Evening into Morning

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called the Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." Genesis 1:5

Too many times I have seen the repetition of evening into morning as a burden. Another day creeps forward and the work of Christian living seems nowhere nearer to a close and nowhere closer to the goal. I'm encouraged however when I see the way God views the passage of days. Before God created anything else in the world, he created day and night. Before the world we so adamantly protect, the creatures we preserve, and the people we elevate and glorify, God created Day and Night. As I was reading this morning in Genesis, it became apparent to me that God created day and night first so that, through the daily repetition of morning into evening, evening into morning, He could have a consistent reason to look back and delight in what had happened the previous day. The very first thing God created in this world was a mechanism to express consistent delight in His creation and handiwork. Evening has just passed into morning, a year to a new year, a decade to a new decade, and it is time for us to look back with delight in all that the Lord has done!

Let us praise Him for the constant reminder that every day is a day God created for His delight, so that we might also delight in Him!

The Distractions of Pettiness

"I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught: avoid them." Romans 16:17

The church need only be guilty of the sin of division and pettiness to be rendered ineffective. Satan knows this well and has in many ways succeeded in destroying the voracity of the Holy Spirit's power in the church by dividing it. The church family in many ways is a broken family riddled with a history of divorce. Doctrinal differences, cultural shifts, and extra-Scriptural dogma, instead of pushing the Church into a period of growth through prayer and discussion, usually end in a heated parting of ways. It grieves my heart to look into the history of the church and find it so fragmented to be almost unrecognizable. It's even worse to know that I don't need to look further than my own sinful tendencies to understand why the Church is the way it is. I entertain division and petty doctrines constantly. I fail to take the advice of Paul and avoid them. How will the church be God's holy temple if it is a temple divided? How will we be a reflection of God's redemptive glory if we are a fragmented mirror?

Lord Jesus, convict us of our pettiness and return us to a heart and mind united by your Spirit. Lord, let us avoid divisions!

The Necessity of Prayer

"In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer." Psalm 109:4

It frightens me sometimes how often my response to difficulty and criticism is self-reliance. When my back is up against a wall, when I feel misunderstood, when the plan falls apart, I frequently look only into my own store room of gifts and talents to see what I can offer to fix the situation. It pains me to admit this because there is nowhere in scripture that reflects that philosophy. God does not help those who help themselves, he helps the helpless. He does not reward the healthy, he heals the sick. He does not elevate the working, he fixes the broken. My deepest desire would be to stop looking to myself to fix things and expect God to honor it. I want to have the same attitude of the Psalmist, to give myself to prayer in all circumstances. Prayer is the only godly response to the helplessness of life. As Charles Spurgeon wrote, "A prayerless soul is a Christless soul." Prayer is not merely an option for Christian living, it is the option for Christian living.

Lord Jesus, take away my selfish self-reliant soul and replace it with a soul who lives and dies by the power of prayer and communion with you!

Reflection From a Soon to be Dad

On July 9th, 2010, I will become a dad.

It would be impossible to fully explain all the different thoughts, the joys and the doubts, the angst and peace, that go along with that truth. But I'm sure those who are dads can relate. It is the most terrifying and joyful thing to be expecting a first child.

About a month ago, Lauren and I went in for our first ultrasound. Up until that point, it wasn't real for either of us. We were so concerned about how to pay for things, whether we were ready, outright denying it, that the full weight of a baby forming in Lauren's womb hadn't hit either of us. And then we saw on the screen a tiny pulsating white spot. Our baby's heart was beating so fast and working so hard. At that moment all of the worries and fears that had risen inside us vanished, and we both fell in love with that tiny heart nestled inside Lauren's caring womb.

A week ago we got to hear the heart again. It's still beating proudly, anxiously waiting to scream it's way into our family. As I wrestle with all that's going on and the prospect of being a dad, something hit me that I don't think ever could've hit me without becoming a father. Jesus was once that little beating heart inside Mary's womb. Now I can't help but wonder how God the Father processed seeing his only Son, whom He had been with for eternity, developing from an embryo into a fetus, into a baby, into a child, and into a man. Did his heart leap the first time he looked into Mary's womb and saw his Son's first heartbeat? Did he take a picture of it and put the sonogram of it on his heavenly fridge for all the saints and angels to look at and cheer? Did he melt as he saw Jesus's hands form, his eyelids develop, his kicking legs grow? Did he jump when Mary jumped as Jesus moved and stretched? Even as an expectant father, I can't imagine the joy God took in watching His Son develop.

But as God peered down to see this baby form, I'm sure His joy was mixed with sorrow. The only reason His Son had to become a man in the first place was because the world sinned. Despite all the delight God might have taken in his Son's birth, the inevitable death and torture awaiting his Son couldn't have been far from his mind. What love and pain the Father must have felt in seeing his Son give up his heavenly body and become a man!

I have been so overwhelmed with delight witnessing our baby grow. But I likewise know that the precious beating heart inside Lauren right now will be born into a world of darkness and sin. I am so happy to be a dad, but I weep that our future child will suffer the world of sin. My only hope is that our child will be saved by the beating heart God was so pleased with 2000 years ago.

In thinking about all this, Christmas has taken on a new depth. It is a celebration. God became a man and was born to be the Lamb of God, the Savior, the Christ, Immanuel! But for me this year, it is a celebration rooted in sorrow because his birth was only necessary because of my wretchedness--his incarnation was due to a world of darkness and his purpose in birth was death.

This Christmas let us rejoice for salvation, but let us mourn it's necessity.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." John 3:17

The House Always Wins

This is an article I wrote for my dad's blog on Family Matters website. I just thought I would share it with you guys here as well.

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It was my first trip to a Casino. My friends and I had just turned 18, and in the ignorance and foolishness of youth, we were all eager to try those things that you had to be 18 to do...like legally gambling at a real casino. We drove out to the reservation with ten dollars in each of our pockets and the naïve hope that we could win big in each of our hearts. We decided that ten dollars was all we were spending and no matter what, once we were out, we were done.

Needless to say, we learned a valuable lesson that night: 10 dollars doesn't last long in a casino. Within a few minutes of scattering to the different traps the casino had to offer, we were back together minus both our money and our delusional hope for quick cash. We did have fun though. Likening it to spending 10 dollars at a movie theater, we decided it wasn't a waste of money...so we went back a few weeks later.

My second time at the casino was a very different experience. We all returned with the same plan, same ten dollars, and the same vain hope. But this time I didn't come away excited to go back.

Perhaps because of the novelty the first time, I hadn't really observed my surroundings. But as I walked around the quarter slots, and the dollar blackjack tables, I couldn't help but notice the tired and desperate eyes surrounding me.

I noticed the old women in cheap clothing putting quarter after quarter into slot machines with no reward. I saw broken, zombie-like men in ragged suits at the black jack table doubling down on money they couldn't afford to lose; their only sign of life being that greedy gleam in the corner of their eyes driving them to bet again.

When I left that night (losing my ten bucks again), I felt the mixture of pity and anger common to witnessing injustice and exploitation. My views of casinos certainly changed. Sure, no one is holding a gun to these people's head forcing them to come in and part with their money. Yet there is no doubt that casinos promote the myth that all worries can be gone with one roll of the die, one pull of the arm on the slot machine, or one flip of the right card.

In the end, the only people truly getting rich at casinos are the casinos. It's true what they say, “The house always wins”...and it made me very sad and angry to witness it.

After reading a recent article in the New York Times, I had the same feeling. The article, entitled “Believers Investing in the Gospel of Getting Rich”, was about the Southwest Believer's Convention in Fort Worth, TX. Started by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the Southwest Believer's Convention preaches the gospel of prosperity. If you sow the seed of your hard earned money in this well-dressed servant's ministry, and have enough faith, God will give you an abundant harvest - more than you can ask or think. If you invest enough in this preacher's vision, someday you can enjoy the cruises to Alaska, vacations to Hawaii, and a mansion like this servant of God. Who knows? God may even throw in a giant vault of money that you can go swimming in every morning - just like Scrooge McDuck. The prosperity gospel is a theology that turns God's blessing into the winning number on the roulette wheel and Jesus into a pit boss.

The article mentioned numerous individuals, some in debt upwards of $100,000 who travelled 1000 of miles to take their chances at this Christian Casino. While they were there they dropped tons of their money into the spiritual slot machine of prosperity preaching. Among the needs that these thousands of desperate followers were investing in was a Lear Jet for the preacher's ministry and big, new HD flat screen televisions for their offices - because if we've learned anything from the Apostle Paul it's that we need Lear Jets and flat screen TV's to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

After reading the article, I was tempted to drive down I-30 and shake every single person there asking them, “What are you thinking?!?!?!”

I didn't. But I really wanted to.

It's tempting to go off in anger about this, but I have to refrain. We live in a free country. People are free to delude others and even free to be deluded. And even though this kind of spiritual injustice and exploitation is easy to spot I'm hesitant to coldly come down harshly on the people who get sucked into it. That's because of the subtle way I frequently fall into the same trap.

It should come as no surprise that the economy is in a recession right now. Although my wife, Lauren, and I haven't lost money in the same way others have, we have nonetheless seen the results of the bleak economy on our own finances. I can't tell you how many times my prayers have gone something like, “God if only Lauren or I could have a better job, or if only my hourly wage could be a bit higher, then we could really serve you more effectively. Am I not tithing enough? Didn't you promise your blessings on those who follow you?”

Much to my shame, I have said those things to God. And in the process, I realize that I'm doing the same thing people at this convention were doing as they walked up to the altar and laid down what little money they had. I wasn't looking for God's blessing, I was longing for God's jackpot.

In John 4, Jesus meets a woman from Samaria at a well. After asking for a drink he tells her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10) I imagine the Samaritan woman's desperate eyes light up. Thoughts of never making the tiring trek to the well or lugging the heavy water pots on her shoulder race through her mind. She starts to salivate for the liquid payola she sees in the man sitting next to her. I can't help but see myself in that same situation leaning into Jesus pleading, “Give me this water so I won't be thirsty anymore!”

In the end, Jesus doesn't give her any water; he gives her himself.

In this we find the deception of the prosperity preaching that distills God's blessing down to a crap shoot. We find the folly in asking God for a better job, or a repaired economy, or good looks, or food that always fills, or water that always satisfies. God, indeed, wants to bless us; to give us an abundant life and living water so we never thirst again. He just doesn't give it to us the way we expect it. He gives us himself.

While processing all of this I can't help but feel that the loss of net worth, the imploded stock markets, the unemployment, and the quiet desperation creeping into our souls is, in fact, God's blessing on America. It's his way of coming down and gracefully shaking us into seeing how blessed we've been all along. He's saying, “I'm not actually talking about real water, or bread, or riches. I'm talking about myself. And I'm willing to diminish your access to those things to help you find me, know me and enjoy the truly abundantly life I have to offer.”

The problem with casinos is the same thing that's wrong with the health and wealth gospel. They both assume that our lives will be better if we just have more money and creature comforts. But in the end, "the house” - hose people controlling and peddling all these promises - are the only ones who really win.

With Christ it's different. The Bible says we have been built into Him, that our blessings spring from being part of the structure of the kingdom of God - with Christ as the cornerstone. (1 Peter 2:4-7; Ephesians 2:19-22) Instead of the house of God exploiting those that visit, God wants to build us into his house, giving us the richest blessing of all...himself. We believers are the house! And as I ponder the truth of all the riches I have in Christ, I can't help but grin and think, the house really does always win.

The God of Rain

I was awoken at 3:30 this morning by crashes outside our bedroom window. Flashes of light bolted through and made shadows dance briefly on the wall, and then another crash. Our windows were shaking. I remember looking at the weather last night and knew there was a chance of rain. But this storm was on a different level. I imagined those National Geographic specials on storms and floods and pictured our house breaking as the floods tore it apart. I imagined us being that group of huddled people floating down the street, Lauren, me, and the dog all huddled into the center of the bed while lightning and rain and thunder displayed it's awesome and terrible might around us. I'm much more dramatic in the early morning. The storm, as intense as it was, was not National Geographic bad.

As Lauren rolled over for me to hold her, a different thought came into my mind. I started picturing the disciples in the middle of the sea when the storm hit. As Deadliest Catch has taught me, storms at sea are far more dangerous and frightening than ones on land. I imagined the disciples screaming at each other to cut the sails as Andrew and Peter grabbed anything they could to scoop water out. I imagined food and clothing being thrown off the side as John and James got knocked into the hull by a giant wave. I imagined a lot of swearing, and last thoughts and final regrets, and tears as they braced themselves for that final wave, that final bolt of lightning that would send them each into their end in the sea. And then I imagined Jesus sleeping, trying to rest from days of teaching and healing people. I always picture him sleeping on his side, but who knows, he may have been sprawled out in the back of the ship's cabin.

I realize this all sounds a little over the top, but like I said, I'm far more dramatic in the early morning hours. As I pictured the scene of the disciples in the boat in the middle of the storm with Jesus in the back sleeping, I remembered the outcome of the story. The winds and the waves obeyed him, he calmed the storm. As I layed holding my sleeping wife, I just repeated over and over, "The winds and the waves obey him. He calms the storms." Needless to say, I was overwhelmed. The storm surrounding us made our room light up as if there were 100 halogen lamps flashing and our windows shake as if elephants were wrestling in the room next to us. But with a word from God, the storm would cease. For the rest of the morning, as the storm intensified and waned, intensified and waned, I lay in terror and wonder at the awesome power of God. And I feared Him.

Gran Torino and the Cry for True Manliness

So last night Lauren and I watched the movie Gran Torino. It was amazing!


Apart from being scared to death of Clint Eastwood, it opened my eyes to something about our culture. I found throughout the movie that it was strange that I liked Clint Eastwood's character. He was racist, bitter, irreligious, and an alcoholic, but somehow he ended up being one of the more respectable and strong heroes I'd seen in a movie in a long time. As I caught myself being sucked into the movie, I couldn't help but ask why I liked the character so much.

After watching the movie it's plain to so see why he was such a great protagonist. He had courage. He had no tolerance for bullies. He spoke things directly. In the end, he proved to be a great example of genuine manliness...which got me thinking...

I might be reading into the movie and the implications it has for society a little too much, but I think this movie shows an underlying desire by men to be real men. It is apparent that men being men is not the norm in this culture. Senators and other men in power are being seen more and more to betray their commitment to their family, their values, and their duties as a leader, for their own selfish pleasure. Men are becoming more content to sit at desks and get by then be extraordinary at what they do. Even men in ministry are often times more content to sit in meetings, stay in church and outsource the scary parts of ministry then lead by doing.

It seems like the culture we are living in is exactly the culture we can expect. Boys with no dads are now growing up to be men with no courage. And I think people are starting to realize it and miss having a man in the house.

Anyway, it was a great movie and it reminded of the importance of being a man in a culture full of cowards and bullies.