From dust you came..

Lent.  It's that time of year.

Oh, all the Facebook posts you'll read about people giving up this or that for Lent.  Facebook itself has become a hot thing to give up for lent.   Maybe they will post about how hard this week has been to find the will-power of giving it up.  Chocolate.  That has got to be a deep soul thing.

I think sometimes we are just a little confused about the season of Lent.

When I impart the ashes I say these words aloud:

"From dust you came, and to dust you shall return"

The whole problem with giving up something so we can then kneel at his feet and with cupped, raised hands say "I did this for you" is that it becomes about us.

"From dust you came... "

You and me are just but a speck of dust in the Grand Canyon.

The ashes remind us of that.

The cross reminds us that even as we lay insignificant, Jesus calls us "loved."

Lent is really about our mortal bodies and minds coming to grips with the fact that we are mortal, we are sinful, and, the most beautiful truth, we are redeemed.

Maybe you'll give something up this year for lent.  Maybe you'll try.  Maybe you'll fail.  Maybe you'll come to the conclusion that you can't do it.  That's you and me.  Mortal. Sinful. Redeemed.

I don't want Lent to push me to the limits of my will-power but to Jesus.  Every bit of Him.  The deep joy, the purpose-filled suffering, the unconventional peace, and the glorious redemption!

From dust you came, and to dust you shall return.  Thank you Jesus for the cross!

A slow roll..

Discipleship is a buzzword these days.  If there is ever a word that should be a permanent buzzword it is "discipleship."   As I sit here, I can look at my book shelf and see many books on the subject.  I remember when I bought those books with the deep hope that maybe, just maybe, this one will make the light come on and be the spark to make disciples.

The more I read about the original disciples and their relationship with Jesus, I see that it was one of challenge, followed by exercise, then some discussion, followed by challenge, exercise, then discussion, and so on.  Then when it mattered most, when Jesus had been seized by the venomous crowd with an assortment of weapons, and taken to the Sanhedrin, the disciples are nowhere to be found and not claiming Jesus as a man they knew.  

Would this be a discipleship success story?  I'm pretty sure it isn't. But God continues to give them and us opportunities to be His disciples.

Discipleship, by observation, seems to have a slow roll.  Hold on impatient 21st century consumer culture.  Should discipleship be something that happens instantaneously like a microwave hot pocket?  To be a disciple means to go against everything that your body and mind desire.  Is there any other place in the world where that actually happens?  It's a slow roll, but when it gets up to speed and you have the gigantic momentum of disciples completely sold out to love Jesus in every way possible, it is unstoppable, and more than that, adversaries hesitate to get in the way of something that large.

Hence, my friends, we have the book of Acts to show us how chaotic, scary, amazing, and joyful a scene like that is.

I'm thankful that I am still figuring it out.  I'm thankful that, today, I have more opportunities to be a disciple.  I'm thankful that even though I haven't gotten it figured out, He still wants to use me.

Practice

Blogging makes me laugh sometimes.  Because blogging is not reality.  Just like "reality tv" is not "reality" at all.  I am not anywhere close to perfect.  And even though I may write about Jesus things, I am nowhere close to embodying Jesus as I one day hope to be.  

I'm just thankful that I have Him.  And by "have Him" I mean He is living in me.   If I read my bible, which I do, it tells me in Galatians 2:20 that "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

That's good news for me. 

And good news for you too. 

Christ lives in me.  He is at work in me.  Working through me to simply, give Him glory.  

I just don't want to throttle His movement at all.   My heart yearns to let him flow freely without restriction, not because I have been taught that by all the preachers and teachers, but because it is what I was meant to do.  What I was made to do. What I'll do for the rest of eternity.  

So when you read my blog know this.  I'm just trying to practice here for these few years I have for what I'll be doing for the rest of time.  And like any practice, you practice to learn, you practice to get better, and you practice so you'll be ready.   Lord, make me ready! 

 

where do we go from here?

I just got back from CTCYM 2010 in Mcalester, OK.
How about love??
Love is work, love is words, love is taking care of people in need.
My work-team worked on a job site that involved painting an old church that had been burned. It was being redefined from a church into a home for homeless men. What a beautiful transformation it was. You see, we were redefining this place into a refuge for men who dont have homes, families, or a place to sleep, into a place where they can find peace. It's in this place that we find Jesus' mission to provide hope where there is no hope. Sure, we fail all the time. We fail at being encouraging, at being loving, and at providing hope. This week, a bunch of kids took time away from their comfort zone of A/C, games, and regular life to provide hope for men who are seeking to get their life right.

Jesus is hope. He is light in an ever-darkening world. He is love. Love is just not words, its providing food when there is none. Its providing a home when there is none. Its proving that love supercedes evil. What a beautiful testament to the love that He has shown us by showing grace to me, an ultimate sinner. A hopeless sinner lost in sin shown by grace to be worthy of a calling much higher than myself is love. Thank you Jesus for proving me worthy of a life full of love and life and joy. When a man who has no hope lays his head down he will know that God provides! When a sinner lost finds grace is the ultimate calling for all of us!

Grace. Grace. God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within! Grace that is greater than all our sin! Blessed be the name!

untouchable by reason..

I am probably the typical guy. I am logical. I think that if I don't understand something that I can eventually figure it out one way or another. I love it when someone asks me to help them put something together. I love it when something says "assembly required." Just like any guy, I take pride being able to tackle a tough project or help a friend sort through an emotional mess.

I always wonder how I am always to help people through their conflicts in life, and how I still can't conquer my own.

Logic has it's place in this world among higher level educational institutions, the corporate world, and in scientific communities and many other places. I have actually been educated at a university and I have grown immensely in the understanding of the culture, and the physical world around me.

I can have talk for hours about what I have learned in my years at a higher level institution, and I can give some great advice about life in general, but there is not a cell in my body that can comprehend the grace of Jesus.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that we are fallen and that Christ has redeemed us, but I do not understand the love that Jesus has for me.

Grace.

No matter how much I've sinned. Grace. No matter how much I've let my pride get in the way of loving others. Grace. No matter how many times I've decided to create my own path and go my own way. Grace. No matter how many times I have looked Jesus in the face and said "no thanks."

I've been to church as much as much as the next church-goer. I've listened to as many podcasted sermons as the next guy. I've sinned as much as the next man. But Jesus' grace has left me dumbfounded.

That's the way He created it. The moment we completely understand our sinfulness is the moment we completely understand grace. And the fact is, I think I'm a pretty good ol boy.

I'm going to assume that I haven't answered any longing questions on your heart, but let me leave you with this.


Jesus is not understood by the mind, but only sensed by the heart. It is not by reason and logic that we find Him, but only in humility can the riches of His grace be felt.

community

We sure do alot of talking. Cell phones are in use constantly. We connect with people constantly on the internet through chat and email.

Even with all this communication I still doubt that we know how to live in loving, God honoring community.

Loneliness is taking hold of us. But wait, dont we have more communication than ever? A 1990 study by Gallup tells us 36% of Americans are lonely. Even married people are lonely.

Desperate, most of us run to our doctors and pick up some form of anti-depressants. Happiness in a bottle? No, just a band-aid for a mangled leg.

Roughly, 50% of all marriages end in divorce. How? When we default to our own reasoning to how to live and reject the authority of Jesus and his scripture in our lives, we are doomed to fail.

No wonder the suicide rate is ever increasing. People are given more anti-depressants than ever, have more forms of communication than ever, are divorcing more than ever, are making more money than ever, and still people are reaching the point to take their own God-given life.

In a 2001 study done by Kevin Caruso, he states that nearly 84 people a day commit suicide.

Its the responsibility of the church to teach that loving relationships, accountability, and community are crucial to growing in Christ. The problem is too many churches are satisfied with pews freshly warmed by attendees, instead of proclaiming the truth of what the Church in Acts 2 modeled for us.

Believers who are "devoted to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" make an impact on the world around them.

It's not that we do not desire true community, its that most of us don't think that is what church is.

This summer I helped a friend (who I consider a brother) move into a house that he and his soon-to-be wife would be living. See, he called me because he knew, with all of the stuff that he had, it would take him a long time, not to mention it probably wouldn't be good on the old back. So I was glad to help to make the move and it only took about half the time it would have had he done it by himself.

That is what true community is like. We all have our burdens to carry, its when we get into community and we pray for each other that that burden is spread out among many.

slumber...

The church has slipped into a state of slumber.


A slumber filled with vivid dreams of huge community centers and new, shiny sanctuaries packed full of good looking, bible-toting followers of religion. A religion that's satisfied with a Sunday morning "hello" and pat on the back.

The people of the church are yearning after new buildings instead of yearning after the heart of God himself. The sleeping church spends 95% of its money supporting itself and it's shiny buildings. The people of the dead church find themselves passionate about what the color of the carpet in the fellowship hall should be, and argue over the type of music being played in worship.

While it sleeps, a hurting, hungry, unclean people who desire true community and love, wander aimlessly around the church gripping anything that satisfies and pleases, while the church stands in stark judgment of them.

The church has lost it's way and has fallen asleep.

Ephesians 5:8-14

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."