And they'll know...

Just over 10 years ago I had the opportunity to go on a trip with my church in Chicago to visit with their sister church in Guanabacoa, Cuba. It was a rare opportunity considering going to Cuba was illegal for most. It was an amazing trip. My favorite part was having the chance to play music with their church’s worship team. They had some amazing musicians - much better than me - and they had a great theme song for our trip. The words went like this… “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, and we pray that our unity will one day be restored. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Like me, do you automatically start singing this song when you read the words? For me, it’s an old faithful from growing up in the church.

I was struck by those words this week at Forest Lake Camp during our Sick & Twisted week as I taught teenagers about faith through movies. They come from Jesus’ final commandment to His disciples at the Last Supper. He says to them, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13)

What I noticed this week wasn’t what Jesus said, but what He didn’t say. I’ve heard that verse and song hundreds of times, but it had never struck me the same way before. But right now, I think the church needs to hear it. Jesus didn’t say - and neither does the song - that people will know we are His disciples by our morality. He doesn’t say they’ll know us by our political views, our righteousness, or our stance on gay marriage, abortion, or gun control. He says they’ll know that we’re His by our love for one another.

It seems right now that the church in America looks more like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time than the disciples. Pharisees were constantly worried about morality and doing what the Law said was right. And that was understandable in their situation. But Jesus came to teach something greater than legalism. He came to teach us how to love. Yet we find ourselves bickering over all the same things the Pharisees bickered about. And when someone within the Christian community comes out with a different perspective, different interpretation, or different belief; we pounce in outrage.

Of course it’s important that we work out our understanding of the world as we walk with Jesus. It’s important that we seek righteousness that comes from Him. And It’s important that we try to represent Him by following His ways of living. But our first job is to love as He loves. That is a love that supersedes agreement or unity of belief. It’s a love that is active and hospitable to those we disagree with. It’s a radical love that Jesus showed to the “sinners” of His day, to the lepers that He touched, and to each of us when He went to the cross. Can we be a church of people who love? It’s not easy, it’s not natural. But it’s the way that this world needs to experience the risen Christ. 

Wheeling for Jesus?

Well I never really expected this.

I recently bought something called an Electric Unicycle, and it's the coolest thing I've ever had. Basically, it is a wheel with a plastic housing around it with an electric motor and a gyroscope. You stand on the pedals and lean forward to go and backward to stop and reverse. After a couple of hours of practice and bruised ankles and calves, it is tons of fun. I bought it as a commuter to work and back when I don't have to drive the boys anywhere. My V10 Excursion isn't exactly what they call "efficient" with gas, so I wanted something that would be better. I had a gas scooter that was great, but rarely rode it due to being on kid transportation duty many days. So I sold the moped and bought my Airwheel X8. This way, even when I have to take the kids to school in the morning, I can bring the Airwheel and zip home and back for lunch.

My EUC (electric unicycle) can go about 13mph and will go for about an hour of solid riding time or around 15 miles on a charge. So it takes a few more minutes to get somewhere than driving, but it's way faster than walking.

What I didn't expect is the extra commute time from being stopped by people on the street. In fact, if you are interested in getting to know people or are in ministry, this may be the best tool you could have. I can't wheel anywhere without people staring, stopping, and talking to me about it. I've had cars pull over to ask what I'm on, people come out of their houses to catch me and talk, and even one guy yelling from his truck, "Are you from the future?"

I love it. If you don't like people or attention, this may not be for you. But for me, this is so much fun. I've gotten to meet people I never would have otherwise and talk with them about all sorts of things beyond the wheel. I've spent a half hour getting to know new neighbors across the street after they asked me what I was riding. I got to meet a family on their front porch who may have no church or faith connection. But now, I can say hello and call them by name when I run into them again. And maybe God will use that.

I think the most important thing is this; being unique forces me to pay attention to the opportunities to love and share with people I meet in a way I just haven't when I'm not standing out. I allow myself to ignore people when I'm walking or driving because relationships are not forced upon me.

So I'll try to take advantage of the attention I'm getting and try to use it for God's glory. And maybe, we can all do the same even when the opportunities aren't quite so obvious.

And... if you like people, go get an EUC.

April Fools

I remember this one day when I was about 10 years old. My love for Batman was in full swing, especially with the “new” Michael Keaton version out on video. I watched that VHS every day for months. (I’ll explain VHS later, kids.)

My sister comes running down the stairs excitedly and tells me that one of her teen magazines had a contest to meet Michael Keaton and ride in the Batmobile and she entered me. And I won!

I was flipping out! I don’t know if I’ve ever been so excited in my life. Until…

“April Fools!!”

I cried.

You would think after that, I would hate April Fools’ Day. But I can’t. Katie is an April Fools’ baby and that makes it a day to celebrate.

This year feels like someone is once again making April Fools out of us. With Katie’s recent diagnosis of Thyroid Cancer, we can’t help but think, “Really? Again?”

When people hear that Katie has been diagnosed with the same Cancer that I have already battled twice - though hers is a different variant - they are understandably shocked. So are we. What are the chances?

But this is kind of par for the course for us. Since getting married at the ripe old age of 20, we have dealt with our share of blows.

Our last week of college was canceled after a tornado hit our campus causing 20 million dollars of damage and demolishing our apartment while we were in it. It was a scary, crazy few moments as the F3 tornado hit, blew out the windows, threw a dumpster from 200 yards away into the wall we were up against, and knocked out all the gas meters. We lost many of our belongings, had college cut short, and finals were canceled. (I could have used one or two of those finals.)

After moving to Chicago with plans of a teaching job for Katie to support my seminary education, it never materialized. So we fought through 3 years there with multiple jobs and lots of credit cards.

Then I was diagnosed with Cancer.

Then, 5 years later, it came back.

Now, this.

Life sucks…  April Fools.

I mean, yeah, there are a few instances and seasons of junk, but life is awesome. We have felt, seen, experienced God with us through every single one of these struggles. He has walked with us and remained faithful to us constantly. We've seen God’s people step up to love us and help us.

We have healthy, wonderful kids; healthy, supportive parents; and an amazing church family. We have much to be thankful to our Creator for, and very little to complain about.

It all depends on what we’re looking at. Are we blinded by the struggles so we miss the blessings? Too often the answer is yes. Instead, I want to be like Paul and Silas singing praises in prison.  Don’t you?

This year is going to be a challenge, but out of our challenges, comes growth. And I always wanted to be taller anyway.

Not a "good cancer"

My Thyroid Cancer story on Jamie Frey's awesome blog.

Skip the Rules

What would you think if I told you to ignore the rules? You know the ones I’m talking about; all those Old Testament rules that churches love to talk about. I’m so sick of talking about rules all the time. It seems like rules only lead to two possible extremes: either you follow them to the letter or you scrap them and do what you want. At least those are the only two authentic options. Anything in between is hypocrisy.

It’s this issue that Paul is dealing with in his letter to the Galatians, found in chapter 5. He is trying to write to both the legalists who think the Jewish law must be followed by Christians and antinomianists who think Jesus’ sacrifice means they have no moral expectations anymore. And Paul gives us a much better solution to this issue than either extreme. He says to forget the laws and instead let the Spirit of God be our guide.

I am awful at directions. I’ve learned that if I’m going to get anywhere, there must be a voice telling me where to go. So there are two women in my life that help me get where I need to go. My wife is a phenomenal navigator who can remember how to get anywhere she’s been to once. She’s my go-to guide in the car, but if I’m alone the voice of my beloved GPS makes sure I reach my destination. Don’t bother giving me a map, I’m not interested in searching out a route, and prewritten directions have too many ways to fail. I want someone with me who knows where I am and where I should turn next.

This is life in the Spirit. The Bible isn’t meant to be your prewritten directions to take you where God wants you to go. It’s the story of God’s love for His creation. He didn’t leave us directions, He offered to go with us and help us know where to turn. And if we are willing to live with God’s Spirit in us, we don’t have to worry about the rules. God will guide each step and help us know what we should do in each situation.

And if that isn't enough, Paul reminds us that living with the Spirit brings some amazing things into our life. Imagine not only have God’s presence there in all situations, but also being given a better life. A life full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness faithfulness, and self control. I could definitely use some more of those attributes in my life. Could you?

The Fruit of Toughness

Yes, I know that Toughness isn’t mentioned as a Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, but it’s a virtue I think we need more of. And maybe it’s not that far away from an actual mentioned Fruit anyway.

Toughness has always been important to me. I don’t know if that’s a result of being the youngest in my family, never being very physically large, or the way my parents raised me, but it was very important to me that I could out-tough people. I know I learned it at least partially due to my dad’s parenting style. While always loving, my dad wasn’t too concerned when my brother or I got hurt. I remember tearing my rotator cuff in 8th grade and trying to convince him that I should see a doctor. “Nah, you just pulled a muscle,” he said. Two weeks of not being able to lift my arm finally changed his mind and we found out the damage was real. Or there is the time that I cut my finger to the bone. Trying to out-tough my injury, I held pressure on it for 45 minutes with no sign of the bleeding stopping before I went to my parents. Dad said to give it another 20 minutes before we went for stitches. I’m not criticizing my dad for this. In fact, I find myself parenting the same way. And I know my small sized boys are going to need to learn toughness because size will never be their attribute.

Even as an adult, I find toughness important. At our Slick & Twisted Retreat in January, I volunteered to be first to jump into the icy lake water to make sure it was safe. Did I really want to do that? Nope. But I was not going to be the wimp that would let someone else take that chance. And I got the bloody lip, nose, and knees for it as I hit the ice on the other side of our hole on the way down. But at least everyone learned from my jump and no one else got hurt.

So toughness may not be a high Spiritual trait but I do think it’s connected to one. To me, Faithfulness is the originator of toughness. You can afford to be tough if you have faith in your ability to handle a situation. Or you can be tough because of your faith in the One who can handle any situation.

Faithfulness should lead to a life of wreckless abandon; fearlessness due to a relationship with the Creator of everything. There are great examples of faithfulness leading to toughness all throughout the Bible. There’s Daniel, who risks a den of lions to be faithful in prayer. There are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who dare the king to throw them in a furnace for refusing to bow to his statue.

And then there’s Paul. The toughest of the tough came out of true faithfulness in the Jesus he met on the road to Damascus.

“I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” - 2 Cor. 11:23-28

While I worry about being tough about useless stuff, Paul was tough because of his faith in God. We could all use a little more toughness and a lot more faith in this crazy world. Then we get to follow where the Spirit leads no matter the consequences. That’s tough.

Starting... Now...

A few years ago Katie, the boys , and I were visiting my family on a typical holiday weekend and our boys were driving us crazy. Parents, have you also noticed that your normally great kids just get annoying when they get around other people sometimes? I don’t know if it’s the need to show-off, the changed environment, or the hope of a present from Grandma and Grandpa, but it drives us crazy. This particular time, Katie had gotten to her wits end - as had I - and she said, “Okay, we’re starting over right now!” But unfortunately, she didn’t have God’s power to speak things into existence and her declaration had little effect. But she didn’t give up. Katie would go on to start over about fifty times that day, hoping one of them would work. My dad still teases her about starting over… “now”.

There are times that we do need to just start over. Some of those times are because we need to put the past behind us and begin anew with open hearts and fresh eyes. We do this when we obey Jesus’ command to forgive each other and offer grace.

But sometimes we start fresh for positive reasons instead of negative ones. A few weeks ago we completed our pledge drive to finance the new parking lot and we celebrated and dedicated our lot by having worship outside on it. It was an amazing day! I’ve written all about that experience here because it really was phenomenal.  One thing that struck me that Sunday morning as we committed to use our parking lot for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom was that it is a new beginning for us. Of course, the fact that we have new concrete isn’t remarkable, but on October 4th as we worshiped outside, we have a day to remember God’s faithfulness. Though parking our cars is a small part of what needs to happen on this land God has provided for our ministry, He still gave us what we needed to repair a dire need. God proved His faithfulness. If He will be faithful in the parking lots, why should we ever worry that He will be faithful in other ways?

Two prayer warriors of our church shared with me that they have felt that the parking lot may be step one to big things God is doing in us and through us here. And I believe them. God’s desire is to radically change this world through His church, and we have the chance to be a big part of that here in Mount Pleasant and our surrounding area.

So what if we start… now? What if we look back on God’s faithfulness in 2014 and say “that was the beginning”? It doesn’t matter what has happened before, good or bad. We are going to go forward with the knowledge and experience that God is going to be faithful to us so we will be faithful to Him.

This gets me so excited for what is coming. I want to be a part of something that matters, don’t you? I want to see that my life has mattered, and that I haven’t just wandered lazily through the life God has given.

So let’s start over. Let’s start now, knowing that God has plans for us and He’s going to lead us, provide what we need, and come through faithfully.  This is going to be fun… starting… NOW!