When you say "I hate to say this, but..."

When you say "I hate to say this, but..." we assume you love to say this.

Come on! Admit it! Whatever you follow up that precursor with is something you have either been dying to actually say at the right time or it is something you actually say all the time...BECAUSE you love to say it.

Save the theatric! Just own it. You cannot wait to say this out loud for everyone to hear, so just say it.

This phrase usually completed with: - "I told you so" - statements about the state of an organization or country - statements about a person to or behind their back

Pain and Gods goodness

True Story: Our professor asked the class a simple question:

"What do you think of when you think of God's goodness?"

Slowly hands went up, and then a flood of hands shot up. It was story after story of hurt, pain, and suffering. Each story reflected how incredibly painful situations came and went, but there was a common thread of retrospect by which each person realized they were stronger having come through it. They each reflected on how they came away from those moments with a stronger understanding of God's goodness.

After about 30 minutes of story, I sat amazed that all these stories of pain faced and gone through were sparked by a question about what we thought of when we thought of God's goodness. We were not asked about pain, evil, hurt, or why bad things happen to good people. We were asked about God's goodness, and it sparked reflections on painful points in life.

I came away wondering if we could understand God's goodness until we have come through things like this.

How incredible is God's goodness!

When you fall

"When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand." Psalm 37:24

I love the reminder today of WHEN we fall, because we certainly will and do. For those who follow Christ, we are promised we will fall, but we will not fall too far as God holds our hand.

My two year old has been walking for a little while, but from time to time she attempts running. She can only go so far at a certain speed before she falls. I will hold her hand often while she walks and runs. She does fall, and WHEN she does, it is never too far. I have a hold of her hand.

In verse 39, the Psalmist writes, "[God] is their strength in time of trouble."

In your life, there WILL be trouble. God does not take trouble away. He is strength IN times of trouble. He will be the hand to hold you in times of trouble. He will not let you fall too far, but fall you will. Find strength only God can be and give to you in those times.

The richest least of these

I found the least of these in our rich America.  Huh?  How could that be possible?  Where could you have possibly found the least of these here?

Jesus tells the Disciples, “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.  I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, naked and you did not clothe me.”  Then they ask Him the same thing I could here at the university.  “God, when did I ever actually see you hungry, thirsty or naked here?”  There are no least of these here, God.  They pay good money to be here.  These people don’t ever go hungry or thirsty, and it is illegal to be naked in public should they even desire to do so.  Where are the least of these among me here?

God would answer me to tell me I am swimming in a sea of people who are hungry, thirsty and naked in their soul.  How am I meeting those needs?  What do the least of these look like in the culture around me?

Are we only hungry for food?  Do we only thirst for liquid?  Do we only need clothing to cover us?  I am sure our hearts would bleed with all sorts of answers to that question.  Of course we hunger and thirst for all sorts of things.  Many of us hunger for purpose.  We thirst for passion.  We are hungry for some sort of understanding.  We are thirsty for someone to recognize us; for someone to affirm us in our pursuits and existence.  We all want to be clothed in someone’s concern for us.  We desire to be covered by some sort of care from anyone.  We are all hungry, thirsty, and naked souls.

More importantly, the least of these surround me on all sides each day.  But Jesus’ question still lacerates my heart today.  “What have I done for the least of these among me?”  Not much!  This kills me not only because it’s a condition on my heart, but because is literally my JOB to do something for the least of these among me.

I fear that I refused to give to them what they needed.  I fear I did not clothe many if any friends in affirmation.  I fear I did not feed many if any friends’ hunger for understanding or purpose.  I fear I did not quench many if any person's thirst for passion or someone else’s active concern for them.

I fear there were too many hungry, thirsty, and naked souls I passed by for an entire year with miniscule interest.  I fear the least of these among me saw me too BUSY for their hopes, fears, concerns, aspirations, dreams, doubts, disappointments, and loneliness.  And its my job, not only as an pastor but as a Christian.  I must love more.

I MUST QUIT SERVING PEOPLE AND START SERVING THE LEAST OF THESE AMONG ME!

CAN I SEE THE LEAST OF THESE IN EACH PERSON I SEE AND MEET?

What must you be like

But it was on SALE!!!

Early this year I put out a spoken word poetry EP. I had been charging $4 which was $1 a track, but I think that is ridiculous. I have marked the entire album down to $1. WHAT?!?!

Yeah! $1

You can pay $1 for the entire EP, or truth be told, you can download each track by naming your own price. You can name your price at $0.00 and its all yours. I only ask that if you take it for free, you please click like or tweet it. If you're going to take it, please share it!

[bandcamp album=1107388974 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Saved from what?

I need a more concentrated sense of my sin.  We need to understand our sin in a more detailed manner.  Only through knowing our sin in its detail can we really experience grace and salvation to its fullest within us.  Ozzie Chambers writes, "There is never any vague sense of sin [in the presence of God], but the concentration of sin in some personal particular."

This concentrated understanding of our sin is important because then there is real freedom in realizing what grace has saved you from.  It is easy for us to claim we are sinners.  OF course we are sinners!  We all know that and can claim it very simply.  We do not experience real grace in that though.

It is just as easy for us to claim we are sinners, but we have been saved.  Yes, that is true, but that kind of understanding is not concentrated enough to really understand what grace really means.  A more concentrated understanding of our sin allows us to feel and answer the real question:

"SAVED FROM WHAT??!!"

If we are only claiming the unconcentrated and ambiguous claim of being a sinner, we are no different than anyone else.  In this manner, we only know grace and salvation as a concept, which does no one any good.

We have to break ourselves down and embrace our sin that we may sincerely embrace grace offered to all of us.  When I begin to quit calling myself only a sinner, but a selfish man with too much desire to please myself through my time, my words and my actions, I can THEN feel a distinct sting of my sin.  When I feel that distinct sin, I am able to realize what I am actually saved FROM!  Salvation and grace become that much more real to me. With each sin exposed, the embrace of grace grows that much more sincere and real.

Ozzie writes, "The cleansing fire had to be applied where the sin had been concentrated."  When we allow ourselves to concentrate our sin instead of leaving it vague and general, we begin to know real cleansing.  In Isaiah 6, verse 5, Isaiah concentrates his sin.  He does not say, "Woe is me!  For I am a sinner."  We all know he is a sinner.  We all know ourselves to be sinners.  No!  Isaiah repents, "Woe is me!  For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips."  Isaiah concentrated his idea of his sin.

The Seraph touches the cleansing coal not to Isaiah's entire life either.  He touches the cleansing coal to Isaiah's lips; the very concentrated part he had repented of.

When we can concentrate our sin into the detailed sins, we can answer the question,

"SAVED FROM WHAT?!"

Your shining

"You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16

It is the very property of light to SHINE.  We are not given a light to shine; we ARE the light that shines.  Whether we like it or not.  We always shine.  We shine even during the times we think we are hidden.  We are still seen.  It is impossible to hide ourselves.  We live in a house of glass walls, essentially.  How do we live?  We must realize that no matter how we live each day, we still shine as a Christian.  The real question is, "What am I shining out for others to see?"

You cannot cover the light, but the light can be extinguished by its own choice and desire.  But when that light is actually put out....when we choose to extinguish ourselves, we are no longer followers of Christ.

The simple fact is I am a Christian, and I will shine because of it, but what do I shine forth in the name of Christianity?  Since we are the actual light, we can no longer remain hidden, even if we want to.

The Life of Pc

I once read Life of Pi; a book about a guy whose family is lost on a giant sinking cargo ship that was taking he and his family from India to Canada in order to begin a new life.  The author brings you along with Pi (short for Piscine) on the lifeboat he was lucky to get to after the ship sank.  As if that were not terror enough, also seeking refuge on the lifeboat are a slowly dying zebra, a hyena, an orang-utan, and a giant tiger all left from the zoo Pi's father owned in India.  His father was bartering the remaining animals so the family had a decent start in Canada.

At one point in my reading, Pi had been in the open Pacific Ocean on the lifeboat for almost 4 or 5 days now.  The hyena had eaten the zebra and attacked to kill the orang-utan.  The tiger had just killed the hyena, and Pi fears every moment whether he will be next.  Will he die of some other means?  Will the sharks get him first?  What would he do IF the tiger did attack him?

I went to bed that night!

I wonder what will happen to Pi?  Furthermore, what if all the novels we read are actually some distant reality actually happening and solely dependant on my finishing the story?  What if somewhere somehow Pi really is just sitting on a lifeboat in outrageous fear, and if I had put the book down never to finish after Monday night he never would have found the canned drinking water, ration, and a checklist like you would find on one of those team-building exercises your boss brings to board meetings?  "You and 3 of your co-workers are stuck on a desert island, and you only have a box of matches, a can of water, a pencil..."

What if Pi were really awaiting my finishing the book?  I mean Yann Martel (author) wrote the entire book; it has an ending.  But what if somewhere Pi was really stuck on a lifeboat with a giant tiger and he did not know there was an ending?

Moreover, what if Pi knew there was an ending, but my reading to it is the only way to reach the ending?  I think Pi would be pretty pissed at me for going to bed last night.  He's probably pissed at me right now while I'm writing this while I COULD be drinking my coffee and reading the darn book.

I say to Pi, "You know what!  There's an ending written for you, and we will get to it in good time.  Just wait!"

"PC, shut up!  Just shut up!  I am the one stuck on the lifeboat with a ravenous tiger looking for human dessert."

"Pi," I say with agitation, "there's still plenty of book left, and the book is entitled, 'LIFE of Pi.'  I am sure you get out of this.  Just be patient.  I am a working man.  I cannot read all day.  I will read tonight.  Just wait!  It will be fine."

Then I come out of my distant land of Pi and into the reality of PC.

God says, "PC, you know what!  There's an ending written for you.  I wrote it, and we will get to it in good time.  Just wait!"

"God, shut up!  Just shut up!  I am the one down here with bills, a job, a marriage, a family, school, a ministry and Satan waiting behind every corner for PC dessert."

"PC," God says with tender agitation, "there's still plenty of LIFE left, and I have titled it 'LIFE of PC.'  I am sure you get out of these things.  Just be patient!  I am a sovereign God, and the author of your life.  I will get you through your life as I have written in.  It will be fine."

As Children

God calls the children to Him, and He calls us to come to him as children.  We too often think of this as a call to simplicity before God.  Come to him full of joy and whatever else you think a child looks like. What we hardly ever consider is that the context of the passage presents children as despised individuals.  In that time, children were heavily looked down upon.  They were considered of no account.  We are too associate ourselves with children in the realization that we are all beggars at the door of God's mercy, love, blessing, and grace. 

We have to come before God as needy people who honestly admit and accept our need.  God longs to love the unraveled hearts, the broken down and the poor.  We have to come to God as children, because God longs to love His children who are otherwise despised.  We are ALL needy people, and we lie to ourselves if we deny that.

So I run to my heavenly Abba...my DADDY as a child who recognizes a need...I am a broken ragamuffin bested by life struggles, fights and inconveniences, inconsistencies and insecurities.

Open-minded

Why limit yourself to only the things you can fully understand and define? We are cheating our human capacity and innate desire to search and seek.

We are capable of searching out greater things than ourselves, but we are content to limit that only to things we can quantify or too easily define.

Who is the real open-minded one?