not sure how to grow or even what that would look like. There are times when we look at our lives and the world around us and we’re overwhelmed by the growth we feel needs to happen. There are times when we think we’re doing really well and mistakenly we buy into the idea that we’ve arrived and there isn’t much space for growth for us. Into each of these times, I think this question is powerful.

What would happen if every time we gathered to worship, we each came asking the question, “What is God teaching me and what do I need to do next?” What would happen if we asked that same question each day as we worship God through spending intentional time focusing on him? What would happen if we asked that question in the midst of our daily activities, after difficult interactions with coworkers, and after we just heard some news be it good or bad? What would happen if we got together with others and asked each other that question and encouraged each other as week to step into what God is teaching us and leading us into?

This question has helped me to grow as a disciple of Jesus. It may seem like a simple thing but I find the more that I ask it, the more I see God at work in the moments and the details of my life. As I spend time in scripture and ask this question, I experience God leading me. I believe this simple question can have a powerful impact on our lives as Christians. Take some time in the day ahead to think about what God is teaching you and the response that leads to and invite others on the journey with you.

You Got Churched!

January 26, 2011 in Blog with 0 Comments

*I love books and I love free things! In this crazy world, its possible to get books like this for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group to review…I did that, this is the result.

Everyone who has been around the church for a significant period of time has likely had an awkward experience or two. In Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess, Matthew Paul Turner tells the story of his childhood growing up in a fundamentalist baptist church. In reading other works by Turner, I’ve found a humor, honesty, and wit that I thoroughly enjoyed and he didn’t disappoint in Churched. Turner’s telling of his story is captivating. I experienced a weird mix of joy as I laughed at his seemingly ridiculous experiences and sadness as I considered the impact those experiences had on his view of God. I could relate to many of his stories as someone who grew up in the church and I found myself grateful that there were some stories I couldn’t relate to.

As I read about Turner’s childhood experiences, I kept waiting for the “I’m just joking moment” where the camera crew would come out and yell “You got churched!”

His Sunday School teacher instructed he and his classmates to close their eyes and imagine the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. ““All right,” she said. “Now, imagine how happy you’d be if you woke up in the wilderness to find God’s little droppings all over the ground.” … “Keep your eyes closed! The Bible calls these droppings from God ‘manna.’ Who in this room wants to eat some of God’s heavenly droppings?” … When we opened our eyes, there were big marshmallows all around us. “Feast on the droppings of God, children.” …I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled around the floor and collected as many of God’s sugary droppings as I could…”

We could go on from there to the annual boxing match his pastor held against Satan, his Sunday school teacher setting a barbie doll on fire to demonstrate the reality of hell, the time Turner observed his pastor exaggerating the number of people raising their hands to testify to their newly found salvation, and many more. In each of the stories, humor is infused into what to me are sad efforts to communicate the truth of Jesus Christ to a world experiencing brokenness. You can tell from the tone of Turner’s writings that as he aged he too struggled with the message he was exhaustively exposed to and ultimately found himself searching for more of the story of God.

Fortunately, the story of God as demonstrated through Jesus Christ can not be completely summed up in the fall of humanity and the redemption. The story begins with a creation that God calls good, a humanity that bears his image and while our fallenness, sin and need for redemption are major parts of the story, it doesn’t end there. The redemptive work of Jesus Christ in our lives invites us to participate in his work of restoration in our lives and in the world at large. Churched is great read and reminder that we need to carry the entirety of the story of God with us into the world.

The Ancient Practices Series: Tithing by Douglas Leblanc and Phyllis Tickle

January 25, 2011 in Blog with 0 Comments

*I love books and I love free things! In this crazy world, its possible to get books like this for free from Booksneeze.com to review…I did that, this is the result.

Tithing by Douglas Leblanc is one of eight books in The Ancient Practices Series. In Tithing, Leblanc is up front about his intention to tell the stories of those who engage in the practice as opposed to laying out a Biblical framework for the practice. He interviews and shares the thoughts of a very diverse group of people who range from an Orthodox rabbi to a pastor from Chicago’s south side.

The result of Leblanc’s work is an eclectic collection of thoughts on the practice of tithing and its place in the life of believers. When I approached the book, I was expecting at least some reflection on the biblical origins of tithing and how the practice has continued as a part of the Christian tradition and was surprised that Leblanc didn’t approach the subject from that angle at length. However, once my initial expectations shifted to line up with Leblanc’s aims, I found myself really enjoying the stories being told and the glimpse I was given of tithing’s impact on the lives of the people he interviewed. It’s one thing to read about something people think we should do and why and a whole other thing to read about how doing the thing changes people’s lives. The latter is what Leblanc has done here and I think the approach leads to a short read that would be beneficial to anyone wondering what impact the practice of tithing could have on their lives. I didn’t agree with everyone’s thoughts on the subject but in the end I was challenged to think about tithing’s impact on my own life.

One of my favorite passages from the book came from Leblanc’s introduction as he explains that tithing “unlike daily, structured prayer or time spent reading Scripture, tithing tends not to be accompanied by daily or even weekly reflection. Often it is more of a background habit, a reminder that our lives are not our own. Tithing is like prayer in the sense that God is working out his purpose and generously offers us a voluntary place in his purpose. God no more needs the money that flows through our bank accounts than he needs to be informed, through prayer, about the ways in which we hope he will intervene in our lives. Instead, God is at all times bringing healing and redemption into our world and, to the extent we are ready to cooperate in those goals, God will use us.”

Living Life in the Zone Review

December 14, 2010 in Blog with 0 Comments

*I love books and I love free things! In this crazy world, its possible get books like this for free from Booksneeze.com to review…I did that, this is the result.

Living Life in the Zone: A 40-Day Spiritual Game Plan for Men by Kyle Rote Jr. and Dr. Joe Pettigrew is a devotional book designed to appeal to men by using sports examples to provoke thought on spiritual truths. The format each day includes: a short idea to think about, an introduction that connects the idea with real life, Scripture related to the idea of the day, real life examples of what the idea looks like lived out, questions for reflection, suggestions for action items related to the idea, and space to reflect in prayer.

I’m always looking out for resources that I think can help people grow closer to God’s heart. This task is made challenging by the fact that we are each wired differently and our needs vary in different seasons of life. I believe Living Life in the Zone can be a good resource to help people who love sports develop the habit of spending time with God on a daily basis. It’s very readable and it does a good job of focusing on each day’s big idea as opposed to focusing the reader in many different directions. The result is a daily idea we can reflect and act on in a way that draws us closer to God’s heart. This devotional may not be for you but if you know anyone who loves sports and wants to spend daily time with God, this could be a great starter for them as they grow in relationship with Christ.

Coming Next: Action, Restoration, and Reconciliation

December 14, 2010 in Blog with 0 Comments

*I love books and I love free things! In this crazy world, its possible to get books like this for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group to review…I did that, this is the result.

I really appreciated the work of Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnaman in unChristian which called the church in America to wake up to the culture around us and to understand the way Christians are perceived. The picture they painted was not pretty but its content is an important piece of the church in America moving forward. unChristian left me with an unsettled feeling, I agreed with much of what was said but the question that rattled around my mind was, “Where do we go from here?”

In The Next Christians, Gabe Lyons points to what could be next for the church in America. Lyons’ focus is on younger generations of Christians and how they are understanding and living out their faith in the midst of a seemingly difficult cultural climate to do so. He picks up where he left off in unChristian, recognizing the significance of cultural shifts that we have experienced happening around us and instead of throwing the church under the bus, Lyons doesn’t take lightly that it is understandable that the church has struggled to work through the magnitude of these shifts. At the same time, Lyons makes it very clear that much of what the church is doing right now is not connecting with younger generations of Christians. If the church really wants to engage younger Christians to plug in and to participate in the shaping of what the church could be it is going to take more than recognizing culture shifts, its going to take a willingness to act and to participate in God’s mission.

Ultimately I love the way that The Next Christians gives testimony to what could be if the church equips and empowers younger Christians to do the work of reconciliation and restoration in the world around them. What would happen if Christians of all ages fully grasped the gravity of where the church in America is today and where it could be if we all pursued the mission of restoration and reconciliation that God has for us in our families, neighborhoods, communities, and in the world at large? I believe with Lyons that there is hope for the church and further than that I believe that God is faithful to use his people’s obedience to do powerful things.

The question for me after reading The Next Christians (and for you if you choose to dig in) is how am I participating with God’s mission of restoration and reconciliation through the way I live my life on an everyday basis?

Radical or Biblical? … or Both?

November 5, 2010 in Blog with 0 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to attend Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, GA. There were a lot of great leanings, reminders, and ideas that flowed from the sessions and my hope is to take some time here on the blog to process some of them.

Francis Chan hit on some points that I’ve been thinking of recently as a result of reading Radical by David Platt. Platt makes great points regarding the incompatibility with Christ followers pursuing the gospel of Jesus and the American dream. It’s a great and challenging read, through it all Platt urges us to take a look at the larger story going on in our world around us and to ask serious questions about what our lives are invested in. The call is to follow Jesus authentically and radically. Our lives should stand out as radical in comparison to the rest of our culture. When we follow Jesus and seek to live in his way, its going to cause us to live lives that are quite different from those around us pursuing the American dream.

At Catalyst, Chan made a similar point. He shared some of the adventure that he and his family are on as they leave the United States for a time to go oversees to experience the ways that God is moving in other cultures. Chan talked about how so many have commented that he and his family are doing radical things like selling their home and giving up their jobs and yet as he looks at Scripture, especially at the life of Jesus and his disciples as we see them in the gospels and in the book of Acts, his life doesn’t look very radical at all. As you read about Jesus giving his life, the early church sharing their resources, and Stephen and other followers being martyred, giving up some of the comforts of living in America doesn’t seem all that radical.

However, it does seem Biblical. There is a tension that Scripture calls us as Americans into. We live in a country that offers tremendous comfort to many while many more around the world suffer from difficulties that are solvable. What do we do with that? It can easily be overwhelming but despite that I believe that we must do something. I don’t think there is an easy prescription to deal with this tension, it is a part of the life that God has called us into.

We are to live lives that reflect the way of Jesus, the way of Scripture, and as we faithfully follow God by acting on the convictions of His Spirit at work in our lives we will live lives that look radical to the culture around us. We are to live lives that are both Biblical and radical.

The challenge for us is to live Biblical lives in the midst of whatever context we find ourselves in. Chan states that he wants the story of his life to fit alongside those contained in the book of Acts, I love the picture that gives us as we seek to be disciples of Jesus today.

- See a video of part of Francis Chan’s talk from Catalyst.

Gracenomics

October 2, 2010 in Blog with 2 Comments

I recently received a .pdf copy of Mike Foster’s new book Gracenomics to read and review. I’ve appreciated Mike Foster’s work ranging from the Junky Car Club to the People of the Second Chance movement and was excited to give it a read. It’s a short piece of work that reads fast and gets to the point. The thrust of the book is simply the idea of grace, the act of giving favor when it is not required, and what it looks like in flesh in our world today.

What would our world look like if grace ran rampant? What would flow from our lives if our default response was grace? These are a few of the many questions that Gracenomics leads us to ask.

I find that I’m often in need of reminders about how the grace of God should shape my life and manifest itself in my heart as well as in my actions and dealings with others. Foster defines Gracenomics as “the science that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of grace.” As those whose lives have been marked and impacted by grace, we should do all we can to see that grace extended as far and as wide as possible in the world around us.

In the midst of life’s difficulties and our own failures and insecurities, in the times where our attitudes and actions stand outside of God’s desires and Kingdom, His grace calls us to experience His love and presence again. There is never a point where we find ourselves out of God’s reach and the reality of that truth, of that grace should compel us toward a different type of life…a better type of life. A life that is shaped by the experience of the grace of God and as a result pours grace out even in the most difficult of situations.

Gracenomics is a call to a grace-filled type of life, check it out if you too find yourself in need of a reminder of what grace could and should look like.

Forgotten God

September 21, 2009 in Blog with 2 Comments

I finished Francis Chan’s Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit this morning. Chan has done an incredible job of exploring the topic of the Holy Spirit in a way that is profoundly meaningful yet very readable. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I’m sure there are plenty of reviews online by people who will do a much better job reviewing it than me, so I thought I’d share five questions that Forgotten God led me to ask myself.

- If the Holy Spirit truly is with me and in me, why do I live so similarly to everybody else? The same question can be extended to other believers and the church…

- What am I afraid of when it comes to following God? Am I afraid I will be led to do something I don’t want to, to be made uncomfortable, that I will look foolish, that I will fail, that I’m not good enough, smart enough, gifted enough? What fears hold me back?

- Why do I want more of the Holy Spirit in my life? Is it to serve the purpose of my own goals or ultimately for Kingdom purposes?

- What are the symptoms of neglect of the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life? How can I become more disciplined and intentional in my pursuit of God in a more well rounded way; Father, Son, and Spirit?

- Have I settled simply for what I need to get by? Have I tried to become comfortable with “enough” God for some measure of peace and comfort in my life? Do I depend on God in a radical way?

If these questions speak to your soul at all, pick up the book and see what questions it leads you to ask of yourself.

The Overflow

September 5, 2009 in Blog with 0 Comments

I was reminded of Luke 6:43-45 yesterday while watching SportsCenter (see it has significant spiritual value) – The Message paraphrases it this way, “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.”

As I watched the scuffle that followed the Oregon/Boise St football game Thursday night, I was struck by how quickly things escalated. Both players acted in ways that they shouldn’t have and what began as a jerk-move (taunting after beating up on a team) quickly led to negative consequences for both players.

One man will be remembered for this face:

and another’s college career ended.

I couldn’t help but to consider what flows out of my life in moments when things don’t go according to my choosing. How do I respond when I’m wrong? Do I do all I can to defend my pride or do I admit to being wrong? When people wrong me do I have a turn-my-cheek type of attitude or do I begin thinking of retribution? In moments when my patience is tested, how do I act? My reactions to these and many more situations demonstrate the state of my heart. My heart overflows into my deeds, my life, my moment-by-moment actions. My prayer will continue to be that God would be at work in me and that by the power of his Spirit, my life would be transformed. That the way I live would line up more and more with the way of Jesus. That hope, faith, and love would flow through my life as opposed to anything that moves away from God’s heart.

Tony Dungy is a Stud

May 13, 2009 in Blog with 2 Comments

Michael Vick doesn’t have many fans these days, most people would probably like to see him fade out of public eye and only remember him when there is an opportune time for a joke be it dog fighting, Ron Mexico, or some other poor decision related (guilty – I’ve landed my fair share at Vick’s expense). I respect the heck out of Tony Dungy for this.

The article doesn’t say anything too profound but to me what stands out is that Dungy would give of his time in the first place to go and visit with Vick when he could be simply enjoying his retirement somewhere and leaving the football world behind.

Makes me wonder why we are so quick to write people off when we believe in a God of second chances, a God who transforms, a God of grace and mercy. I pray that we begin to see ourselves and others through a different lens and are able to claim and repent of our hypocrisy.

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