Okay, you're right! Prove it!

THE PROBLEM, though, is that our culture has moved on without us. We are still behind yelling about how we are right and everyone else is wrong. Our culture is ahead of us, and we stubbornly stay behind. Our culture, today, calls for action. Our culture and our world needs experiential proof. Now the word "proof" may spark our old attention, but we need to begin seeing "proof" very differently than we always have before.

We have exhausted ourselves at proving we are right and they are wrong, but we are only going to reach our culture today....NOW...when we learn to prove our Christian motives to love and serve when we actually go out in the world to love and serve.

Our world and culture no longer hear our words of "proof" for the right and wrong of Christianity; it has moved forward and awaits us to prove we are Christians by actually BEING Christians in the world around us.

Unsafe Christianity

What do we hope to get out of religion?  Why are we often so disappointed by religion? One main reason lies in our expectations of religion and the fact that they do not meet each other very well.

So many of us do an excellent job at confirming Nietzsche and his view of religion as an opiate for the people.  We have turned religion and especially Christianity into an opiate, a strong pain reliever, an ultimate high to calm us beyond anything we have ever known.  We have come to a point where we hate religion because it does not give us calm clear life. We get frustrated when Christianity does not offer us the clear cut answers and life we thought Christianity would be.  We soon come to realize that Christianity is NOT always clear and easy.  We come to realize that Christianity shakes us to the core.  WE realize that Christianity is not as SAFE as we had hoped and thought.

Christianity was and is never intended to be safe, and we cannot depend on it to be so.  In fact, Christianity is not safe and will always be uncomfortable, and if it is comfortable we are not experiencing true Christianity as it is intended to be.  We need to be shaken continually.  That is what Christianity does; it shakes us up.  It moves us to responsive action.

This is the reason so many Christians today are frustrated and close-minded.  They are closed to challenge and questioning because they want their faith, their religion, their Christianity to be clear, stable, and safe.

The [dis]ease of trust

One friend of mine asked the question, "Why is it so hard to trust God," and I spontaneously responded with... Because its risky! Trusting anything or anyone, especially God, is incredibly risky. In fact, if there is no risk then its not really trusting is it? I mean think about it; if I am not risking anything...if it were really really easy, then there would be absolutely no need to trust. Its hard to trust God because he's risky. You pay the risk that he's not real...since he IS real, you pay the risk of him not hearing you, you pay the risk of him saying "no" to any or all of your deepest questions, you pay the risk of him not feeling close, you pay the risk of his discipline (whatever that looks like), you pay the risk of him not meeting whatever expectations you may have (because he hardly ever does).....

But it is all of these risks that actually make TRUSTING possible...not easy, but utterly POSSIBLE. If you had none of these risks, you would not be able to trust God at all. The very fact that you are still pursuing is, in fact, trusting God. Trust is not feeling at ease...trust is taking the risks.

Bullet pointed update

* Back from Mexico where God did some incredible work in mine and others hearts. Broken chains! Serving the poor and deported! Watching my students present and BE the gospel in a dark, dank basement.* Still pursuing and learning about restoration in many parts of my life * Got the flu a few days ago. First time in years! * Change is imminent and on the rapidly closing horizon. * Listening to: Ascend the Hill, new Counting Crows album, and Oddisee * Reading: The Hunger Games, Simple Church, Growing Disciples, and Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl * Discouraged by: turn out of our taxes, the weight of change not exactly "resting" on your shoulders * Encouraged by: amazing wife, beautiful daughters, stronger relationships with students, hope for futur * Right NOW I miss: football, Anderson University, my nieces, and SYTYCD * Watching a lot of: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Fresh Beat Band, Whitney, and SNL

This one thing my buddy Henri said

"The farther I run away from the place where God dwells, the less I am able to hear the voice that calls me the beloved, and the less I hear that voice, the more entangled I become in the manipulations and power games of the world." - Henri Nouwen

Why God is wrecking you

"The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God....If the spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure that there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death." - Ozzie Chambers There are times I have certainly sensed God offending me with the things He brings my way. There have been times He speaks loud and clear through a devotional, through actions or words that have hurt me and offended me. A lot of those times, I have resulted to the, what I thought was, the faithful response of, "Well God is in control, and He knows best."

Of course that is very true, but I have rarely gone the next step when God has offended me. I have rarely taken a look at myself and tried to figure out, "Well then what is God telling me here? What is He getting at by offending me? What needs to die within my life? What is getting in the way of my serving God completely?"

If God is going to continue offending me until there is nothing left to hurt or offend, how long will I go without killing all those things left in my life to be offended and hurt? I do not want my service or relationship to God to be ruined by anything.

love and masks

Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know that we cannot live within - james baldwin

Using God

Sometimes I think I am more concerned with seeking God's rewards and gifts instead of seeking Him for the relationship's sake. I read Hebrews 11 and begin seeking God for the rewards that are promised to those who seek Him diligently. But then I try to make this practical and wonder if there have ever been times people have done that with me. Has anyone sought me out solely for the benefits I may bring to them? Has anyone ever sought out my friendship because of something I might offer them?

I cannot recall anyone doing that to me (primarily because I do not have a whole lot of rewards to offer), but what if someone DID pursue a friendship with me SO THAT they may get something out of me as a reward? What if nobody pursued friendship with me because the relationship was reward enough? I would feel pretty used. I would feel like the relationship was not sincere or intimate. That relationship would only LOOK LIKE a relationship.

I have to recheck my relationship with God now. Afterall, Hebrews blatantly tells us that God rewards those who seek Him out, but is that WHY I seek Him? Do I seek God so that He will reward me? That is not a relationship; that is a transaction.

Loved people love people; you don't

The common adage is "love others as you love yourselves," but for many of us, we would not wish that kind of love on anyone. We, for the most part, do not know how to love ourselves well. We do not understand unconditional love. Further, most people do not know they are loved unconditionally by God. Because most people do not know that, they are unable to love others well.

Oh I say I know God loves me, because my minds can logically admit that of course God loves us. I mean he has to, right? But most of us do not really understand or grasp the fact in our heart, soul, and spirit that God is passionately in love with us. We do not fully believe that reality, because if we really believed the unconditional love of God for us, we would bleed with that reality.

If I really lived a life that was fully confident that God loves me tenderly, I would be bringing and pouring that kind of love out on everyone I came into contact with. If I truly accepted and lived my life with the full understanding of God's unconditional love for me, I could not hold back healing reconciliation and hope from oozing from my life.

If I truly lived my life in acceptance of God's unending love for me, my only desire would be for everyone to know about it. I would want the only message from my mouths and life to be, "YOU ARE LOVED!"

But many of us do not know that love well enough. Many of us have not truly accepted that love nor believed that love enough. Many of us attack ourselves and tear ourselves down for a myriad of reasons, and with each one, deny the fact that we are tenderly and deeply loved. We are unable to really accept that unconditional love because we hang on to our own conditions. We have a death grip on all the conditions and limits we have placed on love, and in so doing, are incapable of accepting real and true unconditional love.

Truth of the matter is that the unconditional love is there whether I like it or not. I am deeply and tenderly loved whether I believe it or not. If I could learn to live in that understanding though, it would revolutionize the way I love those around me.

Christians - by Carol Wimmer

Christians - By Carol Wimmer

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'." I'm whispering "I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian" I don't speak of this with pride. I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not trying to be strong. I'm professing that I'm weak And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting I have failed And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not claiming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartaches So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow!

You and your selfish mountaintop experience

"Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount." - Ozzie Chambers Many of us are dependant on the mountain top experiences, and we get frustrated and disappointed when we go back down. We go to a camp or a retreat to get pumped up, and we want to stay there because everything is so good there. Our walk with God seems so amazing and we want to stay there. But as Ozzie points out, its such a selfish way to use the mountain. The mountaintop is intended for inspiration for the descent back into the valley. Life is intended to be lived in the valley; not on the mountaintop.

There are many people in the valley who need inspiration and rescue from the brokenness, but they will never be reached if we remain on the mountaintop.

Does that mean we should not have mountaintop experiences? Are we selfish because we are on the mountaintop? No! We are only selfish when our desire is to stay on the mountain.

The mountain experiences are necessary. We need those times for inspiration and rejuvenation, but we cannot be so dependant upon them that we want to stay there. We should be excited and ready to descend the mountain back down into the valley where life is intended to be lived. We have to take with us renewal and inspiration back down the mountain into our daily lives with our daily interactions with different people. Otherwise we are some of the most selfish people around.

We are told to go out into the world and spread the gospel unto all nations. When we go to the mountain, we experience the gospel once again. We take it in once again; allowing ourselves to be saturated in the relentless love of God. We grow closer to the heart of God with very minimal interruption, but we cannot stay there. We cannot live in this moment. We are not intended or called to live that way.

The mountain is intended to be inspirational, but we are intended to bring that inspiration and live in the valley.