... Do I Have To?

In yesterday’s comment section Steve raises an interesting thought: “What I'm finding is "my neighbor" is often the person I don't want to be neighborly to.” Ouch. That hurts in so many ways. I want to help my nice neighbors. I want to serve my rich, powerful, influential neighbors so I can get something back. I don’t want to get “dirty”. So, who are the neighbors that we don’t want to be neighborly to?

Here’s something that belongs in the be-careful-what-you-pray-for category, but also in the incredible-faith category. In the movie The Hiding Place, one scene portrays Corrie Ten Boom telling the Lord she wants him to use her in whatever way he pleases, even if it means in obscurity (or to neighbors I don’t want to go to). Soon after that, she is taken prisoner by the Nazis (definitely NOT good neighbors), along with her father, from whom she is separated. Her father dies in the death camp, and then she is forcibly removed from her beloved sister. The Nazis shove Corrie into a cold, damp cell in Germany (again, NOT neighborly). As the scene closes, she is lying in a corner, shivering. And with tear-filled eyes she whispers to the Lord, "But God, I didn't know I would have to be alone."

Ouch again. Help me, God, to go to my neighbors... all of them.

... Who is my Neighbor?

For a long time I have wondered if our extrapolations of that parable of Jesus (Luke 10) is a bit off-track. I know, I know, theologians everywhere tell us that is the beauty of teaching in parables: there is more than one point to be made. I think it’s fine and good to try and put ourselves in the various shoes of the various people in the parable. I think its fine to have an expectation of followers of Jesus to reach out and help the broken-down travelers on the highway. But we need to bring the message of this parable back from these examples to the people right around me. The ones I see everyday. And to me!

But I really think that we need to start by asking the question the “expert in the Law” was asking (Luke 10:29); then read the parable again; then ask the question of ourselves, making sure we’re not, as he was, trying to justify himself (basically he was testing Jesus to make sure he was in OK standing with God).

We need to ask that question, “Who is my neighbor?”, because it is one of the most powerful questions to be asked and answered. Who is the person that I see all the time around me that needs care? Are they my co-workers, neighbors (actual person living next to us), family, friends? We need to run away from the temptation to justify ourselves that we are OK, that we’re doing everything we can to be nice people, that we don’t break any laws – we’re nice people, that we’ve “done enough” good things. We need to run to our “neighbors”, and care for them, wherever and whoever they are.

I heard a lesson one time that ended with how Mr. Rogers began: “Won’t you be my neighbor?” There are people crying out for one. Let it be me. Let it be you.

.. is fishing with dad somehow more special?

Sorry there hasn't been much blogging this week. I have been on a tight schedule, arranged by Keeley (8 year old daughter). The rest of the family are in Mexico on a mission trip. She has been at a Music and Drama Camp in the morning all week so I have been using that time wisely doing the ministry stuff I need to do (you know, sermons, lessons, counseling, stuff like that). Blogging sometimes gets relegated to the periphery. You see, in the afternoons all week, Keeley has had everything planned out. A couple of days were spent at friends houses but the rest of the time was with dad seeing movies, shopping, playing Sorry, that kind of stuff. Which leads me to my post for today.

The greatest memories of being with my dad are the countless times we went fishing. They are so burnt into the fabric of my mind that I can't imagine going fishing without him. Everything I know about the outdoors, fishing, and fixing things comes from him. The fishing memories are the most lasting.

Tomorrow, Keeley and I go fishing. Her first time. All I can say is that I am thankful for stocked fish ponds where you can go and almost be assured of catching something. 8 year old girls don't so well without results, although I am secretly hoping that just being with dad will be enough for her! It works for me!

... how's your neighbor?

(This is a first in a series of "neighborly" posts, leading to a discussion of centered around the thought: "Who is my neighbor?" First, we begin with a question, "How is your neighbor?")

Praying for neighbors. Ever since we got married and we were getting ready to move somewhere, Laurie has prayed for our neighbors (more fervently after having children). She has prayed that the kids would be nice and that everyone would be friendly. She has boldly prayed that they wouldn’t be the neighborhood crazy children that happened to live right next door to us.

I think God thought we were strong enough to handle any situation because he has given us our share of unusual people living close to us.

We’ve had a depressed man living the apartment next to us after we got married who used to cry and moan himself to sleep.

We have had the “Loud” family. Everything they did was loud: talking, yelling (100 decibels loud), and worked on cars at 2:00AM loud…

We have had neighbors living in a basement apartment below us in Canada that I believe were growing pot marijuana in their apartment. He also yelled at me for getting a few blades of grass (probably close to four total) on his fifteen-year-old piece-of-junk car, demanding I pay for a car wash!

We’ve had teenagers next door throwing bonfire parties in their backyard, complete with all of their friends at all hours of the night (those of you reading this from Livonia Youth Group know what I’m talking about – if not, ask dale, Rob, and Brian next time you talk to them).

My favorite story though occurred when we moved to TX when our kids were 9, 7, & 2. Laurie was fervently praying for good neighbors so we thought things were cool when our next-door neighbors had two boys exactly Meg and Cam’s age. It didn’t take long to realize these boys were going to be a challenge. The younger one had an unusual habit of just walking into your house unannounced. I came out of our bedroom one day to find _____ sitting on my couch watching TV. I asked him what was going on and where Cameron was. He said, “Outside.” I said, “Hey, why don’t you go out and play with them?” He said, “I came in to take a break and watch some TV.” That was enough for me. We laid some boundaries, rules, whatever you want to call them at that point. Knocking is good. Coming in when you are asked to is good. Those kind of things.

What kind of "How's your neighbor" stories do we have out there?

... about Knowing God or Knowing About God

WARNING: JUST BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE BETTER INFORMED IN RESPECT TO WHO GOD IS DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU KNOW HIM ANY BETTER. There’s a difference between knowing about someone and knowing that person personally.

Knowing God or having a relationship with God is what we were created for- consider why God created Adam and Eve and how he walked in the garden with them.

The person who "knows" God has a relationship with Him. We understand that from our human relationships. You and I claim to know only those who we have met and related to. We don’t claim to know a person who we have merely read about. It is the same with God. If all you have is read or heard about God that doesn’t mean you know him. You have to meet him and relate to God to say you know him.

Jesus is the way to knowing God/ having a relationship with God. That’s why he came to earth: that we might have peace with God. Sin separated us.. In the book of John, Jesus tells his disciples that they know the Father because they know him. Meaning: a relationship with Jesus means a person has a relationship with God the Father because as Jesus attests they are one. "If you have seen me, you seen the Father," (John 14)

In John 17:3 Jesus in his prayer says "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Did you see that? Don’t miss that! Jesus said that knowing God was eternal life! You want the key to eternal life? Find a way to know God you Creator, Lord, and Master. Find a way to know him as a merciful, caring, gracious, and loving God.

... about being a good dad

Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, "A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father." While we may buck against that when we are younger, after all, who wants to be like that guy? We tend to soften, get smarter, and realize that’s our path. We’re going to look like him physically and sometimes, whether we like to admit it or not, we are going to act like him.

"If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right." -- Bill Cosby

Guys, what are some good memories of our fathers? What are some traits we want to have that he had that will help us be better dads?

... About Summertime and Weddings

Ah, summertime. It’s almost here for us in the mountains. A time when thoughts are on the lovely weather, baseball, the outdoors, where we are going on our family vacation, and sometimes how many weddings are packed into such a short time. One year, back when I was in my twenties, it seemed like we attended one every week for an entire summer (I must admit that we too married in the summertime as well). It’s a great time for weddings. The flowers are blooming; the weather (for the most part) cooperates; everything just looks beautiful for the pictures. Here's the catch: my only hope is that the beauty found in the outward nature of the photographs reflects the beauty of the commitment found within the marriage. Long after that beautiful wedding day is the commitment still there? When times get tough later on, do we stick to vows, or cast them aside like some no-longer-needed appliance?

I performed a wedding not long ago where I challenged the couple and everyone gathered there on that wonderful day. I said that it was really easy to see the commitment in a couple on a wedding day when, with everything so beautiful around them, and family members staring at them, that no one would question their commitment to marriage. It was somewhat risky for me at that point to share all of the work involved in keeping marriage alive, after all no one wants to hear about that when everything looks so beautiful on a wedding day! But the truth is that it is work. It is not drudgery, like going to a job that you intensely dislike, but it does take effort. Commitment to a marriage relationship takes everything that you have. That’s the way God intended it to be.

You see, we were created to be in relationship. The first thing God noticed about his creation was the “aloneness” of Adam. What’s the solution? Relationship. That’s why I love the verse in Genesis that ends the narrative on the first relationship. It goes: “So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24, NCV). This relationship is so close that it seems like they are together. All I’m saying is: that takes effort, and may God continue to bless your efforts at keeping your commitments into the autumns of lives long after those summertime wedding days.

... About Making the Ordinary Extraordinary for Him?

As I am writing this morning, the US Soccer team is about to start their game against the Czech Republic. Forgive me if I seem a bit distracted.
- It’s not that I have a poor attention span; it’s just that right now someone named Donovan or Beasley could be making the most beautiful through pass and there could be a chance at a goal!
- It’s not like I can’t concentrate on more than one thing at a time, but look at that amazing save by Keller (Hey, I’m not watching by the way; I am at work. One word: TiVO)!
- It’s not like I don’t want to write something amazingly profound that will challenge and encourage my handful of loyal readers, you know who you three are! It’s just that soccer is my thing and this world game only comes around once every four years! My kids and I are cheering for the Americans (all the while having another team that we like as well – see earlier soccer post).

OK, here is the bit that I have trying unsuccessfully to write all morning:

The Christian life needs to be ordinary. There. I said it. I have been thinking it for a long time. Now it’s out there. Let me explain. I believe that a lot of Christians have bought into our Western culture’s fascination with the successful, the powerful, the beautiful, the amazing, and the extraordinary. Now granted, that is part of the reason this country was built into the amazing place that it is. I don’t doubt that. I want to address this enthrallment as it impacts my walk with Christ.

The Christian faith is lived out for the most part in a daily walk, one foot in front of the other, one common, everyday moment after another. Now, I do not doubt for a minute that many (myself included) have experienced spiritual highs and lows. But the bulk of time spent following Christ is in the run of the mill moments in between. Not in Sunday morning worship times, or in retreats that challenge us, or times of deep reflection. The Christian life is spent in those commonplace times. What do we do then? How do we live those moments? I think living faithfully during those times is one of the keys to living faithfully at those up and down times. It keeps us grounded in the ordinary. Here is more stuff from Darryl Tippens’ wonderful new book, Pilgrim Heart:

“The way of life taught in Scripture is quintessentially an active pilgrimage towards Jesus, characterized by many daily practices. Ours is a “symphonic piety,” as Richard Foster calls it: ‘The discovery of God lies in the daily and the ordinary, not in the spectacular and the heroic. If we cannot find God in the routines of home and shop, then we cannot find him at all. Ours is to be a symphonic piety in which all activities of work and play and family and worship and sleep are the holy habits of the eternal.’”

“Nicholas Herman of Lorraine, commonly known as Brother Lawrence, expresses a similar outlook, even finding God in the noisy kitchen where he was the cook: ‘The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.’”

“Human bodies, by their very nature, perform an almost infinite number of actions. They breathe, eat, sleep, shout, sing, pray, confess, cry, laugh, talk, listen, and so forth. Each is a part of the journey toward God.”

Let’s take back the ordinary parts of our lives for God, making whatever we do extraordinary because we are doing it for him!

...Am I...Dangerous (for Jesus)?

Here’s today’s post, sorry it's late, The Great Almighty Blogger was down for repair this afternoon. For those of you who have been in the greater youth ministry world you know Mike Yaconelli. If you ever had the chance to hear him speak, you would remember it. I still do. He pulled no punches; especially when talking about his savior Jesus. I love the book where I found this passage – Dangerous Wonder.

I am starting to read and research my next sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount. This passage seems a fitting way to begin thinking about it. Enjoy.

“Do you want to be just like Jesus? The Jesus of the New Testament was a long way from dull – crying one minute and knocking over tables the next; showing courageous compassion to a fallen victim one day and cursing hypocrites the next; blasting Pharisees one day for having such a narrow view of adultery, then on the next day forgiving a woman caught in adultery. The New Testament writers continually describe the crowds as responding to Jesus with amazement.”

"Jesus was a dangerous man; dangerous to the power structure, dangerous to the church, dangerous to the crowds of people who followed him.”

“Shouldn't the followers of Christ also be dangerous? Shouldn't everyone be awed and dazzled by Christians? Shouldn't Christians be known by the fire in their souls, the wild-eyed gratitude in their faces, the twinkle in their eyes, and holy mischief in their demeanors? Shouldn't Christianity be considered dangerous--unpredictable, threatening to the status quo, living outside the lines, uncontrollable, fearless, wild, beyond categorization or definition? Shouldn't those who call themselves Christians be filled with awe, astonishment, and amazement?"

“Let’s find the world of dangerous wonder. It’s a real place, you know. It is the place where children and grownups can find God, located just beyond where the sidewalk ends. Dull people and dream stealers are not welcome.” (Dangerous Wonder, pg.32)

How has Jesus made you “dangerous”?

... if anyone had any answers?

(Not much today; been sick; work piles up…)

Why does the sun lighten our hair, but darken our skin?

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?

Why is a boxing ring square?

Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips?

Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?

Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?

Why is it that rain drops but snow falls?

Why is it that to stop Windows, you have to click on "Start"?

Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?

Anyone have any other really important questions? Didn’t think so…

... Actually you were wondering when...

OK, those of you who know me knew it was a matter of time until I did a World Cup post. Well, here it is: As of a few minutes ago (according to the countdown timer on the yahoo.com site), there are 7 days and a little over 7 hours until the first game of this years World Cup (if you have to ask what sport – stop reading right now). Here are some links for everything you need to know, if you want to know. The DVR is set; my kids and I have picked our favorite teams (just so you know: Meg- USA, Germany; Cameron-USA, Portugal; Me-USA, Netherlands); let’s get watching a true “WORLD” sport with a true “WORLD” championship (forgive my bias here). Also included a pic of Beckham – Cameron even got his hair cut to look like his most recent style…



http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/schedule.html

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/

Ole’, Ole’, Ole’!!!

... Do I Have A Pilgrim Heart?

I am reading a great book right now by Darryl Tippens, Pilgrim Heart: The Way of Jesus in Everyday Life. It is a new, fresh look at the spiritual disciplines, or as Tippens calls them, practices of the pilgrim heart. I seem to be seeking out and reading tons of stuff about practically following Jesus these days. My preaching is centered on it; even my Bible classes concentrate on it. I truly believe this is the great “gap” in post-modern Christian living. We have a good big picture of following Christ but we all need a swift kick when it comes to living out our faith as Jesus calls us to. Without the kick, very gently, Tippens lays out the journey of following Christ our Lord and what is required of us: Following from the heart. Here is a short passage:

“Although it may sound a bit strange to the ear, Jesus advocated a kind of “worldly” spirituality, that is, a way of life to be practiced daily. What would this in-the-world discipleship look like? A fair amount of clearing out and cleaning out must be undertaken before one can answer the question, for there is much that even Christians have gotten wrong about following Jesus. The original and pristine call of Jesus has been tainted, often subtly and invisibly, by systems of thought essentially alien to Jesus’ world. Yet these philosophical systems have become so much a part of our way of thinking that their influences are mostly invisible to us. Add to these the numerous but faulty assumptions of popular culture about what it means to be “spiritual”, and we have a good deal of confusion on our hands.”

“At the heart of Jesus’ call is the urgency not just to believe what he taught, but to act like him. Being like Jesus is the alpha and the omega of the Christian life. Jesus said, ‘A disciple is not above his teacher, everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher’ (Luke 6:40).”

“But how is it possible to be in the world as Jesus Christ is in the world (1John 4:17)? What would this mean for our lives and our churches? The New Testament presupposes that we are not only called to perform the deeds of Jesus, but we are empowered by his indwelling Spirit to become Jesus to the world. According to Paul, Christ dwells in every believer, shaping them and turning then into his very likeness.”

Any comments on following Jesus? BEING Jesus in the world?