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| God is Great!
Here are some of the things that he has done for me lately:
- He hears prayers concerning hurricanes
- He allows our car to break down in a mechanic's driveway
- He gives me the greatest family in the world
- He teaches my son a ton of stuff about driving
But us on the inside know that the greatest thing that he has done for
us was 2000 years ago and we are still trying to take it all in.
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| On Evangelism: Jesus Christ is Lord
I want the whole world to know.
(Could you ask them to visit my blog?) I want my church to grow. I
think that a local church really grows through relationships that
church members have with non-Christians and non-churchians. The problem
I have is this: Aggressively pursuing spiritual relationships with the
people around me. In our society, that ought to be a breeze. I would
never get killed for talking about Jesus here in the States, except
maybe in a high-crime area. I could jeopardize my job, maybe. The most
I would lose is 1) my "free" time - do I care that much about that? 2)
I could lose "face." So if the consequences of sharing my faith are so
light, why don't I do it? There must be somethng (pride, cowardice,
spiritual forces of darkness) that gets in the way. Lord, please reveal
what the problem is. I need your grace to be the light that I believe
that I am called to be. Help me overcome whatever the obstacles are to
effectively reach my chunk of the world. Before my little vapor of an
earthly existence is completely done. (By the way, if anyone under
middle age is reading this: Life really is a vapor. It took forever to
become 17, my college years were slow, but after that things seemed to
speed up. In retrospect, at almost 50, it amazes me how quickly time
goes.)
On "Going to Church"
OK, so going to church isn't so great. It
is much better to be the church. That means knowing to some degree what
God has called you to do in a local group of Christians and doing it.
On the other hand, we live in a very ungodly environment (in the US and
especially here in the South, it is more sinful than secular. Here you
can break all ten commandments and still have a soft spot for "god").
If we neglect fellowship with other Christians, we get a skewed take on
reality. Plus, worshipping with other Christians is preparation for
heaven and a way of purifying our brains. Also, it gives God the
opportunity to speak out loud through others in the preaching and
prophecy (if the church believes in it and is truly sensitive to God.)
My story is that I didn't have any stability at all until I was part of
a local church. If I missed, it was amazing how dried up I felt. (I am
intentionally not emphasizing the duty aspect, although it is
legitimate. As a young and unstable Christian, I have been bizarrely
legalistic. But God is not a bean-counter. He has reasons.) I am now
blessed to carry around a wife who loves God, so I don't have the
opportunity to drift too far.
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| A quick note just to say that I updated my blog.
We heard Tony's testimony at the men's breakfast last week. He is in
the process of being healed from cancer, but has lost an eye and an ear
to it. He is not quite old enough to be my dad, but he is an older guy.
He was really into New Age stuff. Cool thing...at the time, when he was
asked who his spirit guide should be, he said "Jesus Christ" which
didn't seem to go over well.
I have been reading (actually skimming) books on contemplative prayer.
Mostly Catholic. I like connecting with church history. I am drawn to
the mystics. I have noticed that when I get a bad vibe about are some
of the teachings, it is because they seem to promote a merging with a
non-personal (view of) God. Others really focus on knowing God as a
Person (or Persons as in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) which is right.
I think that relationship is key. One book I have been reading is
written by an Orthodox person (and a Catholic priest as co-author, I
think) on the "Jesus" prayer, which in its simplest form, just invokes
the name, "Jesus." I think that somewhere between throwing up impromptu
prayers in a possibly too-familiar way and, in the other direction,
getting spooky and mechanical using the Name of Jesus, there is a way
to communicate with a holy God that is really awesome.
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| "A person's a person, no matter how small."
Theodor Geisel
Today I am trying to get my mind around the devastation of New Orleans. I also noted in our Greensboro paper that the New Orleans front page heading was large (3/4 ") but the fact that the state lottery had
just been passed by the legislature had a heading twice that size. My
prayer is that we are seeing pre-revival values in our state, not
pre-judgment values. To me, a lottery run by the state isn't much
different from state-sponsored brothels. It is the government
exploiting the people. The problem is that everyone I know in my
outside-the-church-walls life seems to want it, so I suppose that it is
democracy in action. "Why should the Native Americans and the
surrounding states get all the revenue. Just think how much this will
help the schools!"
The only letter to the editor that I can remember writing was opposing
the lottery. I don't know why this issue is so troubling for me. I hope
that I am overreacting emotionally. I hope that it helps my prayer life.
I just went to the official Jars of Clay site http://www.jarsofclay.com/site.html
where you can listen to all the cuts on the Redemption Songs CD. I love
Jars. I think it's the angst. I can't listen to them when I feel
depressed -- it's too much. I once heard someone say that Jars would
never "sell out" and do a worship album. The sad thing was that I
understood what selling out and doing a worship album meant. May God
deliver us from whatever it is about our Christian culture that puts
worship and selling out together.
I don't know if Jars sold out. I know that they aren't kids anymore and hopefully are maturing in the Lord.
Parting shot: I am so glad to
be a Christian. I am staying home, taking a break from Wednesday night
prayer and I get to pray, read, listen to C.S. Lewis's Perelandra on
tape. I can know the Lord.
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| All this and heaven, too!
My bride's grandfather expressed gratitude (for good meals, etc.) with
the saying above. I wasn't around then. I share the sentiment, though.
I am so PROUD of my kids, who, each in their own way, is going after
Christ. I am also the most blessed among husbands, because I am married
to the most truly amazing and godly woman.
We had a great time last night on our "Worship Road Trip" to see Rita
Springer and Jason Upton in Concord. The venue was a real (hot)
warehouse turned church building, with a stage and chairs on one side
and racks, conveyor belt and truck bays on the other. Many, many people
in their 20's. I felt really old and my younger ones were really young.
Rita was worship-leading and Jason was more prayer-song-leading. My old
ears missed many lyrics when I wasn't reading the PowerPoint, but I
appreciated the spirit of worship there.
I really want that twenties age group at our church. I remember when I
was that age (almost 30 years ago) and God had placed me in a church
where things really seemed to be happening. There was a culture of
young peer Christian fellowship combined with a sense of being part of
something similar to the church in the New Testament. That was because
our pastor seemed able to network with all types of internationals and
old-time missionaries and evangelists. We had annual "conventions" that
brought amazing people from all over. I first came to the church to
hear a band. My college friend Van brought me there in an old car that
he called the "Maranatha Missile." I think that he introduced me to
falafel first at a Lebanese restaurant and then we went to the concert.
I was a religion major, a *real* Christian, but with no foundation at
all in the things of God. I remember seeing the people dancing and
worshipping there and thinking...what these simple folks needed was a
theologian to explain them to the world.
After being at this church (Maranatha Church) for some time, I began to
learn something about the New Testament. Every religion major should
read the New Testament. Anyway, I was exposed to the teaching that
every Christian should be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I looked it up
in the NT and it seemed to be there. It was exciting and scary. It is
one thing to talk to a God that is up there. It is another thing to
invite God to invade my space.
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